A little bittersweet start of the day for me as Bonnaroo 2013 is getting underway. That place in Manchester, Tennessee is home to four of the greatest days of the year. And personally I think Thursday is the best day of them all; some of the best performances happen the first day, not everyone has rolled into the grounds, it’s like the first day of school for first time Roovians and a reunion for veterans of Bonnaroo. As much as I’d love to be there right now, putting together a little Festival called Life is Beautiful headlined by The Killers and Kings of Leon has taken up my time! Hopefully next year I’ll be back on the farm enjoying the four day pop-up city of happiness in the middle of nowhere. Until then, looks like Bonnaroo 365, Twitter feeds and Facebook updates are what I’m going to be living vicariously through. If you are making the trek to Bonnaroo, enjoy the amazing lineup and say hello for me.
Bonnaroo Artist Additions! Empire of the Sun, Solange, Maps & Atlases, Capital Cities and more!
24 AprAwwww yeah! Bonnaroo has announced artist additions today and there are some big time acts now heading to the farm in June. We’re talking Empire of the Sun, Solange, ALO, The Polyphonic Spree, The Rubens, Delta Rae, Black Prairie, Bustle in your Hedgerow, Capital Cities, Houndmouth, James McCartney, Cat Martino, Mac Demarco, Maps & Atlases, On and On, White Lung, William Tyler.
Five For Friday: Rival Sons, Bonnaroo, Firefly, Elvis Costello and The Roots, #DTLVMS and more
22 FebAnother weekend and another Five For Friday.
- This Saturday at Vinyl inside the Hard Rock Hotel, Rival Sons, take the stage but add in Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown and Beware of Darkness and you’ve got a ridiculous night of music for $12.
- Bucket List For Music Fans – check THIS out.
- If you missed them earlier this week, check out the initial lineups for Bonnaroo and Firefly (they just added Jim James)
- Elvis Costello and The Roots to drop an album on April 20, Record Store Day. Thanks Jimmy Fallon for making this happen!
- Mark your calendars for Wednesday, March 6 and join me at Downtown Cocktail Room for a great night of music and the second installment of the Life Is Beautiful – Downtown Las Vegas Music Showcase! Show starts at 7 p.m.
2013 Bonnaroo Lineup is here!
19 FebWell the wait is over and after nearly an hour of Weird Al’s telethon style releasing on Bonnroo365, here is the first portion of the Bonnaroo 2013 lineup. Get ready for the Farm, June 13-16. and a word to the wise, head in as early as you can because you don’t want to miss a full Thursday.
Five For Friday: NYE, The Black Crowes, Top 21 Songs of 2012
28 DecWell here we go, the final Friday in 2012!
- NYE Weekend in Las Vegas is always crazy but this year it is filled with an incredible line-up of music both in nightclubs and concert halls. Tonight it’s all about The Killers performing at The Cosmopolitan for me. Tomorrow, I’ll double-down on them. Sunday I’m heading to see The Black Keys – I’ve seen them in front of 400 people, 80,000 people and everything in between and the duo have yet to disappoint. Not a bad way to end the year with a few stellar shows.
- The Black Crowes announced a return from hiatus and will head out on tour next year!! And with that sadly comes the departure of lead guitarist Luther Dickinson but in his place comes the incredibly talented Jackie Greene who Chris Robinson had been touring with along with Bob Weir.
- Get ready for Festival line-up announcements which should start coming out in early January (Coachella) and February (Bonnaroo).
- Check out some of my music favorites from 2012 HERE.
- Lastly, I know there are a ton of Top XYZ lists on best albums, songs, newcomers, reissues, etc. so while there are just too many out there for me to list, here are 21 songs (hey that’s blackjack where I’m from) that I feel either a) defined the year in music or b) flew under the radar from the masses. In no particular order:
- Fun. – “Some Nights”
- The Lumineers – “Ho Hey”
- Of Monsters and Men – “Little Talks”
- Baywood – “I Can Breathe Again”
- Hospitality – “It’s Too Late”
- Wild Cub – “Thunder Clatter”
- Mumford & Sons – “I Will Wait”
- Chvrches – “The Mother We Share”
- Night Terrors of 1927 – “Dust and Bones”
- The Mowgli’s – “San Francisco”
- Frank Ocean – “Thinkin Bout You”
- San Cisco – “Awkward”
- Family of the Year – “The Stairs”
- Japandroids – “The House That Heaven Built”
- Kendrick Lamar – “Swimming Pools”
- Ghost Beach – “Miracle”
- Gorillaz ft. Andree 300 and James Murphy – “DoYaThing”
- Passion Pit – “I’ll Be Alright”
- Haim – “Forever”
- Alabama Shakes – “Hold On”
- Lord Huron – “Time To Run”
Five For Friday: Lollapalooza Edition No.1
27 JulSo here we are, one week away from Lollapalooza and the excitement is building. So many great bands and musicians over three wild and crazy filled days in Chicago! As Grant Park gets ready to be invaded by 100,000 people, I’m running down a small little guide if you find yourself attending and for those who plan to watch the YouTube stream.
- Let’s get it out of the way, headliners. Night One: pits Black Sabbath vs. The Black Keys – only US date for Black Sabbath, Night Two: Avicii vs. Red Hot Chili Peppers – RHCP dominated Bonnaroo with a fiery set, Night Three: Justice vs. Jack White – what I’m most interested in is how the crowd sways, when Childish Gambino and Kaskade play at the same time.
- Some afternoon delights for you. Bands like First Aid Kit, The Growlers, Michael Kiwanuka, The War On Drugs, Milo Greene, JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound, Kopecky Family Band, Chancellor Warhol, Moon Taxi, GIVERS, Bombay Bicycle Club, Outasight, Hey Rosetta!, Oberhofer and more pull early time slots but I promise will be worth arriving for. These bands are awesome and this is some new music you should really be checking out.
- Time Conflicts. A tip of the hat to the schedulers for finding the easiest way to pull a crowd a part as there are many times over the three days that will have festivalgoers torn. For instance, on Saturday at the same time you’ll have to decide between Alabama Shakes, The Temper Trap, The Dunwells, B.o.B and fun. Good luck!
- When the sun goes down, the action heats up. Late night Lollapalooza brings forth some amazing late night shows and some of the best memories of the weekend. Tickets are sold out to the advertised shows but make a few friends and you’ll find out where the rocking parties are. (Last year I caught CULTS, The Black Lips, Crystal Castles, Skylar Grey)
- Who I’m excited for. Well I’ve been fortunate enough to see so many of these acts live before that I’m mostly craving the opportunity to see many for the first time like Of Monsters and Men, The Gaslight Anthem, The Dunwells, Miike Snow, M83, The Weeknd, Twin Shadow, Amadou & Mariam, Dum Dum Girls, The Devil Makes Three, First Aid Kit, Milo Greene, DEV, Dry The River and Moon Taxi. Plus after finally seeing Alabama Shakes live at Bonnaroo, I can’t wait to see them again, simply amazing live.
New Music: Jukebox The Ghost – Safe Travels
26 JulThree words: Jukebox The Ghost
Who? An amazing band from DC that you need to be listening to ASAP if you are not already
What? A trio who has been together for nearly a decade but has recently found success in the last few years and especially this summer with Safe Travels
Why you should listen? Their new album brings a contagious indie-pop sound through your speakers and will have you tapping your feet in no time
A reason you’ll be excited? Listen to the songs “Somebody” and “Say When” and it will all make sense and if you are heading to Outside Lands in a couple weeks, the fellas are playing on Friday
Why I’m excited: Because it’s just flat out awesome music and I put them on my Summer Playlist Vol.I last month
If you like to listen to: Jack’s Mannequin, Sleeper Agent, The Lonely Forest, Ben Folds, GROUPLOVE, and why not, Billy Joel.
Final thoughts: For the last month plus I have been kicking myself for not even realizing they were performing at Café Where at Bonnaroo this year! I can’t believe I missed this one, especially since I started listening to them the week following and haven’t been able to stop since
AUDIO up from DoYouHearTheMusic.com on The Lyons Den, June 17 on 91.5 KUNV
19 JunHere it is, the audio from my time spent with George Lyons, Mongo and Erik Kabik this past Sunday, June 17 on The Lyons Den airing on 91.5 KUNV.
I can’t thank the guys enough for bringing me on to chat Bonnaroo and to listen to some new music. Give a listen below to hear the full interview as well as music from the Alabama Shakes (Live from Bonnaroo), DAWES, The Dirty Guv’nahs, Dispatch, Black Star, Electric Guest, Charles Bradley and GROUPLOVE. I just wish we had time for more! Perhaps next time.
Hope you enjoy!
News: @WalkTheMoonband Self Titled Album Drops Today!
19 JunI couldn’t be more excited today for the fellas of Walk The Moon as they release their self titled debut album on RCA Records. Having had the pleasure of meeting the guys, interviewing them and seeing them in concert at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and here in Las Vegas I feel like I’ve kind of been along for the ride a little. I’m beyond stoked that they are now getting heavy airplay, being tabbed by MTV as a Push artist, Esquire.com adding them to the songs of the summer (for a second year in a row) and more. These guys are still ascending and it’s one of those things that just makes me smile; plus I think everyone should be digging their music and right in time for summer it’s perfect tunes to enjoy three months of sunshine. Added bonus, tune in to David Letterman tonight where the guys will be the special music act.
Track listing
1.) Quesadilla
2.) Lisa Baby
3.) Next In Line
4.) Anna Sun
5.) Tightrope
6.) Jenny
7.) Shiver Shiver
8.) Lions
9.) Iscariot
10.) Fixin’
11.) I Can Lift A Car
NEWS: DoYouHearTheMusic.com Live on 91.5 KUNV Sunday, June 17
16 JunI’m excited to announce that DoYouHearTheMusic.com will be hitting the airwaves Sunday evening! I will be appearing on The Lyons Den Radio show on 91.5FM KUNV on. Sunday June 17th. The show airs from 5pm-9pm PST and I hope you can tune in. If you are not here in Las Vegas, the show streams worldwide at http://www.kunv.org.
Thanks to my friend Erik Kabik and George Lyons, they are bringing me on to give the skinny on what was my Bonnaroo experience this year! We’re going to chat all things that were the festival and listen to some good tunes along the way so please tune in. Also some exciting news is that following my report The Lyons Den will be airing the first set from Phish at Bonnaroo which includes an awesome rendition of “The Gambler” with Kenny Rogers!
The Erik Kabik Report will be at 5:50 PM and I’m slated to appear at approximately 6:30 PM for The Bonnaroo Report.
Peace + Love + Music
Craig
