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.
The great Bonnaroo music festival is this weekend, meaning that hipsters, stoners and lucky bastards who could afford the tickets will be headed to Tennessee for a weekend of aural (and possibly sexual?) bliss.
But someone (or thing) is also headed toward the festival. It’s a musical beast that, in years past, has battled music fans and taken a giant goddamn shit on the great genre that is metal. I speak, of course, of Metallica.
(BTW: did you hear their latest dick move? They invited bloggers to a listening party of their new album, and then demanded told them to remove the reviews of said album off their blogs. First thought: they have a new album?)
Some are worried that Metallica’s inclusion in the festival will ruin it (others say the festival, despite Metallica’s involvement, is already on the way out in terms of being “cool”).
I came across an article today that listed the five reasons why Metallica would doom Bonnaroo. And while it’s funny, the list does make some good points (It’s also rumored that the band is behind the high gas prices too).
So is Bonnaroo on the outs? And is it Metallica’s fault?
I think Bonnaroo has peaked. it’s about that time that someone comes along to gut it or burn it alive. As for Metallica, I don’t know what’s going on with that band. I lost interest after the Napster war and haven’t looked back since. Oh and when Jason Newsted left, there was no hope of me going back.
Ah summer time…what a fine season. The sleepy drone of lawnmowers filling the neighborhoods, diffusing the sweet smell of fresh-cut grass. Birds singing playfully. Bees dancing whimsically through their aimless choreography. Flowers vibrant, trees verdant. The nostalgic scent of chlorine and sunscreen. Long days, warm nights. And of course, that one thing that keeps summer in our heads all year long: outdoor music festivals.
This year, on a picture-perfect Memorial Day weekend, I kicked-off what promises to be a great summer of music at Philadelphia’s Jam on the River. As always, it was a great time. But there were a few differences from previous years, some for better and some for worse.
First, due to some kind of scheduling fiasco, the event had to be moved from the Great Plaza of Penn’s Landing to the Festival Pier. This was a shame. In fact, one of my favorite aspects of previous JOTR’s was the location. Picture standing on stadium-style steps looking past the stage out over the Delaware River, boats and jet skis skipping by. That’s the Great Plaza. It’s fairly small and there isn’t a bad viewing spot in the whole joint. There are fountains, shade trees and a gorgeous view of Camden (if there is such a thing) from across the river. It is a chill spot for a concert, and I missed it very much this year.
The Festival Pier, a much larger venue, was not bad, but it lacks the charm of the Great Plaza. With a giant stage, a circus-sized tent of vendors, and no view whatsoever, it’s a pretty lackluster scene.
Another striking difference this year was a rather weak line-up. Well, it wasn’t terrible, but there were only two acts I was really excited about: The Flaming Lips and the Disco Biscuits (more about them later.) I usually like to hit up both days of the festival, but this year I only felt the need to check out Saturday’s line-up.
Coachella, the 3-day festival where great bands play in the desert sun to a fun loving crowd and where I realized I missed my subway pass.
After a great day filled with the sounds of the National, Vampire Weekend the Raconteurs, the Verve, and Jack Johnson to name a few, it was time for me to go home.Home, being a friend’s parent’s place, was about a 30-minute bike ride.As we were cruising through the parking lot, passing cars left and right (lata suckas), all I could think of was the line up for the next day.It wasn’t until we got on to the main road that we discovered that the desert is not equipped with street lights and our bikes were not equipped with bike lights.
With no other way to get back to the house, we biked in the dead of night. My partner in crime was smartly camouflaged in black, invisible to passing cars.I on the other hand, was in a pale pink shirt, which could be seen at about 10 feet, which is just enough time for a driver to say “oh shit” right before hitting me.
I was certain that death was fast upon us.I nearly peed myself every time a car passed me.I would have taken the gusts of wind from passing cars any day over being blinded by on coming traffic.
With each pedal, a glimmer of hope passed through my head.We might actually make it back intact.Could this be true?I should have known better.
We turned the last corner and entered the main road that leads to her parent’s house.As we were getting closer to their gated community, I let my guard down.BIG MISTAKE.
Along the road, they have ground lights so drivers can see the various community names.These lights, however, are not so biker friendly because they blind you for about a second as you ride by.Which happened to me at the exact moment that my friend said “Oh no!” (Apparently a mini coop was pulling a U-turn on a side street, which was not in our close vicinity, and this somehow was a big deal).
Being blind, startled, and anxious from the entire bike ride, I slammed on the breaks…the front breaks.
I don’t remember flying through the air nor do I remember landing.I do remember and am reminded daily of being on the pavement on the street, my bike taunting me on the sidewalk and an intense pain coming from my chest and thigh.
Brushing myself off, I took inventory of my casualties, which rather disappointingly only consisted of a small scratch on my hand and a scrap on my arm.The pain coming from my chest and thigh had yet to turn black and blue.A lesser woman would have surely died.I am certain that I came out of the wreckage unscathed because there was a whole weekend of music to be heard.And I’m glad I made it.
Mimi will be back with more posts about her Coachella experience.
How are all these first-time festivals getting kick-ass performers? I tried to put a festival on in my backyard and all I got was a bum on a harmonica and my dad snoring in a lawn chair with a half-empty beer in his hand (somehow, it was a success).
We got news of the inaugural lineup of Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival being held in San Francisco’s historic Golden Gate Park on August 22 - 24, 2008.
But we literally lost our shit when we found out that RADIOHEAD was going to be there. Did you catch that? I said RADIOHEAD.
What’s that? Too indie rock for you and want the hip-hop? Little Brother and The Coup will be there too. I know. My pants are soiled too.
Tickets go on sale this Sunday, March 30, 2008, at 10am PST through www.SFOutsidelands.com.
If you’re on the East Coast and suck at math, the time is 1pm for you.
The rest of the initial lineup is after the jump. The festival claims there will be a total of 60 acts on five stages. Happy Hunting…and screw you if you live on the West Coast.
All those mentioned above, plus a multitude more, will be at the very first Pemberton Festival, located in Pemberton in British Columbia, an area most-known for Whistler Mountain and drunken donkeys roaming the streets (maybe not the last one).
It’s being put on by Live Nation, which explains why they got so many names involved with the inaugural show that include Coldplay, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Flaming Lips and My Morning Jacket (entire lineup after the jump).
It’s also the first “European-style festival” that Live Nation has put together from scratch, which means I expect it to be pretentious and exclusive in the coming years.
Not familiar with Canada? Find Vancouver (it’s north of Seattle) and drive north. If you end up in the middle of nothingness, you’ve gone too far.
Are you dance-floor shy? Embarrassed to shake what your mother gave you? Can’t bear to attend a Justice show to match moves with the hipster masses? Shout Out Out Out Out wants you to get over it, and, dance gods help you, you will.
I saw these Canucks play in Montreal nearly a year ago to an audience of maybe a dozen (and I’m being generous here), but they played with the energy of a capacity-violating–packed arena. Their hyperkinetic beats stave off any rhythm-induced fears, because you will not be able to resist shaking your ass to no avail. They’ve got a slot at this year’s SXSW, so if you’re heading out out out out out to Austin, they will embrace your most shameful dance moves.
Check them out on Thursday, March 13, 11:30pm at Beauty Bar Backyard (617 E 7th Street)
(From Eddie: Expect more SXSW people that we know posts as we get closer and closer to SXSW!)
Friends, there’s still SXSW hope out there. According to Austin360.com, there are still wristbands available to the festival.
If you didn’t hear, there was a lottery for local Austinites to get these wristbands that would allow them into some shows (they went for $130, so they aren’t as good as the badge). This was also a way to cut out ticket brokers so that “real fans” could get to the shows.
About 4,000 were alloted for the lottery and only 3,500 were sold. This means that a couple of days before the festival starts, out-of-towners may be able to snag some of these (the price will be upped to $180.
I’m psyched. After two weeks talking extensively about SXSW, here comes Coachella, yet another awesome music festival that I can’t afford to go to. And if you happen to be going to both, you are the bane of my existence.
Don’t know the difference between the two? SXSW is a monster that drowns music fans with an obscene amount of bands that no one will be able to see. It’s an exercise in endurance, stamina and will. Only the strong survive and the weak are left to rot in Texas.
Coachella is a somewhat easier to take (and a hell of a lot cheaper than the obscene $600 music pass for SXSW) and, unlike the random bands you may see at SXSW, these are somewhat more established indie acts that you’ve been reading about in blogs or from your hipster neighbor that constantly leaves his fridge door open
Real quick, here’s who I’m excited to not see live in the California sun (oh I’m not bitter. Not at all. No no). The entire list of bands is after the jump.
*Oh, and tickets go on sale THIS FRIDAY (Jan. 25) at 10 PST (that’s 1pm EST) through Ticketmaster or by phone. Get’m quick.
Jens Lekman: I’ve been told by Iverson, another 52 Shows writer (who actualy hasn’t written anything yet because he’s too busy getting trashed on a regular basis), that Lekman released one of the best albums last year. And, despite his piss-poor work ethic, Iverson is usually pretty good with music.
Vampire Weekend: I wonder if I’ll still like them three months from now…
Datarock: If robots could fuck, they would fuck to the sounds of this Norwegian band.
M.I.A.: Did you pick up Kala? Oh, you did and can’t understand her? Check the lyrics and you’ll feel better.
Little Brother: This hip-hop group from North Carolina began as a trio with producer 9th Wonder, who has since quit. I’m not sure how the guys are doing without him…
MGMT: You will absolutely love this poppy surf rock music for a good couple of months…then corporate America will get a hold of “Time to Pretend” and you will loathe it. Enjoy them while you can.
The Bird and the Bee: I’m only basing this on the free iTunes single I got from them during Christmas. It was a creepy, sort of forlorn version of holiday music and it fit my mood at the time. That and I can’t help having a penchant for indie rock chic handling the vocals.
The Streets: One of the bigger groups here, but I’ve never seen Skinner live and from what I’ve read, he turns every concert into a drunkfest. And what’s going on with his cover of Elton John’s “Your Song” on his Myspace page?
Metric: We got their live DVD that is being released in February. Yea yea, I’m getting around to checking it out. Get off my back.
Holy Fuck: Quite possibiy the best name for a band ever. It’s electronic music, but do you even care? I want a t-shirt dammit!
Black Kids: Another band that was touted on many a music blog. Worth your time, if you’re into a subdued, melodic sound.
Man Man: They are real, they are from Philly, and they play indie circus music. Enjoy.
We like to keep things fresh at 52 Shows. Concert reviews normally go up within a week of the show. But it’s taken my brain a few weeks to process the events that I witnessed at a stop of Cake’s Unlimited Sunshine Tour music festival in New Jersey last month.
The night involved:
a high school auditorium
a tuba fueled sexy asshole
a little person dancing hand-in-hand on stage with an elderly man
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? Oh, you did and can’t understand her? 
