After seeing Big Grams’ debut public performance at Treasure Island Music Festival last weekend, not only am I convinced it was the best set of the weekend but man this show is only going to get better! Get ready to see them on nearly every festival lineup in 2016 and for good reason. While Big Boi and Phantogram have chopped it up for years, getting on stage to perform their self titled debut album you would think may take some work but man it was tight and on point even down to the production. Bringing out Run The Jewels for “Born To Shine” was a nice touch, “Put It On Her” sounds like classic OutKast and the “Ms. Jackson”/”Mouthful of Diamonds” mashup was perfect and the crowd was eating up the whole set. As for me, I’ve been listening to the album on repeat for the last two days and falling in love with it more and more every spin.
What a year it was for me in music. So good that I don’t want this year to end but excited to see what 2015 has in store. Below (in alphabetical order) are albums I was digging in 2014. I couldn’t limit myself to a number and I know I missed some too but here it is. What were some of yours from 2014?
††† (Crosses) – †††
Alt-J – This Is All Yours
Alvvays – Alvvays
Asgeir – In The Silence (US Release)
ASTR – Varsity (EP)
James Bay – Hold Back The River (EP)
Bleachers – Strange Desire
Benjamin Booker – Benjamin Booker
BØRNS – Candy (EP)
Broods – Evergreen
Catfish and The Bottlemen – The Balcony
Caribou – Our Love
Chromeo – White Women
Cloud Nothings – Here and Nowhere Else
Chet Faker – Built On Glass
Eric Church – The Outsiders
CRUISR – All Over (EP)
D’Angelo – Black Messiah
Madi Diaz – Phantom
First Aid Kit – Stay Gold
FKA Twigs – LP1
Flight Facilities – Down To Earth
Future Islands – Singles
G-Eazy – These Things Happen
Galantis – Galantis (EP)
The Gaslight Anthem – Get Hurt
Glass Animals – Zaba
Goat – Commune
Great Good Fine Ok – Body Diamond (EP)
The Griswolds – Be Impressive
Holychild – Mindspeak (EP)
Hozier – Hozier
Hurray For The Riff Raff – Small Town Heroes
In The Valley Below – The Belt
John Butler Trio – Flesh & Blood
Vance Joy – Dream Your Life Away
Jungle – Jungle
King Tuff – Black Moon Spell
The Kooks – Listen
Ray LaMontagne – Supernova
Jenny Lewis – The Voyager
Like Swimming – Structures
Los Colognes – Working Together
Manchester Orchestra – Hope
George Maple – Vacant Space
J. Mascis – Tied To A Star
Milky Chance – Sadnecessary (US release)
Blake Mills – Heigh Ho
MisterWives – Reflections (EP)
MØ – No Mythologies To Follow
Mystery Skulls – Forever
O.A.R. – The Rockville LP
Phantogram – Voices
Port Isla – In The Long Run (EP)
The Preatures – Blue Planet Eyes
Priory – Weekend (EP)
RAC – Strangers
Real Estate – Atlas
Royal Blood – Royal Blood
Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 2
Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
Sam Smith – In The Lonely Hour
Spoon – They Want My Soul
St. Paul & The Broken Bones – Half The City
St. Vincent – St. Vincent
Sylvan Esso – Sylvan Esso
Todd Terje – It’s Album Time
Twin Peaks – Wild Onion
Tycho – Awake
Vacationer – Relief
The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream
Warm Soda – Young Reckless Hearts
Warpaint – Warpaint
Ryn Weaver – Promises (EP)
Jack White – Lazaretto
Young Rising Sons – The High (EP)
Zac Brown Band – The Grohl Sessions Vol.1
You’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!
I’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.
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.
Holy Bonnaroo! Are you kidding me? What a line-up SuperFly put together this year. Looks like The Farm is going to be a rocking for four amazing days. Sweet headliners! Tons of legendary acts! A stellar list of the rising stars of tomorrow! Bonnaroo favorites! I mean this is going to be B A N A N A S.
Lollapalooza 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.
Ok so now the planning can officially begin getting underway as the 2011 Coachella line-up has been announced. I am so stoked about this line-up and definitely finding my way to Indio this spring.
At first glance, Day One is top priority. As much as a fan I am of Kings of Leon, The Black Keys, Lauren Hill, Cut Copy, Brandon Flowers and all the other top billing acts, I’m more jacked about Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, Here We Go Magic, Klaxons, !!!, The Drums, Afrojack, Ozomatli, The Morning Benders and Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti to name a few.
Day Two is going to be a dance party bonanza with Steve Angello, Empire of the Sun, Paul van Dyk, Fedde Le Grand, Laidback Luke, Joachim Garraud, Chuckie and more plus, Raphael Saadiq, Two Door Cinema Club, Foals, the Kills, Mariachi El Bronx plus Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons and so much more!
Day Three has a ton more great artists but I am not as high on it as Days 1 & 2. The return of the Strokes, The National, Duran Duran, Duck Sauce, Eliza Doolittle, Tinie Tempah, and Ben Harper’s Fistful of Mercy should all be insane performances.
All I can say is WOW and while some may start chiming in saying this isn’t the best Coachella line-up in the 12 years I would argue that when we recap the festival later this spring it will go down in the record books as featuring one of the finest collections of music we have ever seen over the course of three days.
Coachella 2011
Three-day weekend passes, along with camping passes for Coachella go on sale Friday, Jan. 21 at 10:00 AM (PT) through Ticketmaster.com, by phone at (800) 745-3000 and at http://www.coachella.com. Three-day weekend passes are $269.00, plus surcharges, and camping passes are $75.00. More details on layaway, camping options and up-to-the minute information, can be found at http://www.coachella.com.
Do You Hear The Music? 