by Bill Pearis

After busting up the gang in 2000, snarky mid-'90s piano trio Ben Folds Five reunited this year with a new album on the way and a tour, which they're on now. The tour stops at Central Park Summerstage tonight (9/14), their first NYC show in 12 years. Tickets for tonight's show are still available. BFF will also return to the NYC area for a show at Port Chester's Capitol Theatre on October 9 with Kate Miller Heidke (tickets) and a couple days later they will play opening night of New York Comic Con on October 11. Tckets for that are still available too.

Ben Folds Five, best known for their ballad "Brick" back when people still held up lighters at shows (1997), have a new album, The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind, which is their first since 1999 and is out next week (9/18). The record was funded via Pledgemusic and is a little mellower than the bouncy, fuzzy pop of their Clinton-era singles like "Underground" and "The Battle of Who Could Care Less" but his sense of humor seems intact. You can listen to tracks at SPIN, TeamCoco and Rolling Stone.

Ben Folds Five are also playing Florida's Deluna Fest which happens September 21 - 23 in Pensacola Beach, FL and also features Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Bob Mould doing Copper Blue, Diplo, Florence & the Machine, Band of Horses, and many more. Tickets for Deluna Fest are still available and full line-up is below.

A list of all Ben Folds Five dates, a few classic clips and that Deluna Fest lineup are below...

Continue reading "reunited Ben Folds Five releasing LP, playing Central Park (tonight), Comic Con, Deluna Fest (lineup) & other dates"

Wanda Jackson at Newport Folk Fest 2011 (more by Jim Brueckner)

As mentioned, queen of rockabilly Wanda Jackson is releasing a new album, Unfinished Business, this year and supporting it with a tour which brings her to NYC for a show on October 12 at Highline Ballroom. Tickets for that show are still available.

She's since expanded her tour and it now includes another date in the NYC area even sooner, which happens at Maxwell's on August 17. Tickets for that show are on sale now. The Maxwell's show is one day before Wanda heads to Philly for the Philadelphia Folk Festival which goes down from August 17-19 with sets from Steve Earle and the Dukes, Lucinda Williams, Deno Band, Pokey LaFarge, Strand of Oaks, Arborea and others. The full lineup is listed below. Tickets for the fest are on sale now.

A list of updates dates, Philadelphia Folk Fest lineup, and an album teaser for Unfinished Business are below.

Continue reading "Wanda Jackson playing Maxwell's before Philadelphia Folk Festival (full lineup & updated dates)"

We just posted about Austra who's coming back to North America (including 9/19 at Music Hall of Williamsburg) after a tour of Europe. She's also one of many artists playing the 2012 Osheaga Festival in Montreal which happens August 3 - 5. Tickets are still available for the three-day event.

In addition to Austra, Osheaga plays host to The Black Keys, Snoop Dogg, Justice, Metric (who play Radio City Music Hall soon), Sigur Ros (who play Prospect Park and are streaming their new LP), Florence & The Machine (who plays Jones Beach this summer), The Weeknd, Passion Pit (who play Governor's Ball soon), The Jesus & Mary Chain, MGMT, Santigold (who just played Irving), Zola Jesus (who just played the Guggenheim) and many many more.

Full Osheaga lineup is below.

Continue reading "Justice, Metric, The Black Keys, Sigur Ros and more playing Montreal's Osheaga Festival in August "

The 2012 music lineup was announced today for Bumbershoot: Seattle's Music & Arts Festival, which is produced by non-profit arts organization One Reel and takes place over Labor Day weekend, Sept. 1-3, at Seattle Center. The 42-year-old urban festival stands on top nationally in its variety as it showcases both familiar and up-and-coming regional and national talent in many musical genres, as well as in comedy, theater, literary and visual arts, dance, film and children's programming.

Bumbershoot's Mainstage in KeyArena will feature two multi-act performances each day. Artists scheduled to perform there include groundbreaking alternative rock band Jane's Addiction, jazz legend Tony Bennett, electronic phenom Skrillex, a hip hop double bill with Mac Miller and Big Sean, M83, and AWOLNATION among others. Additional Mainstage acts will be announced in coming weeks.

Tickets are all-inclusive. All festival offerings, including Mainstage admission on a first-come, first-served basis (no separate pass required), and late-night electronic music curated by Decibel Festival for Bumbershoot After Dark, are included in the price of a single-day or 3-day ticket

Continue reading "Bumbershoot 2012 lineup (Jane's Addiction, Tony Bennett & Skrillex are the headliners)"

"Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly Presents and Starr Hill presents, in a partnership with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, are proud to announce the lineup for the fifth annual Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival. The world's only gourmet music festival will once again take place in San Francisco's historic Golden Gate Park August 10 - 12, 2012. Tickets will go on sale Thursday April 19 at 12 noon PDT via www.sfoutsidelands.com. A significant portion of every ticket sold will directly benefit San Francisco's Recreation and Park Department."

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2012 lineup (Metallica, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Jack White, Foo Fighters, Beck, Skrillex...)"

According to their website:

The inaugural Catalpa Festival is coming to New York City on July 28th + 29th 2012 from 1pm to 11pm and is lining up to be the year's most unique and original music and lifestyle event. Taking place on the remarkable Randall's Island, just to the Eastern side of Manhattan, the festival is set beautifully to the backdrop of the world's most famous skyline.

Catalpa is about creating a truly authentic, fresh and unique musical .experience featuring over 50 artists that traverse many styles and genres from rock and indie to hip-hop, reggae and the world of electronic music.

For Frisky as event producers, creating an enhanced setting and original event experience far beyond the standard is the basis of how we operate. We strive to provide not only the very best of the basic elements but also .to create a visual and aesthetic overload that further enhances this already stunning setting by developing thought provoking art installations, bespoke event structures and enough unique elements to transform people out of the city and into a world more fantastic.

.This is Catalpa, a festival experience that music fans can appreciate for its genuine diversity, uniqueness and style.

THE BLACK KEYS
SNOOP DOGG PLAYING DOGGY STYLE
TV ON THE RADIO • UMPHREY'S MCGEE
CITY AND COLOUR • THE BIG PINK
AraabMUZIK • FELIX DA HOUSECAT
FORT ATLANTIC

Governors Ball, with the recently added Fiona Apple, happpens on Randall's Island a month earlier. Electric Zoo happens on Randall's Island a little over a month after Catalpa (during Labor Day Weekend).

Meanwhile the Black Keys have shows coming up at MSG in NYC TONIGHT (3/22) and at the new Revel Resorts in Atlantic City (5/19).

Snoop Dogg just played SXSW in a giant Doritos vending machine.

The Newport Festivals Foundation continues to celebrate the festival's historic past by featuring emerging young artists alongside some of folk music's most venerable names. This year's festival features: My Morning Jacket, Jackson Browne, Conor Oberst, Iron & Wine, Patty Griffin, Guthrie Family Reunion, Dawes, The Head & The Heart, Deer Tick, Punch Brothers, City & Colour, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Tallest Man on Earth, tUnE-yArDs, Tom Morello, Trampled by Turtles, Gary Clark, Jr., Alabama Shakes, Blind Pilot, Of Monsters and Men, original music from: Jay Farrar; Will Johnson; Anders Parker; & Yim Yames set to the lyrics of Woody Guthrie, Sharon Van Etten, First Aid Kit, Sara Watkins, Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, Brown Bird, Jonny Corndawg, Jonathan Wilson, Spirit Family Reunion, Deep Dark Woods, Carl Broemel, Ben Sollee, Robert Ellis, Frank Fairfield, The Apache Relay, Spider John Koerner & His Rag Tag Boys, Joel Rafael, Joe Fletcher & The Wrong Reasons, Elizabeth Mitchell, honeyhoney, Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, The Kossoy Sisters, The Berklee City Music Choir and very special guests to be announced.

"Superfly Presents and A.C. Entertainment are excited to announce the initial lineup for the 2012 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The 11th annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 7 - 10 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. A full list of confirmed acts follows, and more will be announced in the coming weeks. The final Bonnaroo 2012 lineup will total over 125 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days.Tickets for the event will go on sale on this Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 12 noon EST exclusively at bonnaroo.com."

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2012 lineup announced"

The 10th Anniversary ACL Festival line-up is on the books. Stevie Wonder, Arcade Fire, Kanye West, Coldplay, My Morning Jacket, Fleet Foxes, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Nas & Damian "Jr Gong" Marley and Cee Lo top the bill of the over 130 bands. Bright Eyes, Social Distortion, Empire of the Sun, Santigold, Pretty Lights, TV On The Radio, Skrillex, Big Boi and Randy Newman are also on tap to rock September 16-18.

Continue reading "Austin City Limits 2011 festival lineup is here, tickets on sale"

Lollapalooza last year (more by Josh Darr)

Lollapalooza celebrates its 20th anniversary this year with some huge names on its just-announced lineup. See it in full below.

The festival has obviously changed over the years. What started out as a farewell tour for Jane's Addiction with a 'touring festival' lineup that included the Rollins Band, Nine Inch Nails, Butthole Surfers, and Souxsie & The Banshees, has turned into a one-weekend Chicago festival that Lady Gaga co-headlined last year. As leaked a while ago, Foo Fighters, Muse and Eminem all play this year, as will Coldplay, Cee Lo Green, and My Morning Jacket along with the reunited Cars and the continuing-to-be-reunited Big Audio Dynamite and Death From Above 1979, and a bunch of other bands which may or may not be worth the ticket price depending on how you feel about the headliners and generally seeing bands in big, hot, outdoor crowded parks (Lollapalooza happens in Chicago's Grant Park from August 5th - 7th).

Full 2011 Lineup and a couple of videos (one from 1991, one from 2010), below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2011 lineup announced"

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)"

We'll get a more complete press release in the morning (and confirm what is listed below is 100% correct), but in the meantime below is a picture of the 2010 Sasquatch poster (that someone Tweeted) and the lineup as read by Bradford Cox at tonight's Atlas Sound show in Seattle (and being listed all over the Internet)....

Continue reading "Sasquatch announces 2010 lineup (includes Massive Attack & My Morning Jacket) (and many more) "

photos by Kurt Christensen

Tegan and Sara played their first of two October NYC shows at Terminal 5 last night (Oct 5). Tonight (Oct 6) will be the third time they play the venue this year which will have them tied with the number Hot Chip hit on Saturday.. City and Colour and Girl in a Coma are the openers. More pictures from last night below...

Continue reading "Tegan and Sara played Terminal 5 (pics), will again tonight "