Lillywhite wants Simon's Idol Seat
Posted by Joe Maliszeski in Management at 10:05am on Friday, Mar 5th, 2010
I figured I'd give Steve (can I call you Steve?), Mr. Lillywhite, I little press via the site. You could say Steve Lillywhite gets a little attention from Dave Matthews Band fans, seeing as he produced the bands first three 'studio' albums,
Under the Table and Dreaming,
Crash, and
Before These Crowded Streets (o, and you might have heard of one called
The Lillywhite Sessions.). Though he is probably most famous for his work with U2, he also has worked with the Rolling Stones, Phish, Jason Mraz, and countless others. Most of the discussion about Steve Lillywhite here centers on the past, unless you were following Steve's radio show a few months ago when he talked about DMB and found the recording of
Machead amongst his archives and promised to play it (he didn't, but talked in depth about it.) Now Steve wants a new gig. He wants Simon Cowell's seat on American Idol which will be open following this season. In the last two weeks Steve has put out the full court pressure campaign and has hired an agent and publicist to help. Via a
YouTube "resume video" and
interview with Billboard and other publications, he lists his accomplishments and how he fits the role. (In the video Lillywhite takes credit in foreseeing DMB's talent and wanting to produce them.) No doubt he is likely the most experienced person whose name is currently running around for the Idol spot and would actually add some credibility to the show. It comes off a little strong how hard he's pushing for it, but regardless we like Steve (:thumbsup). Downside is if he gets the Idol spot he'll have to dedicate six months to the show and won't be able to produce
DMB's next studio album early 2011 albums.
For a bit of relevant Dave Matthews Band news, Stefan Lessard is quoted in the latest Rolling Stone about playing the
Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King songs live, saying "It's time for us to start playing with these songs. The songs will start to progress differently onstage." He also makes his traditional pretour requests (don't we all?) "I'm always looking for the ones that I have fun playing and haven't played in a few years like "Crazy Easy," "Minarets" and "Joyride."
