Psychedelic Furs at Wellmont in 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

The Psychedelic Furs recently reissued their sophomore album Talk Talk Talk (home of "Pretty In Pink") in Europe, where they toured the album in its entirety. On Saturday (6/25), they kicked off a tour for the album in America. That tour doesn't hit NYC, but they will come through in October for a traditional show at Irving Plaza on October 3 with Tom Tom Club. Tickets are on sale now.

Both Psychedelic Furs and Tom Tom Club also have festival appearances scheduled in August and both are playing the Hamptons. As mentioned, Tom Tom Club play Music to Know Fest in East Hampton. Psychedelic Furs were added to Escape to New York at the Shinnecock Reservation in Southampton, NY on August 5 - 7. Tickets are still available. Other recently confirmed acts include Of Montreal, Savoir Adore, Reptar, Mates of State, Tiger Love, and Jolly Boys.

Full Escape to NY lineup and all Psychedelic Furs tour dates below...

Continue reading "upcoming Psychedelic Furs gigs, updated Escape to NY lineup"

photos by Eric M. Townsend

B.O.M.B. Fest went down over Memorial Day Weekend at Comcast Theatre in Hartford, CT. You already saw the Dan Deacon pictures from the first day of the two day fest. Now here are the rest from that Saturday (May 28th) (we have no pics from Sunday). They continue below...

Continue reading "B.O.M.B. Fest 2011 - Day 1 in pics"

"Escape to New York, an art, music and interactive performance party from the creator of the Secret Garden Party UK is pleased to confirm their Friday and Saturday line-ups:

Patti Smith, Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, The Vaccines, Best Coast, Au Revoir Simone, Chairlift, Lissy Trullie, Graffiti 6, The Submarines, White Rabbits, Static Jacks and The Postelles.

The Sunday Main Stage line up and the weekend's DJ line up will be announced over the next few weeks........

Coming to the US shores for the first time, Escape to New York is the first pop-up destination community and independent experiential music and lifestyle festival to take place on Shinnecock Nation land adjacent to Southampton, New York, from August 5th through 7th, 2011.

Expect the unexpected. Imagine the unimaginable. This special event is unlike anything the east coast has experienced before including the world's biggest brunch at a live music festival, installation and performance art, experimental theater, high-end camping, aka "Glamping" and amazing culinary delights unlike any other festival event. Escape to New York will also feature a safe children play area so families can enjoy the festivities, shade areas to cool off in, traditional Shinnecock arts and crafts and food, and three days/nights of some of the best emerging artists and known heritage acts to be heard anywhere.

"Our goal is turn upside down the conventional music festival experience and recreate it in a way that makes each and every attendee walk away feeling they just had an incredibly unexpected and amazing VIP experience from the moment they entered our gates all the way through to when they pack up to return to their regular lives", shares Escape to New York Executive Producer, Fred Fellowes.

The location of Escape to New York on the sovereign Shinnecock Reservation land is also unique. The Shinnecocks have lived along the shores of Eastern Long Island for thousands of years, and in October 2010 became the 565th federally recognized tribe.

Thus upon entering the reservation you are both in and escaping New York.

"The Shinnecock Nation welcomes the Escape to New York festival that will take here in August and we are working closely with the festival team to assure a success," says Beverly Jensen, Shinnecock Tribe Member and Communications Director. "

What makes a good party?
What you do not what you see
Who you meet not who you see

photos by Tim Griffin

"An estimated 200,000 people journeyed the grounds of Zilker Park this weekend for the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

The descent of the iconic guitar sign Monday signified the end of an incredibly successful ACL Music Festival, and with eight stages and 130 bands, clean up is expected to take the rest of the week.

"This year's ACL was one of the best. The weather was incredible," City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department spokesperson Victor Ovalle said.

The show's producer, C3 Presents, takes care of cleaning up Zilker Park, and the city sends crews into the surrounding neighborhoods to remove any trace of music fans who know how to have a good time.

After C3 Presents leaves the park later this week, fertilizing and watering the grass will city's number one priority." [News 8 Austin]

Continue reading "ACL 2010 Day 3 in pics (Foals, Eagles, Yeasayer, Norah Jones, Ted Leo, Devendra Banhart, Morning Benders & more)"

photos by Vincent Cornelli

"You ready for some Grateful Dead action after this?" asked singer Julian Casablancas early in the Stokes set, referring to Furthur, the band led by the Dead's Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, already in progress at the eastern edge of the polo field. The uncertain response suggested fans were staying put - just as others were for Furthur. The Strokes sounded exceptionally muscular in the park's expansive setting. Fabrizio Moretti contributed heavy beats to "Vision of Division" and "Reptilia," as Casablancas eased his vocals from deadpan to excited and back again. "This is It" slowly built to a sing-along as Albert Hammond Jr. and Nick Valensi created an intricate overlap of guitars. "I remember playing these songs in front of four people," Casablancas said, looking out on the tens of thousands of fans. "It's really surreal." Even, apparently, after all the year's of the band's success. -[Rolling Stone]

"...At about 5:50 PM, one of the day's best acts appeared at the Outside Lands Festival.

The music was thumping, adrenaline pumping, the sun shining, and many in the crowd -- tapping into a singular energy -- could hold back no longer. They put their inhibitions aside and let themselves be drawn to the beats blasting from the Twin Peaks Stage. Some ran, jumped and moved like they never had before, heading toward a common purpose.

Of course, I'm referring to the bum rush of fans that managed to scramble past the guards and bust down part of the fence along John F. Kennedy Drive, allowing scores of people to hustle in before the riot control guards on horsies and the rent-a-guard dudes in orange t-shirts could stop the inflow." - [San Francisco Chronicle]

Videos of the incident, with the rest of our pictures from the 2010 Outside Lands Festival, below...

Continue reading "more pics from Outside Lands (where fans crashed through a fence to get in) (videos of that too) "

most of the photos by Josh Darr

The Strokes

Lady Gaga & Semi Precious Weapons (pic via Krista Davis)

Phoenix

"Lollapalooza wheeled out some big headliners in its sixth year on the Chicago lakefront, as a record 240,000 people poured into Grant Park over three days to see 130 performers, including Lady Gaga, Green Day and reunited grunge-era icons Soundgarden.

Size matters at Lollapalooza, as the festival expanded its reach westward by shutting down Columbus Avenue and spreading eight stages across 110 acres, up from 80 acres in previous years. Columbus Avenue was converted into a giant sidewalk lined with portable toilets, a simple but effective improvement that allowed fans to avoid the dreaded Buckingham Fountain bottleneck that had turned previous festivals into human traffic jams. The festival topped its previous three-day record of 225,000, reached the last two years.

Still, there was little room during some performances at the northernmost stages on Butler Field, where fans jostled shoulder-to-shoulder for space to see performances by Metric, Phoenix and Arcade Fire. Note to Austin, Texas-based promoters C3 Presents: How about widening the southern entrance to Butler Field or moving one of the stages onto Columbus Drive to relieve what is becoming an annual problem? It's only going to get worse if the festival approaches its new capacity of 95,000 a day in future years." [Chicago Tribune]

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2010 -- Day 1 & 2 in pics "

photos by Chris Graham

Pavement @ Sasquatch Fest 2010

The above-pictured Pavement show took place in May 2010 (and wasn't free). In September, Pavement will play Virgin Mobile FreeFest (and it is free)....

"Breaking from traditional festivals, the Virgin Mobile FreeFest presented by Kyocera unveiled its lineup for the award-winning festival, selecting relevant, important, and eclectic headliners to represent this year's free show. This morning, Chairman of the Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson announced the lineup on Virgin Mobile Live, the company's new Internet music stream available on Virgin Mobile websites.

The lineup will include:

M.I.A., LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, PAVEMENT, T.I., LUDACRIS, JOAN JETT, THIEVERY CORPORATION, MATT & KIM, JIMMY EAT WORLD, THE TEMPER TRAP, EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS, AND YEASAYER;

DANCE FOREST: CHROMEO, SLEIGH BELLS, DIE ANTWOORD, MODESELEKTOR, AND NEON INDIAN

Not bad for a free show (and yet another Pavement show!). More details, with the full set of pictures of Pavement playing this year's Sasquatch Fest, below...

Continue reading "Virgin Mobile FreeFest lineup +++ Pavement Sasquatch pics "

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"

Tickets are on sale at 11am for the Weezer show at Williamsburg Waterfront.

Tickets are on sale at noon for the Keane show at Williamsburg Waterfront.

Other Williamsburg Waterfront shows on sale are Band of Horses/Grizzly Bear, Silversun Pickups, Faith No More, Modest Mouse, Primus/Gogol Bordello, and Nas/Damian Marley.

Free Waterfront shows have not been announced yet.

Corinne Bailey Rae is playing the Beach at Governors Island on August 6th. Tickets, currently on AmEx presale, go on general sale at noon.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros have added a 3rd NYC show. Their two at Webster Hall are both sold out (July 22-23), so they're also playing the Beach at Governors Island on July 21st. Tickets, currently on AmEx presale, go on general sale at noon.

Other Governors Island shows on sale include Michael Franti & Spearhead w/ Trombone Shorty, Passion Pit/Tokyo Police Club, MIA/Sleigh Bells/Die Antwoord and Local Natives.

Free Governors Island shows so far include Yesayer and Neon Indian.

Al Green is playing BB King's on September 2nd. Tickets are on AmEx & other presales now.

The Fab Faux Presents A Night In The Life: A John Lennon 70th Birthday @ Radio City Music Hall on September 25th. Tickets are now on AmEx presale.

Crosby, Stills and Nash are playing PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ on August 19th, Nikon at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, NY on August 20th, and Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, NY on August 31st. Tickets for the first two go on various presales Friday at 10am. The Bethel show is on sale now.

Tickets are now on AmEx presale for the Cake show at Rumsey Playfield.

Tickets are now on AmEx presale for the She & Him show at Terminal 5 (which is two days after their free show on Governors Island).

Muse and Metric tickets went on presale today.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros have added a 2nd show at Webster Hall. The first one (7/22) is sold out. The second one (7/23) goes on AmEx presale at noon.

A fourth LCD Soundsystem Terminal 5 show is on sale.

Empire of the Sun headline Terminal 5 on August 9th. Tickets are on AmEx presale now. It's one of four dates they're playing when they're here for Lollapalooza. Those dates are below...

Continue reading "Crosby, Stills & Nash, She & Him, The Fab Faux, Al Green, Empire of the Sun, Edward Sharpe, Cake & other tickets"

photos by Rachel Carr

Devo

"An aggregate 225,000 people bought tickets to see a [Coachella] roster headlined by Jay-Z, Muse and Gorillaz during the April 16-18 event at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio.

The previous attendance record was set in 2007, when the headliners included a reunited Rage Against the Machine. Final figures are still being tallied, but AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips said the gross will exceed $20 million.

Phillips said the future looked bleak for AEG Live's nascent All Points West festival, which took place in 2008 and 2009 across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, N.J.

"We're probably going to kill it," said Phillips. "As beautiful as (the site) is, it's very hard to get New Yorkers to cross that river. All Points West is an experiment that just didn't work." [Reuters]

Continue reading "more photos from Coachella, more confirmation that All Points West is not happening"

Warpaint @ MHOW (more by Leia Jospe)

Tickets are now on AmEx presale for the Ween show at Rumsey Playfield aka Central Park Summerstage. Tickets may also still be available for the show happening at Starland Ballroom four months earlier.

Tickets are on sale at noon or the Eli "Paperboy" Reed show at Mercury Lounge. Tickets are also on sale now for the Eli show at The Bell House.

Tickets are on sale at noon for the Mates of States shows happening at Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Tickets go on AmEx presale at noon for the Junip (with Jose Gonzalez) show at Bowery Ballroom.

Active Child is playing Mercury Lounge on June 7th. Tickets are on sale.

Warpaint is playing Mercury Lounge on June 14th. Tickets go on AmEx presale at noon.

First Aid Kit is playing Mercury Lounge on June 16th. Tickets are on sale.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros play Webter Hall on July 22nd. Tickets go on AmEx presale at noon.

Tickets are still on Fan Club presale for the 2nd (actually the first) Faith No More show at Williamsburg Waterfront (password = reunited).

Tickets for the Erykah Badu show at Roseland Ballroom are now on "Fan Club", "Radio" and "Live Nation" Presale. The password yesterday was windowseat.

photos by Rachel Carr, words by Daiana Feuer

"Wow. The Sahara is past capacity at Coachella for Die Antwoord. No midget. Waiting for the trainwreck but people dig it." - The Scenestar

"Seeing a shirtless Danny DeVito run across the stage while Faith No More played pretty much made my #coachella weekend." - stovn

Die Antwoord, Faith No More

Flopping phalluses are in this year according to Major Lazer and Die Antwoord. Each presented the intersection of beats, party-hyping, gross humor, and dancing in your underwear. Day 2 of the Coachella Music & Arts Festival had an overall far-out theme. Some with sexually explicit lunacy, others with psychedelic music. South Africa's Die Antwoord introduced zef-rap to the festival, South Africa's version of white trash hip hop-a bold, fearless expression of crazy stick a finger up your bum entertainment.

Before arriving at these culminating moments, the day progressed through a series of psychedelic and/or raunchy expressions. John Waters kicked things off with thoughts on crawling through pig poo, taking poppers, the pleasures of sploshing, and strange things he wants to do before he dies. Gossip's Beth Ditto hoped he was watching her blazing disco soul performance but was afraid to look backstage and see him smiling and waving at her. Gossip put on a set that inspired revelations on reality in the most self-empowering ways.

John Waters & Beth Ditto @ Coachella (this pics via Jermey Scott)

The day's best covers include Faith No More doing "Reunited" (they also covered Michael Jackson's "Ben"), Portugal, The Man's jamming Bowie's "Moonlight Daydream," and Girls' flawless "All I Have To Do Is Dream" by the Everly Brothers. The last was a most appropriate choice for the band with an Ariel Pink sensibility towards '50s ballads. MGMT brought the futuristic 1960s with songs from its new album. Many pointed out that the band didn't play "Kids", but that seems to miss the point that MGMT put on a pretty sophisticated, experimental live performance of the band's signature Indian headdress on Phil Spector Fraggle Rock sound.

The Raveonettes played as a duo and sans drum machine, adorably sharing a mic sometimes. The rest of the band remains trapped under lava in Iceland, figuratively speaking. Camera Obscura also shouted out bands stuck in the UK, dedicating "Let's Get Out Of This Country" to those who could not make it.

It seems almost every DJ this weekend has sampled Major Lazer's "Pon De Floor" except Flying Lotus, who took the stage all on his own (no Thom Yorke cameo included). After warming up the crowd with some first grade experimental hip hop, FlyLo brought out the big guns, sounds combined in layers and pitches that act like quaaludes on the light speed continuum. The Dirty Projectors girls evoked cool electronic birds and the Dezurik Sisters with their harmonizing powers. Beach House cooed the audience romantically as 50% of the band, Alex Scally, rubbed his slide up and down the frets.

Did that sound sexy? It's time to talk about sexy. The xx provided the mellow arousal Blonde Redhead and Portishead have given Coachella the last two years. People like The xx because they want sex that fits this soundtrack. They also want sex as excitingly goofy gross as Die Antwoord and to fall in love with a gal like Sia, all at the same time. Sia's beautiful voice closed the night in the Gobi tent, and though her accent rendered her side comments completely incomprehensible, everyone laughed and agreed with anything she said. On the other hand, as great and sexy as the Dead Weather sounded, I don't know if I want to bed someone who demands I treat her like my mother. Old Crow Medicine Show suggested letting a woman rule your mind leads to troubles during "Minglewood Blues." Instead, let her win your heart with country-fried dinner.

Faith No More's twelve-song set included a cameo by a semi-streaker who happened to be Coachella regular Danny Devito. You can see that happen in one of the videos below. Faith No More's whole setlist is down there too.

Porcupine Tree, Tokyo Police Club, Hot Chip, The Almighty Defenders, Les Claypool, Devo, and Muse were also on the bill Saturday. Our review, pictures and videos from Friday are HERE. Saturday continues below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2010 - Day Two in pics, video & review (Die Antwoord shots & Faith No More's setlist included)"

photos by Tim Griffin

MG& V @ the All House

MG&V, the new project of John McCauley (frontman of Deer Tick), Taylor Goldsmith (frontman of Dawes), and Matt Vasquez (frontman of Delta Spirit), made their debut (not counting a private performance they taped for IFC one day earlier) with a late-night set to a capacity crowd at Austin's Ale House on Friday, March 19th. Taylor's brother and bandmate Griffin played drums. Delta Spirit's Kelly Winrich played keys. Deer Tick family member Jonny Corndawg helped perform a song he also recorded and wrote with the group. As Duke Street Blog points out, "The set was filled with heartfelt Americana tunes, all featuring a healthy splash of CSN-like harmonies." Deer Tick actually played a set an hour earlier at Lucero's SXSW showcase at Red Eyed Fly (where they were joined by Nikki Darlin for a song). John ran right from show to show (as did Tim and I) (luckily we all saw Lucero earlier that same day). More pictures and a bunch of videos from both shows are below.

Their regular bands all made their fair share of appearances at SXSW this year too. Deer Tick (who played BV shows in 2009 and 2008) even had their own unofficial showcase this year at Threadgill's (with Cordawg, Those Darlins, Liz Isenberg, Chris Paddock and others on the bill). One of Dawes's shows was at the official BrooklynVegan showcase. Various videos from the week below.

Coming up, Deer Tick have a huge list of tour dates, which include shows with Those Darlins and run with Dr. Dog that makes a May 15th stop at Terminal 5.

Dawes's shows include opening for Josh Ritter at Town Hall on May 19th and a June tour with Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros.

Jonny Corndawg will play shows in April and June that include April 7th at Pianos, April 8th at Knitting Factory with Tim Barry, and June 11th with David Allan Coe. All dates below.

Last but not least, Delta Spirit have announced a run of tour dates set for June and July. They'll bring along Ezra Furman & the Harpoons and The Romany Rye for those. The three bands play Bowery Ballroom on June 30th and Music Hall of Williamsburg on July 1st. Tickets just went on sale.

Delta Spirit's new record, History From Below, is set to come out June 8th on Rounder Records.

"All we wanted to do is put the record together one song at a time," says Delta Spirit's singer/guitarist Matthew Vasquez about History From Below. "It's been three years of straight touring off our last record so most of the songs were written in hotel rooms and tested in front of an audience. We spent spent six months of this last year making a record that sums up three years of growing up."

Everything mentioned, pictures, videos & lots of tour dates, below...

Continue reading "MG&V debuted @ SXSW (pics & video), Delta Spirit releasing new album & touring (dates), Jonny Corndawg shows & more"

Newport Folk Festival 2009 (more by Jim Brueckner)

Newport Folk Festival will be happening again at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island, on July 31st and August 1st. The fest will also host a Friday night show on July 30th at the International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport Casino.

The lineup so far includes Levon Helm's Ramble on the Road, John Prine, Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers, Yim Yames of My Morning Jacket, The Swell Season, Andrew Bird, The Avett Brothers, Brandi Carlile, Doc Watson & David Holt, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Calexico, Blitzen Trapper, Richie Havens, Sam Bush, The Low Anthem, Tim O'Brien, The Felice Brothers, Justin Townes Earle, Tao Seeger Band, A.A. Bondy, The Punch Brothers with Chris Thile, Dawes, Nneka, Horse Feathers, Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three, Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore, Sarah Jarosz, Cory Chisel & the Wandering Sons, O'Death and Liz Longley.

Tickets are on sale.

Here are pictures from DAY ONE and DAY TWO of last year's fest. Videos from last year and the list of the artists playing this year, by day, is below...

Continue reading "Newport Folk Fest 2010 - initial lineup, dates & tickets "

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) "

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) "