Dry the River @ Lincoln Hall recently (more by Sarah Frankie Linder)

Nitsuh Abebe recently published an article in NY Magazine called "The Indie-Folk Crossover: Commercials for Our Selves in a Hunger Games World" which discusses all the popularity bands like Mumford & Sons, The Head & The Heart and Of Monsters & Men are having...

There's a whole clutch of indie-folk guitar bands, up-and-comers and major-label crossovers alike, who enjoy dressing as if they just stepped out from among the coal miners of Hunger Games' District 12 and prefer hardscrabble tales of personal determination to gothic glitter. There are hugely successful Grammy favorites like Mumford & Sons and Arcade Fire; jaunty American acts like Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros; whole slews of whispery guitar-pluckers with ampersands in their names, from the Head & the Heart to Boy & Bear; and baroque Brits like Dry the River and Fanfarlo. Somewhere at the center of them is a form of polished, triumphal, suspender-friendly indie-folk that is, for the moment, enjoying a surprising amount of commercial success...

Continue reading "Indie-folk enjoying commercial success... (Dry the River announce May tour)"

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"

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)"

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 "

Memorial Day Weekend officially opened the summer, and for those in the Pacific Northwest it also brought Sasquatch Music Festival (pictures from all three days are coming soon). Now the lineup for its Labor Day cousin, Bumbershoot 2010, has been announced. That fest, happening at Seattle, WA's Seattle Center September 4th-6th, will include headliners Bob Dylan, Mary J. Blige, Weezer, Hole, Rise Against, Neko Case, The Decemberists, J. Cole and "one more very special guest to be announced soon."

Tickets (including non-Mainstage 'economy' passes) are on sale now. The rest of the lineup (by day) for the seven-stage festival is posted below...

Continue reading "Bumbershoot 2010 lineup (Bob Dylan... Hole... Mary J Blige)"

ACL 2008 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

October 8-10, 2010 | Zilker Park, Austin, TX

"The Austin City Limits Music Festival began as a modest, two-day event and now, as it enters it's 9th year, has become a perennial American music experience. Taking place at the heart of Austin, Texas in the legendary Zilker Park, ACL Festival has grown to 3 days, 8 stages and over 130 bands."

Continue reading "Austin City Limits announces 2010 festival lineup (Eagles, Muse, Phish, Strokes, MIA, LCD, Spoon, Gayngs, more) "

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.

Grace Potter & The Nocturnals @ Rockwood in April (more by Chris La Putt)

XPoNential Music Festival will take place over three days, July 16th-18th in the waterfront Wiggins Park in Camden, NJ. The lineup includes Rosanne Cash, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, The Walkmen, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes, Free Energy, Nicole Atkins and Dawes. Tickets and three-day passes are on sale now.

The current lineup as of now (more are TBA) and more info are posted below...

Continue reading "XPoNential Music Festival in Camden - 2010 lineup & 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.

"The 2010 Lollapalooza line-up is official: Soundgarden, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, and Phoenix will headline, joined by Social Distortion, MGMT, Jimmy Cliff, Hot Chip, and The Black Keys. With 130 bands on this year's bill, its sure to be a weekend long feast for the ears.

It's a monumental year for Lollapalooza, filled with homecomings, reunions, and first-times. Soundgarden, 1992 and 1996 Lollapalooza alumni, return to the Lollapalooza stage for their first performance since 1997. Green Day will rock Grant Park sixteen years after their first Lollapalooza appearance. While Lady Gaga will headline the festival only three short years after playing the BMI stage at Lollapalooza 2007.

Arcade Fire returns to Grant Park, having played the reincarnated Lollapalooza in 2005. This is the first Lollapalooza for The Strokes - and also their first show in four years. And making their Lollapalooza debut: Phoenix." - Lollapalooza

Continue reading "Lollapalooza actually announces 2010 lineup "