a Sasquatch 2011 patron (more by Josh Darr)

The new year is approaching, and while you're making last minute plans and thinking up your resolutions, you can also start thinking about what festivals to attend in 2012. Here are some updates on next year's US festivals (not in any particular order).

SXSW, which is taking place from March 9-18 in Austin, with the music portion form March 13-18, has already announced a bunch of bands. If you register before January 13, you'll be able to save a bit.

New Orleans Jazz Fest is taking place from April 27 - May 6. The lineup includes The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Reunion, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Foo Fighters, Bon IverMy Morning Jacket, Feist, Janelle Monae, and others. The full lineup is below. Tickets are on sale now.

Sasquatch is taking place this year from May 25-28 in Gorge, Washington. 4-Day passes will be on presale through New Year's Eve, and general sale starts February 11. New for 2012, "Patrons who purchase a 4-day festival ticket will be allowed re-entry from the Festival grounds! This will not apply to any other ticket, only the 4-day pass."

Bonnaroo will be taking place from June 7-10 this year in Manchester, TN. Presale tickets have sold out but tickets will go on sale to the general public in the coming months. Also check out a Spotify playlist of the Bonnaroo staff's favorite songs of 2011.

Coachella, will take place over the course of two weekends this year (April 13-15 and 20-22). Other than a fake lineup poster that has been floating around, no artists have been officially announced yet.

Noise Pop will be celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2012 from February 21-26 in San Francisco. So far the lineup includes Archers of Loaf, Built to Spill, Big Freedia, Surfer Blood, Grimes, Bleached, John Vanderslice, Ume, and others. Check out the full list below.

Austin City Limits is taking place from October 12-14 in Zilker Park in Austin. Souvenir 3-day passes and early bird 3-day passes have sold out but regular 3-day passes are on sale now.

Lollapalooza will take place in 2012 from August 3-5 in Grant Park in Chicago. Tickets will go on sale this spring. As BVChicago mentioned, Lollapalooza is also taking place in Chile and Brazil this year.

Bamboozle, now in a new location, is taking place from May 18-20 in Asbury Park in New Jersey this year. So far the scary lineup includes Bon Jovi, Foo Fighters, Skrillex, Blink 182, Incubus, and Mac Miller. 3-Day wristbands are on sale now.

Bumbershoot is taking place from September 1-3 at Seattle Center in Seattle, WA. Tickets are available and Bumbershoot are currently having a holiday sale where single day tickets are half off (originally $150, now $75).

NYC's own Governors Ball, which took place at Governors Island in 2011, has been moved to the bigger Randall's Island and will take place over the course of two days, June 23 and 24. Like last year, there will be no overlapping sets. Compared to the others listed here, this is not quite a big "festival", but unlike anything else listed above, it does happen in NYC. Artist announcements and tickets are coming soon.

Current NoisePop and Jazz Fest lineups below...

Continue reading "2012 Music Festival Roundup (Jazz Fest, Sasquatch, Bonnaroo, Noise Pop, ACL, Coachella, Bamboozle, SXSW, Bumbershoot & more)"

Matt & Kim @ ACL 2010 (more by Tim Griffin)

Who would have thought back in 2006 when Matt & Kim were rising through the ranks of the Todd P Brooklyn DIY scene that one day they'd be third on a three-band tour with Blink 182 and My Chemical Romance?

As you may have heard in a commercial playing in the backseat of a cab or elsewhere, Blink 182 are going on the "Honda Civic Tour" with My Chemical Romance. Openers for that tour, which vary by date, include Manchester Orchestra, Rancid, and.... Matt & Kim. Manchester is supporting the first leg of the tour which hits NJ's PNC Bank Arts Center on August 5 and Long Island's Nikon at Jones Beach Theater on August 6 and 7, though Manchester won't open the August 7 show, as they will be at Lollapalooza. A different opener is to be announced. Pre-sale tickets are on sale now, with a general sale starting Saturday (6/11) at 10 AM. Matt & Kim open most of the dates in September and October, as you can see below.

Maybe Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, who covered "Dammit" (video below), will come out to one of the shows (thinking from her seat during the Brooklyn duo's opening set, "that should be me!"). Mark Hoppus loves Best Coast and also interviewed her boyfriend Wavves.

For now Bethany will have to be satisfied with her contributions to pop punk band New Found Glory. According to the band's website, "Today our friend Bethany from the band Best Coast came into the studio and sang vocals on one of our new songs! We are totally pumped to have her guest on our record."

Best Coast play a Planned Parenthood Benefit w/ Those Darlins at Le Poisson Rouge on June 16, two days after opening the sold out Decemberists show at Prospect Park (6/14). Tickets for the LPR show are still on sale.

Wavves open for Guided by Voices in McCarren Park on June 18th and has other dates scheduled too.

Meanwhile, Matt & Kim are on tour with The Thermals (Who ever thought the Thermals would go on tour with a band that would go on tour with Blink 182?) (though it is consistent with The Thermals' thing about always touring with bands that include at least one female member). Their Terminal 5 show together is sold out, but tickets are still on sale for the show The Thermals are headlining (without Matt & Kim) at The Bell House on July 1 with Big Troubles and (the female-fronted) EULA.

Honda Civic dates & Best Coast 182 video below...

Continue reading "Matt & Kim going on tour w/ Blink 182 & My Chemical Romance, Best Coast & Wavves are probably jealous"

Public Enemy @ Roots Picnic (more by Tim Griffin)

WARREN, NJ, June 24, 2009 Speculation and predictions that have filled blogs and discussion boards can be put to rest. The Virgin Mobile Festival is returning, but with a catch. It'll be free.

Virgin Mobile USA, creator of one of the largest and most critically acclaimed music festivals in the U.S., announced today that it would host the 2009 Virgin Mobile Festival on Sunday, August 30, at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md., free of charge. All tickets will be given away, and previous Virgin Mobile Festival ticket buyers and Virgin Mobile customers will have the first crack at securing the 35,000 tickets.

The move celebrates both a giveback to music fans in a bad economy as well as an effort to solicit donations to homeless youth agencies in need around the country via The RE*Generation, Virgin Mobiles charitable arm. Most sponsors, including premier sponsor Kyocera Communications, will be building awareness for the cause in their marketing efforts around the festival.

"Instead of focusing on layoffs or the state of the economy, we want to focus on concrete ways to provide assistance to those in need", said Dan Schulman, CEO, Virgin Mobile USA. "People need outlets to both lend a helping hand and to escape and relax, for free, even if just for one day. We want to throw some good news in the mix".

The 2009 Virgin Mobile FreeFest will be hosted on the beautiful, 40 wooded acres of Merriweather Post Pavilion. The grounds and facilities of Merriweather will be expanded to accommodate the multiple stage and dance tent set-up from prior Virgin Mobile Festivals. Those scheduled to appear at this years FreeFest include Weezer, Blink-182, Franz Ferdinand, and Public Enemy, Jet, The National, Girl Talk, The Bravery, The Hold Steady, St. Vincent, Wale, and Taking Back Sunday, as well as dance tent favorites that include HOLY F*CK, Pete Tong, Danny Howells and Lee Burridge.

Continue reading "MD Virgin Mobile Fest returns in 2009 as a free event (lineup)"

"Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and disc jockey Adam 'DJ AM' Goldstein were in critical condition with extensive burns Saturday after a jet crash the night before that killed four people, authorities said.

Lexington County Coroner Harry O. Harman said all the dead were Californians. He identified them as pilot Sarah Lemmon, 31, of Anaheim Hills; co-pilot James Bland, 52, of Carlsbad; Chris Baker, 29, of Studio City; and Charles Still, 25, of Los Angeles.....

...Beth Frits, spokeswoman at the Joseph Still Burn Center, in Augusta, Georgia, said Barker and Goldstein arrived at the hospital early Saturday. She said both men had "extensive burns."

Barker and Goldstein had played at a huge free outdoor concert in Columbia's Five Points district on Saturday night, CNN affiliate WIS-TV said..." [CNN]