Back in January I wrote about the Scottish synth-pop band Prides and now the trio has outdone themselves with this year end compilation of their favorite radio songs from 2014. Give a watch and listen to them pull off their versions of hits from 2014 which include Ariana Grande ft The Weeknd – Love Me Harder, Ryn Weaver – OctaHate, The 1975 – Settle Down, Ella Henderson – Ghost, Catfish and the Bottlemen – Cocoon, Taylor Swift – Out of the Wood, Nick Jonas – Jealous, Iggy Azalea ft Charli XCX – Fancy, Jessie Ware – Tough Love, and Sam Smith – Stay With Me.
Tag Archives: The Weeknd
Life is Beautiful Single Day Lineups and Tickets
3 SepYou’ve been waiting and now you have it, Life is Beautiful Single Day Lineups! Single Day Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. Visit www.lifeisbeautiful.com to grab yours!
Now Playing: @TheWeeknd – “Often” @KygoMusic Remix
30 JulA month ago The Weeknd dropped new music and now I can’t help but keep hitting repeat on this remix of The Weeknd’s that new track, “Often” by the one and only Kygo! Give a listen for yourself and I think you’ll be like me, on repeat. So stoked to have The Weeknd performing at Life is Beautiful in Vegas this October! His first festival in over two years!
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL 2014 LINEUP IS HERE!
23 JunI’ve had to keep this under wraps for some time now but I’m happy to finally share the 2014 lineup for Life is Beautiful. Hope you can join me and the team in Downtown Las Vegas October 24-26 to rock out with the artists listed below.
Revisited: My @Lollapalooza 2012 | Running down the festival from top to bottom
8 AugI can sum my Lollapalooza experience up quite easy: an incredible time with great friends.
Any chance I get to return to the city of my birth I’m excited but add in a music festival with 100,000 people in Grant Park and you crank it up to 11. This year I approached Lolla a bit different and wasn’t running from show to show. I took the pace down a little and really stepped back to enjoy it a bit more. I was late to some shows which was unfortunate but at the end of the three days I was still stoked about who I saw and just wonder what may have happened if the Saturday afternoon storm evacuation didn’t cancel acts like Alabama Shakes, The Temper Trap, B.o.B. and the band I was most hoping to see, The Dunwells. Props to C3 Presents for acting swiftly to recover and push back start times, reschedule bands like fun., Chairlift, Empires, etc. C3 also did an incredible job of scheduling overall forcing the crowd to pick and choose like I’ve never seen. When you are looking at a mile walk from the Bud Light Stage to the Red Bull Stage, it’s just not really possible to get everywhere you want to be unless you are a marathon sprinter.
A breakdown of who I saw each day:
Friday: O Rappa, Michael Kiwanuka, The Black Angels, The War On Drugs, Metric, Die Antwoord, Passion Pit, Black Sabbath, The Black Keys
Saturday: Of Monsters and Men (off the grounds), fun., The Weeknd, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Sunday: Outasight, The Devil Makes Three, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Trampled by Turtles, Gary Clark Jr., The Gaslight Anthem, Of Monsters and Men, Florence + The Machine, Miike Snow, Jack White
Headliners: I have to be honest, you shouldn’t have gone to Lollapalooza just for the headliners. Talented musicians indeed (and ones I like) but you can’t compare The Black Keys, Black Sabbath, Avicii, Justice, Jack White and Red Hot Chili Peppers to last year’s of Coldplay, Muse, My Morning Jacket, Eminem, Foo Fighters and Deadmau5.
My First Show: O Rappa
My Final Show: Technically Jack White but essentially I caught all four final acts bumping to Kaskade, hearing Childish Gambino drop “Heartbeat” and hearing one of my favorite Justice songs, “On’n’On.”
My Moment of Joy: Seeing the rambunctious overfilled crowd on hand for Of Monsters and Men Sunday night time slot.
My Favorite Show: Didn’t actually happen at Lollapalooza. Off-site Of Monsters and Men show on the rooftop of a condo tower for Gilt City’s ‘Better Than Backstage’ party. Thanks to my friend Nicole for making it happen! Seriously one of the top three bands I was dying to see at the festival and here I am just inches away as they rocked out. A tip of the hat to an amazing group of musicians doing big things.
Best Overall Show: Die Antwoord, my second time seeing them and this was just flat out awesome. They had the crowd mesmerized and loving every moment of this high energy set.
Best Bud Light Stage Show: For me, Passion Pit – flat out great performance but easily it was Florence + The Machine, she had at least half the festival goers on hand to hear that incredible voice. I remember the first time I saw her was in a small tent at Bonnaroo and she owned Lollapalooza. Say hello to next year’s festival circuit headliner.
Best Red Bull Stage Show(s): I guess The Black Keys, those guys are just so honed in and solid in front of big crowds.
Best Playstation Stage Show(s): Die Antwoord, Gary Clark Jr.
Best Sony Stage Show: Last year I spent the most time at this stage. This year I only really saw Miike Snow.
Best Google Play Stage Show: The Gaslight Anthem, the Jersey rockers did exactly that making the most of their 45 minute set.
Best BMI Stage Show: Well the only one I actually got to this year was Outasight and he had the crowd bouncing.
Best Perry’s Stage Show: In truth, I didn’t even see a show here, passed by a lot but didn’t get caught up in the pandemonium but the stage setup that may have been the best show. LED bonanza creating quite the visuals.
Overall Stage With The Best Performances: Hands down Google Play, they stacked the deck with this stage and fans responded packing all of these shows. Big time acts like The War on Drugs, Blind Pilot, SBTRKT, Band of Skulls, Dawes, Wale, GIVERS, fun., Washed Out Twin Shadow, Frank Ocean, Of Monsters and Men, The Gaslight Anthem, Hey Rosetta!, The Big Pink, Childish Gambino
Biggest Surprise: How much I enjoyed the Metric show.
Best Legend Show: I just have to say Black Sabbath for the sheer fact that I saw Black Sabbath, even if Ozzy is starring into gigantic teleprompters and not sounding too good.
Random Moment(s) Of Awesomeness: fun. show being rescheduled after the Saturday evacuation and just owning the crowd for a 35 minute set filled with their hits.
Most Entertaining Show: Die Antwoord, if you’ve never seen them, you can’t help but be entertained
Most Disappointing Moment: not getting to see a bunch of acts I was super excited to see for the first time like Milo Greene, First Aid Kit and The Dunwells (the rain ruined that one for me) and some of my favorites like GIVERS, Chancellor Warhol, DAWES.
Next Big Thing: I want to say The Dunwells but the evacuation for the storm forced a cancellation of this show. And I sincerely hope more people discover Michael Kiwanuka; he’s got an incredible voice, great songs and is an absolute treat to listen to live.
Giving it a shot: The Devil Makes Three and I absolutely loved them.
Top Party: I’m giving this to Passion Pit because it was entertaining, full of energy and well I am a fan.
Funky Good Time Show: Gary Clark Jr.
Band I Was Sad To Miss: Sigur Ros
Best Intro: Rahm Emanuel introducing The Black Keys
What Would Have Been Great: Having less scheduling conflicts so I could see more bands
Top Moment: Choosing to skip Milo Greene, Chancellor Warhol, JEFF The Brotherhood and GIVERS for a once in a lifetime moment with Of Monsters and Men on the rooftop with the Chicago skyline serving as the background.
Best Festival Eat/Drink: Uncorked Wine Lounge
Best Place To Cool Off: I didn’t really find one and it was hot and humid
Biggest Waste of Time: The Toyota Crane game thing that totally wasn’t a crane
Evacuation Nation: Wow, getting 100,000 people out of the park in approximately 30 minutes before the torrential storm came in was pretty incredible. Holed up in a steamy Irish Pub with $6 Bud Lights wasn’t ideal but it was festive and one of those random things you won’t soon forget.
Clutch Move: Popping out a little early on Friday night to head over to Big Star, my favorite taco and mescal joint in town.
Tip For Next Year: Coming a day early again and leaving on a later flight on Monday.
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 to help.
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.
Coachella 2012 Line-Up & My Initial Thoughts
10 JanAnother year of anticipation has come and gone as the 2012 Coachella line-up was released and while it’s pretty awesome they secured all the acts for back-to-back weekends on April 13-15 and April 20-22 I have to say my initial reaction was meh. Don’t get me wrong, there are a ton of phenomenal musicians slated to play the festival but I personally feel they lacked in the bigger acts category but did a stellar job with the smaller ones.
Headliners: Radiohead, great score and definitely one of the most sought after acts this year, The Black Keys love ‘em but bumping them up one slot from last year into the headline act…., Dre and Snoop, ok I get it and Cali kids will probably love this but is this how you really want to close out three days of music (I’ll probably be eating my words as this may end up being the most talked about performance)?
Also this year has so much more EDM and on the main stages, I know its music of the present but I wonder if/how it will influence and change the dynamic of the festival since it’s thrust to the top. I’m a big fan of EDM and these artists but Swedish House Mafia, David Guetta, Avicii, Kaskade, Afrojack, Justice, Sebastian Ingrosso and Madeon all as “main acts” it could get interesting just look at how many other EDM acts are booked.
Now what really excites me about Coachella:
Friday: M83, Jimmy Cliff & Tim Armstrong (oh wow this is going to be awesome), GIRLS, The Rapture, Madeon, Yuck, Dawes, WU LYF, GIVERS, Wolf Gang, Ximena Sarinana, Band of Skulls, honeyhoney
Saturday: Miike Snow, St. Vincent, Manchester Orchestra, AWOLNATION, Azealia Banks, Kaiser Chiefs, The Head and The Heart, Laura Marling, tUnE yArDs, The Black Lips, Childish Gambino, The Vaccines, Grouplove, Gary Clark Jr., We Are Augustines
Sunday: Beirut, The Weeknd, The Hives, Real Estate, Wild Flag, Fitz & The Tantrums, araabMUZIK, Lissie, Gardens & Villa
Something else that I love and hope is a trend for all the festivals this year is the addition of acts from outside the United States. Bands like WU LYF, Wolf Gang, M83, The Vaccines, The Hives and others that are extremely talented will get introduced to so many new fans.
All in will it be fun, heck yeah but what else will be fun is Coachella East aka Las Vegas. With a week in between you better believe Las Vegas is going to be a mid-week retreat with acts popping up for DJ sets in clubs and concerts peppered all over the Las Vegas Strip.
Do You Hear The Music? 