Teddy Swims will take the stage at the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee on Saturday; it’s just one of several festival appearances he’s been making this year, starting with Coachella in April. Teddy told ABC Audio that he knows a lot of people aren’t there to see him when he plays festivals, so he’s been starting those sets with one of his best-known songs to capture their attention.
“Right out the gate with ‘The Door,'” said Teddy, referring to his top-10 Billboard Pop Airplay hit. “Just get ’em in immediately on something that, if they don’t listen to me and they’re kind of hanging around, maybe they’ll know that song, you know, and they’ll be like, ‘OK, that’s that guy. That’s the face to the name.'”
“And so we try to hit them hard with something [they know],” he added. Of course, he closes his sets with his worldwide smash, “Lose Control.” But in between he’s somewhat limited to what he can play, due to the time constraints of festival sets.
“It’s quite weird … because you’re up against the clock, you know. You got like 50 minutes to do all the songs you can, but also not do too much, say what you need to say,” he told ABC Audio. “So we just try to make it as connective as we possibly can in that short amount of time.”
“I want it to feel like I’m trying to make eye contact with every person I can, and bring everybody into our house,” he added. “Which is why we made our set kind of [look like] home.”
You’ll be able to watch Teddy’s Bonnaroo set June 13 via Disney+ and Disney+ and Hulu; the whole festival will be streamed live on those platforms.
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