Bonnaroo 2008 Sunday (Day 4 And Wrap-Up): We 'Roo Victoriously

After only a few hours of sleep in the hot sun in my van, I was exhausted both in body and spirit. But no matter how much heat, how many beers, how little sleep, or how bad my body aches, there is no slowing down at a party this serious. So it was time to finish this thing with a win.

I barely made it in time to see Broken Social Scene's first set at the Sonic Stage. They did three songs from You Forgot It In People and their pro-Obama rally song in both pro- and anti-bong forms. You can download the show here.



After that we headed to The Other Tent to see Ladytron. I had very little familiarity with this band prior to seeing them, but I thought they were pretty cool. This is definitely not a style of music I could get into deep, but very much something worth seeing.



Most of that set, the downtime in between sets, and Aimee Mann's following set I spent laying down in the shade of the tent trying to gather my energy for the last surge of the weekend. Aimee Mann's set was good for resting, but not really anything to get excited about. By the end, I gathered enough strength to run by the Troo Music Lounge and see some of Rotary Downs. We had tried to catch this New Orleans indie outfit at Voodoo Fest last year before being delayed by getting kicked out of our place, so I made sure not to miss them this time. It was well worth the effort as they were really good. Sort of in the Neutral Milk Hotel vein of sound but a flavour all its own.







After that it was time for Broken Social Scene's full set. As others around here have already talked about it, I won't go on at length, but it was the highlight of the day for me. These guys kick ass.





I went by and caught a little bit of Death Cab after BSS and thought that was really cool too, but with the end of their set, the music of the weekend was over for me since I didn't plan on withstanding WSP. The final day of a festival is always a weird thing to me because I can never shake the depressing feeling that the weekend of fun is just about done. I stuck around Bonnaroo for the final night to hang out at camp and get crunk, but everyone was tired and those who stuck around didn't stay awake long, including myself. A few jagerbombs and some cocktails and my seventh Bonnaroo was now just a notch on my belt.



Overall the festival had more than 70,000 attendees, but was not a sellout this year. I felt like the crowd was noticeably smaller than previous years. The folks there were also a very different breed than previous years. It felt like the majority of folks attending the fest were not from the diehard fest-following jamband wooks that used to populate the festival, and not really the music-centric indie kids that flooded this place two years ago when Radiohead stopped by, but rather normal, average sort of people that were coming to enjoy a big popular music festival. The campground scene was very calm and almost quiet late night compared to times of the past. I'm sure this experience would vary depending on who your neighbors were, but I think as a whole, chaos was at a relative minimum. That's not to say there wasn't craziness abounding. The party favour scene seemed as potent as ever, despite starting out slow on Thursday. The phrase "Who's got my headies?" was a rallying battle-cry for the weekend.

For me personally I feel like this year would rank somewhere in the middle of my Bonnaroo experiences. Musically, I felt like I was catching more stuff I really enjoyed than average. Attending the festival for the first time as press also helped provide some new, enjoyable experiences for myself. I probably spent the least amount of time partying at the campsite ever, though, which is always one of the things that make a festival like this standout above others, but that's mostly because there were so many good shows to catch. Anyways, I achieved grand heights of intoxication inside the festival area (like when I was shouting "Bjork is my third favourite member of Sigur Ros" to annoyed kids before the show).

Things we learned this year: Kanye West doesn't care about 'roo people. Despite all of the truly epic sets from the weekend, and even Kanye's own explanation, Bonnaroo 2008 will probably always be remembered most by the "Fuck Kanye West" theme. While Bonnaroo has shoved Widespread Panic down our throats way too much, It's hard not to argue that My Morning Jacket is the band that probably represents this festival more than any, and despite so many other triumphant sets at this festival, they seemed to have outdone themselves again. Many have referred to this year's incarnation as "Obamaroo" due to the heavy political references made across the board from artists like Pearl Jam, BSS, Chris Rock, Willie Nelson and others, but honestly I felt like Coachella in 2004 was much more overtly an anti-Bush rally than this one. While all of the mainstream media outlets have created a mirage making it seem that Metallica had some amazing show, I think it will be a forgettable blip in the 'roo history in a couple of years. What was more interesting to me is how that crowd experiment turned out. There was no excessive violence or bad vibes from this crew as some had worried, but the crowd was heavy in "Brosefs" and there seemed to be a bit of magic missing because of this. But the right line-up next year could easily repair the vibe, and I'm eager to see what that will look like (Phish reunion rumours are already gaining legs again).

One thing is for sure, though, regardless of what you think about Bonnaroo being "too maintream" or whatever, it is still a perfect reflection of what it going on in the world of music. Kids these days are listening to things across genres and this crowd and line-up represented this trend to the fullest. People are no longer identifying with one style or one sound anymore. While I didn't like Metallica being on the bill for my own personal enjoyment reasons, Bonnaroo including them, Mastodon, and The Sword was somewhat visionary as I would cite that Metal is probably the only scene right now that is still vibrant and wholly outside of the indie music revolution. Even Pitchfork is just starting to pay attention to that scene and "The Borg" that independent music has become is ready to swallow it up too. In every way, what was once considered underground music is now popular and while many will backlash against that trend, I see it as victory and Bonnaroo as its greatest celebration.

Largehearted Boy has kept track of all Bonnaroo 2008 streams and downloads.

Torrent of the Day: My Morning Jacket - Bonnaroo 2008

One of the biggest surprises of Bonnaroo for me was My Morning Jacket. I have enjoyed their last two albums “Z” and “Evil Urges”. However, I certainly wasn’t aware of what a staggering live show these guys can put on. With the help of saxophonist Jeff Coffin, the Nashville Horns, and Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, My Morning Jacket put on a nearly four hour long party. The band played a majority of the songs from their last two albums and a couple songs from their older albums. They also spiced things up a bit with a diverse sprinkling of covers from Sly & the Family Stone, Funkadelic, Erykah Badu, Kool and the Gang, Bobby Womack & Peace, and Velvet Underground. They closed out their late night set covering Mötley Crüe’s “Home Sweet Home” with comedian Zach Galifianakis dressed as little orphan Annie. Enjoy.



My Morning Jacket – Live at Bonnaroo 2008 (FLAC)

Set list:
Evil Urges
Off the Record
Gideon
Hot Fun(Sly & the Family Stone) with Jeff Coffin on saxophone and the Nashville/Louisville Horns
Highly Suspicious
What a Wonderful Man
I'm Amazed
Thank You Too
Touch Me Pt 1
Sec Walkin
Golden
Two Halves
Laylow
Hit it and Quit it(Funkadelic)
Tyrone(Erykah Badu)
Steam Engine
Anytime
Aluminum Park
Easy Morning Rebel with Jeff Coffin and the Nashville/Louisville Horns
Dancefloors with Jeff Coffin and the Nashville/Louisville Horns
One Big Holiday featuring Kirk Hammett of Metallica
Set 2:Cold Sweat with Jeff Coffin and the Nashville/Louisville Horns
Get Down On It(Kool and the Gang) with Jeff Coffin and the Nashville/Louisville Horns
Across 110th Street(Bobby Womack & Peace) with Jeff Coffin and the Nashville/Louisville Horns
Wordless Chorus
Phone Went West
Mahgeetah
Oh Sweet Nuthin(Velvet Underground)
Librarian
Bermuda Highway
Dondante
Run Thru
Smokin from Shootin
Touch Me Pt 2
Home Sweet Home(Mötley Crüe) featuring Zach Galifianakis as Annie

Live Review: Death Cab for Cutie - Bonnaroo 2008

I think the most disappointing thing I experienced at Bonnaroo (other than Kanye totally disrespecting not only the entire Bonnaroo community but the entire music community) was the major conflict on Sunday. As I mentioned in my review of Narrow Stairs, Broken Social Scene’s main set and Death Cab for Cutie’s only set overlapped by 30 minutes. To make matters worse, the “Other” tent (where BSS was playing their main set) was running about 30 minutes behind.

Panic sets in! On one hand, Broken Social Scene was putting on an incredible show, and was promising to play until they were dragged off stage. On the other hand, I didn’t want to chance missing any of the new Death Cab songs I knew they would break out early in their set.

And then there was a sign… About an hour into their incredible set Broken Social Scene played "Anthem for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl", one of my favorite songs. This was icing on the cake which was already iced, so BiggieC and I made a break for Death Cab for Cutie.

We made it to the “What” stage while they were finishing up their fourth song of their set, “Crooked Teeth” from Plans. This was just in time to catch my favorite song (so far) of Narrow Stairs “Long Division”. While they didn’t break out into the uber-jam I was hoping for, Chris Walla let it hang out just a little bit on the synth for those who wanted to squeeze every last ounce of party out of the waning festival.



Death Cab split their set between their two most recent albums Narrow Stairs and Plans with older songs (but nothing pre- We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes). Throughout the set the band stayed tight and preformed at the level their fans have come expect night after night. Highlights for me included “Cath..”, “Company Calls”, and “I Will Possess Your Heart”.







As my first Bonnaroo experience drew to a close my bitterness toward Bonnaroo’s for overlapping Broken Social Scene and Death Cab for Cutie faded. What did I really have complain about? I had been treated to two of my favorite bands in just a manner of hours. As the sun set over Manchester, TN Death Cab closed out an epic 4 days of music with their most epic song, “Transatlanticism”. It was indeed a "Movie Script Ending".

Live Review: Broken Social Scene @ Bonnaroo

One of my favorite bands making music right now, Broken Social Scene, played two awesome sets at Bonnaroo. I could not have been more psyched about their second set closer, the bombastic, three-fake-endings jam out, It's All Gonna Break.

Part 1:



Part 2:



I particularly love the ending because it is, in my mind, a bit of a shout out to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" (if you like the comparison or not, these boys know their rock and roll history and that is respectable).

Both of the sets were a solid array of favorites from the entire Broken Social Scene catalog, including some of the newer "BSS presents" numbers. Although this kind of soapbox behavior usually annoys me at concerts, the most surreal moment of both sets came when Kevin Drew decided to get a little political:



"Put down the bong and vote for Obama..."

Obamaroo '08

This was one of my favorite performances of the weekend along with the Sigur Ros late night and My Morning Jacket nearly four hour set.

A Second Opinion... - Sigur Ros @ Bonnaroo

(pic)
Sigur Ros was the personal pinnacle of the fest this last weekend. Their set spanned all of their various albums and I came to find out post-Bonnaroo that the band had a scare the night before at their show in Kansas City.

Here's some Bonnaroo vids of these guys...

Sigur Ros - Bonnaroo - All alright



Sigur Ros - Bonnaroo - Gobbledigook



Sigur Ros - Bonnaroo - Við spilum endalaust



And here's a copy of the seemingly cryptic setlist...


(pic)

Their yet to be released album is streaming at their website too, so go here to check it out!

Bonnaroo 2008 Saturday (Day 3): Thirty Epic Hours

Bonnaroo always has a momentum all its own and no matter how you imagine your weekend to go, it ends up being a completely different experience. Saturday morning I woke up around 4am in the morning after sleeping through crazy thunderstorms that wrecked our camp. Most of the people in my crew were coming back from seeing late night shows and we hung out and talked about our Friday experiences. The rain continued on and off for the rest of the morning, so I had some beers for breakfast and chilled out under our shelters that hadn't been destroyed. I caught an hour power nap around 9am, and then headed out for the day. I walked around the campgrounds for a while taking in the atmosphere. The rain had died out mostly by then, and people were out and about in the muddy conditions.







I headed to the press area and did some blogging. This time I caught one the press conferences going on, with a couple guys from Ozomatli, comedian Brian Posehn, some people I didn't really know, and Phil Lesh and Jackie Greene came in halfway through. The questions the moderator was asking were sort of lame, but there was a funny part where one of the dudes was talking about how scared he was of someone dosing him with LSD, and how he freaked out when someone in the crowd sprayed him with a water gun.



The rain that had started this day off had yielded to hot sun by the time I emerged from the media tent. Before leaving the press area, I interviewed Dead Confederate. Their debut full-length is finished and coming out September 16th so I'm pretty excited. I'll have that interview video up soon, but they were really cool.





After that I went to see Atlanta's Mastodon. They put on a typical killer show, unveiling some new material. There wasn't really a mosh pit, but the 'roo metalhead contigent crowd was pumped up for it.







I went back to the press area for a minute to see what was shaking, and I had just missed another press conference with Ben Folds and Jack Johnson:



After that I caught the very last song from nu-Cat Power, and it sucked as is typical now. She hung out on the stage for about 5 minutes or so after her set throwing flowers to the audience and doing silly looney tunes style poses. Seeing her now is like seeing an ex-girlfriend.

Iron & Wine came on next doing his 8-piece that sound like a two-piece underwhelming stuff. The more somber stuff I like best of his was limited or converted into more upbeat, hippie-friendlier stuff and while it was still very enjoyable, it just wasn't as good as listening to his albums. I really want to just see him by himself instead of all this other junk distracting the listener from the pure beautiful songwriting he creates.





After once again stopping by the press area and seeing very little going on, I decided to go brave the Jack Johnson show to get a good spot for Pearl Jam and go ahead and give the dude who I've been trashing all year a fair shake. It was more awful then I had anticipated. His lameness was so potent that it made Eddie Vedder seem lame during his guest appearance. "Double J" is just amazingly terrible.

The horrors of that show drove me to get working on some liquor drinks fast and I was properly buzzed again for what I think was my favourite show of the weekend from Pearl Jam. I'm so glad Bonnaroo finally convinced them to play there, because they are just the perfect sort of band for this festival. I'll take Mike McCready over almost any jamband wanker. Their song selection was probably my least favourite of the 3 times I've seen them, and they still blew me away. They are just so damn good.



By the time I made it over to Sigur Ros I was blotto for the second time in one day and listened to the show while napping. While I can barely remember much of it, I do remember having a really crazy dream with Sigur Ros as the soundtrack. Being that everyone else at the festival is on drugs that keep you awake, and alcohol is a depressant, keeping up with all the kids at an intense party atmosphere like this is a constant war for me, and unfortunately this year I lost a couple of key battles.

As soon as that was over, I regained consciousness to the wild scene that is Centeroo late night. After boncing around with my intoxicated crew, we finally got to the main stage again to catch the Kanye West "Glow In The Dark" late night set. Originally schedued for 2:45 am, it wasn't until about 4:30 am tha he finally came out on stage. People waiting were booing intermittently while everyone lost their buzz and got angrier and the crowd got smaller and smaller. I had heard that Phil Lesh got shutdown an hour earlier than scheduled due to Kanye West, so even the hippies were pissed off.

I'm not sure exactly why I had high expectations about this show, but it was not very impressive. I mean Kanye's stage presence was fine and the songs sounded much better than your average hip-hop show, but the "Glow In The Dark" show appeared to just be a small video screen behind him showing some cliche' sorts of video imagery. Then he had some silly science-fiction theme where he was talking to his spaceship named Jane between songs. It was like the worst episode of Battlestar Galactica I've ever seen. And for being such a baller, he sure had a broke-ass spaceship. So finally, I headed back to camp and hung out with everyone else who made it through the entire night, and even had some nightcaps with the folks waking up for the last day. It was a long, hard day of booze and bands, but it is crazy and intense days like these that make me come back to this festival again and again.

Bonnaroo Update: I Ain't Saying He's A Gold Digger, But Kanye West Pissed Off The Roo

The fest is almost over, and it has been incredible as per usual. Last night Kanye West's performance that was originally slated for 2:45 am didn't actually happen until 4:30am, so my schedule has been thrown off entirely. I'll have more on his badly received show tomorrow when I get home and finish my Day 3 post. And then later this week I'll have the Day 4/Wrap-Up super post. It looks like my experiment with live video streaming didn't work out so well due to some technical difficulties, but I have lots of video to share with you soon. Time to run and milk the final seconds for all they're worth!

Bonnaroo 2008 Friday (Day 2): The Sun, The Fiery Furnaces, The Free Beer Tent; This Is Why I'm Hott

Friday morning started about 4 hours after Thursday night ended for me with the sun making things too uncomfortable for me to sleep late. I grabbed some breakfast and got an early start on the day. I got to the media area to do some blogging and listen to the media orientation speech. They laid out everything we could and couldn't do, and none of it really seemed to effect what I'm doing. I don't have all access, but it seems like there are lots of artists in the media area doing interviews and such, so that has been really cool. I gave the guitarist from Minus The Bear some daps before catching some shows.

First up was The Fiery Furnaces. They did a set that was very similar to the set they did at The Variety Playhouse earlier this year, except this time they had a thimble player to make it a 5 piece. It was extremely tight and heavily weighted by Widow City songs, which I love. At some point a cardboard cutout of Eleanor made its way into the crowd, followed by other cardboard cutouts that I thought at first were the rest of the band, but then I saw one of them was Bradford Cox and realized they were from the Converse ad.



After that I stuck around for the first half of Minus The Bear's set and they were pretty good but I felt like the Langerado set I caught earlier this year had a little more energy or something. Next I went to see Tegan And Sara. I watched them butcher one of their own songs about 5 different ways and decided that I wouldn't waste any more of my time with them. Instead I set up earlier at the Sonic Stage to catch the second Fiery Furnaces set of the day. This time they were a 4-piece with Matthew playing a guitar instead of keyboards for the entire set. They dug deeper in this completely different set even taking requests at the end. This band is just so phenomenal and I can't get enough of them. Bonus to this set, Beatle Bob was there doing his crazy dancing backstage. I really need to find him and interview him.











After that I went backstage to interview Royal Bangs. They were chilling out in the hidden free beer and liquor tent backstage, which was a festival changing discovery. I hung out with the Royal Bangs dudes for a little while and video taped it, so expect to see that very soon. They seemed really cool, and probably the thing that I enjoyed most about the interview was their answer to my "What do you think about the state of music and the music industry?" question, which almost word for word reflected my own opinions.

When they left to catch the very end of !!!, I stuck around and started abusing the keg back there. I spent a few hours chugging beers and stalking the Fiery Furnaces as they did interviews for more reputable journalists. After getting properly "festivalized", I met up with my ATLiens and watched some of Willie Nelson. I guess it is cool to say I have seen him now, but that was about all I enjoyed about it. Along with the Bonnaroo masses, we headed to the What Stage next to see Chris Rock. I lost my entire group on the way there and caught his routine stranded by myself. Chris Rock is one of my favourite comedians, but the set seemed lacking. I feel like ever since he started doing Everybody Hates Chris, which I like, he has gotten a lot more restrained and sort of falling back on his typical sorts of jokes. But even a lackluster Chris Rock routine is pretty damn funny.




As the rain that had been looming all day finally broke loose, I opted to go back to camp instead of catching Metallica. It seemed like that was a fairly popular sentiment as the line getting out of the stage area was longer than the one to get in. As I extended my drunk rally, sleep deprivation finally caught up with me and I passed out early. I would have really liked to catch some of the My Morning Jacket set, but I didn't wake up in time.

Now well rested, It's time for an intense day and a long night of music.

Bonnaroo 2008 Thursday (Day 1): Festies Ain't Easy, But They Sure Are Fun

Going to a festival is not all fun and games. The live concert experience is never assured bliss. There are so many external factors that could go sour. A huge fest like Bonnaroo has an army of these possible setbacks. But sometimes overcoming the odds and the elements can be the recipe for an unforgettable weekend.

So after hanging out in Manchester a little bit Wednesday night, I rode back into town in the morning to pick up my press credentials. I then went to my hotel to await the arrival of my caravan of ATLiens. One of the cars in our group had a road cone fly up and crack their windshield in Chattanooga, forcing them to abandon their vehicle to repair and then squeeze their gear and bodies in other folks' already tightly packed rides. The slight travel delay here would seem insignificant compared to the traffic jam we would wait in shortly after.

Now I'm from Atlanta so traffic isn't new to me, but sitting still on the side of the interstate for 5+ hours is just never that fun. This would actually be the longest I've ever waited to get into the 'roo. As is typical, everyone gets out of their cars and socializes on the side of the road to pass the time, and then as soon as the line starts moving a bit, everyone scrambles into their rides to grab another 50 feet.









After getting through the gate, and then still waiting in line to get a campsite that wasn't too far but wasn't too close, the inevitable, unbridled, and unrelenting blitz of setting up camp and partying begins. There is nothing like a cold beer after sitting in your car all day. Well, maybe like 10 cold beers.





Suddenly it is late afternoon and time to check out Centeroo. The nice stroll across the campgrounds leads to waiting in line to go through security, and going inside to search out a schedule. They had ran out of guide books when we came through the gates and the only ones I have even seen so far are a horde back in the press area. I tested my credentials and took a look backstage. Things were a little different then last time I had been back here, but still pretty similar. It was at this time the partying, heat, and lack of sleep this week struck me like a punch to the face, and after cooling off in the press tent, I went back to camp.

After regrouping and recouping, our crew made its way back to Centeroo, and this time had to wait in a ridiculously slow moving line to get in. We made it to MGMT a song or two into the set and the tent was packed out. The crowd reactions to the songs seemed very surprising to me, everyone was going crazy. It seemed like everyone at the fest knew and loved these songs, so I guess these guys are pretty big now. Just like last time I saw them, at times I really enjoyed it, and at other times I lost interest.

I made my way up closer for Battles, and they put on a hell of a show. When I saw them last year at Pitchfork Fest, I was really far away and couldn't tell how fun they are to watch live. Everyone who saw it was raving about it. With my second wind dying down, I decided I was in no mood to stick around for Vampire Weekend, and went back to camp yet again. Tired, intoxicated, and with everyone else at my camp slowly fading into the night, I sucked it up and took a few brave souls back to Centeroo again to catch the late night Royal Bangs show. It was a wise decision and the grueling day ended with a pleasant reward. The Troo Music Lounge is about the smallest venue in the fest, so the setting was more up my alley, and the band exploited its almost nonexistent barrier between the crowd and themselves. The crowd wasn't huge, but they were all going wild for this one. Seeing them live just reinforced everything I liked about them and I can't wait to have them again at our show next week.







Well, It's time to catch more music, so keep it here for total coverage.

Live At Bonnaroo!!!

Ohmpark total coverage of Bonnaroo 2008 begins. We'll be webcasting, blogging, and phlogging all weekend long. You'll notice some new stuff on the right sidebar. In the justin.tv widget, we'll be broadcasting videos from the 'roo. Right now you can watch what the walmart parking lot was like last night and look at the long line to get this morning. Below that, you'll see our camura.com widget, where all of Ohmpark's various crew at the 'roo will be taking photos from their camera phones and posting them. Also, I'll be blogging each day like I normally do at festivals. So keep checking back here for the most ridiculous Bonnaroo coverage on the web.

Ohmpark Justin.tv channel

Ohmpark Camura stream

Ohmpark Twitter

It's about time to go wait in the really long line, so see you on the other side!

Videos Of The Day: Bonnaroo Classics

Hey, so, I heard there is this music festival going on in a couple of days. Here's a video playlist for more constant hype:

Kanye West Moves Bonnaroo Set To Late Night

He's gonna "Glow In The Dark". Now slated for 2:45am on the What Stage, spun out kids are going to have another great choice for the late late. Unless I'm forgetting something, this will be the first time they have ever done a late night show on the main stage. How about "Flashing Lights":

Ohmpark Mixtape #4: Bonnaroo 2008

We haven't done enough mixtapes around here since this thing started, so I'm going to try and do them more often. Here's a nice hour mix of classics from artists on this year's line-up to get you to the 'roo. You can jam these out online at Muxtape, or you can download the entire mix as one mp3 to listen to on your way there.

Ohmpark Mixtape #4: Bonnaroo 2008

1. "Off He Goes" Pearl Jam
2. "7/4 (Shoreline)" Broken Social Scene
3. "Touch Of Grey" The Grateful Dead
4. "Jezebel" Iron & Wine
5. "Super Bowl Sundae" Ozomatli
6. "Staralfur" Sigur Ros
7. "Pony Up!" Minus The Bear
8. "Brick" Ben Folds Five
9. "Tropical Ice-Land" The Fiery Furnaces
10. "We Laugh Indoors" Death Cab For Cutie
11. "Maybe Not" Cat Power
12. "Crazy Mary" Pearl Jam

Listen to Mixtape here

Download Mixtape here

Ohmpark's Guide To Bonnaroo 2008

Less than a week away and I'm ready to go! If you're going to Bonnaroo this year, the following post will give you what I think is the crucial info and best acts. If you're not going, you might want to rethink that and buy a ticket. You can read up on some of my stories from the first 5 Bonnaroos here. You can read my review of last year's fest here. If you want to really obsess about Bonnaroo for endless hours, I highly recommend checking out Inforoo, the Bonnaroo message board. You can get pretty much every single bit of information you could ever imagine about the fest there. I'm going to give you a couple of nuggets that I think are particularly educational for first timers:

Currently, the Weather.com forecast calls for scattered t-storms all weekend right now (up to 60% chance of rain Saturday) and highs in the '80s. I recommend you get some good mud boots just in case, because even a little bit of rain is going to make that place a big muddy mess. The mud will literally eat flip flops off of your feet, so beware. All my hippier friends swear by wearing crocs during regular conditions, but I always feel more comfortable in socks and tennis shoes. Also on the rainy weather tip, I've seen the thunderstorms decimate some campsites, so prepare accordingly. Put tarps under/over your tents. Bring a poncho.

The gates usually open early Wednesday night, but ever since the 3rd 'roo (when they finally found the best way to deal with traffic), they send all of the first arrivals to the very, very far away Southeastern camping outpost. I've been the victim of this several times, and it was annoying. The more you walk, the more energy you're going to exert, and this will hinder your ability to all out party for 4 days. And don't expect to get a bunch of sleep, because usually by 8am it is too hot to sleep in your tent. It seems like if you get there late Thursday morning or early Thursday afternoon you can get a spot closer to Centeroo (the area where the stages are), especially if you are coming from the east (like us ATLiens). The downside, less time at the party and longer waits in the line to get in. Think about it.

Speaking of the party, this is a big-ass music fest with circa 75,000 people, so there is gonna be some craziness going on. BUT, this is not the Bonnaroo of your older cousin's. There will be police sparsely around inside the fest grounds looking to bust folks for illegal activities. The ban on unofficial vendors is heavily enforced now, so "Skakedown Street" is not what it used to be. If you're smart and just a tad bit careful, you are almost assured have a fun-filled week, just don't be too stupid.

Ok, so let's dig into the line-up. The first night has me really excited:

Thursday:

6:00 PM Troo Music Lounge: The Big Sleep

This brooklyn trio caught my ear when I was checking myspace pages of bands I didn't recognize, so I'm planning on checking this out:

THE BIG SLEEP - Slow Race
by lablogotheque

6:25 Pm Cinema Tent: Sigur Ros' Heima

Get yourself prepared for what I am already calling the best show of the fest, with a spectacular documentary on the band.


8:30PM This Tent: MGMT

While I thought their live show was a little lackluster when I saw them with Yeasayer earlier this year, now that I know and really enjoy their album, I'm excited to catch them again:




10:00 PM This Tent: Battles

This is my pick for Thursday's "can't miss show". Listen to the live show i posted recently here.


10:30 PM That Tent: The Sword

Black Sabbath-esque stoner metal/rock that is really good:




11:30 PM This Tent: Vampire Weekend

I'm glad I'll finally get to catch 2008's super hype band, if only to talk smack about them. Really, I don't think they are bad or anything, but their stuff just doesn't really hold my interest long enough. But maybe their live show will change my mind:




11:45 PM The Other Tent: Darkstar Orchestra

This is what I consider to be the best cover band to ever exist, so go get your artificial dose of The Grateful Dead.


1:30 AM Troo Music Lounge: Royal Bangs

I've just discovered these guys and I am totally into their album, We Breed Champions. I'll have more on these guys very soon, but I highly recommend checking them out:




Friday:

1:15 PM That Tent: Fiery Furnaces

We are big FF fans around here at Ohmpark, so even though I'd be interested in catching Jose Gonzalez, I can't miss another chance to catch the Friedbergers. I've got a bunch of Fiery Furnaces live videos I'm getting out of the vault soon, so I'll spare you for now.


2:30 PM This Tent: Tegan And Sara

While these ladies only fall in my "like but don't love" category, I really want to see them. Get ready for this song to be stuck in your head all weekend:




2:45 PM That Tent: Minus The Bear

Minus The Bear were outstanding at Langerado, so I can't wait to see them again:




4:30 PM That Tent: !!!

Another band that was at Langerado, another great live act I'm excited to see again:




Midnight Which Stage: My Morning Jacket

While i have still yet to listen to it, I'm hearing good things about Evil Urges. Their late night set at Bonnaroo 2006 was epic, so I expect them to up the ante:




1:30 AM Troo Music Lounge: Howlin Rain

Thsi is the new project from Comets On Fire's Ethan Miller. Comets On Fire were badass, so this should be good (they are at the Drunken Unicorn tonight!):




1:30 AM This Tent: Tiesto

While he's not my favourite DJ in the world, he's not too shabby either. Also, he's going to have guest appearance by Tegan And Sara, Jose Gonzalez, and Cary Brothers.


2:00 AM That Tent: Disco Biscuits

Yeah, they are a jamband, but they are really good.


Saturday:

4:00 PM That Tent: Mastodon

Atlanta's own spectacular metal outfit. If you haven't seen these guys yet, this is a must see:




6:30 PM This Tent: Iron & Wine

I thought his Bonnaroo set in 2006 seemed a bit underwhelming, but the set I caught later that year at Lollapalooza was phenomenal. I think his album from last year is Sam Beam's best work to date, so this show is gonna be sweet:




10:15 PM What Stage: Pearl Jam

I made my case for them last post, so check that out.


1:00 AM That Tent: Sigus Ros

Could be the best show all weekend:

Sigur Ros : Gobbledigook


1:30 AM Troo Music Lounge: Dead Confederate

If you read us regularly, you know we are fans. If you don't, go look into these guys:




Sunday:

2:30 PM The Other Tent: Ladytron

I've yet to listen to the new album yet, but I do plan to catch them and give them the live show test:




6:00 PM The Other Tent: Broken Social Scene

I'm really stoked about seeing these guys. Word on the street is that they are doing half older stuff, hald Drew/Canning solo stuff. Sounds Perfect:

Brendan Canning : Hit The Wall


7:00 PM Which Stage: Death Cab For Cutie

We just dropped a review of Narrow Stairs, so you know how we feel.


Alright, that's enough Bonnaroo hype for now. We will have plenty of more soon.

Bonnaroo Schedule Up!

Finally: http://bonnaroo.com/schedule/

I can't figure out how to share my picks because Jambase has changed how this system works, but it looks pretty good for me. This is easily the best Thursday night line-up they have ever had. Sigur Ros late night is ridiculous! Sunday is a little weak, but it's always the day you're most tired anyways, so that's cool. I wish Pearl Jam had a longer time slot (Jack Johnson continues to piss me off). I'm getting way excited. Just a few weeks away!

Bonnaroo Artist Additions!

About an hour ago the Bonnaroo site posted that these artists will also be playing the bill:


Tiësto (late night set)
Stephen Marley
Money Mark
The Coup
Wood Brothers
Rogue Wave
Newton Faulkner

Still hoping for a Mars Volta announcement, but Tiesto should be a fantastic late set!

Humpday Randomnimity

Bonnaroo made some line-up additions:

Cat Power
Zappa Plays Zappa
The Disco Biscuits
MSTRKRFT
Chromeo

Decent additions, but only the electronic acts get me excited. This is what we want.

Sasquatch Music Festival, the big daddy Memorial Day fest that goes down at the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington state, just released a line-up:

R.E.M. / The Cure / The Flaming Lips U.F.O. Show / Death Cab For Cutie / Modest Mouse / M.I.A. / Flight Of The Conchords / Rodrigo Y Gabriela / Michael Franti & Spearhead / The Breeders / Built To Spill / The Hives / Tegan & Sara / Ghostland Observatory / Ozomatli / The New Pornographers / Blue Scholars / The National / The Kooks / Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks / Cold War Kids / Beirut / Rogue Wave / Okkervil River / Fleet Foxes / Kinski / Mates of State / Sera Cahoone / Crudo (featuring Mike Patton & Dan The Automator) / Battles / Destroyer / Dyme Def / The Blakes / Pela / Jamie Lidell / The Cops / Dengue Fever / Siberian / Say Hi / White Rabbits / David Bazan / The Little Ones / "Awesome" / Dead Confederate / The Heavenly States / 65daysofstatic / Grand Archives / Vince Mira with the Roy Kay Trio / Joshua Morrison / Throw Me The Statue / J. Tillman / The Shaky Hands / Thao Nguyen with the Get Down Stay Down / Matt Costa / The Cave Singers

That's a hell of a line-up and now I'm really considering going to this. The Gorge is considered by many as the coolest venue in the US. Tickets are reasonably priced and go on sale Saturday March 8th. More details on their website.

Sonic Youth is headlining an Arkansas festival called Dickson Street Fest in April with Charlie Daniels, 38 Special, Shooter Jennings, Michael Franti and Spearhead, and Little Feat. Weird line-up.

North Korea has invited Eric Clapton to play a concert there confirming that he indeed sold his soul to play guitar.

Medeski, Martin, And Wood have three albums planned for this year.

John Mellencamp and horror writer Stephen King are collaberating on a musical set to debut in Atlanta.

You can stream the new Tilly And the Wall album here. Watch new video here.

Cloud Cult have released a new single for their forthcoming album in April:

Cloud Cult : Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) : When Water Comes To Life


Track down a Velvet Underground 1967 vinyl bootleg to download here.

Have You Heard did a session with Atlanta's Trances Arc. I had been hearing some noise about this band, but now that I've looked into them, they are so not our style.

Wilco will be on Saturday Night Live this weekend.

Dimmu Borgir will be streaming a live concert on April 5th.

Dr. Dre is getting in the alcohol business.

The Deftones are entering the studio next month to work on a new album.

Shearwater have a new single for their upcoming album due in June:

Shearwater : Rook : Rooks


Watch a Snowden rehearsal from their blog:


Snowden Rehearsing from nopayne on Vimeo.

New Boris:



Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings on Fox 5 news:



Smashing Pumpkins "SuperChrist":

Bonna-mation

Since tix for Bonnaroo finally go on sale at Noon today, here's a vid by acclaimed animator Bill Plympton entitled What Is Bonnaroo?



Bonnaroo Tickets Available After 12pm EST HERE

Humpday Randomnimity

So first, let's break down the Bonnaroo line-up:



First, I think it's hilarious that NME and the AP totally got punked and reported that Led Zeppelin is headlining. Since they deleted their mistake, here it is immortalized:



The weirdest thing is that NME had announced earlier in the day that they would be announcing a "surprise headliner" at midnight, so the conspiracy theorists out there are going to believe there is a chance that they will add Led Zeppelin late after tickets go on sale (because LZ would instantly sell out the fest), to give the 'roo loyalists a easy shot at tickets first. Considering everyone denied Metallica was playing when that rumour broke earlier, it is certainly possible but doubtful.

So, Metallica. Hmmmm. I'm just going to say that i think they are being a little risky with some of their line-up choices for a rare fest with an almost completely non-violent history. It will be an interesting experiment to see how that crowd does, but I'm a bit pessimistic on that front. Although, there have only been a handful of 'roo headliners over the years that have been really awesome in my opinion, so it's not the worst thing to me (plus now i can get a nap Friday night between the day acts and the late-night acts). It's the smaller acts that I always like best anyways. Plus, Pearl Jam is really great live. Also, I'm just gonna say, Jack Johnson isn't necessarily bad, but I can think of like 100 better headliners off the top of my head, and he has to headline both Coachellas and Bonnaroo? Coooooooooooome ooooooon.

Regardless of all that junk at the top of the list, there is a lot to be excited about. Sigur Ros is probably the biggest for me since I love them and have yet to see them. The other names I'm going to be excited to see include Iron & Wine, Broken Social Scene, Mastodon (ATL represent!), !!!, The Fiery Furnaces, Jose Gonzalez, Minus The Bear, Battles, and The Sword. Things I've seen a million times that are still pretty cool to catch again: Phil Lesh, My Morning Jacket, The Allman Brothers, Death Cab For Cutie, Ben Folds, and Dark Star Orchestra. Others I'll probably check out if nothing great is going on include Kanye, Robert Plant, Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Talib Kweli, Gogol Bordello, Rilo Kiley, Tegan & Sara, Vampire Weekend, and Black Kids.

Overall, its decent but not their best line-up. I'm still going cuz I love this fest. A Mars Volta addition would really set it off though.

Speaking of The Mars Volta, Pitchfork finally reviewed The Bedlam in Goliath, and while they still gave it a terrible score, they finally back-tracked a tad bit from the absolute hate they have for this band and moved to a more "well we don't like them, but I can see why others do and they are awesome in certain ways we don't put much value in" position (I'm paraphrasing here). While I appreciate the sentiment, they still laid down some serious presumptuous elitism. Like when the 'fork makes claims that TMV championing prog-rock (or as i would put it, innovating a musical epistemology built on innovation) "couldn't be more averse to real progress in rock music", it just makes me realize how one-dimensional they are in their music taste and while they have been a huge driving force of this current music revolution going on, they are sometimes missing the point. In essence what is going on is about diversity, not about a singular idea or sound. When you value 3 LCD Soundsystem songs that are nice on the dancefloor surrounded by a ton of boringness and repetition over an album where they make every single second on it count, well, I'm just not gonna ever jump on that bandwagon.

Ok, now I am gonna get all pitchforky on you and serve up a glass of haterade. I bought the new The Selmanaires, Anna Kramer, and The Whigs albums a couple of weeks ago. I'm a cheerleader for the local acts as much as the next person, but while I think these are all fine albums in their own right and I know the rest of the Jo-Ja big dawgs are touting them endlessly, these are far from the best acts or albums that Georgia has to offer. They are all copycatting played out styles, and bringing nothing new to the table. There are sure to be plenty of people who will genuinely love these, but I like a bit of innovation, a touch of avant-garde, an artist who takes chances, I like something unique and different, and I hear none of that on these albums. The Selmanaires seem to be only one of these three that I believe have real potential to be something special, but I always find myself thinking about 25% of what they do is amazing, and the other 75% is totally uninteresting. I understand that they are like a library of styles and that they are making very deep musical references, but they don't bring a new perspective to their reference points except sometimes they water them down. They sound like a history book to me. I think they just lay too safe sometimes, and if they really went for it they could be great. Again, The Air Salesman is not a bad album, but if I were to compare it to other ATL albums I consider great, like, I don't know, an Untied States album (or the new Slushco EP that is getting absolutely no press except here), I don't think it stands up.

Ok, enough digression, here's some news:

Iron & Wine and Califone will be at the Variety Playhouse on April 14th.

The Breeders will be at The Loft on June 13th.

Modest Mouse are working on an EP.

Go get the Atlas Sound Orange Ohms Glow EP from his blog. Damn, he just don't stop.

Tickley Feather, who opened for Animal Collective in Atlanta last year, has her debut album coming out April 29th.

Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords is about to star in a movie.

It seems the Stone Temple Pilots reunion is on like Donkey Kong.

Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks and John Vanderslice will be at The Variety Playhouse on March 26th.

Feist will be at The Tabernacle on March 18th.

Cloud Cult have a new album coming out soon.

Austin City Limits Fest, slated for September 26th-28th, already has tickets on sale way before they announce a line-up. Lookout Ticketmaster, the groundsquirrel is coming to get you:



Feist live:



Cat Power:



Caribou:



Les Savy Fav:



The Raveonettes:



A Place To Bury Strangers:

Bonnaroo 2008 Announces Line-Up!!!

2008 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival Confirmed Artists:
Pearl Jam
Metallica
Jack Johnson
Kanye West
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Phil Lesh & Friends
My Morning Jacket
The Allman Brothers Band
The Raconteurs
Willie Nelson
Death Cab for Cutie
B.B. King
Sigur Ros
Levon Helm and the Ramble on the Road
Ben Folds
O.A.R.
The Bluegrass Allstars Feat. Luke Bulla, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Bryan Sutton
M.I.A.
Umphrey's McGee
Iron & Wine
Yonder Mountain String Band
Swell Season
Talib Kweli
Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi's Soul Stew Revival
Gogol Bordello
Broken Social Scene
Robert Randolph's Revival
Rilo Kiley
Mastodon
Lupe Fiasco
Against Me!
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings
Pat Green
Ozomatli
Tegan & Sara
Solomon Burke
Drive-By Truckers
!!!
The Avett Brothers
Israel Vibration
Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet featuring Bela Fleck
Phil Lesh / Larry Campbell / Jackie Greene
Aimee Mann
Ladytron
The Fiery Furnaces
Orchestra Baobab
Ghostland Observatory
Jose Gonzalez
Dark Star Orchestra
Minus the Bear
Donavon Frankenreiter
Lez Zeppelin
State Radio
Battles
Jakob Dylan
Two Gallants
The Sword
Vampire Weekend
Little Feat
Nicole Atkins
The Felice Brothers
Mason Jennings
MGMT
The Lee Boys
Black Kids
Serena Ryder
Steel Train
Grupo Fantasma
Back Door Slam

Bonnaroo Comedy:
Bonnaroo Late Night Chat About with David Cross
Janeane Garofalo
Zach Galifianakis
Jim Norton
Brian Posehn
Mike Birbiglia
John Mulaney
Michelle Buteau

Tickets go on sale Saturday. I'll break down what I think about it tomorrow at some point.

2008 Festivals Preview

After the end of the year best of lists are done for and the holidays are over, it's the season for rampant speculation about who is playing what festival. The fun rumors this year include Metallica and Led Zeppelin at Bonnaroo and My Bloody Valentine at Coachella. Here at Ohmpark, we heart festivals and will be keeping you informed on all of these developments. Here are the fests I'm looking forward to:

Langerado (March 6-9, 2008) [Big Cypress, FL]

Langerado typically marks the beginning of the festival season. This south Florida fest has followed the Bonnaroo trajectory and broadened its line-up over the last few years beyond the pure jamband roots it started with, but is much smaller, beginning as a one day fest with 3500 attendance in 2003, to it's first year with three full days and 15,000 attendees in 2007. This year, they've upped the ante again expanding to four days and moving to Big Cypress Indian Reservation, the site of Phish's legendary New Years Eve 1999 shows. The 2008 line-up is their best yet:

Thursday March 6th
Les Claypool - Dark Star Orchestra - Perpetual Groove - the New Deal - Busdriver - Phix - Golem - That 1 Guy - Awesome New Republic - the Postmarks

Friday March 7th
Beastie Boys - 311 - The Roots - G. Love & Special Sauce - Umphrey's McGee - Built to Spill - Mickey Hart Band - The Wailers - Ozomatli - !!! - Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars - Indigenous - Sam Bush - The Walkmen - Vampire Weekend - Brett Dennen - The Spam Allstars - matt pond PA - Bassnectar - American Babies - Earl Greyhound - the Dynamites - The Heavy Pets - Backyard Tire Fire - School of Rock All-Stars

Saturday March 8th
R.E.M. - Matisyahu - Thievery Corporation - Ben Folds - Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood - The Disco Biscuits - Robert Randolph & the Family Band - Citizen Cope - Antibalas - Ghostland Observatory - Arrested Development - Benevento Russo Duo - State Radio - Dr. Dog - the New Mastersounds - the Bad Plus - the Avett Brothers - Railroad Earth - Yard Dogs Road Show - Blitzen Trapper - Pelican - Dan Deacon - RAQ - Pnuma Trio - the Wood Brothers - Trevor Hall - American Bang

Sunday March 9th
Phil Lesh & Friends - Ani DiFranco - Gov't Mule - Keller Williams - funky Meters - The National - of Montreal - Minus the Bear - Martin Sexton - Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - Blind Melon - Ryan Shaw - Felice Brothers - Shout Out Louds - Josh Ritter - the Lee Boys - Will Hoge - Steel Train - Pete Francis - Balkan Beat Box - Jonah Smith

Also, they have just recently added Dead Confederate and a late night Sound Tribe Sector Nine set.

The Low-down: A small camping fest with a top tier hippy-friendly line-up in the middle of a swamp. They seem to have distributed the best acts evenly across each day and I've heard lots of good things about this one. What's not to like?

Chance I go: 90% I've never been to Langerado before so with a line-up this good, I have to go.

Langerado Website

Live Music Blog did great coverage of it last year.


South By Southwest (March 7-16, 2008) [Ausitn, TX]

Dating as far back as 1987, this is the US's most important showcase for small acts to get hot. Every hipster on Earth heads to the biggest hipster town for a convention-style festival. They have yet to reveal a full line-up for the music portion, but notable names they have confirmed are The Breeders and Thurston Moore and minimalist composer Steve Reich. But who's on the line-up is entirely irrelevant for an event like this that is centered around discovering new acts you've never heard of before.

The Low-down: The blogoshpere is dominated by SXSW in March and everyone is looking to see what's hot. It's like the X-Games of "battle of the bands" rolled into a city-wide party.

Chance I Go: 90% Another fest I've always wanted to go to, but never got the chance. I'm hoping to hook up with some ATL band and go into total coverage mode (if you're a band going to SXSW from ATL, give us a holla).

South By Southwest Website

Keep up to date on all things SXSW here.


Wanee (April 2007) [Live Oak, FL]

A small, spring hippy-fest not too far from the ATL. They have yet to release official dates for next year or a line-up, but last year's two-day installment was entirely jamband anchored featuring most notably Gov't Mule, Derek Trucks Band, and Keller Williams. Details should be coming soon for next year's event.

The Low-down: Small scale hippy-fests are always a fun time, but if you're reading Ohmpark regularly, I doubt you're gonna find too much music there for progressive tastes.

Chance I Go: 25% With all the other awesome fests going on in the spring, i may not have the cash to do this, but I would like to.

Wanee Website


Coachella (April 25-27, 2008) [Indio, CA]

Back When Pearl Jam was fighting Ticketmaster, they did a show with Tool in 1993 at the Empire Polo Club, east of Los Angeles in the desert in need of a large-scale venue that Ticketmaster didn't have exclusive rights to. Six years later, the first ever Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival took place in the same spot. The first event occurred just three months after the disastrous Woodstock '99 fest, and the promoters were not allowed to offer camping because of that. The inaugural 2-day event saw approximately 25,000 attendees and was a financial failure. The fest struggled to return for a one-day event in April of 2001 and almost fell apart completely before Jane's Addiction reunited to be the headliner and made the second installment a resounding success. The festival has grown since, to its pinnacle last year with Rage Against The Machine's reunion to 100,000 people. Legendary band reunions have been a large part of Coachella's history and helped propel it to one of the two most important festivals of this decade. I was lucky enough to attend in 2004 and in 2005 and both years were amazing experiences. One yearly tradition leading up to the line-up announcement extends beyond just rumored line-ups, as fake Coachella posters are circulated across the Internet. Here's my favourite one so far this year:



I Don't Say Evasion, I Say Avoision! is keeping you up-to-date on all the confirmations and rumors here:

Current list of Coachella 2008 confirmations

Confirmed (allegedly):
The Breeders pitchfork
Dwight Yoakam official myspace
Heidi Vogel & The Cinematic Orchestra: official myspace
Autolux (email from Autolux)
The Verve Cat Dirt Sez (they broke the news on Scar Jo and Friday set times this year so they are trustworthy)
Death Cab for Cutie UCLA Campus Events person found out when trying to book them for a free show on campus
Austin TV Cuchara Sonica
VHS or Beta The Scenestar
Rabbit in the Moon (allegedly confirmed Coachella at Street Scene)

Significantly probable:
Caribou (playing Costa Mesa on April 24th)
A Tribe Called Quest A&M Entertainment states they are available for a 2008 world tour, and unspecified festival headliners are available for 150-800k and you know ATCQ is one of them
My Bloody Valentine (previously confirmed by The Daily Swarm, Entertainment Weekly but debunked by pitchfork and billboard so who knows)
Portishead (iffy "confirmations" from The Daily Swarm and Spin)
Animal Collective Pitchfork quotes that they will "perhaps [play] at least one show in April in the USA."
The Magnetic Fields (touring again for the first time in a hundred years)
Battles (touring next spring, playing Langerado, major buzz band of 2007, etc)
Weezer (new terrible album to be released April 22)
Swervedriver Billboard (doing reunion tour in the spring, Coachella specifically mentioned as possible)
Mogwai touring US in the spring (with stated festival preference, and Coachella is the only major US festival in the spring, besides Langerado, but that lineup has already been announced)
The Chemical Brothers messageboard post

More rumors:
R.E.M. Product Shop NYC
Screaming Trees (ditto)
The White Stripes (ditto)
Pulp (seen them on a couple blogs, heard something is planned for the 30th anniversary next year, and this would be the best surprise in Coachella history, but I unfortunately doubt this will happen)
Blur
Sasha & Digweed
Feist
Joanna Newsom
Deltron 3030
No Doubt

Definitely will NOT be there:
Radiohead Coachella board mod and Goldenvoice employee said so on the board
The Smiths
The Cure (playing the Hollywood Bowl a month later)
Led Zeppelin (wayyyy too big, but rumor has it that Bonnaroo is trying/tried to book them)
The Prodigy (previously listed on label's (Cooking Vinyl USA) myspace but removed with an official debunking statement)
Turbonegro (removed from Cooking VInyl USA's myspace as well, but quietly, so maybe there's still a chance?)
Foo Fighters (will be touring Australia at the time)

The Low-down: Coachella is such a unique experience and the line-ups are consistently one of the year's best. The desert weather can be daunting, especially if you decide to camp, but Coachella is something i think everyone who likes fests should do at least once.

Chance I Go: 70% Last year i had paid for a hotel room in the desert before the thing sold out too fast for me to get a ticket, so with the money involved to do Coachella there's certainly possibilities it could fall through for me, but I really want to go.

Coachella Website


Bonnaroo (June 12-15, 2008) [Manchester, TN]

Bonnaroo is my biggest holiday of the year. It is the one event that I look forward to most each year. You can read my 'roo stories here or read my review of last year here. Bonnaroo's success has helped usher in a golden day of music festivals in the US and has been ATL's only somewhat local constant pinnacle music event since it started in 2002. The fest, which began primarily as a super jamband fest, has diversified its line-ups and embraced the indie/alt rock world more and more each year. I'm very interested to see what the line-up looks like this year. The rumors currently:

-Pearl Jam
-My Morning Jacket (Pollstar had listed them for the Friday the 13th, but took it down the next day)
-Pat Green (This is the first artist Pollstar has posted under "Bonnaroo")
-Led Zeppelin and Metallica- Superfly has denied that either one of these bands are headlining the festival in 08.
-Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - The Tennessean reports that the duo will play Bonnaroo in 08.
-B.B. King - According to his offical tour dates he is playing Bonnaroo in 08.

Pearl Jam has been a band that Bonnaroo's promoters have had on their wishlist for a long time. So, I would anticipate this would be the year that happens. Last year, though, the popular rumors which seemed most probable, including Pearl Jam, turned out to be completely wrong, so there's really no telling until the end of January/beginning of February. Personally I'm pulling for returns from Radiohead and The Mars Volta, but that's only wishful thinking at this point.

The Low-down: The 'roo is no longer the extreme "no rules, greatest party on Earth" it started out to be, but it still remains an extremely important barometer of where music is and at 80,000 or so other folks, it is still one hell of a fest.

Chances I Go: 99.9% I've been every year and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.

Bonnaroo Website


Pitchfork (Summer 2008) [Chicago, IL]

After sponsoring the now defunct Intonation Fest in Chicago in 2005, Pitchfork Media created its own fest in 2006 bringing 35,000 to a small city park in Chicago. Last year it sold out to a crowd of approximately 47,000 highlighted by ATP's "Don't Look Back" series bringing Sonic Youth, Slint, and GZA to play their seminal albums live. The urban, non-camping 3 day fest I attended last year was a very chill atmosphere, with maybe the best vendor setup of any festival I have been to, including a vinyl mall and a hand bill mall. With what was arguably the best line-up of last year, the only weakness this fest had was terrible sound problems all weekend. Check our coverage from last year:

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3/Wrap-Up
  

The Low-down: My expectations for Pitchfork this year is that they will again have one of the best line-ups and they will fix the sound problems they had last year. If they can accomplish both of those, this is a mandatory fest.

Chances I Go: 80% I loved it last year, so I will probably go again.

Pitchfork Website


Lollapalooza (August 1-3, 2008) [Chicago, IL]

In the 1990's Lollapalooza was king of the touring fest model that flourished at that time. Run by Jane's Addiction's Perry Farrell, the event became as an important icon to its time in music as Woodstock did to its own time. As the grunge movement waned, and violent precursors to what happened at the Woodstock '94 and '99 began to happen at Lollapalooza shows, Perry Farrell handed over the reigns to do other things, and the fest didn't last very long after that. In 2003, the newly reunited Jane's Addiction headlined a revived Lollapalooza tour which I caught when it came to Lakewood. In 2004, Lollapalooza headlined by Morrissey and Sonic Youth failed to sell enough tickets fast enough and was cancelled very soon after being announced. Perry vowed to bring Lollapalooza back again, and decided to adopt the Bonnaroo/Coachella model that had come to be such large successes at the time and settled down Lollapalooza to Grant Park in Chicago for a one-off event in 2005. The model proved a success for Lolla drawing 65,000 people. I went in 2006 up and really loved it.

The Low-down: With Perry Farrell involved you know its gonna be cool, this particular urban setting is ideal for a large, non-camping fest, and the line-ups have been steadily top tier.

Chances I Go: 40% Chicago is an expensive city to visit, so i may have to choose between this and Pitchfork, and my inital inclination is to choose Pitchfork, but if the line-up is hot enough, I'll make the trek twice.

Lollapalooza Website


ACLFest (September 26-28, 2008) [Austin, TX]

Austin City Limits Music Festival began in 2002, the same year as Bonnaroo, and has emerged as a top-tier American fest, maybe the premier urban, non-camping fest in the US. Last year's line-up included Bjork, Wilco, Arade Fire, Muse My Morning Jacket, Queens Of The Stone Age, Bloc Party, The Decmeberists, and Yo La Tengo. I've heard good things about it but have yet to go to one.

The Low-down: It should be a great line-up and a fun big fest with 65,000 people.

Chances I Go: 60% Another fest I haven't been to means I need to go.

ACLFest Website


The Echo Project (Fall 2008) [Atlanta, GA]

Seemingly out of nowhere The Echo Project emerged for the first time ever a few months ago just Outside The Perimeter. The Jamband heavy, but diverse line-up brought out a great, small crowd under 10,000. By the accounts I've heard, it was not very successful financially, but the promoters have maintained that it will return next year. I had a blast, and you can read about my experience here. Also, much better pictures here.

The low-down: I would expect it to be really fun again next year, but I hope they get someone who knows indie music a little better to choose that part of the line-up (give me a holla ;) ), because i think diehard hippies have a hard time discerning what's good (not The Killers). Also, they need to promote it properly this year if they want it to be financially successful.

Chances I Go: 98% So much fun and it's right here in the ATL, why wouldn't I go?

The Echo Project Website


Voodoo (October 24-26, 2008) [New Orleans, LA]

Dating back to 1999, this mega-big urban, noncamping fest is the New Orleans version of Atlanta's old Music Midtown, held every year on Halloween weekend. In 2005 it had to be held simultaneously in two different states because of Hurricane Katrina, but when it returned to its regular spot of City Park in 2006 it bounced back with 93,000 attendance. This year with Rage Against The Machine, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Wilco headlining, it blew up even larger to a ridiculous 150,000+. Check our coverage:

• Day 1 Photos
• Day 2 Photos
• Live Review
• Day 3 Photos
  

The Low-down: A solid fest who's line-ups tend to be a little less than top tier because of the mainstream crowd it aims at, but the bonus is you are in a city like New Orleans to party.

Chances I Go: 25% I've been to this twice, so it's about time for me to go to Vegoose for the first time.

Voodoo Website


Vegoose (October 2008) [Las Vegas, NV]

This non-camping spinoff of Bonnaroo began its annual Halloween weekend event in 2005. Last year notable acts fromm the line-up included Rage Against The Machine, Blonde Redhead, Battles, Mastodon, Muse, Queens Of The Stone Age, and Ghostface Killah. The line-ups tend to be even a little less jambandy than Bonnaroo's, and with late night sets in a city like Las Vegas, you know its gonna be a crazy time.

The Low-down: With the folks running Bonnaroo doing this, you're in good hands. The line-ups are small, but high quality. Last year attendance was around 40,000.

Chances I Go: 55% A fest and a city i've never experienced means most likely it is the time to go.

Vegoose Website

Torrents Of The Day: Bonnaroo 2007

Just a little more Bonnaroo obsession before I move on:

Tool 2007-06-15 - Bonnaroo Music Festival - What Stage (16-bit) (FLAC)

Tool
What Stage - Bonnaroo Music Festival
Manchester, TN
06/15/2007

Source: Schoeps mk4 (ortf)> kc5> cmc6xt> Edirol R4 (24/96)
Location: FOB, LoC ~15', 5' high, 60' from stage
Transfer: r4> usb> Peak 4.13> xACT (fixed SBE's and converted to flac)
Taped and Transferred Patrick Moore (pat@taperssection.com)

One Set/Disc One
01 Jambi
02 Stinkfist
03 The Pot
04 46&2
05 Schism
06 Rosetta Stoned
07 Flood
08 Wings For Marie
09 10,000 Days

Disc Two
01 Lateralus*
02 Vicarious
03 Aenema

* w/ Tom Morello


Hot Chip 2007-06-15 Bonnaroo This Tent

Hot Chip
June 15, 2007
Bonnaroo - This Tent
Manchester, TN

Source: Core Sound Binaurals > Battery Box > Nomad Jukebox 3
Transfer: NJB3 > USB > PC > Sony Soundforge 7.0a
Edit: Sony Soundforge 7.0a (Splitting) > FLAC Frontend 1.7.1 etree edition > Tag & Rename


01) First New Song (Title Unknown)
02) Shake A Fist (New Song)
03) And I Was A Boy From School
04) Hold On (New Song)
05) (Just Like We) Breakdown
06) Fourth New Song (Title Unknown)
07) No Fit State
08) The Warning
09) Over And Over
10) Ready For a Fall (New Song)
11) The Beach Party


wilco 2007-06-17 Bonnaroo

Wilco
Bonnaroo
Manchester, TN
June 17, 2007

Source: Beyerdynamic mc930>mini me>mt
Mic config./location: ortf, 7', fob, dfc
Transfer: mt>wavelab>cdwave>flac
Editing: fades added beginning/end
Recorded and Transferred by Jon Buffington (stirinthesauce@hotmail.com)

2 discs

disc 1

01: You are my face
02: side with the seeds
03: shot in the arm
04: sb sky
05: walken
06: shake it off
07: hummingbird
08: via chicago
09: handshake drugs

disc 2

01: impossible germany
02: war on war
03: IATTBYH
04: ITMWLY
05: jesus, etc
06: spiders
e)
07: late greats
08: HM Drummer

Live Review: Bonnaroo 2007

We took a 16 car envoy from Atlanta to the event. We had some issues keeping everyone together, but at the end of about a 4 hour wait to get in early Thursday afternoon, we somehow managed to get everyone at the same camp. After setting up in Camp Han Solo, we got to drinking pretty hard and exploring the campgrounds before heading to see the music of the night. Upon entering Centeroo, we were held up in an extremely slow moving line to get in through security. The security didn't really seem to be checking people particularly hard, but they were very slow. Complaints about security would be a theme shared by many people over the weekend, but everyone in our entourage would only be minorly inconvenienced by it. I started out the night checking out the NBA Finals in the Cinema Tent, and then going to see The National. I have to say I thought they were downright awful. We stuck around for about half of it, and it got a big thumbs down from me. Next we watched Dubconscious in the Troo Music Lounge, which was pretty good but not really my bag. The best show of the night we caught would be Rodrigo y Gabriela. Really cool acoustic guitar stuff. On my way back to my camp to do more drinking, I checked out the Yard Dogs Road Show at the Bonna Rouge tent and I thought that was really interesting.













Friday started off with me checking out Tortoise. I thought this was a really solid set from them and enjoyed it a lot, especially them doing Seneca, my favourite tune of theirs, for the encore. This is one of the few sets that have already emerged on the torrents and you can download it here:

Tortoise 2007-06-15 Bonnaroo Music Festival. This Tent. (FLAC)



I stayed at the stage and managed to get front row for Hot Chip. This was one of my favourite shows of the weekend. They did really different renditions of stuff off of The Warning. I'm a big fan of organic dance music, and these guys are on top of that game. Some phlogs:







I briefly checked out the beginning of The Roots and then went to pregame for what would be the best show of the weekend, Tool. Unfortunately for me, I ended up getting too blotto and I blacked out halfway through the already legendary set complete with crazy visuals and a guest appearance jamout with Tom Morello. Hopefully one of the other Ohmpark folks who actually saw the entire thing will do a review for it later this week as I don't really have much to offer except it blew my mind. After regaining consciousness later on in the night, I went to see DJ Shadow. He was good but was the same exact thing I had seen recently in Atlanta and it seemed to pale in comparison to the Tool show. Plus Lateef The Truthspeaker is horrible and I had to leave when he came on. I caught the STS9 encore before heading back to the campgrounds and staying up until sunrise.

Saturday day seemed to be a ton of mediocre shows for me. I bounced around from Dr. Dog, to The Slip, to Regina Spektor, to Gogol Bordello, to Damien Rice, to Fountains Of Wayne. None of them were bad, but none of them really drew me in. The Warren Haynes interview at the Sonic Stage was pretty cool as you got to listen to him talk about the history of him and the Allman Brothers Band and Gov't Mule. After all of that though, it was time for Ween. I've seen these guys many times and have never really loved them hardcore, but for this show they just brought it, and the crowd for the show was going insane. I would have never expected it at the beginning of the weekend, but I think this ended up being my favourite show of the 'roo. Saturday night we went to see The Police, like just about every single person at the festival, and it was a bit of a let down for me. I don't know if maybe my expectations were too high or what, but it just seemed really underwhelming. I'm glad i got to see them, but I definitely wouldn't go see them again. Late night, I opted to check out Girl Talk over the Flaming Lips extravaganza that most everyone else caught. The Girl Talk show was a great dance party with a stage full of random folks getting down. After that I saw some of the Gov't Mule set, but my memory is pretty hazy at this point so I don't have a lot to say about it. Although I did not go see them, the Sasha and Digweed set would be the only late night set of the weekend that would creep into dawn.

On Sunday, we went extremely early to catch the Flight Of The Conchords. The 2 hours sitting in the hot sun were a high price to pay, but I'm glad to have seen these guys. Demetri Martin opened for them in the Comedy Tent. He was ok, but he seemed to be trying out a lot of new stuff, and not all of it was that great. The FOTC took the stage, they did a set consisting of older tunes, a couple off of the first HBO episode, and a few I didn't recognize. They were good, but it was hard to hear what they were saying at times, and the songs i didn't already know didn't seem as good to me as the others. They ended with a version of Albi the Racist Dragon featuring Demetri Martin on harmonica that was pretty cool.

After that i was off to catch the extremely jazzy Ratdog set. Always good stuff. Next up was The Decemberists show. I had been wanting to catch these guys forever and they were impressive. A heavy dose of The Crane Wife plus some other great gems. After that I went to see Wilco, and they did one of the best sets I've ever see them do. You can tell now that the nu-Wilco line-up has finally come into their own and they were on fire. If you get a chance to check them out tonight in the ATL, I highly recommend you do so. My final show of the weekend would be the White Stripes, who were good but seemed a little stale to me. They just seem to lacking something and i'm not sure what. Maybe it had to do with the extremely packed crowd and me being so far away, but it didn't impress me. Check it out for yourself:

The White Stripes 2007-06-17 Bonnaroo Which Stage

Overall, 2007 ranked fairly low among the other years for me personally, but that's not to say it wasn't unbelievably awesome, because it always is. I think I'm still coughing up dust. I feel like despite the move away from the Jamband heavy line-ups of the early days, they still don't have the quantity of this decades best artists that Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Pitchforkfest boast. The biggest change this year would be the absolute clamp down on non-official vendors and the banning of sales of glass pieces. i have to say I do not like this development and I believe it was the final nail in the coffin of this festival being significantly married to the Jamband community. I knew from the first year on that eventually Bonnaroo would either get shut down or get more controlled, and so I do not dismay as much as the Bonnaroo haters out there on the mainstreaming of the fest, but the old days are officially gone. On the bright side, I would not expect Bonnaroo to get much worse in this way and so if this is what Bonnaroo now is, then I have no problem with it and will continue to attend as long as they keep putting together great line-ups, but I'm gonna have to go check out another hippie fest once in a while to get that part of the experience that is almost completely gone at the 'roo. Here's some facts and figures from the weekend:

Ornette Coleman suffered a heat stroke while on stage.

One man died this year bringing the alltime Bonnaroo death count to 6.

The Coffee County Sheriffs reported 47 arrests over the weekend.

Bonnaroo grossed an estimated $17 million, breaking it's own record from last year as the highest grossing festival in the world.

Setlists of the weekend are being compiled here.

Back From Bonnaroo

Another amazing weekend has come to close in Manchester, TN. I will have full reports for you tommorrow, but today is for recovering and catching up on sleep. Unfortunetly I couldn't do much onsite reporting due to software issues and really slow internet access, but you can go check out Camura for photo logs of the event.

Ohmpark Mixtape #2: Bonnaroo Roadtrip

I decided to put together a little mixtape of artists that will be at Bonnaroo for you to listen to on your journey if you are going, and if not, listen to it and go get a ticket. Here you go:

• Seneca : Tortoise
• It's Summertime : The Flaming Lips
• Message In A Bottle : The Police
• Fake Empire : The National
• Prison Sex : Tool
• (Just Like We) Breakdown : Hot Chip
• I Remain Calm : The Roots
• Kamera : Wilco
• The Bagman's Gambit : The Decemberists
• King Of Pain : The Police
• Baby Bitch : Ween
• Tennessee Jed : The Grateful Dead
  

Friday Free-Style

I've been listening to the new Klaxons album a lot lately, so here's their new video:



The Black Lips and The Selmanaires are going on tour together.

Animal Collective will be at the Variety Playhouse on September 26th. Watch Panda Bear live:



Flight Of The Conchords just signed to Subpop and will be releasing an EP soon.

Andrew Bird will be at the Variety Playhouse September 13th.

Super Furry Animals have a new album coming out August 27th.

St. Vincent will be at The Earl July 11th.

Rilo Kiley have a new album coming out August 21st.

Here's a new Arctic Monkeys video:



You can stream the new Queens Of The Stone Age's new album here.

The Bonnaroo superjam will feature Ben Harper, ?uestlove, and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones. Interesting combination.

Iggy Pop, Jeff Tweedy, Dave Grohl, Frank Black, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers will be lending their voices to the new comedy central show Lil' Bush.

You can listen to the Deerhunter show at the Whirlyball last week here.

Rage Against The Machine have mysterious countdown clocks on their website.

The new Chemical Brothers album release date is getting pushed back to June 18th.

If you want to hear more Smashing Pumpkins new material, go here.

Patrick Wolf is working on a new album.

Andre 3000 will be playing Sammy Davis Jr in an upcoming movie.

There is a webcast of ISIS's show on june 11th.

Here is some software to use the Guitar Hero guitars to make your own music.

Silverchair will be at The Roxy on July 23rd.

Here's some interviews:

• Feist
• Hold Steady
• Voxtrot
• Beach House
• Sea And Cake
• Tom Morello
• Son Volt
• Grizzly Bear

Here's some vids from Bonnaroo for you:

Andrew Bird:



The Mars Volta:



Radiohead:



Les Claypool:



Ben Harper:

Diatribe Of The Day: Bonnaroo Is Only One Week Away!

We make a big deal about Bonnaroo here at Ohmpark. For me personally, it is the highlight of my year, the thing I look forward to constantly, my Christmas. It's more than just a festival that puts together amazing line-ups every year. It is one of the most important and influential institutions of music this decade. Every year it means something different and serves as a barometer for where music is going in times that are very different than the rest of rock/pop music's history and fairly mysterious as to where things are going to go next.

Luckily for me, I've been able to attend every year of Bonnaroo so far, and I thought I might tell some tales from those 5 years here as I get hyped up for next week. When I first came to college I hung out with a lot of hippies and got turned on to jambands fairly early. It was just pure chance that I ended up going to the first one, because it was advertised almost entirely by word of mouth. Phish had been blowing up and that scene was at a watermark so high that they could literally get 70,000 (give or take) people in a field to party through nothing but email. It's kind of cliche' to say how the first one was so much different than the rest, but it's the truth. There were literally tables set up in the campgrounds with huge bags of weed and scales sitting right out with a crowd of customers hovering around to buy it up. Laws ceased to exist almost entirely for 4 days in Tennessee. The festival was the pinnacle of the post-Grateful Dead jamband scene (with the exception of maybe Phish at Big Cypress) and was a once in a lifetime sort of event. I don't know if you could compare it to Woodstock because the cultural significance of that single festival was so broadly spanning into pop culture, but there is something almost more special about that first year of the 'roo because it occurred in such obscurity; The greatest party of the millennium happened and no one would really even know about it until years later, except for those of us who went.

The second year was when Bonnaroo upped the ante and went from being the greatest jamband fest to becoming America's greatest festival period. They expanded the genre limitations of the first year and paved the way for a world where the multitude of styles could unite under one flag, just straight up great music, anyway you like it. The very last time I tripped in my life, happened to be the very first time I saw one of my now favourite bands, Sonic Youth. That experience will be in mind until I die as one of the best I've ever had. Mushrooms and Sonic Youth are just an unbeatable combination. The afternoon was so spectacular that I decided to never take psychedelics again because nothing could ever top that.

Year three exposed me to amazing artists such as Yo La Tengo, Primus, Wilco, Grandaddy, Praxis, and Danger Mouse live for the first time. The best show of this Bonnaroo for me would be Material. At one point in the set, Buckethead would build up an amazing solo, and right as it exploded, lightning struck, thunder shook the ground, and rain clouds opened up to a pour. It was one of the most surreal concert experiences of my life.

The fourth year (2005) was probably my favourite overall. It started bad as the front gate security took away much of my beer, we got parked in a very far away spot, and the smallest group I had ever taken included someone really lame who wanted to just complain constantly. But it turned around fast. The Thursday night I went to watch my favourite basketball team, the San Antonio Spurs, play the Detroit Pistons in Game 1 of the NBA finals. Of the 500 or so people in the cinema tent watching the game, there were only four of us Spurs fans. The entire game was a Pistons blowout with everyone in the tent going crazy...until the fourth quarter. The Spurs eventually would win the game and was the turning point for the entire weekend. The next day before watching the unbelievably amazing late-night The Mars Volta show, Me, Sleo, and Biggie C were able to "mysteriously acquire" all-access passes to the fest. We spent the rest of the weekend backstage drinking free alcohol and stalking our favourite artists. That weekend was one of the best in my life.

Last year we volunteered to work at the 'roo. We got to start camping on Tuesday on our way back from Coparusa so it was interesting to be hanging out at the fest with only the other employees. I waited 6 hours or so in one spot to watch the epic Radiohead show, but it was a small price to pay. I think last year the most interesting thing for me was to be able to watch how the fest is run behind the scenes. Bonnaroo 2006 concluded with me getting to shake Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth's hand as we both waited to get on stage for the Phil Lesh and Friends show.

I could literally go on for hours and hours about my experiences at this fest. I'll spare you for now, but I urge you to get tickets now if you don't have them. If you can't make it, we'll be covering the fest around the clock both here and at Camura.

Bonnaroo Tickets = Hells Yeah

Friday Free-Style

We start today with a video of The Smashing Pumpkins comeback show:



I never covered the Pitchfork Fest additions of Mastodon, Junior Boys, Voxtrot, Cadence Weapon, Brightblack Morning Light, The Field, Cool Kids, and William Parker Quartet. Now with the combination of a night with legendary artists performing some of the best albums ever written and two days of the people making the very best albums of the last 2 years, I think musically this is by far the best festival of the year. On top of that, it is only 50 bucks for three days so it is also the greatest bargain of the year. I often have my quips with Pitchfork's opinions but they sure nailed this line-up. Here it is in case you forgot:

Friday, July 13:

Sonic Youth perform Daydream Nation
GZA/Genius performs Liquid Swords
Slint perform Spiderland

Saturday, July 14:

Yoko Ono
Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues (w/ members of Dirty Three, the Delta 72, and Blues Explosion)
Clipse
Mastodon
Iron and Wine
Battles
Grizzly Bear
Voxtrot
Califone
The Twilight Sad
Girl Talk
Dan Deacon
Oxford Collapse
Professor Murder
Fujiya & Miyagi
Beach House
William Parker Quartet
Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound

Sunday, July 15:

De La Soul
The New Pornographers
Of Montreal
Stephen Malkmus
Jamie Lidell
The Sea and Cake
Junior Boys
Menomena
The Ponys
Deerhunter
Klaxons
The Field
Cadence Weapon
The Cool Kids
Craig Taborn's Junk Magic
Nomo
Brightblack Morning Light
Fred Lonberg-Holm's Lightbox Orchestra

Anybody you don't recognize on that list, you should look into immediately. More info on Pitchfork Fest here. We will be there and you should too.

The hometown fest that is still the most fun of the decade, Bonnaroo, has announced its cinema tent schedule.

The New Pornographers have a new track floating around the internets: My Rights Versus Yours

Ween releases a new EP, The Friends EP, on June 8th.

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead are looking for a drummer to sub-in for their European tour.

Creative Loafing did a cover story on Atlanta blogs this week and profiled our friends over at Cable And Tweed. Props for repping the B's in da A.

It's been a busy week for me and I don't have that much news for you, so I'll hit you with a bunch of vids:

Here's a Cat Power on Jolls Holland:



Here's a Califone video:



Here's an Iron And Wine video:



Ween live:



Here's the new Voxtrot video:



Here's Arcade Fire covering a Clinic song:



And I leave you with a De La Soul video that will get you through your day:

Bonnaroo Preview: The National

Only two weeks before i load up my truck and head to the 'roo. Can you feel the excitement? Tickets are in the mail. Here's a good quality live show from The National. They will also be at The Earl two weeks from tonight.

The National
White Session

Studio 105, Maison de Radio France, Paris

Recording : 05-24-2007
Broadcast : 05-28-2007

Lineage : FM -> CDWAVe -> SoundForge -> FLAC -> you

Setlist : (click to listen)

01. Start a war
02. Brainy
03. Slow Show
04. Squalor Victoria
05. Apartment story
06. Racing Like A Pro
07. Ada
08. You did it again Virginia (Boxer outtake)
09. ?
10. Fake Empire
11. About today

Recorded and edited by svp, for you. Bernard Lenoir's comments have been removed. No drop outs.

Download Lossless Torrent Here

Bonnaroo Schedule Released!

Check It Out

My Personalized Schedule

i have to say overall, that's a great schedule. the only real conflict i'm worried about is the Decemberists and Wilco overlap. That saturday night late-night line-up is sick. these next few weeks need to move fast.

Humpday Random Bonnaroo Tracks

Bonnaroo is getting so close and i'm getting pumped up. Check these great tracks and click the picture for more info:

Wilco (Chicago, IL)



Wilco : Impossible Germany


Spoon (Austin, TX)



Spoon : The Ghost Of You Lingers


Aesop Rock (New York, NY)



Aesop Rock : None Shall Pass


Hot Chip (London, UK)



Hot Chip : And I Was A Boy From School

Bonnaroo Preview: Clutch

Here's some samples of a show, I can't seem to find the torrent where I got this:



Clutch
February 28, 2007
Newport Music Hall
Columbus, OH

Source: Sony ECM-719 > Sony NF610 MD > Audacity > wav > flac

Disc 1:
01 - Intro
02 - Burning Beard
03 - Child of the City
04 - Sea of Destruction
05 - You Can't Stop the Progress >
06 - Power Player
07 - I Have the Body of John Wilkes Booth
08 - Mice and Gods
09 - The Devil & Me
10 - Profits of Doom
11 - Open Up the Border
12 - Black Umbrella *
13 - Electric Worry *# >
14 - One Eyed Dollar *#
15 - Mr. Shiny Cadillackness *#
16 - The Mob Goes Wild #
17 - Cypress Grove #
18 - White's Ferry

Disc 2:
01 - Thanks from Neil
02 - Gravel Road %
03 - 10001110101
04 - Who's Been Talkin' *

* with Eric Oblander of Five Horse Johnson on harmonica
# with Uzi-One on guitar
% There is a fade out and back in during the jam from having to load a new disc.

Taped by poindxtr at gmail dot com

Bonnaroo Update and Preview: Feist

In case you lost track, Bonnaroo is roughly a month away. VIP Tickets are sold out, but regular tickets are still available so if you don't have one yet, it is time to get on it. With Wakarusa and 10K Lakes fests announcing their schedules last week, it's about time for Bonnaroo to do it too. Supposedly there is even another artist addition. They just added some comedians:

Demetri Martin
Aziz Ansari
Finesse Mitchell
Lynne Koplitz
Dov Davidoff
Nick Kroll
John Bowman

If you have Comcast TV-ON DEMAND, they are spotlighting previous Bonnaroo performances and performances from artists playing this year.

Jambands.com is reporting that Medeski and Martin will be doing a late night set at Bonnaroo Friday night.

There's a really cool Bonnaroo blog that is profiling artists on the line-up you should check out.

For the next month leading up to Bonnaroo, we will be covering artsits on the line-up as much as possible. Here's some live tracks from Feist:

Feist - Live On KCRW 2007
Aired 5-10-2007
KCRW Radio FM Broadcast
Santa Monica, California.
Source: FM Broadcast
Live At Time Of Broadcast - In Studio Session

Lineage: FM> Harman Kardon AVR30 > Analog Out > Sony RCD-W500C >
Audio CDR.WAV > Pioneer DVR-RW DVD-108 > EAC > CD WAVE(Tracking-Flac.8)->

Canadian singer Feist brings a batch of new songs when she returns to Morning Becomes Eclectic

Setlist: (click to listen)

(=Intro=)
So Sorry
-morning becomes excedrin-
The Park
-no more jokes-
The Water
(=Interview=)
Feel It All
Safety Bricks
-i knew that-
Sea Lion
(=Outro=)

The Band:
Leslie Feist: Vox, Guitar
Dafydd Hughes: Piano, Syth, Voc
Afie Jurvanen: Guitar, Melodica, Voc
Jay Baird: Sax, Metalophone, Voc
Jesse Baird: Drums, Trumpet, Voc
Kevin Drew: Percussion, Guitar, Voc

Download Lossless Torrent Here

Friday Free-Style

The Pixies' Frank Black aka Black Francis is releasing some albums this year.

Sonic Youth is re-issuing Daydream Nation this year with 15 live songs from that tour including a Beatles cover and a Neil Young cover.

Wow, I just mentioned four amazing and influential artists. How about some awesome vids:

The Pixies:



Sonic Youth:



The Beatles:



Neil Young:



On the heels of Ben And Jerry's success with the Stephen Colbert ice cream, Queen is getting a flavor called "Bohemian Raspberry".

DMX breaks laws.

Jim Morrison is still involved in legal battles.

The new Whites Stripes album comes out June 19th.

Over 100 Million ipods have been sold.

The new Queens of The Stone Age album comes out June 12th.

Bonnaroo announced their line-up for the Cafe Tent:

Angel and the Love Mongers
Bang Bang Bang
Dave Barnes
benzos
The Biscuit Burners
Pieta Brown
Cage the Elephant
Sam Champion
Christabel and the Jons
Rocco DeLuca (solo)
Dixie Dirt
Dubconscious
The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker
Piers Faccini
Favourite Sons
Fiction Plane
Tim Fite
Haale
Jescoe
Alexa Ray Joel
Langhorne Slim
Manchester Orchestra
Jennifer Niceley
Brandy Robinson
Salvador Santana Band
Jonah Smith
Smokin’ Dave and the Premo Dopes
Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter
Tenderhooks
Tin Cup Prophette
The Westside Daredevils
The Whigs

Frog Eyes will be at the Drunken Unicorn on May 14th. Here's a Frog Eyes live video:



Busdriver will be back in Atlanta opening for CocoRosie at the Masquerade May 10th.

I forgot to mention this last week because my Friday Free-Style was so late, but the new season of the Sopranos and the new season of Entourage started last week. I'm a huge fan of HBO and I highly recommend you get to a TV with HBO Sunday night at 9pm.

M.I.A. has new album coming out on June 26th.

Arbouretum will be at the Drunken Unicorn next Wednesday night.

You should read about women in the metal.

Creative Loafing has an article about Stone Mountain representin'.

WRAS Georgia State radio lists the 5 worst band names.

Listen to an Amy Winehouse live show here.

Listen to a streaming Lily Allen show here.

Interviews:

• Deerhunter
• Wilco
• Love Of Diagrams
• Low
• Bright Eyes
• Marnie Stern
• Ted Leo
• CocoRosie
• Clap your Hands Say Yeah

Here's some Marnie Stern videos:

Torrent Of The Day: Radiohead (Bonnaroo)

This is an essential show to have, so in case you don't, here:

radiohead bonnaroo 6/17/2006 - 16-bit version

Radiohead
2006-06-17
What Stage - Bonnaroo
Manchester, TN

16-bit version
Taper: SpeshulEd

Set List
------------------------------------

--Disc One--
01 Intro
02 There, There
03 2+2=5
04 15 Step
05 Arpeggi
06 Exit Music
07 Kid A
08 Dollars & Cents
09 Videotape
10 No Surprises
11 Paranoid Android
12 The Gloaming
13 National Anthem
14 Climbing Up The Walls
15 Nude
16 Street Spirit (Fade Out)

--Disc Two--
01 The Bends
02 Myxomatosis
03 How To Disappear Completely
04 You And Whose Army?
05 Pyramid Song
06 Like Spinning Plates
07 Fake Plastic Trees
08 Bodysnatchers
09 Lucky
10 Idioteque
11 Karma Police
12 House Of Cards
13 Everything In Its Right Place

Video Of The Day: Flight Of The Conchords

Newly added to Bonnaroo, this New Zealand duo is sort of like Tenacious D, but good. Check out one of their shows:

Bonnaroo Artist Additions!

Finally Bonnaroo posts some additions:

Ornette Coleman
El-P
David Bromberg and Angel Band
Flight of the Conchords
The New Orleans Klezmer Allstars
Yard Dogs Road Show

El-P and Flight of The Conchords(Wow!) I am most excited about. Not really the additions i was hoping for but Bonnaroo says there 's more additions soon.

Bonnaroo Preview: Tortoise

The first time I ever saw Tortoise was at Bonnaroo and it was amazing. Before Post-Rock had a name, these guys were mastering it. Here's a live show to listen to:

Tortoise
taktlos-tonart bern
Bern (CH), Dampfzentrale
November 17, 2006

Dan Bitney - bass, guitar, percussion, vibes, marimba, keys, barisax
John McEntire - drums, modular synth, ring modulator guitar, electric harpsichord, keys
John Hemdon - drums, vibes, keys, sequencing
Doug McCombs - bass, guitar, lap steel
Jeff Parker - guitar, bass

FM intro (1:19)
1. (10:16)
2. (4:16)
3. (6:05)
4. (9:04)
5. (8:19)
FM talk (0:21)
6. (6:09)
7. (5:12)
8. (6:11)
9. (6:36)
10. (4:40)
11. (4:31)
12. (5:13)
FM outro (0:23)

Download Lossless Torrent Of This Show Here

Check Out Tortoise Myspace Page

Bonnaroo Update

Since quietly adding The Roots and The Wild Magnolia Mardi Gras Indians, Bonnaroo has not officially announced much. I'll take this opportunity to address a few things. First, here's some confirmations on who is playing on what day. Remember these are not official, but all the pre-line-up confirmations were pretty right on. Thanks to LIGuy at Inforoo:


Thursday (6/14)
Apollo Sunshine
Sam Roberts Band (website says 1 PM start time)
Elvis Perkins in Dearland
Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers
Tea Leaf Green
The Annuals
Sonya Kitchell (7 PM)
Charlie Louvin
Black Angels
The National
Dubconscious
The Little Ones

Friday (6/15)
The String Cheese Incident
Michael Franti & Spearhead
The Black Keys
DJ Shadow
Hot Chip
RX Bandits
Lily Allen
Brazilian Girls
Manu Chao
Tortoise
Gillian Welch
James Blood Ulmer
Uncle Earl
Paolo Nutini
Cold War Kids
(Friday Late Night)Sound Tribe Sector Nine

Saturday (6/16)
The Police
The Hold Steady
Keller Williams (WMD's)
Ben Harper & Innocent Criminals
Xavier Rudd
Feist
Hot Tuna
Girl Talk
Galactic
Fiction Plane
Kings of Leon
Ween
Railroad Earth
Old Crow Medicine Show
Feist- (some sites are saying Sunday)
The Slip
Spoon
The Nightwatchman
(Saturday Late Night)Gov't Mule
(Saturday Late Night)Sasha and John Digweed

Sunday (6/17)
The White Stripes
North Mississippi Allstars
Fountains Of Wayne
Mavis Staples
Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys
Wolfmother
The Decemberists
Regina Spektor
Wilco
Junior Brown


I'm hearing that Tool plays Friday night and Widespread Panic plays Sunday night, but i have no confirmation.

Bonnaroo has released last year's performances from Blackalicious, Buddy Guy, and The Neville Brothers in MP3 and FLAC.

The hippier-than-thou folks who like to hate on Bonnaroo have spread alot of rumors involving MTV and Clear Channel and I'm always surprised how many people actually believe this. Here's straight from guy who runs the roo:

Rumor: Clear Channel is buying out the festival.
AC Says: “Not true.”
Rumor: MTV/Viacom is buying out the festival.
AC Says: “There’s never even been a discussion. What would MTV do with a music festival?”
Rumor: Six Flags wants to build a new theme park on the land where Bonnaroo is held.
AC Says: “[Referencing a recent News Sentinel article], Six Flags over Georgia is in trouble. They’re not buying land; they’re selling land.”
Rumor: Bonnaroo is moving to a different location.
AC Says: “We’re actually exploring options for creating a more permanent site in Coffee County for Bonnaroo. If we owned the land, we could put in more infrastructure that would make it easier to produce. We’ve started tentative discussions with landowners for possibly purchasing the land, but it’s completely speculative at this point.”
Rumor: 2006 was the last Bonnaroo.
AC Says: “At this stage in the game, we’re here to stay for another few years.”

Also, if you want tickets to the 'roo and haven't got them, just keep in mind that only the high priced tickets remain. Last year tickets sold out in May, but remember Coachella sold out in record time, so I'd expect Bonnaroo them to sell out a little earlier this year.

Bonnaroo Preview: Cold War Kids, Regina Spektor

Leading up to America's greatest music festival of this decade, we will highlight some of the lesser known acts on the bill to help you decide who to see. If you haven't bought a ticket to Bonnaroo yet, get on it.


Cold War Kids


Cold War Kids are a California band that do the indie-rock blues thing. Here's some songs from a live show in Paris last month:

• Track 1
• Track 2
• Track 4
• Track 5
• Track 6

To download this torrent: Cold War Kids_ La Cigale_ 02-12-2007 FM

For more info on Cold War Kids click here.


Regina Spektor


Regina Spektor is a Soviet-born American singer-songwriter and pianist who is part of the New York "anti-folk" scene. Here's some songs she did at a festival in Sweden last year:

• Track 1
• Track 2
• Track 3
• Track 4
• Track 5

To download this torrent: Regina Spektor - 2006-07-06 Stockholm FM

For more info on Regina Spektor click here.

Videos Of The Day: Bonnaroo

Here's the video Beck had in the middle of his show:



Sonic Youth:



The Mars Volta:

Happy Bonnaroo Line-up Day

Screw this valentine BS. Today is about Bonnaroo. So it turns out that the widely circulated rumors were really off, the pre-confirmations were solid, and Bonnaroo has some serious amatuers running their website. Yesterday, a Bonnaroo message board dude named "Bonnaroodetective" found the line-up and exposed it and Billboard was the first to break the story. Props to those guys. Even today the Bonnaroo website is acting funny, and really it's a weak web design. So, I'm gonna break down the line-up:

The Police • Tool • Widespread Panic • The White Stripes • Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals • Wilco • The Flaming Lips • MANU CHAO Radio Bemba Sound System • The String Cheese Incident • Franz Ferdinand • Bob Weir & Ratdog • Damien Rice • Ween • Gov't Mule • Ziggy Marley • The Decemberists • Kings of Leon • Michael Franti & Spearhead • Wolfmother • Regina Spektor • The Black Keys • Galactic • DJ Shadow • Gillian Welch • Spoon • Keller Williams (WMD'S) • Sasha & John Digweed • STS9 • Old Crow Medicine Show • The Hold Steady • Lily Allen • North Mississippi Allstars • Fountains Of Wayne • Hot Tuna • Feist • Hot Chip • John Butler Trio • Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys • Aesop Rock • The Richard Thompson Band • Dierks Bentley • James Blood Ulmer • Xavier Rudd • Gogol Bordello • Junior Brown • Tortoise • T-Bone Burnett • Mavis Staples • Clutch • Cold War Kids • Dr. Dog • Paolo Nutini • Brazilian Girls • RX Bandits • The Nightwatchman • The Slip • Girl Talk • Railroad Earth • Martha Wainwright • Rodrigo y Gabriela • Annuals • Tea Leaf Green • Sam Roberts Band • Elvis Perkins in Dearland • Charlie Louvin • Sonya Kitchell • Mute Math • Apollo Sunshine • Uncle Earl • The National • The Little Ones • Black Angels • Ryan Shaw • Lewis Black & Friends • Dave Attell • David Cross •

First the headliners. Tool and the White Stripes are probably the two biggest-bands-I've-never-seen-who-still-tour-that-I-want-to-see so i'm pretty stoked about that. The Police is solid. Widespread is pretty lame, but i understand it. Overall, a nice follow-up to Radiohead, but I am dissappointed that Superfly couldn't land Roger Waters while he's touring around the Southeast US. But oh well, I'll catch him in Atlanta.



The line-up overall does a good job of balancing music tastes and for that I'm happy. Despite how much the hippies and wookies will cry about it not being an exclusively jamband line-up, the jam-heads are very well represented with WSP, String Cheese, Ben Harper, Bob Weir, Gov't Mule, Ween, Micheal Franti, Galactic, North Mississippi Allstars, STS9, Tea Leaf Green, Keller Williams, etc.



Bands that i'm excited about include: Wilco, The Decemberists, Wolfmother, Regina Spektor, the Black Keys, DJ Shadow, The Hold Steady, Lily Allen, Hot Chip, Aesop Rock, Tortoise, Cold War Kids, Girl Talk, and Mute Math.



The comedy acts I think are all really solid and probably the best comedy line-up at Bonnaroo thus far.

Overall, I give the inital line-up a solid B. Good job balancing the Pitchfork kids with the Patchouli kids but not Bonnaroo's best. Hopefully the artist additions will be good. 120 Days to go!

Go Check Out The Bonnaroo Site

Bonnaroo Line-up leaked!!!

Here's the line-up that the Bonnaroo website accidently put up earlier today:



Rumor Mill

Last Minute Bonnaroo Rumours

ok, so the line-up is announced in two days and this is my last chance to speculate on who's going to be there. It appears official that The Police are a headliner. Other bands that have been confirmed include:

• Cold War Kids
• John Butler Trio
• Uncle Earl
• Patton Oswalt
• Fountains of Wayne
• Charlie Louvin
• The Hold Steady
• Lily Allen
• Michael Franti and Spearhead

It looks like Roger Waters is going to be touring the US in June. So I'm going to guess that he will be a headliner (since they had to be working on something to announce the line-up later than usual) along with the Bob Dylan rumour. Two days seems so far away. Full Bonnaroo coverage on Wednesday.

Bonnaroo Update

The best part of January for me is the rumor blitz of Bonnaroo and Coachella line-ups. Current rumors circling the Bonnaroo Message Board are that The Police, Bob Dylan, and Pearl Jam are the headliners and that Bonnaroo will officially announce their line-up on January 31st. The Hold Steady are confirmed to play along with these bands. 177 Days and counting.

Bonnaroooooooooo!

Bonnaroo 2007 is set to take place June 14th-17th in Manchester, TN. The promoters are currently working on buying the farm.

So far there are two bands that have been confirmed to play:

Cold War Kids
Uncle Earl

You can find live music torrents from Bonnaroo 2006 here.

The initial line-up should be released by the second week in February, and tickets will go on sale very shortly after that so work it into your finances. More Bonnaroo updates as they happen. Until then, here's some pics from last year to get you in the mood: