Festival Madness

Summer is upon us and that means festival season is in full swing. 2008 is a banner year in the history of US Festivals, both in terms of quality and and quantity. It wasn't so long ago that Coachella and Bonnaroo stood alone as revolutionary festivals steering the US scene in new directions. As the touring fests dominant in the '90s began to lose their luster and become just another tour, a new model, or rather the reintroduction of the original model, began its ascension. 10 years ago neither Bonnaroo nor Coachella existed, and now there is like a billion fests all over this country that would never have been born without the two OGs. It is hard for me not to believe that over-saturation of festivals is on the horizon, but so far, 2008 is another high water mark. Some fest news:

Monolith fest, going down September 13 & 14 at beautiful Red Rocks, CO has an indie dominated line-up that hadn't existed outside of Pitchfork fest until now. I really think I may get tickets to this one:

Saturday, September 13
Devotchka
Silversun Pickups
Neko Case
Vampire Weekend
Mickey Avalon
Del tha Funky Homosapien
Cut Copy
The Fratellis
Superdrag
The Kills
Holy Fuck
White Denim
The Night Marchers
A Place to Bury Strangers
The Photo Atlas
The Hood Internet
John Vanderslice
Darker My Love
Cameron McGill & What Army
Blitzen Trapper
The Presets
Pop Levi
Pwrfl Power The Morning Benders
Boyhollow

Sunday, September 14
Justice
TV on the Radio
Band of Horses
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
CSS
The Avett Brothers
Tokyo Police Club
Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip
Akron/Family
The Bronx
Tilly and the Wall
The Heavy
The Cribs
The Ting Tings
Airborne Toxic Event
Bright Channel
Chester French
Grampall Jookabox
The Rosewood Thieves
Hearts of Palm
The Giraffes
The Elms

Tickets go on sale tomorrow. More info at the Monolith fest website.


Virgin Mobile Fest, going down in Baltimore, MD August 9 & 10 announced its full line-up this week:

Saturday, August 9

Main Stage

Bloc Party
Cat Power
Chuck Berry and The Silver Beats
Citizen Cope
Duffy
Foo Fighters
Gogol Bordello
Jack Johnson
KT Tunstall
Lupe Fiasco
The Offspring
Paramore
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
The Swell Season
Wilco

Dance Tent

DJ Dan & Donald Glaude
Erol Alkan
Ferry Corsten
Soul Wax
Steve Lawler
Underworld

Sunday, August 10

Main Stage

Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire
The Black Keys
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Bob Dylan
The Go! Team
Iggy & The Stooges
Kanye West
Lil Wayne
Nine Inch Nails
She & Him
Shudder to Think
Stone Temple Pilots
Taking Back Sunday

Dance Tent

Armin van Buuren
Chromeo
Deadmau5
Moby (DJ Set)
Pendulum
Richie Hawtin

Tickets for this one also go on sale tomorrow, so check out the Virgin Mobile fest website.

Voodoo Fest in New Orleans on Halloween weekend has announced its headliners will be R.E.M., NIN, and Stone Temple Pilots.

Awesome Festivals coming up this summer:

May 1-4: New Orleans Jazz Fest
May 16-18: No Fun Fest (New York, NY)
May 24-26: Sasquatch! (The Gorge, George, WA)
June 5-8: Wakarusa (Lawrence, KS)
June 12-15: Bonnaroo (Manchester, TN)
June 18-22: ATHFest (Athens, GA)
June 26-29: Corndogorama (Atlanta, GA)
July 3-6: Rothbury (Rothbury, MI)
July 17-19: Camp Bisco 7 (Mariaville, NY)
July 18-20: Pitchfork Fest (Chicago, IL)
August 1-3: Lollapalooza (Chicago, IL)
August 8-10: All Points West (Liberty State Park, NJ)
August 22-24: Outside Lands Fest (San Francisco, CA)
August 30-September 1: Bumbershoot (Seattle, WA)
September 19-21: All Tommorrow's Parties (Catskills, NY))
September 26-28 : ACL Fest (Austin, TX)

Friday Free-Style

I'm about to head to Myrtle Beach for the night to catch The Mars Volta. Tickets for that show are still available so I would recommend quiting your day job and catching it. If you can't do that, the 13 Day Mission, Beatrix Kiddo, Miles From Pangea show 11:11 teahouse is going to be the hottness. If you are completely broke, here's a free show:



Lollapalooza is announcing its line-up on Monday, but the Chicago Sun-Times has leaked a bunch of it. The following bands have been confirmed:

Radiohead
Nine Inch Nails
Rage Against The Machine
Wilco
Grizzly Bear
Battles
The Raconteurs
Kanye West
Gnarls Barkley
The Black Keys
Broken Social Scene
G. Love And The Special Sauce
Blues Traveler
Mates Of State
Bloc Party
Cat Power
Stephen Malkmus
Girl Talk
Kid Sister
Office
The Cool Kids
The Go! Team
Jamie Lidell

That is serious line-up. This is going to be a big event. I think I'm gonna have to hit this one up. You may have noticed Grizzly Bear up there, and word on the street is that they are opening for some of Radiohead's dates. In other Chicago festival news, Pitchfork Fest has added some acts and the line-up is looking much better. As it stands:

Friday, July 18:

Pitchfork Music Festival and All Tomorrow's Parties
present "Don't Look Back" Public Enemy performing
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

* Mission of Burma performing Vs. *
+ one more to be announced

Saturday, July 19:

Animal Collective * Jarvis Cocker * !!! Vampire Weekend Dizzee Rascal Fleet Foxes No Age * Jay Reatard * * King Khan & His Shrines * Atlas Sound * The Ruby Suns * * A Hawk and a Hacksaw * * Occidental Brothers Dance Band International *
+ many more!

Sunday, July 20:

* Dinosaur Jr. * Spiritualized M. Ward * Ghostface and Raekwon * * The Apples in Stereo * Boris * Dirty Projectors * * Cut Copy * Extra Golden El Guincho * Fuck Buttons *
+ many more!

Keep in mind the ticket price is $65 for a weekend pass, which is a great bargain compared to the skyrocketing festival ticket prices from everyone else. Another festival announcement made some noise this week too: Baltimore's Virgin Mobile Fest. They announced their headliners:

Foo Fighters
Jack Johnson
Kanye West
Nine Inch Nails
Stone Temple Pilots

There's two things to note here. 1. The Stone Temple Pilots are indeed back and on the reunion bandwagon. They have announced that they have exactly 65 North American days scheduled right now. Talk about cashing in. Oh yeah, Scott Weiland is in a tiff with his other band, Velvet Revolver. 2. Why the hell is Jack Johnson headlining all these festivals? I mean seriously, this douche must be stopped. Jack Johnson is like a Dave Matthews who can't play more than three chords. The dude sucks.

Atlanta's Nophest 4 & 20 festival going down in a couple weeks has added more to its line-up and schedule and you can check it out at their website. Ohmpark is sponsoring the event, so expect epicness.

I had been rumour-mongering this forever, but Pitchfork has confirmed that Bradford Cox (Deerhunter/Atlas Sound) worked on The Wild Things soundtrack with Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs). They have also reported that Deerhunter is recording their new album, Microcastle, as a 4-piece, and Colin Mee is officially no longer part of the band.

R.E.M., Modest Mouse, The National tickets go on sale tomorrow.

Al Green has a new album coming out that was produced by ?uestlove (The Roots) and will be at Chastain Park Amphitheater on July 16th.

STS9 and Umphrey's McGee are going on tour together and will finish their journey here in Atlanta at The Masquerade Music Park on August 1st and 2nd.

Creative Loafing has a great piece of journalism this week as they document how ATLien Jessica Juggz shoots flames from her vagina. Yep, really. And you can catch her band Mourdella at The Earl tomorrow night.

CL also have a piece on Atlanta's Zoroaster.

Myspace says it wants some of that Internet money, buddy.

Neil Young has a new album coming soon.

Of Montreal are releasing a live DVD in the fall.

311 and Snoop Dogg will be at Lakewood Amphitheater on July 26th.

Check out some vids of the Ahleuchatistas, Sorry No Ferrari, 13 Day Mission show last week here.

The oldest recording of a human voice (1860) was just found.

Pitchfork.tv is looking really cool, so check out the schedule.

Southern Shelter posted the Elf Power show at The 40 Watt in Athens from last week.

The Nomen Novum (members of Moorish Idols) debut release, the Mantis Man 7" will be available at their show tomorrow night at The Drunken Unicorn.


Bjork "Wanderlust" 3D video done by the music video badasses that did Grizzly Bear's "Knife" video (REALLY WATCH THIS ONE):



R.E.M. on The Colbert Report:





And there's this:

A Saturday Superpost

Before I get started, I just want to shout out to Lern for fixing my Internet. It feels good to be blogging from my own house again. Anyways, let's get started with festivals as there were some big announcements this week. The biggest would be All Points West (Coachella East). The festival will include two nights of Radiohead, which is ridiculous. Here's the line-up so far:



Radiohead, Jack Johnson, Underworld, Kings of Leon, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Cat Power, The Roots, The New Pornographers, Youssou N'Dour, Animal Collective, Andrew Bird, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Metric, CSS, Girl Talk, Chromeo, The Go! Team, Amadou & Mariam, The Black Angels, Sia, The Felice Brothers, K'Naan, Jason Isbell, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Alberta Cross, The Virgins, Black Kids, Mates of State, Duffy, Forro in the Dark, Nicole Atkins, Juana Molina, Little Brother, Rogue Wave, Neil Halstead and Your Vegas.

Outside of Radiohead the line-up seems a bit weak to be charging $258 for a weekend pass, but I guess with Coachella selling out last year so fast, they have decided to really push the price limits this year. Regardless, though, I may still go to this on the strength of seeing Radiohead in such a cool location and hanging out in New York City. Tickets go on sale this Friday. The fest goes down August 8th-10th. Get all the info at the website.


Other Festivals that made some noise this week:

All Good Fest (July 11th-13th in West Virginia) announces line-up:

Michael Franti & Spearhead
Keller Williams and the WMD'S
Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Soul Stew Revival
Medeski, Martin & Wood
Railroad Earth
Tea Leaf Green
The Bridge
Hot Buttered Rum
RAQ
Bonerama
Pnuma Trio
The Wood Brothers
Bassnectar
Outformation
Telepath
deSol
Basshound
Plus many more artists still to be announced

Tickets go on sale Tuesday. All Good website.


10,000 Lakes Fest (July 23th-26th in Minnesota) announces line-up:

Phil Lesh & Friends
The Flaming Lips
Michael Franti & Spearhead
George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic
Mickey Hart Band (featuring Steve Kimock & George Porter Jr.)
Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood
Slightly Stoopid
Dark Star Orchestra
Panjea with Michael Kang
JJ Grey & MOFRO
New Mastersounds
Everyone Orchestra
The Wood Brothers
Cornmeal
WBPN
The Hue
With over forty additional acts still to be announced

Get all the info at the 10K Lakes website.

Virgin Fest in Baltimore, MD has set dates August 9th & 10th for this year's event, going head to head against All Points West.

Atmosphere have a new album out in April.

The RIAA thinks music pirates are mostly crack-dealing terrorist murders.

Coldplay is finishing their newest album.

Air are putting out an expanded 10th anniversary version of Moon Safari loaded up with extras.

Bat For Lashes is going into the studio next week to work on a second album. It is supposed to be darker and more electronic and I can't wait.

Spoon will be at Center Stage April 14th with The Walkmen and White Rabbits. They are also releasing an EP in April.

Klaxons will begin recording a new album in May.

No Age have a new album out in May.

Blitzen Trapper have some new EPs and will be at The Drunken Unicorn March 20th.

Tilly And The Wall will be at The Drunken Unicorn March 16th.

Drum 'n' Bass DJ Grooverider got sentenced to 4 years in jail in Dubai for possession of Marijuana.

Andre 3000 has a new clothing line.

Check out this:

Bjork : Wanderlust (Ratatat remix)


Amplive : Rainydayz Remixes (of Radiohead's In Rainbows) : Video Tapez (featuring Del The Funky Homosapien)


Robert Plant and Alison Krauss:



Johnny Cash and Cypress Hill Mash-Up (watch this one!):



Black Mountain on Conan:

Virgin Fest Full Line-up

Better than I expected, maybe i'm not going to Lollapalooza after all:



Tickets go on sale May 5th and cost $175.

Virgin Fest Webpage

Lollapalooza Line-up Breakdown

Ok, so the Lollapalooza site still hasn't updated itself with all of the line-up, but everyone is reporting it as:

Pearl Jam, Daft Punk, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, Muse, Iggy & the Stooges, Modest Mouse, Interpol, My Morning Jacket, Satellite Party, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Snow Patrol, the Roots, Patti Smith, Kings of Leon, the Black Keys, Regina Spektor, Spoon, Lupe Fiasco, TV on the Radio, Pete Yorn, G. Love & Special Sauce, Paolo Nutini, Amy Winehouse, LCD Soundsystem, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Silverchair, Femi Kuti, Yo La Tengo, the Hold Steady, Jack's Mannequin, Stephen Marley, Sound Tribe Sector 9, M.I.A., Slightly Stoopid, Blonde Redhead, Sparklehorse, Sean Lennon, !!!, Blue October, Son Volt, Motion City Soundtrack, Polyphonic Spree, Peter Bjorn & John, Silversun Pickups, CSS, the Rapture, the Wailers, Roky Erickson, Tapes n Tapes, Heartless Bastards, the View, the Cribs, the Fratellis, Ghostland Observatory, Tokyo Police Club, Rhymefest, Soulive, Cold War Kids, Annuals, Fields, Electric Six, Jim Noir, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Sam Roberts Band, Black Angels, Charlie Musselwhite, Aqueduct, Juliette & the Licks, Dios, Viva Voce, David Vandervelde, Los Campesinos!, Chin Up Chin Up, Ryan Shaw, Colour Revolt, Satin Peaches, Illinois, Arckid, Mickey Avalon, The 1900s, Bang Bang Bang, Bound Stems, High Class Elite, Carey Ott, Matt Roan.

Daft Punk:



Iggy And The Stooges:



!!!:



Peter Bjorn And John:



So, now it is time to break it down and decide whether I'm going to travel to it again this year. First, The bands that I have not seen yet but want to really bad include: Daft Punk, Iggy And The Stooges, !!!, TV On The Radio (I won't be able to catch the shows tonight or tomorrow), and Peter Bjorn And John. Bands that I've seen multiple times but I will still travel to see include Pearl Jam and Yo La Tengo. Bands I want to see and haven't yet, but wouldn't necessarily convince me to travel to see include Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Black Keys, Amy Winehouse, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Son Volt, Silversun Pickups, The Rapture, Tapes n Tapes, Annuals, and Illinois.

The big decision all depends on The Smashing Pumpkins and Virgin Festival in Maryland the same weekend. Seeing the Smashing Pumpkins is a big priority for me this year, and so far the only US dates they have are Virgin Fest and Live Earth (and I'm not going to Live Earth). I think i will wait a little while for Virgin Fest to announce its line-up, but I'm leaning towards Lollapalooza for 2 reasons:

1. There is no doubt in my mind that The Smashing Pumpkins will do a plethora of US dates. Billy Corgan is trying to hype this thing up as much as possible with the album drop weirdness, being so mysterious about the Pumpkins tour line-up, and I think he is purposefully not announcing US dates yet to get people to want them to more and create more hype.

2. Besides SP, i doubt that Virgin will be able to deliver a better line-up than Lolla. That line-up there is pretty deep, and if Virgin is going to exclude most if not all of those acts, i just don't see how it could be much better. Here's the mini-line up of the two Canadian versions of Virgin Fest: Vancouver and Toronto. Other than Bjork, who will definitely not be in Maryland, those line-ups are way too commercial radio and small.

Another thing is i am kinda put off by deciding to compete head-to-head with such a great, already established festival. When Music Midtown in Atlanta tried to go head-to-head with Bonnaroo, how did that work out?

So, my final decision is Virgin Fest has about a week or two to put their cards on the table, and if not, I'm heading to see Perry and Company again.



Versus


Hey baldy, where them US dates at?