"The Snow Ball Music Festival [in 2011] was chill, in more ways than one. Besides the expected below freezing temperatures Avon gets in early March, the atmosphere of the festival and attitude of the attendees were very relaxed. The tents were set up on snow instead of concrete, and so dancing the first night was no small fete as everyone was slipping on the ice. By the end of the weekend, any movement at all was unpleasant as people were standing in puddles of water, beer, and probably some bodily fluids or stuck to the ground in thick mud. The crowd left their clubbing attire at home and sported their neon ski coats instead as they drifted through the clouds of cigarette and marijuana smoke. Despite the cold weather and the impossible dance floor, most importantly, the music was good." [cause=time]

The SnowBall Music Festival, for people not afraid to watch bands playing outside in freezing temperatures ("We recommend that you come prepared for snow and winter conditions. Temperatures are expected to be in the low 40° range during the day and in the teens at night. Please dress accordingly."), is returning to Vail Valley in Avon, CO from March 2 - 4, 2012. This year's lineup includes Big Boi, Big Freedia, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. (who just announced a Bowery Ballroom show), Deer Tick, Gauntlet Hair, Major Lazer, TV on the Radio, Thundercat, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and others (listed below)

Early bird and holiday special passes are sold out but regular passes and tickets for the festival are on sale now. Don't forget your "Warm Jackets, hats, gloves, and snow boots."

Current lineup below...

Continue reading "Snowball Music Festival is outside in the Winter in Colorado (2012 lineup) "

photos by Tim Griffin

Prefuse 73 @ Austin Psych Fest


Bassnectar will lead the charge on "Bass Island" at South Island Field on Governors Island on August 13th. The show will be Bassnectar's only stop in NYC for the remainder of 2011 and is "part one in a spellbinding trilogy of music, art, and culture" that aims to "create a unique world to explore, beyond the realms of a normal concert experience". Word.

The full lineup of artists confirmed for the island celebration include Lupe Fiasco, Z-Trip, Prefuse 73, Virtual Boy, Dave Nada and Joro Boro, with possibly more TBA. Tickets go on general sale at noon today (5/20). Poster below.

Bassnectar's other upcoming dates include Sasquatch, Bonnaroo, Dave Matthews Band Caravan in Atlantic City, Camp Bisco, Osheaga, AND Hangout Fest in Alabama tonight (5/20). The full list is below.

Prefuse 73 released The Only She Chapters via Warp on April 24th. The album features appearances from Shara Worden, Zola Jesus, and the late Trish Keenan. The record dropped within days of Prefuse 73's appearance at Austin Psych Fest last month, and belated pictures from that show adorn this post. More of them, with all Bassnectar dates, below.

Continue reading "Bassnectar turning Governors into 'Bass Island' (lineup), Prefuse 73 also played Austin Psych Fest (pics) "

Bonnaroo (June 9-12 in Manchester Tennessee) has announced the 2011 lineup (slightly early), and like the rumored Lollapalooza lineup, Eminem is among the headliners. Bonnaroo also has Grammy winners Arcade Fire and the Black Keys, in addition to Lil Wayne, Mumford & Sons, the Strokes, The Decemberists, Florence & the Machine, Girl Talk, Beirut (haven't seen them in a while), and many more. Full list below...

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2011 lineup is here"

Big names and regulars aside, there are a few bands I want to highlight on the just-announced Sasquatch lineup: Wolf Parade ("indefinite hiatus" rumors be damned), The Flaming Lips (performing "The Soft Bulletin"), Death From Above 1979 (now three reunion shows total), Guided By Voices (they're not done yet), and... Archers of Loaf (!). The full lineup of the fest that goes down in Gorge, Washington in May (Memorial Day Weekend), is below...

Continue reading "Sasquatch 2011 lineup announced (Archers of Loaf, Guided By Voices, Wolf Parade, DFA 1979 & "The Soft Bulletin" included)"

photos by Sharese Ann Frederick

Ed Banger's DJ Mehdi signs a fan

Bassnectar closes out the final day

"Bassnectar, arms flailing and Cousin It hair flying in all directions, brought the loudest set of the weekend, inspiring two concertgoers to scale a 30-foot support pole inside the tent." [NYU News]

Fresh off a recent appearance at Electric Zoo 2010, Bassnectar will return to NYC to play Terminal 5 on Nov 6th with Beats Antique (DJ set) and Emancipator. Tickets are on sale. The show is part of a larger US trek for the electronic artist that extends until the middle of December (and that was previously listed without the NYC show). All dates below.

In terms of new material, he says:

This week i finished the latest Bassnectar EP, 'Wildstyle' which is the most bonkers collection of music i've ever created. Each song was crafted with you in mind, and how your body and soul will be affected when the waves of this music are crashing through your cells. We will have more info soon with regards to release, but it will definitely become centerpiece of the fall soundtrack.

In the meantime, and as promised, we have our fourth and final set of 2010 Electric Zoo pictures in this post. You can also check out PART 1, PART 2, and PART 3, before continuing with PART 4 below...

Continue reading "the final set of Electric Zoo pics & more Bassnectar dates "

photos by Vincent Cornelli

"Though he was handed a somewhat awkward time slot (between 4 and 5 p.m.), the first day of Outside Lands did not start until Lorin Ashton of Bassnectar said so. A San Franciscan by birth, Ashton's all-encompassing formula of serrated dubstep has won the hearts and minds of local natives since he began experimenting with sub-bass frequencies and supermassive sampling in early 2000. The result is a form of music that you can quite literally feel when you experience it live -- that is, until the sound cuts out, as it inexplicably did 20 minutes into Ashton's Saturday evening set. The ensuing half hour was filled with frantic roadies rushing around on stage, starry-eyed candy kids fretting in the crowd, and a lot of people being unhappily reminded of this festival's notorious penchant for suddenly killing their performers' sound. At one point, Ashton came out with a megaphone and actually pleaded with the crowd, attempting to explain over the din of a dazed, music-less multitude that the power to the entire stage had died, and that there was nothing he could do but wait. Surprisingly, the vast majority of people devotedly hung around until the power was restored, and, even more surprisingly, Ashton recovered from such egregious circumstances with a killer comeback that featured his flagship remixes of Beastie Boys' "So What'cha Want," Massive Attack's "Inertia Creeps," and Metallica's "Seek & Destroy" -- though notably missing was his rework of "Where is My Mind."" [Santa Barbara Independent]

Bassnectar is one of 70+ performers scheduled to play Electric Zoo on Randall's Island in NYC this weekend. It's his only current NYC date (tour dates are listed below). The electronic artist was on hand earlier this month when he played (with some difficulty as it points out above) the Outside Lands Festival in his native San Francisco. Pictures from that show are in this post.

If you head to Electric Zoo this weekend expecting Japanese dudes with double-necked guitars, you will be disappointed. That said, Electric Zoo will feature tons of artists of the electronic and DJ persuasion including Bassnectar, headliner The Chemical Brothers, Major Lazer, Diplo solo, Erol Alkan, Pretty Lights, Flying Lotus, Moby, Armin Van Buuren, A-Trak, the OTHER Boris and oodles of other crews bound to get you moving.

The four-stage festival goes down on SATURDAY & SUNDAY (9/4, 9/5 - set times are posted) at Randall's Island with after-parties later that night that you'll probably want to avoid. Tickets are still available OR you can try your luck at winning a pair!

Contest details, more pics from San Francisco, and all Bassnectar dates, below...

Continue reading "Bassnectar played Outside Lands (pics), ELECTRIC ZOO FESTIVAL THIS WEEKEND (win tix) & other tour dates"

Outside Lands 2009 (more by Chris Graham)

San Francisco's Outside Lands Festival 2010 takes place in Golden Gate Park from August 14th-15th. Headlining acts for the fest include Kings of Leon, Furthur featuring Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, The Strokes, My Morning Jacket, Phoenix, Social Distortion, Levon Helm and Al Green. Other acts include Nas & Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, The Budos Band, Dawes, Gogol Bordello, Cat Power Janelle Monáe and Tokyo Police Club. The full lineup (which will be added to) is below.

Two-day passes go on sale Tuesday, June 2nd at 1pm EST. Single day tickets go on sale Sunday, June 6th.

Check out pictures from all three days of Outside Lands 2009 (which as you may have figured out was one day longer than this year's).

A video trailer for this year's fest and the lineup is below...

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2010 lineup announced"

Camp Bisco...

Camp Bisco 9, the three-day Upstate music fest put on by Disco Biscuits in its ninth year, will be happening July 15th-17th in Mariaville, NY, about 3 hours north of NYC. It's set to have two main stages, a DJ tent and a late night dance tent, and the initial lineup includes LCD Soundsystem, Ween, Girl Talk, Major Lazer, Diplo, Thievery Corporation, Gift of Gab and more. All of the currently announced acts are below.

Tickets are on sale now.

2009's fest included Nas, Chromeo, The Orb, Dr. Dog, Flying Lotus and Special Disco Version (LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy & Pat Mahoney)

Ween's next NYC-area show is in NJ on May 20th.

Still waiting for the next LCD Soundystem NYC show announcement. Meanwhile they've already announced Coachella, Bonnaroo and other dates (along with a new album).

More Camp Bisco info and a flyer are below...

Continue reading "Camp Bisco's 2010 lineup includes LCD Soundsystem, Ween, Girl Talk, Major Lazer, Thievery Corporation & more"

After a hectic day of updating the constantly updating Bonnaroo lineup page, the entire thing has been announced. Gwar, Norah Jones, and the rest of the lineup below...

Continue reading "the complete 2010 Bonnaroo lineup (Stevie Wonder, The Melvins, Kings of Leon, Isis, Local Natives & many more) "

Wow...Public Image Ltd, The Specials, Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit, Echo and the Bunnymen, Grace Jones, Fever Ray, Devo, Hot Chip, Phoenix, Orbital, Spoon, Sly and the Family Stone, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Sunny Day Real Estate, Yo La Tengo, Mew, Camera Obscura, Gil Scott-Heron, The xx, John Waters, Dillinger Escape Plan, Deer Tick, Gary Numan... Full Coachella 2010 lineup below....

Continue reading "2010 Coachella line up announced (Faith No More, Pavement, Muse, Gorillaz, Thom Yorke, Jay-Z, LCD Soundystem, ???)"

"STREET SCENE, one of the nation's longest running music festivals, will celebrate its 25th anniversary with two full days of music Friday, August 28 and Saturday, August 29. The Black Eyed Peas, M.I.A., Thievery Corporation, Modest Mouse, The Dead Weather and Cake are among the more than 35 acts that will bring the streets of downtown San Diego's East Village neighborhood alive with music and entertainment from 4:00 PM to midnight daily. The venue site will include Tailgate Park (adjacent to Petco Park) in the heart of East Village, incorporating 14th Street as the main thoroughfare and bordered by Imperial Avenue to J Street."

2009 is the 25th anniversary of the festival which was launched in 1984. This year's festival also has WAVVES on the lineup, which means three shows total now scheduled for the band. Full lineup below...

Continue reading "San Diego's Street Scene Festival announces 2009 lineup"

"Though promoters around the country report strong early ticket sales for festivals and summer tours, the recession is causing jitters. This year Coachella, which has the most glamorous reputation of all American festivals, began selling tickets on layaway, and 18 percent of its customers took that option, Mr. Tollett said.

The proliferation of big festivals, like Bonnaroo near Nashville and Lollapalooza in Chicago, has not been without casualties. This year Langerado in Miami shut down, citing the economy. The Pemberton Festival in British Columbia is on hiatus after only one year, although its promoter, Live Nation, said the problem was permit delays." [NY Times]

With all the leaks of bands playing Lollapalooza this year, there are almost no surprises in the official lineup announcement, except maybe the Animal Collective DJ set... The whole thing below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2009 - the official & complete lineup"

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Flaming Lips

Josh Ritter and NOT Franz Nicolay

RJD2

WARNING: This post contains nudity, jam bands and adult situations.

Jam on the River is an annual two-day music festival in Philadelphia. This year (May 24-25, 2008) the bill featured RJD2, Disco Biscuits, Josh Ritter and many others... including The Flaming Lips. Kyle took some pictures and the rest of them are below.....

Continue reading "more pictures from the 2008 JAM ON THE RIVER festival "