Tags: 2014, Aer, Arctic Monkeys, Atmosphere, Bear Hands, Big Freedia, Bleachers, Boys Noize, Chormeo, Courtney Barnett, Cut Copy, Death Cab for Cutie, Deer Tick, Disclosure, Duck Sauce, Dum Dum Girls, Finish Ticket, Flume, Gadens & Villa, GIVERS, Gold Panda, Grouplove, Haim, Holy Ghost!, Imelda May, Jagwar Ma, Jenny Lewis, John Butler Trio, Jonathan Wilson, Kacey Musgraves, Kanye West, Lineup, Local Natives, Lucius, Lykke Li, Macklemore, Mikal Cronin, Nahko and Medicine For The People, Nicki Bluhm, Night Terrors of 1927, Nocona, Outside Lands, Phosphorescent, Ray LaMontagne, Rayland Bxter, Run The Jewels, Ryan Lewis, SBTRKT, Spoon, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Tegan & Sara, The Brothers Comatose, The Districts, The Flaming Lips, The Killers, The Kooks, The Soul Rebels, Tiesto, Tom Petty, Trails and Ways, Tumbleweed Wanderers, Tycho, Typhoon, Valerie June, Vance Joy, Warpaint, Watsky, Woods
DoYouHearTheMusic.com – Top Tracks of 2013 (well a good amount of them)
2 DecThanksgiving gave me a minute to sit back and have a little fun putting together a Top Tracks of 2013 playlist. This clearly doesn’t include all of the great music that has filtered our ears this year but it is a collection of music that has been on rotation for me in 2013. I tried not to duplicate artists (I could have gone on for days with whole albums from the likes of Vampire Weekend, Cayucas, White Denim, Bastille, etc.) so I hope you like this playlist which should keep you going for hours and perfect for some holiday road trips.
Cheers!
Revisited: My week that was live music in Vegas! Local Natives, Of Monsters and Men, Kenny Chesney, Beach House, The xx and more
21 AprI say it often, I am very fortunate for the opportunities and things I get to experience and the last three weeks have been nothing short of amazing (Yes, I still need to write a post about Festival Generation Week from the beginning of the month, such a cool five days). Last week I recapped the week in music that was to me, Coachella East and this past week I was back at it again for round two.
It started on Monday night catching Beach House at House of Blues. I had wanted to see their show for some time and there was a good turnout for show at the beginning of the week. The show was just okay and left me trying to find a bit more energy to stay awake. However, Holy Shit opened up and I have to say, a little fine tuning and these guys are going to be fun to see live.
Tuesday it was time for The xx at The Joint. My first time seeing The xx it got rained out a couple songs in, the second time I just got up and left so the third time I wasn’t sure what to really expect and they did not disappoint. I was floored by how good the show was and as my friend Abby would say, LASERS! There were a ton of them. Definitely caught up with a lot of friends at the show too which made it an even better evening.
Wednesday night, I had this one earmarked for some time; split billing of Local Natives and Of Monsters and Men at The Cosmopolitan. But before that, I had the chance to head over to the CBS Radio studios earlier in the day and catch a mini Of Monsters and Men set. So talented and seeing them in an intimate setting, again, has me spoiled. Now to the show; I had caught a Local Natives show at SXSW and was amped to catch them again and they flat out destroyed it in front of a sold out crowd. These guys are primed for a monster break out this year. As for OMAM, the show was good, the band was on point but unfortunately I think the cool weather and whipping winds made it seem a bit tame instead of a giant sing-a-long dance party on The Strip.
Thursday my body gave out and I had to miss Hot Chip. I was told the show was great and I’m bummed I missed out but my body won.
When Friday rolled around the energy level came right back up as it was all about The Postal Service. Reunited after 10 years since they released Give Up! A chance to see Jenny Lewis again! And LED overload! Definitely was a lot of fun and after seeing Death Cab For Cutie a couple of times, was great to finally see The Postal Service.
Saturday it was a first for me as I attended my first country music concert! I have no idea how many thousands of concerts I’ve been to but until Saturday night that category of country music was empty. Yes, I had seen Garth Brooks’ show at Wynn but that was a show, not a concert. My first country music concert was Kenny Chesney and it may have been the perfect artist to see live. So much energy and an awesome environment, I felt right at home (if only I knew the lyrics to his songs). Add on top of that the concert was two and a half hours which included a four song set with Grace Potter and I was thrilled. After the show it was straight to The Cosmopolitan to catch the second half of the Band of Horses concert. Getting to finally hear “The Funeral” live was a great way to wrap up a two week marathon of concerts.
A special tip of the cap to my friends at The Cosmopolitan, Hard Rock and House of Blues for lighting up Las Vegas the last two weeks with a plethora of fantastic shows. The music scene continues to grow here and we are breaking out of the mold where bands skip Vegas and instead they now crave playing Vegas! Thank you!
Here are some images from the shows. The week would not have been nearly as much fun if I wasn’t surrounded by an amazing group of friends who make every experience that much more memorable. Thanks for being a part of this real life dream with me. The best is yet to come, I promise you that!
Revisited: My Lollapalooza 2011
10 AugSweet home Chicago! What can I say except the 20th Anniversary of Lollapalooza far exceeded any experience I could have ever imagined. More photos will be coming soon but wow what a good time and so many great bands/artists performing. If you wanted to discover new music, hear some great bands of the past 20+ years or just come and hang out, Grant Park was the place to be.
My First Show: Ryan Leslie
My Final Show: Deadmau5
My Favorite Show: GROUPLOVE
Who I Saw:
Day One of Lolla: Ryan Leslie, Tab The Band, Young The Giant, Naked & Famous, Delta Spirit, Foster The People, White Lies, Two Door Cinema Club, Skrillex, Afrojack, Muse, Coldplay and late night CULTS show at the Hard Rock.
Day Two of Lolla: GROUPLOVE, Walk The Moon, Maps & Atlases, Friendly Fires, Black Lips, Big Audio Dynamite, Joachim Garraud, Local Natives, My Morning Jacket, Eminem, My Morning Jacket. Night show: Skylar Grey, Mia Moretti & Caitlin Moe, Black Lips.
Day Three of Lolla: Rival Schools, little hurricane, The Cool Kids, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, The Cars, Flogging Molly, Boy & Bear, Nas & Damian Marley, Deadmau5
Best Bud Light Stage Show: Young The Giant or Friendly Fires
Best Music Unlimited Stage Show: Muse
Best Sony Stage Show: GROUPLOVE
Best Google+ Stage Show: little hurricane
Best BMI Stage Show: Boy & Bear
Biggest Surprise: Maps & Atlases and Tab The Band
Overall Stage With The Best Performances: Sony Stage
Most Entertaining Show: Deadmau5 – debut of his new rig extravaganza
Most Disappointing Moment: the police during Eminem not caring about kids who were comatose from whatever got them into that state
Next Big Thing: Young The Giant, these guys drew over 20,000 people at 1 p.m. and Foster The People, man in six months these guys are doing it!
Band Redemption In My Book: My Morning Jacket – I’ve seen them a handful of times and never really dug their shows, I did this time
Bands I Was Sad To Miss: Fitz & The Tantrums, City & Colour, Ween and Foo Fighters plus Portugal. The Man, again – just too hard to be two places at once
Late Night Show: CULTS at the Hard Rock
Angriest Performer: again, Eminem. The crowd was pretty angry too
What Would Have Been Great: a fourth day of the festival
Top Lolla’er: The dude dressed in a watermelon costume crowd surfing
Random Moment Of Awesomeness: mud wrestling taking center stage after the first downpour on Sunday
Best Festival Eats: the guy who brought in Garrett Popcorn in with him. Thanks for sharing!
Best Place To Cool Off: didn’t find one
Biggest Waste of Time: Food lines or anyone who waited for a cooling bandana from Toyota
Best Marketing at Festival: Outside a street team was handing out Foster The People “Pumped Up Kicks” shoelaces and of course I got some
Worst Part: not having a poncho or jacket when the rain came pouring down on Sunday
Clutch Move: running straight for the port o johns and finding a new garbage bag to make a poncho
Tips For Next Year: carry a poncho – when it rains it pours, drink as much water as possible, don’t try to go swimming in Buckingham Fountain – I witnessed a few beat downs, ice cream is your friend in August, make a list of bands you want to see but don’t stick to it, comfortable shoes, you will walk a lot
Just Released: Lollapalooza 2011 Line-up
26 AprLollapalooza released the 20th anniversary line-up today and while there are definitely a handful of artists making the summer festival rounds, I think they did a great job when you look at the line-up from top to bottom. Eminem, Foo Fighters, Coldplay and Muse as your headliners are definitely four big ones you can’t argue. Now personally as I contemplate making the trip, I’m excited about so many of these bands and quite frankly too many to list but (and trying to take out the artists I’m planning to see at Bonnaroo) Ween, Crystal Castles, Local Natives, The Kills, White Lies, Two Door Cinema Club, Delta Spirit, Sleigh Bells and Chicago’s own Smith Westerns. Plus Fitz & The Tantrums, Noah & The Whale, Tinie Tempah, The Vaccines, Foster The People, The Naked and Famous, Friendly Fires, Young The Giant, The Joy Formidable, Afrojack, Collie Buddz, Pretty Lights and a whole lot more. August 5-7 in one of the greatest cities in the world should be quite the music scene. At $215.00 for three days of an insane amount of music, seems like a heck of a deal to me.
Full line-up below.