Re:SET Organizer Cody Lauzier on How the Traveling Concert Series Rethinks Live Music

The post Re:SET Organizer Cody Lauzier on How the Traveling Concert Series Rethinks Live Music appeared first on Consequence.

Re:SET, a new take on traveling concerts, kicks off Friday, June 2nd and sees a trio of powerhouse lineups coming to a city near you. Boasting artists like  boygenius, LCD Soundsystem, and Steve Lacy, the AEG Presents event fuses destination festivals with hometown shows.

“[It’s a] new sort of thing that we felt like artists would want and fans would want,” SVP of Global Touring and Talent at AEG Cody Lauzier tells Consequence. “There’s always this part of an artist’s career where they’re like, ‘I wanna play a big show, but I don’t really wanna play the basketball building.’ Because there’s not that much GA and you can’t really dance and you gotta sell seats – it’s sort of a tipping point for an artist’s career. And this festival is a great solve for that because you can play to massive crowds and no one has to buy a seat, but they also can do their own show as big as they possibly can.”

Re:SET aims to benefit both the performers and the attendees. It works like this: Three lineups (LCD Soundsystem, Jamie XX, IDLES, Big Frieda, and L’Rain; boygenius, Clario, Dijon, and Bartees Strange; and Stevel Lacy, James Blake, Toro y Moi, and Fousheé) each rotate through groups of nearby cities, hitting each one before moving onto the next regional chunk.

Take the first weekend, for example. On Friday, June 2nd, LCD Soundsystem’s lineup will play the Bay Area in California, boygenius’ lineup will play San Diego, and Steve Lacey’s lineup will play Los Angeles. The following day, they trade spots: LCD Soundsystem heads to San Diego, boygenius to Los Angeles, and Steve Lacy to the Bay Area. One more day completes the cycle before they progress to the next trio of towns.

Such a structure, as Lauzier points out, allows for the type of stacked lineups that don’t often happen in the modern landscape of live music.

“You always see these old concert posters where it’s the most insane lineup ever,” he explains. “You’re like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe, like, Run DMC and the Beastie Boys played,’ or you know, that Beastie Boys and Madonna tour is just legendary. And it doesn’t really happen anymore outside of a festival setting.”

The initial idea of Re:SET was born in 2020, when touring ceased worldwide. Lauzier and his team took the unanticipated break as an opportunity to spitball new and different ways to organize a concert. During this time, he was reminded of a tour he booked with Mumford & Sons in 2011, the “Railroad Revival Tour,” where the band toured in vintage train cars, setting up at makeshift venues along their trek.

Inspired by that unique approach to a traveling show, the Re:SET team began reaching out to some of their favorite artists to gauge interests in a new type of tour, landing on the three juggernauts that lead 2023’s bill. From there, they had each headliner list their ideal lineup, asking them point-blank, “Who do you want to play with?”

“It was a little bit of us building a dream bill and getting the artist to go along with it or them building their dream bill and us executing it,” Lauzier explains. “It was really collaborative and really fun.”

Re:SET isn’t strictly focused on its musical component, however, as the event’s concept lives and dies by the strength of the communities the festival is set to hit. As such, each date will feature local food and beverage vendors, as well as regional charities and philanthropic initiatives.

“A show like this can only work because of local teams,” Lauzier says. “All the food and beverages will hopefully have a lot of local touchpoints that people recognize when they show up. And it’s not just burgers and fries – unless it’s, like, fucking great burgers and fries.”

This year serves as the inaugural incarnation of the experiment that is Re:SET, and though no official plans have been announced for future editions, Lauzier teases that the hype around Re:SET 2023 has sparked new ideas and lots of interest behind the scenes.

“We’ve got lots of ideas on how to progress this thing forward. We’ve got lots of cities that were left off and we’ve got lots of other artists that are saying, ‘Hey, I want to build something like that’,” he says of the series’ future. “And the fans will really tell us, right? If they vote with their feet and show up and have a great time, there’s no way we don’t repeat this.”

Check out each headlining bill’s Re:SET itinerary below, and grab tickets to any of the dates (or a full weekend pass) here.

boygenius Re:SET Concert Series:
06/02 – San Diego, CA @ Thrive Park at Snapdragon Stadium
06/03 – Los Angeles, CA @ Brookside the Rose Bowl
06/04 – Bay Area, CA @ Frost Amphitheater at Stanford
06/09 – Dallas, TX @ Texas Trust CU Theatre Grounds
06/10 – New Orleans, LA @ Festival Grounds at City Park
06/11 – Atlanta, GA @ Central Park
06/16 – Washington, DC @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
06/17 – Queens, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium
06/18 – Boston, MA @ The Stage at Suffolk Downs
06/23 – Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live! Festival Site
06/24 – Chicago, IL @ Riis Park
06/25 – Nashville, TN @ The Great Lawn in Centennial Park

LCD Soundsystem Re:SET Concert Series:
06/02 – Bay Area, CA @ Frost Amphitheater at Stanford
06/03 – San Diego, CA @ Thrive Park at Snapdragon Stadium
06/04 – Los Angeles, CA @ Brookside the Rose Bowl
06/09 – New Orleans, LA @ Festival Grounds at City Park
06/10 – Atlanta, GA @ Central Park
06/11 – Dallas, TX @ Texas Trust CU Theatre Grounds
06/16 – Queens, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium
06/17 – Boston, MA @ The Stage at Suffolk Downs
06/18 – Washington, DC @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
06/23 – Nashville, TN @ The Great Lawn in Centennial Park
06/24 – Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live! Festival Site
06/25 – Chicago, IL @ Riis Park

Steve Lacy Re:SET Concert Series:
06/02 – Los Angeles, CA @ Brookside the Rose Bowl
06/03 – Bay Area, CA @ Frost Amphitheater at Stanford
06/04 – San Diego, CA @ Thrive Park at Snapdragon Stadium
06/09 – Atlanta, GA @ Central Park
06/10 – Dallas, TX @ Texas Trust CU Theatre Grounds
06/11 – New Orleans, LA @ Festival Grounds at City Park
06/16 – Boston, MA @ The Stage at Suffolk Downs
06/17 – Washington, DC @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
06/18 – Queens, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium
06/23 – Chicago, IL @ Riis Park
06/24 – Nashville, TN @ The Great Lawn in Centennial Park
06/25 – Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live! Festival Site

Re:SET Organizer Cody Lauzier on How the Traveling Concert Series Rethinks Live Music
Jonah Krueger

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