New American Music Union, Pittsburgh, PA
July 2nd, 2008 - by Che Steadman
Summer is the time for music festivals. Bonnaroo, Coachella, SXSW and others have earned reputations as the places to be for summer music. They collect quality live music into one place and have rightfully gained huge popularity.
The new kid on the block is the New American Music Union festival. The festival just happens to be in my hometown, Pittsburgh, PA. It’s sponsored by American Eagle Outfitters, a Pittsburgh-based clothing company, and “curated” by Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
NAMU will be held over two days, August 8 and 9, at Pittsburgh’s SouthSide Works. The lineup features Bob Dylan, The Raconteurs, Gnarls Barkley, The Roots, Spoon, The Black Keys, Black Mountain, The Duke Spirit, NASA and Tiny Masters of Today on the main stage.
If someone asked me to put together my dream festival lineup, it would have looked almost exactly like this. Add to this the fact that tickets for both days of the festival plus a t-shirt are $25 for students ($49.50 for general admission) and I’m left wondering if I’m in Heaven.
The legendary Bob Dylan is worth $25 by himself, and even the $50 general admission tickets are a bargain with so many great acts on the bill. The Duke Spirit (Great Britain), Black Mountain (Canada) and NASA (Sweden) aren’t technically from the United States, calling the festival’s name into question, but I’m not complaining.
The festival will also feature a second stage where the country’s top college bands will be competing for a chance to record in a Los Angeles studio. Those bands are Bears (Kent State University), Flying Machines (The New School), Gospel Gossip (Carleton College), Magic Bullets (College of San Mateo), Math the Band (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth), My Dear Disco (University of Michigan), Nothing Unexpected (Robert Morris University), The Black Fortys (University of Southern Illinois), The Company Kang (Whitman College), The Delicious (Indiana University), The Depreciation Guild (New York University), The Elizabethan Report (Brigham Young University), The French Horn Rebellion (Northwestern University), The Royal Bangs (University of Tennessee) and The Steps (University of Texas Austin).
Pittsburgh has recently been passed over by quite a few major tours, so this festival is a good change of pace. Several huge names are coming to the city for a one-shot concert and putting Pittsburgh back on the musical map.
August 10th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
NASA is from LA, not sweden
August 11th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Ah yea. There is a band called NASA from Sweden.
December 31st, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Much love – much love for this. Makes me think about my man Mickey Factz who’s raps is off da hook!
January 25th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Just want to say your article is striking. The clarity in your post is simply striking and i can take for granted you are an expert on this subject. Well with your permission allow me to grab your rss feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please keep up the ac complished work. Excuse my poor English. English is not my mother tongue.
March 22nd, 2010 at 6:49 am
I was looking for some travel articles, this was helpful
May 5th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
I still don’t feel the affects on the web… real life – 100% affected
January 10th, 2011 at 9:34 am
Love it, but I wish this was easier to find. Took me like 32 mins to find on Altavista – otherwise, top notch!
May 17th, 2011 at 12:59 am
Outstanding post, you have pointed out some great details, I also think this is a very wonderful website.
July 12th, 2011 at 6:55 pm
Its like you learn my thoughts! You seem to grasp a lot approximately this, like you wrote the e-book in it or something. I believe that you can do with a few % to power the message house a little bit, however instead of that, this is magnificent blog. A fantastic read. I’ll certainly be back.
July 14th, 2011 at 12:00 am
This post is amazing, its probably something to do with my computer but for some reason i can’t access your blog on explorer, this is why i used another browser.
November 10th, 2011 at 8:16 pm
Thank you for all of the effort on this blog
December 6th, 2011 at 7:45 am
Hey, maybe this is a bit offf topic but in any case, I have been surfing about your blog and it looks really neat. impassioned about your writing. I am creating a new blog and hard-pressed to make it appear great, and supply excellent articles. I have discovered a lot on your site and I look forward to additional updates and will be back.
December 16th, 2011 at 6:25 am
cheap tiffanycheap tiffany jewelrytiffany silver jewelry