Alice Cooper, Fun., Feist Gear Up For Bonnaroo

Bonnaroo is less than two weeks away, and the fans aren’t the only one’s gearing up for the event. American Songwriter Magazine sat in on a conference call Wednesday with Alice Cooper, Leslie Feist and Jack Antonoff of fun., where the artists talked about their plans for the festival.

Cooper said that he is excited to introduce Bonnaroo to his live show.

“I love playing to audiences that have never seen us,” Cooper said. “I like being at a place that’s not used to me.”

Cooper also talked about changing his show up last October, and said fans would be treated to that and more.

“It’ll be a full-out Alice explosion,” he said.

Cooper wasn’t the only one with high expectations. Antonoff said that he expects fun.’s Bonnaroo show to be the biggest the band has ever played.

“All I can think is that it’s going to be our best show of the year and probably one of our best shows of all time, and probably something we’re going to talk about forever,” Antonoff said. “Just something that we’ll go back to and go, ‘That was an amazing show and we’ve got to match that again.’ And, unfortunately, we might only be able to do that at Bonnaroo. It’s that over the top.”

Antonoff talked about his 2005 show at Bonnaroo with Steel Train, calling it one of his most memorable shows.

“It was the first taste that I had of that sort of live music dream, of getting up on stage, being pretty much an unknown band and oh my god there’s 10,000 people there and they’re all going nuts and we’re all creating one thing that’s bigger than the band and audience,” he said. “When we play shows whether I’m consciously thinking about that night in 2005 at Bonnaroo or whether it’s just the feeling of that night, I’m always trying to get there.”

Antonoff said he is also excited about attending other bands’ sets, citing Bon Iver, The Antlers, The Beach Boys and Delta Spirit, among others.

“A solid 60 percent of the lineup is something I would pay like hard-earned money to see,” he said.

Because of fun.’s tour schedule, Antonoff said that he will, unfortunately, only be able to stay for the day his band plays, Sunday.

“That is truly devastating because whenever we have festivals, the first thing we do is just call our management and our agent and we’re like, ‘Just block out that time. We want to see the festival,’” he said. “We want to be inspired by everything that’s happening. Those are really important moments for us.”

Antonoff isn’t the only one with good memories of Bonnaroo. Feist talked about when she played the festival in 2007 and went to see The Police reunion show.

“That was pretty fantastic for me to see Synchronicity played live,” she said. “I remember it as being a really fun, sweaty, chaotic show. And then to be able to see the Police later as the sun set and things cooled down, you know, yes it was kind of a highlight. It was very memorable.”

Feist, like Antonoff, said she hopes to check out the festival from a fans perspective, and experience something new.

“I would love to see Radiohead and Bon Iver limitless times,” she said. “But that day if there’s a chance to go and see, you know, Kenny Rogers, when’s the next time I’m going to see Kenny Rogers or Alice Cooper, you know?”