Kanye West in Sweden in 2011 (more)

NYC festival Governors Ball is totally sold out of regular tickets, but if you weren't able to get yours and still want to go, there are still a few options. From now until Monday (5/27) at 11:59 PM, you can enter the Governors Ball Ticket Lottery. Entering the lottery gives you a chance to be selected to purchase either a 3-day pass or a single day ticket. More details on how the lottery works below.

DoNYC is also giving away VIP passes and tickets to every after party, so you can also head to their site to enter that contest too.

Ticket lottery details and festival set times below...

Continue reading "sold-out Governors Ball offers last chance on tickets via lottery"

Deerhunter at Austin Psych Fest 2013 (more by Tim Griffin)

Governors Ball is less than a month away, and the fest has now released the daily schedule. They've done a pretty good job with not too many giant conflicts -- though there's a few like Grizzly Bear vs Beirut, Bloc Party vs The xx, Erykah Badu vs Beach House, and Nas vs Guns N Roses. Check out the daily line-ups across their four stages below.

Continue reading "Governors Ball announces set times"

We're only a couple weeks out from Vampire Weekend's third album, Modern Vampires of the City, which hits retailers digital and physical on May 14. Look for the band, who just played Coachella, to preview tracks from the album at their sold-out show on Sunday (4/28) at Roseland Ballroom which is being broadcast live on the internet as part of the American Express Unstaged Performance series. The webcast, which is being directed by Steve Buscemi, starts at 9 PM EDT.

For those in NYC who would like to make the webcast experience a little more concert-like, Brooklyn Bowl, with help from the Tribeca Film Festival (which concludes on Sunday), will be showing it live on their many giant HD screens with "full concert sound." It's free entry.

Speaking of bowling, Vampire Weekend and Steve Buscemi, the band and Boardwalk Empire star are continuing to play out their friendship on the web with a second installment of the "documentary" about prepping for the Roseland show, which ends up at Brooklyn's Melody Lanes. There's also other episodes -- one with Grimes -- and you can watch them all below.

And last but not least, Vampire Weekend will appear on the May 11 episode of Saturday Night Live which is hosted by former castmember Kristen Wiig. So get ready for affable indie rock and the probable return of Gilly. Kanye West and Ben Afleck will apear on SNL's 38th Season Finale on May 18, and next weekend (May 4) it's Zach Galifianakis and Of Monsters and Men.

All upcoming Vampire Weekend tour dates (there are some new ones including Hollywood Bowl with Beirut, not NYC) are listed, along with the bowling video, below...

Continue reading "Vampire Weekend add dates, playing SNL (w/ Kristen Wiig) ++ more Buscemi videos (one with Grimes!); Roseland livestream @ Brooklyn Bowl"

Governors Ball, which started as a small NYC festival on Governors Island and moved to the larger Randall's Island last year, keeps getting bigger and bigger. This year's fest takes place June 7th, 8th & 9th, and tickets go on sale Friday. Check out the full lineup, in list, video and flyer format - one unannounced headliner included, below...

Continue reading "Governors Ball 2013 lineup (Kanye West, Kings of Leon, Grizzly Bear, xx, Cut Copy, Kendrick, Anco, Beach House & MUCH MORE)"

The 2012 New Yorker Festival happens October 5 - 7, bringing together writers, musicians, filmmakers, chefs, deep thinkers and all other sorts of creative types. Highlights for the 13th annual fest include "Portlandia Live" with Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein and special guests performing sketches live; Atul Gawande and the band Vampire Weekend; Sasha Frere-Jones and the singer Norah Jones; Alec Wilkinson and the neo-bluegrass band Punch Brothers; Ariel Levy and the singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams; John Seabrook and the indie-folk band Beirut; and Ben Greenman and singer, songwriter, and producer Raphael Saadiq.

Other notable events: the Wachowskis will present their new film Cloud Atlas with co-director Tom Tykwer; Mad Men's John Slattery hosts a panel on "period acting"; Paul Muldoon will interview Patti Smith and loads more meetings of minds.

Tickets to the 2012 New Yorker Festival will go on sale on Friday, September 14 at noon. Full line-up is below.

Continue reading "New Yorker Festival 2012 schedule (Portlandia, Beirut, Vampire Weekend, Lucinda Williams, Raphael Saadiq, Punch Brothers and more) "

photos by Toby Tenenbaum

Beirut at Central Park Summerstage - 8/29/12

Beirut brought their tour to NYC for a show at Central Park Summerstage last night (8/29) with Little Scream. Pictures from that show are in this post. Beirut will continue their tour this weekend with FYF Fest, which will kick off a west coast run for the band that also includes MusicFestNW, before they head over to Europe later next month.

More pics and a couple videos from last night's show are below.

Continue reading "Beirut and Little Scream played Central Park Summerstage (pics & videos)"

Beirut at Sasquatch, 2012 (more by Chris Graham)

today in NYC
* Dead Tape @ Zebulon
* Tori Scott @ Joe's Pub
* Neil Rolnick @ The Stone
* Beirut @ Rumsey Playfield
* Kristin Norderval @ The Stone
* Sheila E, fDELUXE @ BB King's
* Dead Can Dance @ Beacon Theatre
* Russ Lossing Oracle Trio @ Barbes
* The Mandingo Ambassadors @ Barbes
* The Gourds, Pat Sweany @ Mercury Lounge
* Life Size Maps, La Big Vic @ McCarren Park
* Angel Haze, Denzil Porter, Talonted @ SOB's
* Y La Bamba, Chris Pureka @ Knitting Factory
* Bird Dog, Adam McBride-Smith, Moga @ Rock Shop
* Yellow Dogs, The Hot Stiffs, Stamps @ Party XPO
* Psychic Limb, Monogamy Party, Burglers @ Cake Shop
* Turbonegro, Doomriders, Night Birds @ House of Vans
* The Everymen, ohnomoon, Los Encantados @ The Delancey
* Eidetic Seeing, Dharana, OdO (of Forma) @ Shea Stadium
* Veronica Klaus Sings The Peggy Lee Songbook @ Joe's Pub
* Naomi Punk, Nude Beach, Sleepies, Shoxx @ Death By Audio
* Oberhofer, Bleeding Rainbow, Heavenly Beat @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Lost Coves, The Netherlands, Fashion Week, No Way @ Union Pool
* Behavior, Judy Blooms, Weird Rivers, Punks On Mars @ Muchmore's
* Sean Bones, Papertwin, Juston Stens & The Get Real Gang @ Glasslands
* Martin Crane of Brazos, The Weather Station, Will Stratton @ Union Hall
* Rocket & The Ghost, Vassals, Indian Rebound, The Sanctuaries, Jae @ Pianos
* Mick Barr, Zs, Wet Ink, Extra Life, Hubble, Diamond Terrifier @ 285 Kent Ave
* Swordmasters of Ginaz, Black Table, HEADSNATCHER, Black Water, So Hideous @ Tommy's Tavern
* The Vandelles, Cool Serbia, HITS (Formerly Jump Into the Gospel), Four Visions @ Public Assembly

Tonight is the first of a pair of Dead Can Dance shows at the Beacon.

Empire Records is screening for free along with performances from Life Size Maps and La Big Vic at McCarren Park. Sadly, it is the last Sumerscreen of the season. Where did the summer go?

Zs celebrate their tenth anniversary with a show at 285 Kent tonight. Congrats guys.

Big Freedia cancelled her appearance aboard the Rocks Off Cruise scheduled for tonight.

Baroness are no longer on board for tonight's House of Vans show, but you can still catch Turbonegro, Doomriders and Night Birds.

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Yeasayer made a video for "Longevity," off their new album, Fragrant World. Check it out below. Their tour brings them to NYC for a show at Central Park Summerstage next month (9/12).

Screaming Females made a video for their song "It All Means Nothing" in which Marissa Paternoster's shredding skills expand to human flesh. Zombies! Watch it below.

Speaking of Screaming Females, you can see big prints of them in action and other artists at the BV photo exhibit "480 Pixels" which is currently on display at 92YTribeca through September 6. Gallery hours today are till 3 PM.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

Baroness at Terminal 5 in May (more by Joe McCabe)

Earlier this week, we posted an update from Baroness showing that things were looking upwards for the band. Unfortunately though, with two members having broken vertebrae and frontman John Baizely having a broken arm and leg, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that Baroness have in fact cancelled some of their upcoming North American tour dates, including their NYC show at House of Vans and LA's FYF Fest. They will not be replaced on the House of Vans lineup, which happens on August 29 and now just includes Turbonegro, Doomriders, and Nightbirds. This is a bummer but it makes sense that the band takes the time they need to recover, and we wish them a speedy and successful recovery!

Meanwhile, FYF Fest, which Wild Flag also dropped off of, recently expanded its lineup. It now features The Faint (who just announced they'll be reissuing Danse Macabre and touring the album), Glass Candy, King Tuff, and newcomers The Orwells. Tickets for FYF Fest are still available. The updated lineup and flier are below.

Continue reading "Baroness dropped off House of Vans and FYF Fest, who added bands (updated lineup)"

Beirut at Sasquatch (more by Chris Graham)

Beirut have posted a new video for "The Rip Tide", the title track from the 2011 LP. Check that out with their latest set of tour dates below.

As previously mentionedr, the band to play NYC again at Rumsey Playfield on August 29th (aka Central Park Summerstage). Tickets are still on sale for what is just one of many dates they have coming up in the coming months. A listing of all tour dates (FYF Fest included) and that video is below.

Continue reading "Beirut release 'The Rip Tide' video, more tour dates"

We try to keep tabs on various festivals around the world here on BrooklynVegan, many of which you'll eventually see pictures from. Today we focus on Belgium.

Pukkelpop goes down from August 16 - 18. That festival includes The Stone Roses, Bjork, Bloc Party, The Black Keys, Refused, Wilco, The Hives, The Shins, The Afghan Whigs, Lykke Li, Hot Chip, Feist, Flying Lotus, tUnE-yArDs, Chromatics, Cloud Nothings, The Tallest Man on Earth, Baroness, Ceremony, A-Trak, Rustie, Hudson Mohawke, and more. The full lineup is listed below. Tickets for the festival are on sale now.

Rock Werchter, which falls a bit more on the mainstream side, happens in Belgium even sooner, running from June 28 - July 1. That lineup includes The Cure, Jack White, X, Mastodon, Garbage, The xx, M83, Metric, Amon Tobin, Skrillex, Perfume Genius, Bat For Lashes, Michael Kiwanuka, Alabama Shakes, My Morning Jacket, Regina Spektor, Florence + the Machine, The Vaccines and more. Tickets for the festival are on sale now sold out.

The full lineups for both Pukkelpop and Rock Wercher are listed below.

Continue reading "full 2012 Pukkelpop & Rock Werchter lineups"

The 2012 edition of MusicFestNW takes place in September 5 - 9 at 18 venues in Portland, OR and will feature performances from over 150 bands, including Passion Pit, Hot Snakes, Girl Talk, Danny Brown, Beirut Silversun Pickups, Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh, many more.

In addition to those previously announced artists, MFNW has just added The Hives, Flying Lotus, Wild Nothing, DIIV, Quasi, Moon Duo, My Goodness, DZ Deathrays, and Strand Of Oaks to the already impressive line-up. Wristbands, available various levels and packages, and tickets to individual shows are on sale now. Check out the complete MFNW lineup below.

Continue reading "MusicFestNW 2012 lineup expands (The Hives, Flying Lotus, Quasi, DIIV, Passion Pit, Hot Snakes, Beirut, Swans & many more)"

FYF Fest. September 1st and 2nd, 2012
At the LA State Historic Park, Los Angeles, CA
Tickets are $77 and go on sale Friday June 22nd.

Quicksand recently reunited at Revelation Records' 25th Anniversary on the West Coast, and I would't be surprised if they do the same at Irving Plaza in October.

American Nightmare has two shows coming up at Webster Hall.

Full FYF lineup, in alphabetical order, below...

Continue reading "FYF Fest 2012 lineup: Quicksand, Refused, American Nightmare, Desaparecidos, M83, Hot Snakes & MUCH more"

photos by Chris Graham and Rae Graham

The War On Drugs at Sasquatch - 5/27/12

Here are some more photos from the Sasquatch Music Festival which happened over Memorial Day Weekend out in Gorge, WA, truly one of the most awesome backdrops in all of festivaldom. These are from Sunday (May 27) which was another jam-packed line-up so we're breaking them up into two parts. Below we've got pics of Beirut, Wild Flag, M. Ward, The Head and the Heart, Here We Go Magic, We Are Augustines and more. Pictures of Friday (5/25) are here and Saturday (5/26) are here and here. And...more Sasquatch pictures to come.

Continue reading "Sasquatch 2012 in pics - Day 3, Part 1 (Beirut, Wild Flag, War on Drugs, Deer Tick, M. Ward, Here We Go Magic and more)"

photos by David Andrako

Wild Flag's Carrie Brownstein & the Hives @ Coachella Sunday - 4/22/2012

"The second weekend brought record heat. Festival-goers jockeyed for patches of grass around the shaded perimeters. They pounded frozen lemonade at $6 a cup.

"It feels like a different world from last weekend," The Shins frontman James Mercer said. "It was Iceland last week."

While the weather forced some practical fashion choices, Coachella's sartorial influence was noted well beyond Indio. Joan Rivers and Kelly Osbourne debated Coachella-inspired fashion trends, and the wider cultural significance of the festival, on the E! Channel program, "The Fashion Police."

Osbourne, a Coachella regular, proclaimed, "When you go to Coachella, all the girls are half-naked and 22." Rivers, who joked that she goes to Coachella, too, quipped, "If David Hasselhoff was there, this means officially Coachella is no longer cool."" [MYDesert.com]

After DJing a party on Friday night and headlining with his band Radiohead on Saturday, Thom Yorke kept busy on Sunday by DJing a Rolling Stone pool party with Nigel Godrich, and then showing up as a not-so-surprise, special guest during Modeselektor's Sunday night set in the Mojave tent while Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg headlined the main Coachella stage.

Modeselektor (pre-Thom) @ Coachella Sunday - 4/22/2012

You saw pictures from Friday and Saturday, all of last week, and of Dre & Snoop from yesterday (Sunday, 4/22/12). Here are the rest from yesterday, Coachella 2012's final day. More below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 Week 2 - Day 3 pics (Modeselektor, Hives, Wild Flag, At the Drive-In, Le Butcherettes, Gotye, Beirut, more)"

Remember that Dessner brother-curated festival, "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," which is happening at BAM from May 3-5? And remember how when we posted the National-curated ATP lineup we suggested (for obvious reasons) that it might hint at the BAM lineup? Well, the lineup is out now, and there are definitely some similarities to that, and also not surprisingly, to the ongoing Ecstatic Music Festival which is great at highlighting the growing mix between indie rock and indie classical that the Dessners are huge fans of and participants in.

The three day Brooklyn Academy of Music festival includes The Antlers, My Brightest Diamond (w/ yMusic), Sharon Van Etten, and Buke and Gase who are all playing ATP, in addition to The Walkmen, St. VIncent, Beirut, Atlas Sound, Tyondai Braxton (formerly of Battles), Oneohtrix Point Never, Caveman, Sinkane, Twin Shadow, Jherek Bischoff, Pat Mahoney and Nancy Whang (DFA DJ set), Ava Luna, and others which are all listed below. As mentioned, the fest also includes the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and the NOW Ensemble.

3-Day Festival Passes go on sale Monday (3/5) to friends of BAM and Tuesday (3/6) to the general public. More details and schedule at the Crossing Brooklyn Ferry website.

Full lineup below...

Continue reading "National-curated BAM Festival lineup announced (Walkmen, St. Vincent, Beirut, Sharon, Antlers, Zs & many more)"

"Following last year's 10th anniversary, which crushed previous attendance records and set a new mark for the speed with which tickets sold out, the Sasquatch! Music Festival unveils its 2012 lineup which once again features 4 days of music. The festival, hailed as "a model of well-paced programming...in a four-day schedule as efficient and natural feeling as an expertly built algorithm" by NPR Music while Wired notes, "leave the landscape out of it and Sasquatch! has a lineup to kill for," runs May 25-28 (Memorial Day Weekend) at The Gorge, the internationally acclaimed concert venue carved in the basalt cliffs high above the Columbia River Gorge in Quincy, WA."

Continue reading "Sasquatch! 2012 lineup announced (Bon Iver, Jack White, Beck, Tenacious D, Shins, Portlandia, Spiritualized & more) "

Beirut at Terminal 5 in 2011 (more by VIncent Cornelli)

Beirut are currently on an international tour that includes dates in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea. They're beginning to reveal some North American dates happening later on this year, including Coachella and a NYC show happening on August 29 at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park (aka Summerstage). Tickets go on sale Friday (1/13) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (1/11) at noon.

That makes the total Central Park Summerstage shows, as of January 2012, up to four already. The other three are Foster the People, one of which was just announced with Tokyo Police Club on June 11 (AmEx presale also starts Wednesday at noon).

All currently known Beirut dates below...

Continue reading "Beirut & other Summerstage shows 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)"

Josh T Pearson @ BV-SXSW 2011 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Check out Rough Trade's list of the Top 100 Albums of 2011 (yay Josh T Pearson!), below...

Continue reading "Rough Trade's Top 100 albums of 2011 "

photos by Vincent Cornelli

Over the last five years -- since Mr. Condon began recording as Beirut, at an earnest 19 -- it has been easy to accuse him of cultural tourism, and easy to forgive him for it. Early on he was deep in his Balkan folk phase, which still defines Beirut's instrumentation, if not always the expression of its style. Later there came an infatuation with French chanson, and later still a fascination with Mexican funeral bands and electronic music.

Last month brought us "The Rip Tide" (Pompeii/Revolver), an album of more sustained clarity and concision than anything else in the band's catalog. (In addition to two previous full-length albums, there has been a handful of EPs.) Recorded in Brooklyn and in the Catskills, it's an album of modest self-possession, from a band known for only one of those qualities. Small wonder that the songs from the new album in Wednesday's set list -- "Vagabond" and four others, including "Santa Fe," a chirpy love note to Mr. Condon's hometown -- sounded so breezy and right. [NY Times]

Continue reading "Beirut & Laetitia Sadier @ Terminal 5 (night 2 pics & setlist) ++ more tour dates"

Opeth @ Terminal 5 in 2010 (more by Paul Birman)

today in NYC
* Totally J/K @ UCB East
* B Street Band @ BB King's
* Marco Cappelli @ The Stone
* Eleanor Friedberger @ Barnes & Noble
* Steely Dan @ Beacon Theatre
* Alia Shawkat @ Littlefield
* Opeth, Katatonia @ Webster Hall
* Karaoke Underground @ The Rock Shop
* Girls, Nobunny, Papa @ Bowery Ballroom
* Fool's Gold, AM & Shawn Lee @ Mercury Lounge
* Porcelain Raft, The Archive @ Mercury Lounge
* Life Size Maps, Pet Lions, Dive, La Res @ Pianos
* Wilco, Nick Lowe @ Central Park Rumsey Playfield
* 1-800-BAND, Hans Chew, The Mad Scene @ Union Pool
* CSC Funk Band, Man Forever, Jimmy Cousins @ Zebulon
* Beirut, Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab @ Terminal 5
* Dive, Prussia, Dustin Wong, Heaven's Gate @ 285 Kent Ave
* Beach Fossils, Caveman, Chairlift (DJ set) @ Santos Party House
* Big Troubles, The Ice Choir, Ford & Lopatin (DJ set) @ Glasslands
* "Father's suit and watch" by Marc Sabat and Lorenzo Pompa @ The Stone
* Black Moth Super Rainbow, Lichens, The Marshmallow Ghosts @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Arthur Doyle, Robert Peterson, Loren Connors, Margarida Garcia, En @ Issue Project Room
* Dead Confederate performing Neil Young's 'Tonight's The Night' with friends @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Release Party for 'White Riot Punk Rock & The Politics of Race' book w/ Sleepies @ Death By Audio (free)

"Wild Style" is screening in Washington Square Park.

Girls play their first of two shows at Bowery Ballroom tonight.

Wilco play their first of two shows in Central Park tonight.

Opeth play their second of two shows at Webster Hall tonight.

Beirut play their second of two shows at Terminal 5 night. They also recently played a "Tiny Desk Concert" for NPR which you can watch below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Thursday?"

Beirut @ Terminal 5 (photo by Ryankelly)

How was the show last night? Dance Yrself Clean says,

"Plain and simple seeing Beirut live is an experience I just wish never had to end. Zach Condon is quite possibly the most adorable man on the planet. I couldn't resist being a filming whore and videotaping Vagabond which next to Santa Fe is my jam on The Rip Tide. Seeing Beirut live just upped my Zach Condon crush to new levels. True story."

Continue reading "Beirut played Terminal 5, does again tonight"

OMD @ Terminal 5 in March (more by Dana (Distortion) Yavin)

As Tune-Yards starts her second of two NYC shows at LPR tonight (9/20), OMD will be beginning their first of two shows at Irving Plaza. And I don't know what is about right now and two-night stands, but Wedneday and Thursday have two Beirut shows (both shows with Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier) and two Opeth shows.Thursday and Friday bring two Wilco shows (tickets went back on sale today) and two Girls shows (who also play Other Music while they're here). Old school East Coast punks (sort of) Blondie (who cover Beirut on their new album) just played two shows at Highline Ballroom. Old school West Coast punks X begin a two night run at Irving Plaza soon, but not before the two Radiohead shows at Roseland Ballroom with Four Tet and friends go on sale, sell out and happen (though Radiohead does overlap with X's Maxwell's show). Megafaun also play two NYC shows next week, as do Mogwai with the Soft Moon. Jay-Z & Kanye West will spend 9/27 & 9/28 11/5 & 11/6 at the Izod Center in NJ. Portishead and Jeff Mangum help end September and begin October with two shows each as part of ATP in NJ. Portishead follow it up with two more shows at Hammerstein Ballroom. I think that's a good place to stop. What else?

words by Zach Pollack, photos by Grant MacAllister

a member of Cee-Lo's band

Day two of Lollapalooza 2011 began with a slight drizzle over Grant Park, but it didn't deter the determined early festival-goers from moving about the grounds. After a long Friday, I began Saturday over at the Sony Stage with an extremely tight set from Phantogram. What I assumed was a simple setup from listening to their albums, was actually a complex live rig which kept the trio extremely busy. How many times have you seen an electronic-tinged band who just cue samples all set? Phantogram are not that.

Up next on my schedule were Chicago hometown act Maps & Atlases (which unfortunately meant I missed Friendly Fires). Maps & Atlases drew a very large crowd to the Google+ Stage, which has my favorite area of the whole fest. There's no other stage opposing it, it's a bit smaller than most, and massive trees block out much of the blistering sun. What's not to like?

I then attempted to head back towards Music Unlimited for Fitz and The Tantrums, but that didn't seem to be in the cards due to some unexpected foot traffic. Instead I ate and then headed to the oposite side of the grounds to catch the Black Lips at Playstation. The crowd was enormous for the garage-rockers who usually play to a quarter as many people. A few songs in they pulled out "Family Tree," the opening track to their great Mark Ronson-produced album Arabia Mountain. In typical Black Lips fashion, singer/guitarist Cole Alexander threw up on stage without missing as much as a note, and almost all over the Lollapalooza film crew!

From there things just got more and more massive. I caught Death From Above 1979 for the second time this week, and it was just as thrilling and brutal. Kicking things off with the Y.A.W.I.A.M. staple "Turn It Out," the massive beyond massive crowd went completely insane. Not needing to see the full set, I rushed across the complex to catch a bit of Big Audio Dynamite. The reunited group opened with "Medicine Show," and continued to awe the crowd with "A Party." From there I ran to Google+ to catch the tail end of The Drums.

I walked in just as they were speaking about the release of their forthcoming record Portamento (coming out in the US on Frenchkiss). They then played its single, "Money." The band has definitely matured since I last saw them and they sounded super full live. Just to make my legs die a little bit more, I rushed back over towards Sony and Music Unlimited to catch Local Natives. As mentioned, it was the largest crowd the band had ever played to. Opening with "Camera Talk," as per usual, their live sound even surpassed their great recordings. Towards the end of their set, across the way at Unlimited, things started to fall into place for Cee Lo's set.

His band of attractive studio musicians took the stage sans Green around 6:30PM, and jumped into a short intro track. Complete with matching Gwar-like kinky warrior outfits (strange choice), Cee Lo and his band played to a massive audience, many of whom were camped out to see Eminem on the same stage. I left early, before the booing...

"The soul singer scored a huge crowd, but holding its attention seemed to be another matter. Dressed in shoulder pads topped with huge spikes and a chunky neck chain, Cee-Lo channeled his inner-dungeon master/Billy Idol; he even played an R&B-flavored cover of the 80s star's "Flesh for Fantasy." But the set was anything but smooth: Between tunes, which included Cee-Lo's own "Satisfied," "Bright Lights Bigger City," and Gnarls Barkley's smash "Crazy," he turned the spotlight to his DJ, who inexplicably spun Lenny Kravitz, Nirvana and Depeche Mode - a move that inspired boos from the crowd. "Don't you dare let this wonderful outfit go to waste," he said, palpably annoyed. But the irritation may have worked in his favor (and sent a subliminal message to his fans): On his closer, the Motown-inflected kiss-off "Fuck You," his voice sounded richer than it had all night. " [Rolling Stone]

Li and her amazingly talented band were a perfect fit for the stage, and drew as many people as would fit in the area. They started things off with the haunting Wounded Rhymes track "Jerome," and continued in that fashion with "I Follow Rivers", "Sadness Is A Blessing" and other songs as My Morning Jacket started to set up for their headlining set over at Bud Light.

Jim James and Co. kicked off a two hour long set at 8PM. It spanned their entire catalog with crowd favorites like "Off the Record," "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream," "One Big Holiday," and much more. Songs were extended with jam sections, brass solos, etc. Their stage setup was absolutely massive, as was the lighting. That said, I snuck away back to the smaller Google+ to check out some of Beirut who was closing out that stage.

Zach Condon and band played mostly older songs in the more intimate setting, and though tight, I was craving some more My Morning Jacket and so headed back to finish off the night with Jim James.

Friday pictures HERE. Sunday on the way. B.A.D. pics HERE. More pictures from Saturday, Dom included, below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2011 -- Day 2 pics & review (My Morning Jacket, Beirut, Cee-Lo, DFA1979, Lykke Li, Maps & Atlases & more)"

New wave/post-punk pioneers Blondie recently released Panic of Girls in the UK, their third album since reuniting in 1997, and ninth overall. The album includes the single "Mother," which they recently performed live and acoustic from Abbey Road. Check that video out, which includes an interview below. The music video, which B-52 Kate Pierson makes a cameo in, for the track is below too.

Panic of Girls now has a US release date of September 13 via the band's own imprint. They will head out on a North American tour in September and October in support of the album's stateside release. The tour hits NYC on September 12 and 13 at Highline Ballroom. Ticket info is not available yet, but check ticketweb for updates.

Beirut, whose track "Sunday Smile" is covered by Blondie on Panic of Girls, also has a North American tour around that same time. Beirut's tour hits NYC on September 21 and 22 at Terminal 5. Tickets for both of those shows go on Amex presale Wednesday (7/6) and general sale Friday. Listen to the cover below.

Speaking of Blondie covering indie bands, Debbie Harry contributed a cover of Franz Ferdinand's "Live Alone" to their Record Store Day Covers EP with help from the band themselves. LCD Soundsystem offered their take on the same song, though their cover is twice as long (obviously). Stream the entire EP below, which also features covers by Stephin Merritt, ESG, and Peaches. The Record Store Day release was a limited edition colored 12" vinyl. A few are available on ebay. The EP is also now available as a CD and black vinyl. CD versions are on sale at Amazon.

All Blondie tour dates, video, and the EP stream below...

Continue reading "Blondie announces tour in support of new album (that has a Beirut cover on it) --- dates, video & Franz Ferdinand too"