Firefly 2012 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

It's been crazy both in and not-in the NYC-area for festivals this past week. NYC was taken over by a very muddy Governors Ball last weekend (6/7-9), and this past weekend (6/14-16), while almost every Brooklyn venue took part in the Northside Festival, Toronto was hosting NXNE and Tennessee had Bonnaroo to name the ones we were most focused on. That's all behind us now, but those who are into festivals still have much more to look forward to this summer including another big one on the east coast this weekend.

This coming weekend, Friday, June 21-Sunday, June 23, the Firefly Music Festival is returning to Dover, Delaware's Dover International Speedway, which is only about a 3 hour drive (directions) from NYC. The festival debuted last year, and like Governors Ball, they've upped their game a bit this year. There will be a bunch of great bands across four main stages, like:

On Friday, there's sets by Django Django, Dr. Dog, Action Bronson, Foxygen, Public Enemy, Grizzly Bear, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Earl Sweatshirt (who was added to the lineup in May) and more. And besides RHCP vs Earl (who start 15 minutes apart), the conflicts that day aren't too bad.

On Saturday, there's sets by Japandroids, Jim James (who replaced Imagine Dragons, so bonus points for that), Kendrick Lamar, Alabama Shakes vs Lord Huron at 5 PM, then CHVRCHES vs Edward Sharpe, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, MGMT vs Azealia Banks, and finally Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will headline the day, plus still more.

And on the festival's final day, Sunday, you can catch Haim, Matt & Kim, Toro y Moi, Passion Pit vs The Walkmen both going on at 6:30, Vampire Weekend, and more. Plus, if you need to leave early to get home from work on Monday, you can leave before Foster the People's headlining set. Two birds, huh?

And in addition to the main stages, there's some smaller side stuff too, like the Red Bull Sound Select Hub Stage which features bands who have joined the Red Bull Sound Select Program. We aren't familiar with all the bands playing that one, but we suggest you stop by Saturday for NYC's Heliotropes (who, by the way, are playing a record release show in NYC on 6/18, and streaming their new record). The Skins and Oxymorrons are both on that stage too, both NYC bands who we caught when they played the Afropunk-curated RBSS show at Knitting Factory with Danny Brown.

There's also the Coffee House Stage with other smaller acts including The Spinto Band, Jenny Owens Young, Pearl & the Beard, Hey Marseilles, Selah Sue, Trails & Ways, and many more.

Last but not least, in addition to just being there as fans and covering the festival, BrooklynVegan will be producing two hours of entertainment from 1-3pm each day inside the Soundwave tent, presented by Toyota and Spinmedia, and hosted by musician & BV contributor Billy Jones. Take a look at the festival map - our stage is toward the top left next to St. Jude.

Hosted overall by one of our favorite comedians, Dave Hill, the Soundwave stage will also feature programming by SPIN (5-7 each day) and Hype Machine (3-5 each day) in addition to the BrooklynVegan stuff (1-3 each day). Stay tuned for our full stage schedule, but get there on Friday at 1pm for a live interview with Django Django and look forward to a second performance by and audience Q & A with Amanda Palmer on Sunday at 2pm. More details soon!

Meanwhile, check out the full main stages Firefly lineup and schedule at Firefly's website where you'll also find much more info if you're attending, like the festival map which is also below...

Continue reading "Firefly Fest is in Delaware this weekend (schedule, map, BrooklynVegan Soundwave, other side stages & more)"

Lollapalooza 2012 (more by James Richards IV)

After it was already confirmed that Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, The Postal Service, The National, The Killers, and Mumford and Sons were playing Lollapalooza 2013, a pretty promising leak came which appeared to potentially reveal the rest of the lineup, and it turns out that leak was real.

In addition to the previously mentioned artists, Lollapalooza will include Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Kendrick Lamar, Grizzly Bear, The Cure, New Order, Baroness, Beach House, Cat Power, Death Grips, Jessie Ware, Father John Misty, DIIV, Wavves, Alt-J, Hot Chip, Disclosure, Baauer, Palma Violets, Angel Haze, Band of Horses, Crystal Castles and many others.

Lollapalooza goes down in Chicago from August 2 - 4 in Grant Park. Single day passes go on sale Wednesday (4/3) at 10 AM.

Full day-by-day lineup below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2013 lineup announced (Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, Postal Service, Cure, New Order, Kendrick Lamar & more)"

Osheaga Festival is returning to Montreal's Parc Jean-Drapeau from August 2-4. This year's lineup includes The Cure, Mumford and Sons, Phoenix, New Order, Vampire Weekend, Kendrick Lamar, Hot Chip, Alt-J, Beach House, Explosions in the Sky, Big Boi, Baauer, Father John Misty, Disclosure, Frightened Rabbit, Angel Haze, Jessie Ware, DIIV, Guards, and many more.

3-Day passes go on sale Friday (3/15) at noon. There are still over 20 artists TBA, but you can browse the complete initial lineup below...

Continue reading "Osheaga Festival 2013 lineup & tickets (The Cure, Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, Kendrick Lamar, New Order and more)"

Firefly Music Festival 2012 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

Dover, DE festival Firefly Music Festival had a great first year in July of 2012, and afterwards immediately announced it'd return in 2013. The 2013 festival happens from June 21 - 23 at the Dover International Speedway, and the lineup was just announced. It includes Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Passion Pit, Kendrick Lamar, MGMT, Grizzly Bear, Japandroids, The Walkmen, Django Django, Public Enemy, CHVRCHES, Amanda Palmer, Foxygen, Alabama Shakes, Toro y Moi, Dan Deacon, Action Bronson, The Avett Brothers, and more; and the headliners are Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Vampire Weekend, and Foster the People. The full lineup is below and you can watch the announcement video at their website. TIckets go on general sale Thursday (2/21).

Firefly happens a couple weeks after NYC festival Governors Ball, which has some lineup similarities (Kendrick Lamar, Grizzly Bear, Japandroids, Avett Brothers, etc). That one goes down on Randall's Island from June 7 - 9 and tickets are still available.

Firefly lineup below...

Continue reading "Firefly Music Festival announces 2013 lineup (Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Passion Pit, Kendrick Lamar, MGMT, Grizzly Bear, Japandroids, Tom Petty, RHCP & more)"

photos by Robert Altman

Ellie Goulding @ T5, 1/21/2013

VICE: What are you doing differently from the Lights Tour with the Halcyon Days Tour?

Ellie Goulding: It's way more "live." There's hardly anything on track anymore. Not that there really was before, but everything is like live now. Everything is live and everything is the right kind of sound, but it's also something visual. I wanted there to be a proper band as well for the performances. The smallest things amuse me, like the fact that Simon plays bass and there will be this trigger where the string reverberates and you can make that really cool dubby "womp womp" sound. I can't really describe it, but it's a really cool sound. And I'm doing a bit more with my voice and stuff. I'm adding "Hanging On," which I've never done before. It's just going to be way more happening. It's a bit more of a show than before.

Have you added anything strange to your tour rider?

No, just healthy stuff. I'm really boring; I should say something strange

Rising UK dancepop singer Ellie Goulding just wrapped up her two-night stint at Terminal 5 with St. Lucia opening. We've got pics from the first night (1/21) in this post. Did you go to one of the shows? How was it? While here, Ellie woke up early to appear on ABC's Good Morning America on Tuesday (1/22), performing her hit "Anything Could Happen." You can watch that, along with more pictures, below...

Continue reading "Ellie Goulding played 2 nights at Terminal 5 w/ St. Lucia (pics)"

The January 21 NYC show sold out at noon today, so they added one happening January 22 at the same venue, and it's on sale now.

Ellie's new dance pop album "Halcyon" is out now and streaming on Spotify. An updated set of 2013 tour dates is below...

Continue reading "Ellie Goulding adds 2nd Terminal 5 show (updated dates)"

As we mentioned earlier today, Tickets to see The Rolling Stones at Prudential Center go on sale at noon today. The band played an intimate warm up show in Paris last night.

Tickets to see Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert at Wellmont Theatre go on sale at noon today, as Klaus also just mentioned.

Tickets to see A$AP Mob and A-Trak at Best Buy Theatre go on sale at noon today.

Tickets to see Local Natives at Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs at Webster Hall go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see TNGHT at Music Hall of Williamsburg go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see The Wedding Present do George Best at Bowery Ballroom go on sale at noon today.

Tickets to see Jane's Addiction at Terminal 5 and their NYE show at House of Blues in Atlantic City go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see Father John Misty at Webster Hall go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see Mission of Burma at Bowery Ballroom go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see David Bazan Band Plays Pedro The Lion's Control at Mercury Lounge go on sale at noon today.

Kishi Bashi plays Bowery Ballroom on February 8 and tickets to that show go on sale at noon today.

Tickets to see Sky Ferriera at Mercury Lounge go on sale today at noon, as do tickets for her Glasslands show.

Tickets to see Andrew Bird's just-added second "Gezelligheid" show at Riverside Church are on sale via Ticketmaster at noon.

Tickets to see Toro Y Moi at Webster Hall are available via Ticketmaster today at noon.

Ellie Goulding plays Terminal 5 on January 21 and tickets to that show go on sale at noon today.

VHS or Beta are going on a free tour which hits NYC on November 30 at Mercury Lounge with Linfinity and Ballroom Jacks. RSVP is open.

(via)

Michael Bolton, who seems to have a good sense of humor about his crappy music, will star as himself in new sitcom Michael Bolton's Daughter Is Destroying My Life according to Deadline. Look for the new sitcom on ABC next year.

Black Sabbath (sans Bill Ward) are finally going to do that album with producer Rick Rubin.

Gothamist wonders aloud if Barclays Center might have a racist metal detector policy (via an article in the NY Post).

I swear the BrooklynVegan not-CMJ day party lineups are coming very soon, though we've already revealed that we've got METZ, Deap Vally and Murals.

The 2012 edition of Austin City Limits, which is switching to two weeks next year, went down over the weekend (sans The Weeknd). Check out our photos from Day Two and Day One. Day Three on the way.

Speaking of the trend of having your festival two weekends in a row now, Ultra Music Festival announced they're doing it too.

Jon Carmanica at the NY Times talks about dance stars evolving to pop fame.

The same issue of the NY Times profiles Ellie Goulding who is dating pop fame dance star Skrillex (who she was hanging out with at Pianos the other night).

Adele's "Someone Like You" has topped another chart: most popular songs at funerals.

The Nick Waterhouse and Allah-Las tour hit Chicago last week. We got pictures.

Speaking of pictures, in NY we recently captured the butt shaking going on at Bowery for Nicky Da B, Flying Lotus and then SBTRKT at Terminal 5, Public Image LTD at both MHOW and Hammerstein, Menomena at Bowery (MHOW on the way), Revelation Records Anniversary Night Two (three and four on the way), and Morrissey not once, not twice, but thrice.

And oh yeah, don't forget the New York Comic Con shots.

Stream Divine Fits' appearance on NPR's World Cafe from earlier today.

Xbox's iTunes-esque new music service debuts tomorrow. Surprise: you're going to have to update your firmware to use it.

Kitty Pride, who plays CMJ this week, hates fellow redhead Tori Amos. For weird reasons.

More stuff below...

Continue reading "ALSO: Michael Bolton's sitcom; Adele tops new chart; ACL, Black Sabbath, PS 22 does Tame Impala, Madonna stripped ++ more"

The MTK: Music To Know Festival planned for Saturday - Sunday, August 13 - 14, in East Hampton, New York, is cancelled. A statement is as follows:

"It is with heavy, heavy heart that we regret to inform you that the inaugural MTK: Music To Know Festival in East Hampton will not take place. Despite our unique vision and arranging a world-class line-up, ticket sales were not adequate to allow the event to continue. We wanted to let everyone know now before engaging more deeply.

Along with our ticket holders, vendors, sponsors, business associates, colleagues and friends in the community, we too are filled with deep disappointment. We pledge to endure during this difficult time with the same integrity and professionalism displayed throughout the creation of this event.

Ticket holders should check www.musictoknow.com next week for more information.

Strangely Escape to NY, the other new Hamptons music festival, is going on as planned as we speak. Patti Smith and Best Coast played it last night.

The MTK Fest's lineup included Vampire Weekend, Chromeo, Dawes, Bright Eyes, M Ward, Ra Ra Riot, Fitz and the Tantrums, Matt and Kim and more.

Truck America, another NY Festival, was cancelled last week (though no official announcement has been made about that yet).

As mentioned, Music to Know Fest makes its debut in East Hampton, NY over the weekend of August 13-14, and features artists such as Vampire Weekend, Bright Eyes, Matt & Kim, Ra Ra Riot, Dawes, and others. Set times have been announced for the festival, which you can check out below.

MTK, not to be confused with Escape to NY, have also teamed up with MTA Long Island Railroad (LIRR) to add an official westbound train for concertgoers:

The train, departing from the LIRR East Hampton station at 10:56 PM, is aptly timed to ensure concert goers will have sufficient time to enjoy the day's line-up and festivities and will be making all the local stops on Long Island into Brooklyn and Manhattan.

For more fun, you can download the official MTK 2011 App for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad at the iTunes app store. The fest also features fashion tents. According to a press release:

The fashion pop-up tents will be set up in a "retail village" and the merchants are anything but your average festival brands. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were first to purchase pop-ups from MTK: Music To Know - planning to debut their much-anticipated website StyleMint and their successful contemporary line Elizabeth & James to the crowd of almost 10,000 people gathered at the event in the Hamptons during the height of the season.

Hmmm... Tickets for the festival are still available. Set times and a list of the clothing brands that will be on display at the fest below...

Continue reading "East Hampton MTK Fest announces set times, a special LIRR train,... Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen..."

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"