photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin & Stephanie Pearl

Action Bronson

There were a few incidents at the festival of course, including one situation where a near lifeless girl had to be fished out of the gigantic Main Stage crowd Sunday night to be attended to for excessive drinking. Other scuffles in the audience due to perceived personal space infringements were reported as well. But that's all to be expected in such a large crowd where many are partying it up all day and night and become overprotective of their good viewing spots in a general admission situation.

The main buzz of the festival on Saturday was about headliners Foo Fighters playing an unusually early 7:30 set so they could helicopter back up to Manhattan to perform as Mick Jagger's backup band on Saturday Night Live's season finale. Also, DJ Pauly D of "Jersey Shore" fame did a set at the Temple of Boozle stage inside Convention Hall, but many fans were shut out due to the limited capacity of the indoor stage. So as you can imagine, many Jersey Shore enthusiasts were disappointed that they couldn't catch a glimpse of the famous reality star do his thing. [Examiner]

Bamboozle Day 2 was another mix of every style possible, from the big rock action to underground hip hop, different definitions of emo, and lots more. Check out pictures of pre-helicoptered Foo Fighters, Hot Water Music, A$AP Rocky, Action Bronson, Iggy Azalea, The Promise Ring and more below. All pics are by Dana (distortion) Yavin except those of Hot Water Music and Promise Ring, which are by Stephanie Pearl.

Pics of day 1 are HERE. Day 3 pics coming soon. Check out more from day 2 below...

Continue reading "Bamboozle Day 2 pics (Foo Fighters, Promise Ring, Hot Water Music, Action Bronson, Iggy Azalea, Action Bronson & more)"

Nas @ Rock the Bells (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

That didn't take long. We just announced the intitial lineup. Check out the almost-full thing below...

Continue reading "Rock the Bells 2012 full lineup (Nas, Kendrick Lamar, ASAP Rocky, Dipset, Schoolboy Q, Missy Elliot, Wiz Khalifa, much more)"

photos by David Andrako

"Did y'all peep my Lil boob out with tha pastie today at coachella ?!? That was my Lil Kim moment !" - AZEALIA BANKS

hologram Biggie w/ Black Lips / Azealia Banks / ASAP Rocky @ Coachella Saturday

"For a certain breed of diehard Coachella fan, once is just not enough. And since 2012 is the first year that the epic desert music and arts festival is being mounted twice in Indio, California, it was inevitable that some of the most obsessed would find a way to attend both three-day weekends.

"The Monday after the first one, I was kind of licking my wounds and I said, 'Hey, let's go again! I'm down. I get paid on Friday. It can happen," 28-year-old Carlos Morales, from Fullerton, California, told Rolling Stone yesterday. "Radiohead was a big part of it. They were amazing, and I really wanted to see them again."

Tickets for a single Coachella weekend are hard enough to come by; in recent years, they've typically sold out within days of going on sale, which sparked the motivation for festival organizers Goldenvoice Productions to add an identical second weekend this year. About six percent of festivalgoers who bought tickets online directly from the promoter managed to pick up tickets for both weekends, said Coachella co-founder Paul Tollett. Resales are harder to measure, but last-minute impulse buyers for the second weekend were rewarded with some tickets being sold at below face value.

Alison Swing, 21, of Long Beach, bought her second set of tickets "from a friend of a friend of a friend" and got a $100 discount from the cover price, she said with a laugh. "It was nerve-wracking spending the money," Swing admitted, "but I wanted to go back so bad. I'll deal with it after." [Rolling Stone]

Coachella concludes today, Sunday, 4/22, Earth Day 2012.

You saw the pictures from Friday, a video of the Black Keys performing with John Fogerty, video from a Friday night party that Thom Yorke DJ'd, and Radiohead's setlist from Saturday. Here are the pictures from Saturday, 4/21/2012, Record Store Day, the 2nd day of the 2nd weekend of Coachella 2012.

As you can see in the above picture, The Black Lips paid tribute (if you want to call it that) to hologram Tupac (who should be making another appearance with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg tonight) with their own hologram (actually a cut out) of Biggie Smalls. St. Vincent joined Andrew Bird on stage to help perform "Lusitania." Azealia Banks, in a different looking outfit than last week, apparently suffered a wardrobe malfunction. A$AP Rocky was joined by Master P, Romeo, No Limit and many other friends on stage in the Gobi tent, as he and Radiohead simultaneously closed out the night once again.

More pictures from all of Saturday, and a video from ASAP's guest-filled set, below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 Week 2 - Day 2 pics (Radiohead, ASAP Rocky, Azealia Banks, Feist, Firehose, Grace Potter, Squeeze & more)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Buzzcocks / Bon Iver / Squeeze

"The earlier part of the afternoon felt a little sleepy. People waking up late after Friday, taking their time getting to the festival, and the earliest bands on the bill usually have a gentler style of music anyway. That all changed, for us at least, with the arrival of the Buzzcocks, those spiky, rapid-fire elder statesmen of melodic British punk, on stage in the Gobi tent.

Founders Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle look older now -- it's been 35 years or so since they launched the band --but their voices are strong, their rapid-fire guitar riffing still delivers an electric current to the brain. And, bonus for fans on Saturday, the short length of many of their songs meant you got a whole lot of Buzzcocks packed into a 55-minute set." [Orange County Register]

Before Radiohead closed out Saturday with a near-2 hour headlining set, Coachella-goers were treated to live music by Jeff Mangum, the Buzzcocks, Squeeze, fIREHOSE, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Bon Iver (videos & setlist HERE), Andrew Bird, The Shins, SBTRKT, Flying Lotus, A$AP Rocky (who played at the same time as Radiohead), Feist, Noel Gallagher, Destroyer, Grace Potter, The Head and the Heart, and many more.

You saw our pictures of Friday HERE and HERE, and St. Vincent and Radiohead from Saturday. The rest of Saturday, below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 Day 2 pics -- Buzzcocks, Squeeze, fIREHOSE, Godspeed, Bon Iver, Feist, Shins, Flying Lotus, SBTRKT, more"

The press release say:

The 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival returns to Chicago's Union Park Friday, July 13 - Sunday, July 15! Seven years in, this independently run three-day event has consistently proven to be one of the most welcoming, comfortable, reasonably priced and rewarding weekends of music around.

A tremendously focused and thoughtfully curated event, the Pitchfork Music Festival has historically introduced emerging bands while also honoring a great number of already beloved and internationally renowned acts. This year continues with that high standard and welcomes Vampire Weekend, Feist, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Hot Chip, AraabMUZIK, A$AP Rocky, The Field, Liturgy, Kendrick Lamar, Grimes, Cloud Nothings, Tim Hecker, and Willis Earl Beal! But this is only the beginning! There are more than 30 acts to still be announced.

Additionally, we are excited to announce that the Pitchfork Music Festival will not be raising ticket prices in 2012! Our goal has always been to create an affordable atmosphere with music at its focus, and do so in a way that is sustainable and exciting. So why raise ticket prices if you don't need to, right? Tickets for the 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival go on sale Friday, March 9 at 12 PM CST, with single-day tickets for $45 and a limited number of three-day passes for $110! Based on years past, three-day passes will sell out very quickly. Tickets will be available on the festival website.

In addition to its musical offerings, the Pitchfork Music Festival also features a wide array of other activities for its 50,000 attendees of all ages from 45 states and 26 countries to easily enjoy. With 50 individual vendors, as well as specialty fairs, the fest not only supports local businesses and economy, but also promotes the Chicago arts community as a whole.

The full Chicago festival lineup so far, including Willis Earl Beal who we recently hosted in the same city (where Willis happens to also live), is listed below...

Continue reading "Pitchfork Music Fest 2012 initial lineup announced"

Radiohead @ Roseland Ballroom in 2011 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Coachella which is taking place over the course of two weekends this year (April 13-15 and 20-22) revealed their 2012 lineup. Last week, Azealia Banks was the first artist confirmed, and earlier today they confirmed The Weeknd (maybe he found a band?), and before that, Jimmy Cliff, Breakbot, and Housse De Racket. The reunited Pulp then announced itself. The full lineup also includes headliners The Black Keys, Radiohead, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, not to mention, as predicted, the reunited At the Drive In and the reunited Mazzy Star (!), and Madness and Refused (!) and Jeff Mangum and many, many more that you can see below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 lineup announced (two weekends worth)"