Jay-Z @ APW in Liberty State Park, Jersey City, NJ - 7/31/09 (photo by Tim Griffin)

Brooklyn's own Jay-Z opened up his headlining set at All Points West on Friday night with a cover of the Beastie Boys classic "No Sleep Till Brooklyn". Was it a fitting tribute to the group that he replaced on the lineup (due to MCA's diagnosis of cancer) or was it Jay-Z's way of reminding New Jersey what he plans on doing with the Nets? OK, I'll go with the former, and it was our own great Jay-Z festival moment (at his first-ever US festival appearance). The UK's Glastonbury got the (less sincere) tribute to Oasis in 2008.

Speaking of Glastonbury, All Points West got its mud... which came from the rain that miraculously cleared up before Hova took the stage (at which point he covered "No Sleep" with the "Beastie Boys at the Garden" line in the first verse changed to "Jay-Z at All Points West.", and then...)

Immediately after that, he performed his own "Brooklyn (Go Hard)."

Later, he dedicated his entire set to Beastie Boy Adam Yauch. It was Yauch's illness -- he has been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in a salivary gland -- that forced the group's cancellation, last week.

In his 80-minute day-closing set, Jay-Z also performed hits like "99 Problems," "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)," "Big Pimpin'" and "Dirt Off Your Shoulder," as well as his recent single "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)." [NJ.com]

Tons more pictures coming soon. All our APW coverage HERE. Hopefully you didn't throw away your Friday ticket. Saturday's schedule HERE. A few more videos from Friday (including a clip of No Sleep) below...

Continue reading "Jay-Z closes out rainy Day 1 of All Points West (pic, video)"

Following last year's inaugural event, festival producers began work immediately on resolving concerns expressed by fans in attendance. They have worked closely with their partners at NJ Transit to improve light-rail service and capacity. As an added value for 2009, festival goers who choose to travel to the site utilizing the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail line can ride for free throughout the weekend with their ALL POINTS WEST festival ticket. Additionally, based on the popularity of the ferry as a mode of transportation from lower Manhattan to Liberty State Park, the frequency and size of the ferryboats will increase at a reduced price for festival attendees.... The producers have also worked with their partners at Liberty State Park to improve the fan experience in the beer gardens. This year's areas will be larger, have shorter lines, and feature shade tents, views of the stages and food concessions...

The second annual ALL POINTS WEST MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL returns to Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey Friday, July 31, Saturday, August 1 and Sunday, August 2. Like last year, bands will play on three stages, except "the Queen of the Valley stage has been changed to a Coachella-like tent creating an environment that will showcase comedy, DJs, electronic acts and bands."

More details on the items above will be posted at the apwfestival.com. The entire lineup (it's good!) and ticket info, below...

Continue reading "All Point West - 2009 festival dates & lineup (Tool, My Bloody Valentine, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beastie Boys, Coldplay)"

Amadou & Mariam @ All Points West 2008 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

The contest to guess the lineup of this year's All Point West festival continues. I honestly don't even know the lineup yet - I'll be receiving it right before I post it at 7am Monday morning.

Will Coldplay be on the lineup? A lot of people seem convinced based on the band's current tour schedule (which you can see in its entirety below). If they are playing the fest, well, that will be weird.

UPDATE: yes, Coldplay are in fact playing the festival

Amadou and Mariam played All Points West last year, are touring the US with Coldplay in July, and have some headlining dates scheduled in June (including a show at Webster Hall on June 8th). The Mali duo was also just added to this year's Bonnaroo lineup.

Also recently added to Bonnaroo (music and comedy): Public Enemy, Ani Difranco, the Itals and Wailing Souls, Murs, Shadows Fall, High on Fire, Janelle Monáe, Pretty Lights, Tony Rice, Passion Pit, Hockey, White Rabbits, Jimmy Fallon, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, John Oliver, Rob Riggle, Rory Albanese, Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, Aziz Ansari, Kristen Schaal, Arj Barker, Todd Barry, Nick Thune, Wayne Federman, Nick Kroll, Kurt Braunholer, Amy Schumer, Kumail Nanjiani and Pete Holmes. Full Bonnaroo (June 11 - 14 in Manchester, Tennessee) lineup below...

Continue reading "Coldplay, All Points West, Amadou & Mariam & Bonnaroo"

The Onion AV Club: The first season [of Flight of the Conchords] is almost an encyclopedia of the New York alternative-comedy scene, with Kristen Schaal and Eugene Mirman in recurring roles, and guest appearances by Todd Barry and Demetri Martin. Was there a thought that that might be a good way to get the show to an American audience?

Bret McKenzie: No.

Jemaine Clement: It can go a long time with just New Zealanders, but we try to make sure there's American characters in it. I'm always aware when we're looking through the script that in the first few scenes, there should be an American character.

BM: We didn't cast them to try and break into a market or anything. We cast them mainly 'cause we knew them. And we didn't want to have people that were well-known.

JC: It really is like, "Who do we know?" Todd, Demetri, Arj [Barker], and Eugene are all the Americans we knew.

Tickets go on presale (password = sugalumps) at 10 AM for the 2009 Flight of the Conchords tour including April 14th at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. Kristen Schaal is opening that show. Other tour openers are Eugene Mirman and Arj Barker. One show is with Iron & Wine.

UPDATE: They added a 2nd show at Radio City - on pre-sale since 1:15 pm.

All (updated) tour dates below...

Continue reading "Flight of the Conchords ticket presale starting (password), updated tour dates (w/ Mirman, Schaal, Barker)"

FOTC @ Sasquatch 2008 (more by Chris Graham)

U.S. cult hit television show "Flight of the Conchords" follows the travails of a marginally talented musical duo from New Zealand trying to make it in New York City, but in reality the pair are far from struggling.

Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie already have one Grammy, have been nominated for another and the second series of their Emmy-nominated show returned to HBO cable network this month after an absence of more than a year.

James Bobin, co-creator and executive producer, said the second series was delayed by the 14-week writers strike, which ended in February last year, and "the boat to New Zealand," chimed in McKenzie at the show's red carpet launch this week.

McKenzie, 32, and Clement, 35, university friends who formed "Flight of the Conchords" a decade ago to improve their guitar skills, said they set out to make a "funny and musical" TV show and that creating the second series was a little easier.

"When we first started we didn't know what we were doing," said Clement. "We watched lots of sitcoms on video because we had never written one, none of us had written one before." [Reuters]

Season two of the TV show is airing on HBO now (Sundays at 10PM to be exact).

Tickets go on Ticketmaster presale Monday February 2nd at 10AM for a new North American FOTC tour that includes an April 14th show at the elegant Radio City Music Hall in NYC.

In other comedy duo news, Tim & Eric play Nokia Theatre in NYC TONIGHT (Friday January 30th), and Cheech & Chong are at Radio City Music Hall tomorrow (Saturday January 31st).

All currently known FOTC dates below...

Continue reading "Flight of the Conchords - 2009 Tour Dates (Radio City MH)"

photos by Tim Griffin

Obama supporter and talented musician (Olga) Bell played a free show at Sound Fix Records in Brooklyn on Friday night. She plays another one (not free) at Glasslands on October 9.

Speaking of free shows at Sound Fix,

Oct 2, 2008 8 PM Big Terrific w/ Max, Gabe & Jenny
Comedy presented by Max Silvestri (BestWeekEver.tv), Gabe Liedman and Jenny Slate. Featuring: AZIZ ANSARI (MTV's Human Giant), ARJ BARKER (Dave on Flight of the Conchords), JACK KUKODA (writer for The Onion News Network), MATT MCCARTHY (Live at Gotham, the cable guy on those Verizon FiOS commercials), PATRICK BORELLI (presenting the 6th season of The Wire, live. You will not want to miss this.) (maxsilvestri.com)

Ra Ra Riot is also playing a free show there there October 19th 14th. More pictures of Bell below...

Continue reading "Bell played SoundFix (pics), Aziz & Arj & Ra Ra Riot will soon"