Next Big Nashville 2008: Thursday
Nashville - fairly or unfairly - is most often typecast as a country music city with the wacky sideshow that is the contemporary Christian genre sitting just down the aisle. And that's not entirely incorrect. Just take a stroll through Broadway in downtown Nashville. There's enough cowboy hats and customized belt buckles, you might feel as if you've died and gone to a Brooks & Dunn video. But, if the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau is to be believe, it's not Country Music City USA or Jesus Rock City USA, but rather Music City USA.Luckily about three years ago, a... read more
Musicfest NW 2008
Musicfest NW: Stumptown’s annual movable feast Austin has its SXSW and ACL Fest; New York has CMJ; Chicago has the Pitchfork Festival while Seattle and Bumbershoot remain hand-in-glove. Even as the music industry suffers through another in a long line of financially declining years, the list of noteworthy regional music events nevertheless goes on and on with nary an end in sight.... read more
SoCo Music Experience: Madison, Wis.
[Above: The Roots] Arriving at Willow Island in Madison, Wis. in the early afternoon, you could already smell the good times brewing. The crowd began to swell in size as the student body found its way to the festival grounds after the Badger football game that ended a few hours earlier. Madison is the epitome of a small-market music community that benefits from such outdoor extravagances, which, thanks to Southern Comfort and nice weather, make for one great day of live music.... read more
Slow Food Rocks in Saaan Fraaancisco
Lucky ol' Paste journeyed out to within view of the Golden Gate Bridge for the inaugural Slow Food Rocks music festival this past weekend. After all, we were the official magazine of the fest, part of the Slow Food Nation event going on next door, and it featured a delicious lineup inlcluding Gnarls Barkley, The New Pornographers, Ozomatli, Phil Lesh & Friends, John Butler Trio and G-Love & Special Sauce. Festivalgoers enjoyed organic foods and wines plus 8 different beers from Paste-approved breweries Lagunitas (you gotta try their Farmhouse Saison) & Sierra Nevada. But the main event was the music... read more
F Yeah Fest 2008
Above: JapantherDue to financial crises, Los Angeles' fifth F Yeah Fest nearly didn't occur, and thus this year's line-up was scaled down to a single day, a scavenger hunt acting as substitute for the Sunday Concert That Could Have Been. But Saturday's music fest was jam packed with nearly 10 hours of music and more bursts of “fuck yeah!” than one ought to hear in a single space, or four, as was the case.... read more
SoCo Music Experience: San Diego
With multi-day musical bonanzas like Bonnaroo, Coachella, Bumbershoot and godfather/standard-bearer South by Southwest using massive budgets and marquee status to lure the bands of their choosing and, subsequently, hordes of music fans, single-day city festivals heavy on local acts are often seen as also-rans in the eyes of aural addicts. But the SoCo Music Experience's latest stop in San Diego, Calif., proves that's not always true.... read more
Ben Harper and Robert Randolph jump on stage for impromptu song at Jackson Hole Music Festival
The Jackson Hole Music Festival just wrapped a few hours ago. A great weekend. To celebrate, a handful of locals and festival staff and attendees went to the Mangy Moose for drinks. There, our crowd of about 75 were treated to one of the real highlights of the weekend when Ben Harper jumped on stage, soon joined by Robert Randolph, for a performance of Bill Wither's "Use Me."More on the festival later. For now, here are some iPhone pictures of the duo (if only we'd brought the real camera...):... read more
Debut of New American Music Union Festival A Hit
The Raconteurs' Jack White at the New American Music Union Festival, photo by C.C. Chapman Last weekend, American Eagle Outfitters launched its inaugural music festival, New American Music Union, in the SouthSide Works area of Pittsburgh. A sold-out crowd of 10,000 was treated to performances from Bob Dylan, The Raconteurs, Gnarls Barkley, The Roots and Spoon, among others, all under the curation of Red Hot Chili Pepper Anthony Kiedis.... read more
Lollapalooza 2008 round-up
Above: Bang CamaroAnother Lollapalooza weekend has come and gone and music fans of all stripes left happy (unless, of course, they were fans of the Weakerthans, who had to cancel as a result of travel problems). Despite a record attendance of 225,000 fans, festivities and rock went on seamlessy under sun-filled skies each day. The festival's organizers outdid themselves this year with opening acts, starting the weekend out with a bang. Bang Camaro, that is. Other rising stars followed suit on days two and three with the Ting Tings belting out their infectious pop tunes (we overheard Love and Rockets'... read more
Lollapalooza Day 3
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Lollapalooza Day 2
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Lollapalooza Day 1
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Pitchfork Fest '08 Day Three: Lights & Music
(Tim Harrington plays music, really. Courtesy of Jeremy Farmer)The buzz and short attention spans I spoke of in Day One, and the newfound diversity heralded in Day Two, these things imploded upon each other the final hours of Sunday, with one holy rockness middle ground rising up from the rubble. The moment can be pinpointed actually, if you were to witness Les Savy Fav’s punk-maestro, Tim Harrington, careen his bald dome into a city garbage can, demanding the crowd hoist him, and his new stage, into the air so he could finish his song.Post-set comment from a fan:Dude wanted up,... read more
Pitchfork Fest '08 Day Two: Evolution of Hip
(Getting sick, sick, sick with Chk, Chk, Chk)As the natural progression of emergently original things go, Pfork’s festival speaks no more to one niche market, which is something best analogized by !!!’s Nic Offer late afternoon Saturday, before thrusting his pelvis to a series of genre-blurring grunts:We’re the lowest rated band on Pitchfork, with the highest set time. It goes to show you the kids know something the critics don’t.... read more
Pitchfork Fest '08 Day One: Looking Back On 'Don't Look Back'
(FLAVA FAV!)It took a field of hipsters to hold back reality t.v.’s favorite half of Public Enemy last night in Chicago’s Union Park, as Chuck D shot the gun on Pitchfork’s third effort in the festival realm with the opening diatribes of hip-hop’s seminal album, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, sans his counterpart. Chuck D upon Flavor’s belated entrance: “Where the fuck were you on “Bring The Noise?”Flavor Fav: “I don’t know Chuck, I was with the family.”... read more
Rothbury 2008: Day 4
First up on Sunday’s bill was Ingrid Michaelson, a young songwriter whose handclapped single, “The Way I Am,” helped orchestrate a recent Old Navy commercial. Michaelson has a bright future ahead of her (one that does not involve discounted jeans and stylish sweaters), and she concluded her early summer tour with a set of quirky, coffeehouse pop/rock. Kudos go to two members of her band, especially the versatile Allie Moss, as well as Miss Michaelson herself, who raps a mean version of the Fresh Prince theme.... read more
Rothbury 2008: Day 3
Following an Ice-Cream-Man-provided breakfast on Saturday morning, we reached the Ranch Arena, where Dead Confederate took the stage for an early-bird batch of haunted, shoegazing southern rock tunes. “Thanks for coming,” mumbled frontman Hardy Morris to the scattered audience. “We’re Vampire Weekend.”... read more
Rothbury 2008: Day 2
Rothbury kicked into high gear on Friday, as Jakob Dylan ushered in the afternoon with a set of dusty Americana tunes. Sporting a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses that could've reflected a nuclear blast, Dylan looked like Sheriff Cooley from O Brother, Where Art Thou? while singing in a comfortable, cool baritone. “Let me be the first up here to say ‘Happy 4th of July,’” he said, drawing applause from the crowd of Wallflowers fans and wandering passerby.... read more
Rothbury 2008: Day 1
It’s hard to find Rothbury on most maps. The tiny village is tucked away in a corner of West Michigan, where few people reside outside of the tourist season. Driving north on U.S. 31, your usual company consists of green hills, trees and families traveling to their summer homes on Lake Michigan. Detroit is a healthy three hours away, while Chicago requires a slightly longer journey (not to mention a jump from Central to Eastern Standard). A strange location for America’s newest festival? Sure, but strangeness is part of Rothbury’s charm.... read more
SoCo Music Experience: Denver
[Above: headliners Gnarls Barkley]Under the July sunshine, the SoCo Music Experience took over an open-air lot outside Coors Field in Denver on Saturday. The free festival drew thousands of Denverites for sunshine, interactive games, booths, and, of course, the free music.... read more
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