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Trying to guess the Bonnaroo 2012 lineup (well at least some of the artists)

11 Feb

Naturally my excitement is hitting a peak in anticipation of the lineup for Bonnaroo XI being announced next week.

I keep debating, who, who are they going to book since Bonnaroo tends to differ from the other festival line-ups.  So here’s my best guess at some.

Let’s start with the headliners: At first I was thinking Red Hot Chili Peppers were an option but now that they are headlining the Hangout Festival I doubt this will happen but you never know.  It may be time to bring DMB back but again, they are also headlining Hangout and I just don’t see it happening.  Radiohead seems to be an obvious consideration and maybe I’m the only one but another I just don’t see happening.  More realistic at this point would be a Phish, the Police or Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Jay-Z and Kanye (I know, the Kanye late late show….).

Some artists that have been quasi radio silent who could be good fits as top billing acts: Phoenix, Jack Johnson and dare I even try to imagine the return of Outkast, The Killers.

More thoughts:  Mumford & Sons (again), Dispatch, The Eagles, Lenny Kravitz, The Roots, Drake, Lupe Fiasco, Zac Brown Band, Allen Stone, Clement Marfo & The Frontline, The Avett Brothers, John Butler Trio, The Civil Wars, GROUPLOVE, Little Hurricane, Alabama Shakes, Ryan Adams, Donavon Frankenreiter, Middle Brother, Paul Simon, Jimmy, Cliff, Steve Winwood, Young The Giant, Foster The People, Frank Turner, U.S. Royalty, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Raphael Saadiq, Mariachi El Bronx, Of Monsters & Men, Lana Del Rey, Bon Iver, Bruno Mars, Dawes, Diamond Rugs, GIVERS, OK Go, Graffiti6, Robert Randolph, Mac Miller, Cage The Elephant, Gary Clark Jr., Walk The Moon, The Belle Brigade, We Are Augustines, AraabMuzik, Bahamas, Gardens & Villas, Here We Go Magic, White Denim, White Lies, Ruby Coast, Tennis, Ingrid Michaelson, Two Door Cinema Club, Galactic, Trombone Shorty, Matt & Kim, Christina Perri, fun., Eric Hutchinson, The Gaslight Anthem, Brett Dennen, Delta Spirit, ALO, The Big Pink, Laura Marling, WU LYF, Wolf Gang, James Morrison, Chali2na, Vintage Trouble, Noah and the Whale, The Vaccines, Tallahassee, IAMDYNAMITE, Janelle Monae, The Lumineers , Avalanche City, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Blackalicious, Blitzen Trapper, honeyhoney, Kaiser Chiefs, The War on Drugs, Kids These Days, Girls

DJs/Electro(nic): Justice, M83, Miike Snow, Steve Aoki, Madeon, RAC, Rye Rye, Super Mash Brothers

Bonnaroo Clues Solved (from the message board): Fruit Bats, tUnE yArDs, Battles, Mogwai

Chances are I’m not even close but it would be nice to see a bunch of the above at Bonnaroo.  Excited to let the countdown begin!  Get ready!

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Coachella 2012 Line-Up & My Initial Thoughts

10 Jan

Another 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.

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2011 in Music: Some of My Favorites

21 Dec

Another year has come and (just about) gone and as we approach day 365 of 2011, there is a lot of great music and music moments to reflect on.  In keeping with something I started last year, here is a list of items that made MY year in music.  While I know I’ve forgotten some moments, at least it’s a snapshot of what my ears and eyes were gravitating towards.  Enjoy and here’s to an incredible year of music in 2012.

  • My favorite album of 2011 is GROUPLOVE’s Never Trust A Happy Song
  • After finally attending Bonnaroo, I totally see why my friend said “when you go, you’ll understand why it’s the best music festival”
  • Lollapalooza was an amazing experience with incredible bands, amazing friends and killer access
  • Being asked to write concert reviews for Vegas SEVEN which parlayed into band interviews as well – something that to this day I never thought would happen from a little blog I started about my love of music
  • Continuing the writing by being asked by Vegas Rated, a national publication to write a few music columns each month
  • Seeing Mumford & Sons at The Boulevard Pool at The Cosmopolitan, easily one of my favorite live shows ever
  • I’m a lucky one living in Las Vegas since The Cosmopolitan and C3 Presents booked too many bands that I love for four night stints playing Book & Stage for FREE – to give you an idea, we’re talking Young The Giant, Foster The People, Aloe Blacc, Ryan Shaw, Fitz & The Tantrums, Allen Stone, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, Walk The Moon, Robert Randolph, Mayer Hawthorne, Tennis, and the list goes on and on
  • Frank Turner, where you been all my life – England Keep My Bones is a album everyone needs to have
  • Finally seeing The Strokes live(twice this year) and realizing just how badass they really are
  • My blog post from March when Foster The People were coming to town
  • The discovery of bands like The Apache Relay, The Belle Brigade, Ruby Coast, GIVERS and Smith Westerns
  • Thank you Walk The Moon for providing some of the most fun of the summer with your spirited sets
  • RedBull Soundclash with Cee-Lo and The Ting Tings, look it up if you don’t know what I’m talking about
  • Marquee Nightclub Boom Box Room with Eric D Lux
  • The return of Dispatch
  • Middle Brother
  • One more Furthur show in the books
  • Saying goodnight to the bad guys with a final concert, oh man how I’ll miss The Black Crowes
  • Stumbling upon Childish Gambino’s set at Bonnaroo and being blown away
  • Gary Clark Jr.
  • Late Night with Jimmy Fallon taking over as the king of late night performances thanks to The Roots as the house band and a great booking team
  • Brands like Chevy and Nissan using indie bands for commercial music
  • CC from Little Hurricane
  • The Dirty Guv’nahs
  • EDM grabbing America by storm
  • Thankful for Avicii creating hit after hit after hit
  • Spotify
  • Seeing a late night Cults show in Chicago that completely blew me away
  • Going to see a favorite of mine, Brett Dennen and having DAWES who opened just own the evening
  • Seeing G. Love yet again and having him break into Freddy King Jr.’s “Look Over Yonder”
  • Allen Stone, what a young talent
  • Alabama Shakes, if you didn’t see my post on them, search, listen and become infatuated with Brittany Howard’s voice
  • Finally seeing Lupe Fiasco in concert again, had to wait too long since the last time
  • Robert Plant still rocking it like he was in his 20s
  • Seeing The Black Keys in a nightclub, a ballroom and with 60,000 ppl and still getting the same feeling of rock and roll no matter the size or venue
  • The Head and The Heart
  • Catching Lil Wayne in concert, something I never thought I’d do, same with Eminem
  • Buffalo Springfield, yes I can say I never thought I’d see them live but did
  • My Morning Jacket won me back over after giving up on them
  • Seeing Widespread Panic for what could be the last time
  • Anyone else catch The Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons and Bob Dylan at the GRAMMYs?  Sick performance and totally put M&S on a whole new level
  • The music from across the pond is quite amazing, lots of new bands and artists to be on the lookout for
  • Big Troubles
  • How incredibly awesome Daytrotter.com is
  • In my opinion, one of the best singer-songwriters of today, James Morrison quietly released his third album, The Awakening
  • Aloe Blacc, yes “I Need A Dollar” thrust him into the spotlight last year but damn, what an artist – incredible stage presence and one of the most talented musicians today
  • O.A.R. dropping a new record that everyone needs to own
  • IAMDYNAMITE  – before it’s too late, go get SUPERMEGAFANTASTIC, these fellas are going to blow up, just wait and see in 2012
  • The music video for Maps & Atlases’ “Israeli Caves”
  • Welcome back Ryan Adams
  • The sophomore release by Girls probably hasn’t gotten too much attention but WOW
  • Youth Lagoon
  • Thank you Damian Marley for getting everyone together to form SuperHeavy
  • NewVillager, the videos may be a bit to artsy for me but the music, genius
  • WU LYF chances are about 99% you have never heard of them but you need to know them pronto
  • Uncle Mountain
  • Nashville is for righteous music to me what Brooklyn was for a throng of indie bands
  • If you get a chance to see the Black Lips, don’t pass it up
  • Gimme Some by Peter, Bjorn & John
  • “Up Up Up” was like a soundtrack for my year, big things coming for GIVERS
  • ·         Fight For Your Right Revisited
  • ·         I was thrilled to see Fitz & The Tantrums hit it big in 2011
  • ·         Food is the New Rock blog
  • G. Love’s latest, Fixin To Die which was recorded in North Carolina and produced by The Avett Brothers
  • Seeing a mob of people at 1 p.m. on Friday of Lollapalooza for Young The Giant
  • Catching Lynyrd Skynyrd perform for 200 people at the opening of their BBQ & Beer joint in Vegas
  • Tedeschi Trucks Band – Revelator
  • Another knock-out by Trombone Shorty
  • The Cinema
  • Paul Simon’s So Beautiful or So What
  • Benjamin Francis Leftwich
  • Wolf Gang
  • Our little Book & Stage fan club, thanks for making the past year pretty damn incredible
  • Skylar Grey I was truly impressed with her live show
  • Raphael Saadiq did it again
  • Tinie Tempah finally made it Stateside
  • Ryan Bingham, thank you – great interview and your show definitely backed up your words, a true pleasure to catch a couple live shows this year
  • Seeing the legend, Dr. John
  • Scottish rockers Kassidy, definitely a band everyone should be listening to
  • Audio, Video, Disco – love love love the approach by Justice on the new album
  • Remixes of “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall”
  • And waking up every day to listen and discover new music

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