Eric Krasno welcomed venue owner and impresario Peter Shapiro on the latest episode of the Soulive guitarist’s Plus One podcast, released in honor of Shapiro’s birthday on Monday, September 7th. This marked the 22nd episode of the interview program that launched back in April.
So far this season, Krasno has been joined by a plethora of special guests from throughout the live music realm, from Dave Matthews to Luara Lee (Khruangbin) to Cochemea Gastelum and many more.
The conversation between the Fare Thee Well architect and the distinguished guitarist is a rich one, as they draw one an over 20 year history of friendship. Dating back to Shapiro’s first major move in the concert industry, his acquisition of the Dead-centric venue Wetlands Preserve in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood in 1997, the two tastemakers have existed in the same ecosystem. Back in the late 1990s and into the early 2000s, before the launch of LOCKN’ or reopening of The Capitol Theatre, Shapiro would book Krasno’s band Soulive to play at Wetlands. Krasno would go on to play the first-ever night of music at Shapiro’s new Brooklyn Bowl at the venue’s soft opening in 2009.
Throughout the podcast, Krasno probes his friend about the many distinguished moments of his career. One surprise comes early in the episode, as Krasno asks Shapiro about how some of these larger-than-life events that he produces actually came to fruition. Shapiro notes that the biggest he ever did was the Grateful Dead‘s 50th anniversary Fare Thee Well concerts but, “what people don’t know is I tried to get the 40th.” That’s merely one of the many, many events Shapiro tried, sometimes unsuccessfully, to put together.
Listen to Peter Shapiro and Eric Krasno discuss their long history together in the latest episode of the Plus One podcast.
Eric Krasno Plus One – Peter Shapiro