LCD Soundsystemshocked the world a bit when they announced they were done creating music a few years ago. They shocked the world again by announcing not only new shows, but also a new upcoming album this year. Among the new shows is a Friday night performance at the Pitchfork Music Festival.
I’ve wanted to see LCD Soundsystem for several years now. Their blend of electro, new wave, straight-up rock grooves, and biting, satirical lyrics are a great combination. I’ve been told by friends that they put on a great show, and even clips of them performing on late night talk shows are sharp. It should be a packed house (or rather, park) for them on July 14th.
Keep your mind open.
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I had never attended an electronic-themed music festival before my wife and I went to Chicago’s Mamby on the Beach at Oakwood Beach this year. They’ve been running this festival for a few years now, and I’ve been meaning to get to it since it’s practically in my back yard. This was also the first time I’d been to a beach in a long while.
The weather was good, although the wind did whip across the beach and adjoining park now and then. This was especially cold on Sunday night, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
One of the first things we discovered upon entering the festival is that large bottles of sunscreen aren’t allowed inside it. “You can put some on before you come in,” said the man checking our bags. He let me keep a small keychain bottle of it, but they were apparently worried I might be smuggling drugs or booze in my new bottle of SPF 30 lotion. Heaven forbid I try to take sunscreen to a music festival on a beach.
We cheered up when we saw the “Silent Disco.” It’s a clever idea. Everyone gets a pair of wireless headphones and the DJ’s set is live streamed to them.
It looks weird at first, because it appears to be a bunch of people dancing to nothing.
It looks like a bunch of people suffering from dementia, but it’s actually a fun dance party.
I like the idea, as did a lot of others. I thought I might have to try this when I get my DJ skills up enough to do such a thing.
We arrived early enough on Saturday to catch most of Ravyn Lenae‘s set at the Beach Stage. It was an adjustment to go from our usual “dancing in clubs” to “dancing on sand,” but we managed well. Ms. Lenae had a fun time performing in front of a hometown crowd and put down a nice R&B set. Her cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” was delightful.
Rayvn Lenae
We headed to the MixMag Tent to see British DJ Will Clarkeafter that. He had a great set and seemed to be having a good time. It was inspiring for me, as my digital turntables have gone ignored for months while I’m finishing a book on disaster movies. I later Tweeted that his set inspired me to dust them off. He replied, “Do it.”
After a nice snack of Leghorn chicken sandwiches and free Vitamin Water, we went to see electro trio Marian Hillplay at the Beach Stage. They turned out to be the best band we saw all day on Saturday. They were funky, sexy, and even a bit trippy at times.
Marian Hill
Crowd favorites Miike Snowwere on after them, and they had a lot of us singing and jumping as the night got cooler and more people got higher. For the record, other people must have been allowed to bring in more than sunscreen because there was a lot of weed being blown at this festival, more than some of the Levitation festivals I’ve attended and those are psychedelic rock shows. We had to move to different places in the crowd multiple times to escape so much MJ smoke.
Miike Snow
We ended Saturday by checking out part of Tchami‘s “future house” set at the MixMag Tent. It was big, bright, and booming.
Tchami
It was also packed. The crowd couldn’t fit under the tent and extended well beyond it onto the beach.
So…much…house music!
We got back to our Air BNB place tired, sandy, and a bit sunburned, but ready for Sunday. We spent most of Sunday morning and early afternoon at Chicago’s Gay Pride Parade with friends, but then headed back to the beach in time to see STRFKRplay a fun set of dance rock that came complete with dancing and crowd-surfing astronauts.
STRFKR
We had time for some steamed chicken buns and turducken sausages before moving to the Park Stage for the first time all weekend to see Thundercat play a wild jazz fusion set that left some people confused and others (like me) wowed by the virtuosity of it.
Thundercat on the loose!
We zipped back to the Beach Stage to see Cut Copy, who delivered the best rock set of the whole weekend. They came to kick ass and apply sunscreen, but they were denied the sunscreen. The whole crowd was bumping, and beach balls and rolls of toilet paper (“I feel bad for anyone who ends up sad in one of the port-a-potties,” said my wife) flew in every direction.
Cut Copy
We ended the night, and the festival, with Flying Lotus. I’d been keen on seeing him for a while, and it was worth the wait. The sun had set and the temperature had dropped at least ten degrees from the start of the festival into the low 60’s by the time he started his set. Mandy was wrapped in a blanket and a lot of us were huddled in the crowd like penguins trying to stay warm off each other’s body heat.
It was a great set, full of stunning 3-D visuals and great mixes of both dance tracks and deep trip-hop stuff. One beautiful moment was when he mixed in Angelo Badalamenti’s theme to Twin Peaks.
Is this Laura Palmer’s eye?
The whole set was a mind trip. I wish I would’ve had 3-D glasses, but when I mentioned to a guy behind me how the visuals were 3-D he said something along the lines of, “I’m glad I’m not seeing it in 3-D. That would probably freak me out.”
It was a good time. Mandy summed up a lot of the crowd well. “It looks like a lot of people missing Greek culture over summer,” she said. Don’t get me wrong. We didn’t run into any douchebags. We did bump into a lot of trashed people, however. One woman was sobbing as we all left the venue. I stopped to make sure she was okay. She hugged me, told me I was “a good soul,” and then disappeared into the crowd.
Will we go back? We might, if the dates work out and the lineup is good. I sure wouldn’t turn down a press pass!
Not ones to take a break, A Perfect Circlehave announced fall tour dates throughout North America. No new album has been announced, but they have played new material during recent shows. Here are the announced dates:
October 21 — Sacramento, CA @ Aftershock Festival
October 23 — Colorado Springs, CO @ Broadmoor World Arena
October 25 — Albuquerque, NM @ Tingley Coliseum
October 26 — El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Center
October 30 — Knoxville, TN @ Thompson-Boling Arena
November 1 — Fairfax, VA @ EagleBank Arena
November 2 — Brooklyn, NY @ Tidal Theater at Barclays Center
November 4 —Reading, PA @ Santander Arena
November 5 — Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
November 7 — Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion
November 8 — Boston, MA @ Agganis Arena
November 10 — Portland, ME @ Cross Insurance Center
November 11 — Albany, NY @ Times Union Center
November 12 — Syracuse, NY @ The OnCenter Arena
November 14 — Montreal, QC @ Laval Centre
November 15 — Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
November 17 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Petersen Events Center
November 18 — Cleveland, OH @ Wolstein Center
November 19 — Highland Heights, KY @ BB&T Arena
November 21 — Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre
November 22 — Grand Rapids, MI @ The DeltaPlex Arena
November 24 — Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion
November 25 — St. Paul, MN @ Xcel EnergyCenter
November 28 — Spokane, WA @ Spokane Arena
November 30 — Vancouver, BC @ PNE Coliseum
December 1 — Seattle, WA @ Key Arena
December 2 — Portland, OR @ Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum
December 4 — Eugene, OR @ Matthew Knight Center
Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Middle Waves Music Festivalhas released its 2017 lineup, and it includes some festival favorites for you.
Headlining the show is none other than MGMT, who just headlined the first night of the 2017 Mamby on the Beach festival and are promoting new material. Other notable names on the list include Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Shannon and the Clams, the Lemon Twigs, and Flint Eastwood. The lineup list is a good mix of folk, pop, punk, electronica, and hip-hop. There’s also a good mix of local artists like Left Lane Cruiser, Flamingo Nosebleed, Belle and the Strange, and Love Hustler.
More acts will be announced soon, and tickets are now available. A general admission weekend pass will cost you just $75, which is a steal. Even if you can’t afford that, three of the four stages at Middle Waves are free to the general public.
The 2017 Sound on Sound Fest in McDade, Texas’ Sherwood Forest has unveiled one of the best lineups of any summer music festival so far this year. Perhaps the two biggest coups for SOS are Iggy Pop (who can retire whenever he wants) and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs – who haven’t performed since 2013.
Other standouts include stoner metal giants Sleep, Boris, and Electric Wizard (performing their only set in the U.S. this year), Ministry, Dinosaur Jr., Digable Planets, Austra, Blanck Mass, Holy Wave, and a DJ set by Hot Chip.
They have three-day camping passes, VIP tickets, and general tickets ($189 plus taxes and shipping for a weekend pass) on sale now (and layaway plans), so get your tickets while you can.
Keep your mind open.
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Riot Fest Chicago has announced its full lineup for 2017. As usual, it’s killer and far better than Lollapalooza.
They’ve added several bands, including At the Drive In, Best Coast, Black Pistol Fire, Cockney Rejects, Skating Polly, the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, and many more.
You can still get tickets to this festival, so don’t wait too long. It will sell out.
Austin, Texas, the live music capital of the country (if not the world), brings us another music festival this year. The annual Solstice Festival brings in acts like JJ Grey & Mofro, Built to Spill, Golden Dawn Arkestra, and Bayonne this year.
General admission tickets are only $35.00, but for a limited time you can pre-order tickets for 15% off with the code SOSFEST.
Don’t wait too long to get your tickets. It’s sure to be a fun time.
I was delighted to discover Japanese pop-punk legends Shonen Knifewere playing in Tucson (at the nice little club / art space 191 Toole) while I was recently there. I’d never seen them, and their “Ramen Adventure Tour” included original bassist Atsuko, original guitarist Naoko, and new drummer Risa. Tickets were only $15.00, so this was a must-see.
Opening for them were local new wave / post-punk outfit Shooda Shook It. They showed up in matching black and white outfits and checkerboard masks that made them look like either luchadors or obscure Bronze Age comic book villains.
Shooda Shook It
They were funky, groovy, and good. They played a set that started like early Devo, then ventured into early Talking Heads-like stuff, and then a neat blend of surf-punk and P-funk. I need to track down their stuff.
Shonen Knife came out to a rousing chorus of cheers.
Sisters Atsuko (left) and Naoko (right).
They ripped out a set of stuff from their newest record, Adventure, including “Jump into the New World” and “Green Tangerine” – which was sung by their outstanding (and adorable) drummer, Risa.
They then played a big “food” set of songs related to food, including “Banana Chips,” “Ramen Rock,” “Sushi Bar,” “Wasabi,” “Fruits and Vegetables,” and “Barbecue Party.” I was bouncing like a delighted schoolgirl during “Banana Chips” and the crowd chants during “Sushi Bar” were great.
L-R: Atsuko, Risa, Naoko rocking out “Sushi Bar.”
Other highlights were “Twist Barbie,” “Capybara,” and “Bear Up Bison,” which I thought was a fun addition to a set in the southwest. Their encore included their cover of “Daydream Believer” and the heavy classic “Bakka Guy,” which proves Shonen Knife could’ve been a doom metal band if they’d wanted.
Encore performance of “Daydream Believer.”
It was a solid set that lasted just under an hour. They promised their set in Tempe the next day would be entirely different and they’d have different costumes (all of which are designed by Atsuko, by the way).
My wife said I was “crushing on them,” and she was right. I geeked out for them hard. I didn’t realize how much I needed a fun pop-punk show until then, let alone how much Shonen Knife material is out there I still don’t have. I hope I can catch them again sooner rather than later.
Keep your mind open.
Naoko’s foot pedal board. I think she keeps her guitar picks in the Altoids tin.
Jai Wolf has unveiled his initial summer tour dates on the heels of a recent sold out headline tour around Coachella. Starting next month he’ll make stops at Free Press Summer Fest, Red Rocks, Electric Forest and more, before heading to Capitol Hill Block Party in July and Lollapalooza and HARD Summer in August, with many other dates along the way. He’ll cap off the summer with a hometown headline show at Brooklyn Steel on August 25th. It marks his first NYC headline show in 2017 since playing Terminal 5 late last year. A list of dates is below with more to be announced soon.
The recent touring comes in support of his new single, “Starlight,” featuring vocals from Mr Gabriel. “Starlight” picked up where his debut EP, Kindred Spirits, left off by melting the lines between indie electronic, hip hop, and 80s pop, proving Jai Wolf is a promising young artist with a distinct, emotional sound and style. Both “Starlight” and Kindred Spirits are available now via Mom+Pop.
Jai Wolf Tour Dates: Sun. June 4 – Houston, TX @ Free Press Summer Fest Sun. June 11 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre (w/ Marshmello) Fri. June 23 – Rothbury, MI @ Electric Forest Sat. June 24 – Mountain View, CA @ ID10T Festival Sun. June 25 – Heber City, UT @ Bonanza Campout & Music Festival Thu. June 29 – Rothbury, MI @ Electric Forest Fri. July 7 – Surrey, BC @ FVDED in the Park Sat. July 22 – Seattle, WA @ Capitol Hill Block Party Sat. Aug. 5 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza Sun. Aug. 6 – Fontana, CA @ HARD Summer Sat. Aug. 12 – Salmo, BC @ Shambhala Music Festival Sun. Aug. 13 – Baltimore, MD @ Moonrise Festival Fri. Aug. 25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
“You know what the coolest thing is about this show?” Said a man next to me in the Vic Theatre where young Aussie rockers Boytoy and Aussie rock legends Midnight Oil were about to perform. “No one here is under thirty!”
It wasn’t true, but it was definitely an older crowd at the Vic. It had been over twenty years since my wife and I had seen Midnight Oil in concert, and you could tell the entire crowd in the hot, packed venue was ready to go nuts once Midnight Oil hit the stage.
Boytoy were first. They were three young ladies who were playing some good garage rock when we walked into the place, but they transformed into a stoner rock band by the end of their set, which elated me to no end. I need to track down their stuff.
Boytoy
Speaking, sort of, of stoner rock, the guy next to me tapped me on the shoulder, pointed at my rolled-up tour poster and said, “I thought that was a bong! I thought, ‘This guy’s the coolest guy in here!’” He even grabbed it at one point during Boytoy’s set and took an imaginary hit off it.
The guy in the teal shirt behind me thought this tour poster was a bong at first glance.
Midnight Oil came out to a roaring welcome and then got right down to business. They hadn’t lost a step in the time they’d been off working on other projects or, in the case of lead singer Peter Garrett, serving in the Australian Parliament.
“Why hasn’t he aged?” My wife asked about Garrett. My best guess is that he’s either a vampire or the food is much better in Australia because she was right. He looked like he’d barely grown older since we saw them in the early 1990’s.
He was, of course, politically outspoken. You don’t go to a Midnight Oil show and not expect to hear some political commentary.
Garrett started fairly early in the set. “Fact one: Thanks for waiting for so long. Fact two: It’s nice to be back in Obama territory. Fact three: There will be no alternative facts here tonight. Fact four: We don’t have short memories.” They then tore into “Short Memory” and had everyone bouncing.
He would touch on compulsory voting (“I don’t think you-know-who would’ve gotten in.” (if we had it here in the U.S.)), the environment (“We have a Mother Earth who takes care of us.”), universal health care (“If you make tacos for a living, you pay a little bit. If you have fifty million in a hedge fund and support the governor, you pay a bit more. We don’t call this socialism. We call it common sense.”), and equal rights (“Everyone, no matter their race, sex, age, or religious beliefs deserves to be treated with respect.”) before the night was over, and he wore a shirt that read “To sin by silence when one should protest makes cowards of men.”
Among the many great spots in their set were an acoustic version of “My Country,” a funky rendition of “When the Generals Talk,” roaring versions of “Read About It” and “Kosciusko,” and a killer performance of “Dreamworld” to end the set that had everyone pumping their fists and chanting.
A stunning rendition of “My Country.”
They played two encores. The first started with “Put Down that Weapon,” and I couldn’t help but think they chose to play that in Chicago as a message toward the high rate of gun violence there the last two years. “Truganini” and “Forgotten Years” rounded out the mini-set, and then they came out once more to dedicate “Sometimes” to people working hard to help others.
“Sometimes”
It was a trip back in time to songs that are still relevant today. Midnight Oil is globetrotting for this tour, so catch them if they come near you. This is one of the best and most welcome tours of the year.
