That Festival in Delaware, yeah Firefly has done it again with another solid lineup. From top to bottom fans should be jacked up about this one. Lots and lots of great up and coming bands. This is the week after Bonnaroo (which drops its lineup today too) so expect to see many similar artists.
If you want to watch the video, check it out below but just a warning, it is looooong.
I’m a Bruno Mars fan, I really am. If you’ve seen him live you know what kind of entertainer he is and how talented his band is as well. I’m looking forward to his new album dropping this winter and digging his first single “Locked Out Of Heaven” but a couple observations. When I listen I hear two distinct things besides his vocals; the first that he had to have gotten inspiration for the beat from The Police and second is that he took a sample from Foster The People’s own remix/updated intro for “Pumped Up Kicks” (if you don’t believe me, listen here and fast forward to the 1:40 mark). I’ll still listen to the track and it’s most likely going to make it onto the next playlist. And if you haven’t heard the song yet, check it out below.
Big shout out to my buddy David for turning me on to this band a couple weeks ago. I seriously can’t wait for the rest of the world to discover this group. Expecting some big things after just a four-track EP.
Two words: Youngblood Hawke
Who? A five-piece from LA
What? The next great band you probably haven’t heard of but will be hearing a lot about in the future
Why you should listen? Because these five kids are incredibly talented and bring a fun, happy go lucky sound to life.
A reason you’ll be excited? Listen to their lyrics and chances are you’ll find an instant connection and that it could be on parallel with your life.
Why I’m excited: I listen to A LOT of music but it’s rare for me to get uber excited about a band instantly and that’s the way it was with Youngblood Hawke. “We Come Running” was the first track I listened to and I immediately listened to the other three tracks on the EP and was hooked. From their sound, lyrics, harmonies, it all just was like a perfect storm and I just hope others get to discover this band too.
If you like: Grouplove, Foster The People, fun. and then meld them all together.
Final thoughts: Their EP dropped mid-August and you better hop on the train now because it’s going to be picking up steam fast. It will all make sense when you listen to the EP. Click HERE for the Spotify link to the EP.
Bonnaroo is a lot like camp, you hang out with friends, create memories and have the greatest summer alive and when it’s time to say goodbye you don’t want to accept it and it can be sad. But those frowns get turned upside down when you realize it’s less than a year away from returning to the friendly confines and get the chance to rekindle friendships and make new memories.
Now that the sappy stuff is out of the way, let’s get to the meat and potatoes that was Bonnaroo 2012. First off flying in Wednesday night was the best move of the festival which besides getting to roll in to the grounds during daylight, I got the opportunity to enjoy a full Thursday and what a first day it was.
Over the course of the four days I exhausted myself trying to squeeze in as much music as possible. And at the end of the day, that was a tough task and personally I feel I fell short and should have squeezed in more but ultimately my body didn’t agree. I did however stay true to my top three to see: Dispatch, Alabama Shakes and Black Star and those were three shows I got so much joy out of. Dispatch was over a decade in the making for me and the fellas were enthusiastic, having fun and straight up rocking the way I imagined. Alabama Shakes reconfirmed to me what I have been preaching; amazingly talented, rock and roll has a new voice and Brittany Howard may be one of the most charismatic musicians in the business. And Black Star, a true honor to see some of hip-hop’s finest share the stage and just own the night.
As for the rest of my thoughts on Bonnaroo 2012, here we go:
A Breakdown of who I saw each day
Thursday:
Feist (did an impromptu set on Which Stage to prepare for her regular gig), Fort Atlantic, The Dirty Guv’nahs, Rubblebucket, Mariachi El Bronx, Danny Brown, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Kendrick Lamar, Marina Orchestra, SOJA and Phantogram (just tidbits walking by), Alabama Shakes, Big Gigantic, CHERUB
Friday:
Shahidah Omar, Electric Guest, Michael Kiwanuka (he ended 15 minutes early so only heard one song), Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Two Door Cinema Club, Caitlin Rose, Afrocubism, The Avett Brothers, Foster The People, Radiohead, Black Star, Major Lazer, Umphrey’s McGee
Saturday:
Charles Bradley, DAWES, The Temper Trap, Flogging Molly (one song), Oberhofer, Santigold, Childish Gambino, The Roots, Dispatch, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Superjam, (gulp) Skrillex
Sunday:
Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds, ALO, The Black Lips, Honey Island Swamp Band, GROUPLOVE, Mac Miller (Beach Boys was too crazy had to watch from a TV!), Kenny Rogers, Bon Iver, Machines Are People Too, Phish
My First Show: Feist (impromptu set)
My Final Show: Phish
My Moment of Joy: Seeing a throng of people overflow This Tent for the Alabama Shakes and watching them in amazement as they owned opening night at Bonnaroo. Want to try and capture the energy? Click HERE to download their set from Bonnaroo!
Best What Stage Show: Phish – are you kidding me, besides having Kenny Rogers come out to sing “The Gambler,” the jam band legends did their legacy well.
I did also love The Avett Brothers show, those fellas are so damn good live.
Best Which Stage Show(s): Dispatch and Childish Gambino. Dispatch were on fire and had an aura of happiness that was contagious with the crowd. Gambino didn’t allow technology malfunctions to derail his time in the spotlight and a major upgrade from the tent last year.
Best Tent Show: GROUPLOVE (see below)
Best Side Stage Show: DAWES at Sonic Stage – after thinking it was going just be a “30 minute set and play some songs,” Taylor Goldsmith wasn’t shy about letting the packed legion of fans know “ you made this like a second performance at Bonnaroo” which in turn granted fans an encore after the show was well over! Wild stuff.
Best Overall Show: GROUPLOVE – there is something about this band that I feel and it gets me to the bone every time I see them live. I love their story, their music, the way they approach shows, how sincere they are and yeah, they are damn good musicians. The crowd was lively; the band was energized and together formed a beautiful hour of music euphoria.
Biggest Surprise: Marina Orchestra – no idea going in and left loving this band craving more.
Best Legend Show: Kenny Rogers (even if I did miss Lionel Richie coming out to sing with him).
Random Moment(s) Of Awesomeness: Seeing Kenny Rogers come out on stage to sing “The Gambler” with Phish; Flea taking a moment during RHCP set to reel off all the bands he had the chance to see and how awesome Bonnaroo is.
Overall Stage With The Best Performances: Got to go with the main one, What Stage, this year was packed with supreme talent that did not disappoint.
Most Entertaining Show: Rubblebucket – this show had it all, sick horn section, rocking lead singer, robots (yes really) dancing in the crowd courtesy of the band and all this happening on the Solar Stage!
2nd place – Mariachi El Bronx which was not only amazing but I love this hardcore punk turned mariachi band. Best part was lead singer Matt Caughthran finding a way to dedicate every song to someone and to see the sheer joy about performing at Bonnaroo.
Most Disappointing Moment: Missing a plethora of bands I wanted to see just based on schedule conflicts – Alice Cooper, Hey Rosetta!, The Civil Wars, St. Vincent, Kurt Vile, Trampled By Turtles, to name some
Next Big Thing: Electric Guest and GROUPLOVE (Alabama Shakes have already arrived)
Giving it a shot: I did two things I said I wouldn’t, caught some of Skrillex’s set and took in Bon Iver (actually found a song I like, “Skinny Love”)
Top Party: Superjam, c’mon were talking about ?uestlove bringing D’Angelo out! First show in the US in 12 years and man did he sound good.
Oddest Show That Was A Blast: Danny Brown
Funky Good Time Show: Charles Bradley
Band I Was Sad To Miss: The Civil Wars
Best Intro: Do my intros to friends going to see a band they never heard of count?
What Would Have Been Great: a fifth day to see some more of the acts
Top Roo Rookie: Dispatch, yeah the seasoned veterans played their first Roo and boy was it special
Top Moment: The entire crowd at What Stage singing “Under The Bridge” during the Red Hot Chili Peppers show.
Best Festival Eats: Amish Bakery Doughnuts
Best Broo’ers Beer: Starr Hill Brewery Amber
Best Place To Cool Off: the RV
Biggest Waste of Time: anything that involved a line (again)
Shocker Of The Festival: Not too many surprise guests as expected
Worst Part: Scheduling conflicts
Clutch Move: Native Rain Boots, comfy and convenient to deal with the mud on Day 4
Tip For Next Year: Walmart is so close to the campground, don’t buy more than you really need, you can always go back for more, we did this year and it saved us close to $1,000.00.
More Tips: drink water, more water, sunscreen is your second best friend after water, if you see someone struggling give them a hand or find someone, Ben & Jerry’s is still my favorite thing to eat at Bonnaroo.
Photos coming soon, stay tuned!
Top of the morning and here’s a new track for you to be hitting repeat on all day, “Warrior” featuring Mark Foster of Foster The People, rising songstress Kimbra and DJ/producer genius A-Trak. This collaboration is the latest from Converse’s three artists, one song series. The video is pretty cool too so don’t just listen, watch. Added bonus, the song is available as a free download by clicking here.
You may recall a Converse collaboration earlier this year “DoYaThing” featuring Gorillaz, James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and Andre 3000 of Outkast. Two more previous installations included “All Summer,” featuring Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast, Kid Cudi and Rostam Batmanglij from Vampire Weekend and “I’m A Goner” featuring Matt and Kim, Soulja Boy and Andrew W.K.
Fans of Reptar head to their Facebook page for a free download of “Orifice Origami” off their upcoming LP, Body Faucet, which was produced by Ben Allen and is due out May 1.
If you haven’t yet listened to the Athens, Georgia group you are sorely missing out. Last summer/fall they toured with Foster The People and Cults gaining plenty of notoriety and just recently crushed SXSW. I highly suggest you get your hands on their EP from last year, Oblangle Fizz Y’all.
Even more exciting news, they are hitting the road with GROUPLOVE in May!
Wow, wow, wow what a week of live music last week was. It was intense, fun, full of surprises and I got to see a few of my favorite bands/musicians.
Monday, Feb 13 – AG Jeans party at Marquee Nightclub with Foster The People. Having seen these guys six times previous in the last calendar year, I still don’t’ miss the chance to catch them live. With a powerhouse sound system and coming off their GRAMMY performance the evening before, it was a solid show and they added “Warrant” to the setlist after nixing it during their October gig at the Cosmo.
Tuesday, Feb. 14 – Out to support the buddies at CRSVR Las Vegas for a DJ Vice x Jason Markk shoe cleaning kit release party. The one and only DJ Fashen was on the decks as Vice played host for the evening.
Wednesday, Feb. 15 – As part of the Sports Illustrated Beauty & Beats Music Festival at The Cosmopolitan I was all giddy to finally see Delta Spirit live! Fantastic 90 minute set that culminated with a real life Animal House moment when lead singer, Matthew Vasquez jumped into the crowd and got everyone low before getting “a little bit louder now” and everyone jumping to their feet and Vasquez climbing on the bar to finish out the show.
Thursday, Feb. 16 – A continuation of the Beauty & Beats Music Festival this night with White Denim, a band I have been digging for some time and WOW can they jam! Can’t wait to see these guys at Bonnaroo. Following it was upstairs to catch the Black Lips before heading to PURE Nightclub for the final Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue soiree of the week where Bruno Mars took the stage and for 30 minutes with his band, played a mash-up melody of hits both old and new before finishing with two of his own songs.
Friday, Feb. 17 – Glam rock at its finest as The Darkness hot on their comeback trail rocked the House of Blues and reignited my love of this band. Justin Hawkins, my hat off to you.
Sunday, Feb. 19 – Look for my review in the upcoming issue of Vegas SEVEN, Lenny Kravitz show where not only did he serenade Muhammad Ali for his 70th birthday but he was joined by Quincy Jones as well as Slash and Joe Perry. Terrance Howard also made a brief appearance leading the crowd in a ‘Lenny’ chant during the encore break.
Phew, I’m exhausted just from writing this. Just another week in Vegas…..
ALL FOSTER THE PEOPLE IMAGES COURTESY OF OUR FRIEND Erik Kabik (© Erik Kabik/ erikkabik.com)
As everyone knows, the Bonnaroo lineup was released earlier this week and all I can keep thinking about is, will June 7 just get here already?!
So in anticipation, I put some of my thoughts together on the lineup. I’m also amazed at how many of the bands I’ve actually seen live before.
So there you have it, some quick thoughts on the initial Bonnaroo 2012 lineup. The best part is we still have more acts to be announced!
Can’t wait to be in Tennessee again! A little over 100 days away, I’m not counting or anything.
