Lake Street Dive's rise from its music school roots to Manhattan's biggest concert stage is a story of an old-fashioned work ethic in an era of overnight TikTok stars.
A decade ago, when Lake Street Dive performed in New York City, they performed at the 600-seat Bowery Ballroom, a venue in the Beltway for up-and-coming acts. Not long before that, the band, which formed in 2004 at the New England School Conservatory of Music, played the cozy Rockwood Music Hall, a wine bar and music venue that could seat a couple hundred of people on its biggest stage. In 2022, Lake Street Dive had brought their brand of pop-meets-jazz-meets-soul to two nights at Radio City Music Hall.
By 2024, the five-piece band was ready for the city's most vaunted stage, the 19,500-seat Madison Square Garden. Thinking about performing at the historic stadium, which has hosted everything from the legendary Concert for Bangladesh in 1971 to a 10-year Billy Joel residency, gave singer Rachael Price “a good dose of imposter syndrome,” she says. . Billboard's Behind the setlist podcast.
“But when we got there and walked out on stage, we felt the crowd, it was like every single person had seen us play at Rockwood Music Hall. That's how they felt. The energy on the faces of the crowd, everyone had that knowing look on their faces. [as if they were saying,] “I've seen them in this city for 10 years and met them when.” And all of this felt like a big homecoming. It felt like a graduation party.”
Drummer Mike Calabrese found himself with a similarly weak stomach before the show. “I didn't sleep the night before and was nauseous all day until sound check,” he says. “But then I realized, oh yeah, our fans are the best. We've played New York a million times. We know what we are doing. Everything's fine”.
Price, Calabrese and their bandmates (bassist Bridget Kearney, keyboardist Akie Bermiss and guitarist James Cornelison) reached another career milestone in 2024 when their eighth studio album, Good togetherIt was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. For a self-described “genreless band,” receiving a nomination that normally requires being placed in a genre was a surprise. “We have all definitely said to each other – maybe to ourselves –[that] We will never be nominated for a Grammy,” Price says.
However, success has a way of finding talented artists who persevere, and Lake Street Dive has worked hard to deserve both a Madison Square Garden concert and a Grammy nomination. “We've been doing this for 20 years, and consistently for 20 years,” Calabrese says. “And I'm not saying that everyone who does that for 20 years necessarily deserves a Grammy, but it's very exciting and we feel very honored. I also feel like we made a really good album. It would be one thing if we were a band that was on the scene for a year or two and we had this big hit and boom!
Still, the Grammy nomination was so unexpected that the band did not consider leaving time in their touring schedule to attend the ceremony in Los Angeles on February 2. “It wasn't on our bingo card,” Price admits. Instead, the band will enjoy a day off in Amsterdam while touring Europe. “If someone wants to send their private plane to take us there, something we are philosophically opposed to, then we would go,” he jokes.
Listen to the full interview with Rachel Price and Mike Calabrese below, or go to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iheart, Audible, pod bean either Everand.
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