photos by Debi Del Grande

...When Rage Against the Machine lead singer-provocateur Zack de la Rocha stood before 60,000 people, raised his fist, barked out wicked smart, superbly flowed calls to action, pointed out the disparity between rich and poor, spit venom at the billionaires and wondered on their power, the sense of no future that has ignited unrest throughout the world in 2011 felt shockingly, palpably present.

...Throughout the hour-and-15-minute set, Rage pulled its weight, proved itself to be one of the only rock bands on Earth able to captivate such a large space. Its conquest was so assured, in fact, that it jumped back in time to render an earlier set moot....

Though singer-guitarist-pianist Matthew Bellamy knows his way around a riff -- he quoted Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, the Animals and others during breaks between songs -- [Muse] makes form-over-function rock, these architecturally grandiose musical structures that are as perfectly crafted as they are grooveless. Muse's fan base no doubt disagrees; The thousands sang along to every lyrical cliché and gymnastic bridge, followed the band down every meandering path; when huge balloons were floated out into the crowd as the band meandered on, they bounced throughout the Coliseum until they exploded and dropped confetti.
-[Pop & Hiss]

The L.A. Rising Festival, which took place on July 30th in Los Angeles at the LA Memorial Coliseum, was organized by the Rage Against The Machine crew. The nine-hour festival featured the band's first appearance in Los Angeles in ten years, as well as sets from Muse, Rise Against, Immortal Technique, El Gran Silencio, and Lauryn Hill, who welcomed her sixth child just last week(!). More pictures from the LA event are below.

Continue reading "L.A. Rising in pics (Rage Against the Machine, Lauryn Hill, Muse, Immortal Technique & more)"

Bad Religion at Irving Plaza (more by Keith Marlowe)

Rise Against will join up with Bad Religion and Four Year Strong for a full US tour in April, making their way to the East Coast by early May. The trio will play a pair of NYC dates at Terminal 5 on May 5th & May 6th, and tickets go on AMEX presale Wednesday at 11AM and regular sale 48 hours later.

Rise Against will tour South America in late February spend the day of the release of their new LP, Endgame (due on 3/15), in Belgium. All tour dates and some videos below.

Continue reading "Rise Against, Bad Religion & Four Year Strong touring (dates)"

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)"

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) "

photos by Paul Birman

Maynard

"First came the rain on Friday, then the heat on Saturday. But Lollapalooza breeds a hearty stock, so with slip 'n slides, togas and giant Chinese peasant hats in tow, out came the 70,000-plus for another day of music that was capped by fill-in headliners the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and doomy metal icons Tool.

Taking the place of the Beastie Boys, who had to drop out several weeks ago due to MC Adam Yauch's bout with cancer of the salivary gland, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs brought their always-colorful A-game, led, as usual, by fashion-forward singer Karen O, who took the stage in a kaleidoscopic, towering bird costume. Down on the south end, things couldn't have looked and sounded any more different, as Tool singer Maynard James Keenan stripped down to a pair of black workout shorts and moaned the lyrics to his band's turgid D&D metal as giant H.R. Giger-like images of giant bugs and morphing aliens were projected on the big screens." [MTV]

No that isn't an All Points West review. More pictures from the second day of this year's Lollapalooza festival, below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2009 - Day 2 in Pictures"

"Though promoters around the country report strong early ticket sales for festivals and summer tours, the recession is causing jitters. This year Coachella, which has the most glamorous reputation of all American festivals, began selling tickets on layaway, and 18 percent of its customers took that option, Mr. Tollett said.

The proliferation of big festivals, like Bonnaroo near Nashville and Lollapalooza in Chicago, has not been without casualties. This year Langerado in Miami shut down, citing the economy. The Pemberton Festival in British Columbia is on hiatus after only one year, although its promoter, Live Nation, said the problem was permit delays." [NY Times]

With all the leaks of bands playing Lollapalooza this year, there are almost no surprises in the official lineup announcement, except maybe the Animal Collective DJ set... The whole thing below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2009 - the official & complete lineup"