Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Here in the WBZ newsroom, I am joined by the
founder of the Levitate Music Festival taking over the Marshfield Fairgrounds.
As always, it's a summer staple here, Dan Hasse, it
is nice enough to join us. How are you, Dan?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hey, I'm doing really well. Thanks so much for having
me on.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Awesome man. Well, here we go. It always comes up quick,
doesn't it, festival preps. It's you never done until this
thing gets started.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Right, I know. It's amazing today. We started building about
the beginning of last week and we're on site now
and all the whole teams, everyone's onside. Pretty wild over
here and whatever set up at noon on Saturday Saturday
is what we're rolling with.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
The stage is literally being built as we speak.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, the stages are being built, the tents are going in.
Teent fest is going in. We have a couple of
different like carpentry teams that are doing some of them
doing creative like art installations. Some of them are building
out the dressing rooms. So it has a book crew
about fifty people that are kind of buzzing around and
getting everything all set up.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
What is the hardest part of putting on a festival?
I mean, I know, getting the acts is a whole
one thing in itself. We'll talk about that in a second,
but it so much goes into it. I mean, you
guys have a whole lot of people. You can tell
me what the number is that you're expecting again, but
you got a whole lot of people. You got parking
to deal with. What's the hardest part for you guys?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
I know, I joke, it's like it's a running of
fifteen thousand verson restaurant for two days. And I guess
the big difference is just to you know, you don't
really have any room for trial and error. That's to
kind of be right from the start, and you gotta
do a lot of quick adjustments on the fly because
you have minutes, not hours or weeks or days to
kind of adjust the overall operation. So that's always really intense,
(01:32):
but we've always been very fortunate that we have the
fans coming. It is about fifteen thousand people per day,
and that's a size that's comfortable at the Marshall's Tairgrounds
that we're able to execute pretty well. But we're always
evolving and changing it over the years, so there's always
kind of new, new curve balls that we're working through.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
One of those changes is this year you do in
the weekend after the fourth which I think a lot
of people really appreciate here with just so you know,
so many people get away for the Folds of July.
You guys decided to push it back this weekend. Was
that a conscious decision? Was that listening to your festival,
going fans or what was that?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Well, yeah, it was listening to the festival and going
fans and also just local resources with police and fire.
We were last year, we were on the FIS, so
we were right after Fourth of July and that was
a little intense operationally in the town. And you know,
the fans as well are very happy that it's an
extra breathing room there. So it's kind of nice and
it's been a nice, enjoyable July here because it gives
(02:25):
us two weeks in July to get set up, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Let's talk about that lineup a little bit. You guys
have done it again. I know it's not easy always
to put together these festival lineups, and you got some
returning acts that have been friends of the festival and
also some big headliners. Tell me about that whole process
of getting the lineup set.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah, it's a ton of fun. The you know, the
artists are kind of traveling all over the world, and
you know, trying to get these artists in Massachusetts on
a prime Saturday weekend is a trick. So yeah, you know,
we started about, you know, twelve to eighteen months in advance.
We're already working on twenty twenty six right now. Know
as a travel plans are scheduled so far out. But
(03:04):
we've been very fortunate. You know, I think a lot
of the artists enjoyed playing here. It's a unique venue
and kind of an alternative, alternate place they can play
that they enjoy when they're coming through New England in
the summer. So you know, when the artists want to
do it, they can kind of work their schedule around it.
And that's always been the trick over the years. It's
just you know, coordinating that so that they know that
(03:24):
we would love to have them here and that they're
welcome and all the fans here in Massachusetts would love
to see them come through it.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
You're a music fan, who are you excited to see
here on the bill?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Ah Man, that's tough. I would have to say, Dispatch
and stick Figure the two headliners. They're both local acts.
And Dispatch we had back in our first like really
big year in twenty seventeen. We haven't had them since,
so we're really excited to have them on this year
and their headlining Sunday Night Saturday Night with headlining. Stick
Figure also a lot of fans, local roots here that
(03:54):
has played at the festival almost every single year, so
that's exciting. But to be honest, like a lot of
these emerging acts that are lower on the veil are
sometimes the most really exciting to check out because people
haven't seen them yet in our area and they put
on these incredible performances and kind of there's like this
aspect of music discovery when you're walking around and seeing
(04:14):
some of these acts that maybe haven't heard of or
you've just heard of because you're coming to the event,
and it can really blow your mind how balented some
of these emerging artists are.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I talked with Chad Stokes and Brad Corgan. I went
up and met the boys at Thompson's Point in Portland
a couple of days ago, and they were very excited
about Levitate. They called it kind of a hometown show
for them, and they get that vibe when they've played
it before, and they just they're very excited about this show,
so I thought you should know that.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Well, thank you so much. That's so good to hear.
I can't wait to see them. And Dispatch was you know,
we were talking off and on the last couple of
years and almost worked out with their schedules. So this
year when we came together, our whole staff and I
know all the fans were just over the moon that
Dispatcher was able to make it back and headline the
Sunday night.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
They sounded great, so we'll all be excited for that one.
I imagine just a i'll minute here, So you know,
you mentioned your crew. There's a lot going on even
right now as we speak, with everything being built, the
stage included. I imagine it is very important for you and
your team. And I'm not sure how many people make
up your team, but I imagine it's important to be flexible,
not get too stressed to help each other out. It's
(05:16):
probably when you're working on the fly like this, you
kind of got to be have a little bit of
easy going.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
This to you, right, Yeah, absolutely, and it's a good crew,
because the people that you know, can kind of bomb
and weave with all the changes that come up on
an event like this kind of be really great people.
So we have a nice crew and we're really appreciative
of them. You know, it takes a lot of a
lot of work and a lot of flexibility, so really
just great, amazing people. And they're passionate about it, and
you know they can see the music as well, so
they're kind of all here for the right reason.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
That's true. Man, you guys doing all this work in
ninety degree heat on a day like this.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Man, Yeah, it's funny. I don't know why. I'm still
surprise every year, but it's definitely a yeah, added factor.
But we're happy to be out here.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
There you go, everybody's everybody's doing good. Just stay hydrated
out there. One last thing if you had one. You know,
somebody has never been to the festival before, never taken
in levitate. What would be your one push to say,
you know what, jump on board here. It's a fun take.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Well, I would say, you know what I would recommend
is and highly recommend has just come for the day
with no expectations and come early. You know, we're more
of a daytime. Fests start at noon and we go
to headliner goes on in the dark, but most of
us the daytime. So this is just this whole aspect
of like music and art discovery here that's really special
and some that we try to build in. So we
have all kinds of little surprises and there's one hundred
(06:31):
art vendors and there's a lot of murals going on,
and it really is a music and arts festival. So
if you haven't been to an event like this, you know,
it's it's not like you know, one of the larger festivals,
which is you know, it's it's more of a community
event and really for anyone, and it's a good like
point of access to seeing live music if you don't
maybe if you don't arn't as experienced in going to
(06:54):
festivals or haven't been to big concerts before, it's a
very comfortable one to attend.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Awesome man, well, Dan Hasset, I know you you are
a busy man. As you get this Levitape Festival ready
to rock for another year. You put together a great
lineup and it is always a great take. We appreciate
you taking some time here on a very busy week
for you, Dan.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Thank you, yeah, Drew, thank you so much for having
me on. Appreciate it and hope you see everyone this
up coming weekends.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
All right, from the WBZ Newsroom, I'm Drew mo'holland, Boston's
news radio
All right.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Here in the WBZ newsroom, I am joined by the
founder of the Levitate Music Festival taking over the Marshfield Fairgrounds.
As always, it's a summer staple here, Dan Hasse, it
is nice enough to join us. How are you, Dan?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hey, I'm doing really well. Thanks so much for having
me on.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Awesome man. Well, here we go. It always comes up quick,
doesn't it, festival preps. It's you never done until this
thing gets started.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Right, I know. It's amazing today. We started building about
the beginning of last week and we're on site now
and all the whole teams, everyone's onside. Pretty wild over
here and whatever set up at noon on Saturday Saturday
is what we're rolling with.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
The stage is literally being built as we speak.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, the stages are being built, the tents are going in.
Teent fest is going in. We have a couple of
different like carpentry teams that are doing some of them
doing creative like art installations. Some of them are building
out the dressing rooms. So it has a book crew
about fifty people that are kind of buzzing around and
getting everything all set up.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
What is the hardest part of putting on a festival?
I mean, I know, getting the acts is a whole
one thing in itself. We'll talk about that in a second,
but it so much goes into it. I mean, you
guys have a whole lot of people. You can tell
me what the number is that you're expecting again, but
you got a whole lot of people. You got parking
to deal with. What's the hardest part for you guys?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
I know, I joke, it's like it's a running of
fifteen thousand verson restaurant for two days. And I guess
the big difference is just to you know, you don't
really have any room for trial and error. That's to
kind of be right from the start, and you gotta
do a lot of quick adjustments on the fly because
you have minutes, not hours or weeks or days to
kind of adjust the overall operation. So that's always really intense,
(01:32):
but we've always been very fortunate that we have the
fans coming. It is about fifteen thousand people per day,
and that's a size that's comfortable at the Marshall's Tairgrounds
that we're able to execute pretty well. But we're always
evolving and changing it over the years, so there's always
kind of new, new curve balls that we're working through.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
One of those changes is this year you do in
the weekend after the fourth which I think a lot
of people really appreciate here with just so you know,
so many people get away for the Folds of July.
You guys decided to push it back this weekend. Was
that a conscious decision? Was that listening to your festival,
going fans or what was that?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Well, yeah, it was listening to the festival and going
fans and also just local resources with police and fire.
We were last year, we were on the FIS, so
we were right after Fourth of July and that was
a little intense operationally in the town. And you know,
the fans as well are very happy that it's an
extra breathing room there. So it's kind of nice and
it's been a nice, enjoyable July here because it gives
(02:25):
us two weeks in July to get set up, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Let's talk about that lineup a little bit. You guys
have done it again. I know it's not easy always
to put together these festival lineups, and you got some
returning acts that have been friends of the festival and
also some big headliners. Tell me about that whole process
of getting the lineup set.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah, it's a ton of fun. The you know, the
artists are kind of traveling all over the world, and
you know, trying to get these artists in Massachusetts on
a prime Saturday weekend is a trick. So yeah, you know,
we started about, you know, twelve to eighteen months in advance.
We're already working on twenty twenty six right now. Know
as a travel plans are scheduled so far out. But
(03:04):
we've been very fortunate. You know, I think a lot
of the artists enjoyed playing here. It's a unique venue
and kind of an alternative, alternate place they can play
that they enjoy when they're coming through New England in
the summer. So you know, when the artists want to
do it, they can kind of work their schedule around it.
And that's always been the trick over the years. It's
just you know, coordinating that so that they know that
(03:24):
we would love to have them here and that they're
welcome and all the fans here in Massachusetts would love
to see them come through it.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
You're a music fan, who are you excited to see
here on the bill?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Ah Man, that's tough. I would have to say, Dispatch
and stick Figure the two headliners. They're both local acts.
And Dispatch we had back in our first like really
big year in twenty seventeen. We haven't had them since,
so we're really excited to have them on this year
and their headlining Sunday Night Saturday Night with headlining. Stick
Figure also a lot of fans, local roots here that
(03:54):
has played at the festival almost every single year, so
that's exciting. But to be honest, like a lot of
these emerging acts that are lower on the veil are
sometimes the most really exciting to check out because people
haven't seen them yet in our area and they put
on these incredible performances and kind of there's like this
aspect of music discovery when you're walking around and seeing
(04:14):
some of these acts that maybe haven't heard of or
you've just heard of because you're coming to the event,
and it can really blow your mind how balented some
of these emerging artists are.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I talked with Chad Stokes and Brad Corgan. I went
up and met the boys at Thompson's Point in Portland
a couple of days ago, and they were very excited
about Levitate. They called it kind of a hometown show
for them, and they get that vibe when they've played
it before, and they just they're very excited about this show,
so I thought you should know that.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Well, thank you so much. That's so good to hear.
I can't wait to see them. And Dispatch was you know,
we were talking off and on the last couple of
years and almost worked out with their schedules. So this
year when we came together, our whole staff and I
know all the fans were just over the moon that
Dispatcher was able to make it back and headline the
Sunday night.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
They sounded great, so we'll all be excited for that one.
I imagine just a i'll minute here, So you know,
you mentioned your crew. There's a lot going on even
right now as we speak, with everything being built, the
stage included. I imagine it is very important for you and
your team. And I'm not sure how many people make
up your team, but I imagine it's important to be flexible,
not get too stressed to help each other out. It's
(05:16):
probably when you're working on the fly like this, you
kind of got to be have a little bit of
easy going.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
This to you, right, Yeah, absolutely, and it's a good crew,
because the people that you know, can kind of bomb
and weave with all the changes that come up on
an event like this kind of be really great people.
So we have a nice crew and we're really appreciative
of them. You know, it takes a lot of a
lot of work and a lot of flexibility, so really
just great, amazing people. And they're passionate about it, and
you know they can see the music as well, so
they're kind of all here for the right reason.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
That's true. Man, you guys doing all this work in
ninety degree heat on a day like this.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Man, Yeah, it's funny. I don't know why. I'm still
surprise every year, but it's definitely a yeah, added factor.
But we're happy to be out here.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
There you go, everybody's everybody's doing good. Just stay hydrated
out there. One last thing if you had one. You know,
somebody has never been to the festival before, never taken
in levitate. What would be your one push to say,
you know what, jump on board here. It's a fun take.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Well, I would say, you know what I would recommend
is and highly recommend has just come for the day
with no expectations and come early. You know, we're more
of a daytime. Fests start at noon and we go
to headliner goes on in the dark, but most of
us the daytime. So this is just this whole aspect
of like music and art discovery here that's really special
and some that we try to build in. So we
have all kinds of little surprises and there's one hundred
(06:31):
art vendors and there's a lot of murals going on,
and it really is a music and arts festival. So
if you haven't been to an event like this, you know,
it's it's not like you know, one of the larger festivals,
which is you know, it's it's more of a community
event and really for anyone, and it's a good like
point of access to seeing live music if you don't
maybe if you don't arn't as experienced in going to
(06:54):
festivals or haven't been to big concerts before, it's a
very comfortable one to attend.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Awesome man, well, Dan Hasset, I know you you are
a busy man. As you get this Levitape Festival ready
to rock for another year. You put together a great
lineup and it is always a great take. We appreciate
you taking some time here on a very busy week
for you, Dan.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Thank you, yeah, Drew, thank you so much for having
me on. Appreciate it and hope you see everyone this
up coming weekends.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
All right, from the WBZ Newsroom, I'm Drew mo'holland, Boston's
news radio
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