He’s created music festivals, opened celebrated concert venues, and staged shows that have brought together the “core four” surviving members of the Grateful Dead for a series of farewell shows – and conjured the magic of the Dead. But Peter Shapiro is never far from the spirit of the road. Whether it was touring for a month to shoot video for his college documentary, or rolling 13,254 miles following the band for a second documentary, Shapiro’s a fan of the road.
To hear him tell it, many of Shapiro’s experiences come from being on the road or being on tour. He turned money from his documentary work to rent a van and hit the road. They traveled the Lower 48 to create American Road, a seven-minute short film featuring imagery of the continental United States set to the song, “You Enjoy Myself” by Phish. It was one of two of his films screened at Sundance.
The journey from shooting and screening films to creating one of the largest jam-band festivals was to become Shapiro’s life’s roadtrip. For festival goers, and especially festival campers, Shapiro and his team have invested time, effort, resources and creative juices to bring to life a remarkable primitive forest camping, car-camping, family camping, RVing, and VIP and Super VIP camping scene set on a festival venue spanning 5,000 acres and two historic farms. The team amped it up with communal camping for Lockn’ this year. So bring your crew. Lockn’s amp its camping offerings.
RTM: Talk to me about why camping remains an important part of what you guys do. We’re RVers, after all…
Peter Shapiro: Camping is the magic. It’s like going to adult camp, right? And Lockn’ is actually five nights. It can be Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
“You’re building a city out of nothing. The thing that makes Lockn’ magic is how far it’s kind of off on its own, right? It has the Blue Ridge Mountains and nothing around. But that also is what makes it difficult. Bonnaroo’s right off the interstate, 45 minutes from Nashville. We’re not quite that. That’s the magic that everyone gets.
“The camping is like, that’s where all the magic lies. So it is like a road trip. One thing if you take that road, okay, now there’s another fork. One thing will lead to another. It’s kind of a like a jam I see so often. Like in the way you’re improvising this music and like, that’s why people love it.
RTM: Sounds like festivals and roadtripping have a lot in common?
Peter Shapiro: That’s why people loved the Dead, because you didn’t know what would happen every night. Most touring bands have the same set, same dance moves, But ours seem to be led by the Dead. It changes every night. And sometimes it’s amazing, and sometimes it’s not. But that unknown, that’s what people want. That magic, particularly, I think even now more than ever, is the way life is.
RTM: Wanee’s gone. Okeechobee’s gone. It’s a tough time for festivals, especially camping festivals.
Peter Shapiro: They’re hard man, these camping festivals. They are a labor of love. You can lose a couple million, to make a couple hundred grand. It’s hard to make money doing camping music festivals. A lot of downside. A lot can go wrong.
RTM: What’s the roadtrip mean to you?
Peter Shapiro: When you go on a road trip, things happen. That’s why you go on a road trip, because magic, boom, is happening. I love the road. I look forward to going back more. I love driving, I always drive. I want to go back. I grew up with the two Dead tours and spent a lot of time on the road. This American Road film that went to Sundance. I drove like 14,000 miles on the road. It’s magic on the road, that never changes. That’s why the Deadhead thing was a big scene for the kids in the ‘90s. We were trying to touch that experience. Living in the lot, like it was the same part of that sensibility and that energy that they had and that we felt like we missed.
“I don’t really know what is like that today. You’ve got these phones, but there’s nothing like the road. You’ve got to get from point A to point B, there’s no other way to get there. The music never sounds better than when you’re on the road. I believed that Lockn’ would work when we looked at it. So like it was like, I think people will drive six, seven hours, like even a little longer like you guys, God bless you. But that was in my mind, ‘people will travel.’
“We try to create these places that people will drive to and that do the cinematic stuff, The Capital Theatre, this rock palace. I saw it when I walked in, I could create a canvas, visual candy, a visual that you can’t do online. A lot of people come from all over to go to shows at the Capital. When you do a three-night run of Phil Lesh or Bob Dylan or Wilco or My Morning Jacket, people will travel to go to their favorite band in their favorite venue.
RTM: What’s your end game?
Peter Shapiro: You know, for me I’m like on a road trip and like I haven’t gotten to the end yet. I don’t think there is and end game. I might need to stop one day. Sometimes, I’ll pull over and get out of the van for a little while, stretch the legs. But I’ll be honest, I still love getting back in and driving. The equivalent for me is like hosting a show. It’s important. I still love putting on shows, enabling music to happen. I’ve been on a long road trip. I’ve done a show every night for 20 years, if you can hear it in my voice. But in my road trip, I’m getting near the Rockies, from the East Coast, heading all the way to the West. But I’m not going to stop. Gotta go through some mountains first, and I ain’t gonna stop ‘til I get to the Pacific Ocean.”
More about Lockn’s camping scene: This year, GA ticket buyers can choose between three RV sizes: Poppa Bear RV (50’ x 25’), Momma Bear RV (45’ x 10’) and Baby Bear RV (30’ x 20’). Clean water fills to holding-tank pump out services are available. Lockn’ also offers On-Site RV Rentals with pre-parked RVs in the VIP RV camping areas. On-site tent rental features VIP and Super VIP Glamping and tent rentals with beds, bedding, seating, tent locks, and more. VIP and Super VIP tickets must be purchased separately. Learn more here.