I've been meaning to see The Ross Sea Party perform live for months but, for reasons I can't explain, Thursday night was the first time I was finally able to catch a Ross Sea Party show. My friend Mike is the drummer in both The Ross Sea Party & The Muddy Reds &, although both bands are extremely different in style, they're both uniquely awesome. I'm officially a new Ross Sea Party groupie so expect to be hearing a lot more about them here :-)
And the icing on the cake that was my Thursday night at The Bootleg Theater was discovering both Jules Larson & A House For Lions. Jules Larson is a super hot new singer/songwriter who plays both guitar & piano. I had heard a little bit of buzz about her before seeing her live on Thursday &, after only hearing 1 or 2 songs, I totally got what all the buzz was about. She f*ckin rocks!
I intended on going home early before A House For Lions even started because I was/am still trying to recover from my Coachella-induced bronchitis (it was still worth it!!) but, on my way out, I couldn't help but get into A House For Lions' set. Their music's got a sorta indie rock/alt-country feel & they totally JAM OUT which I love.
I went to The Bootleg Theater on Thursday night expecting to see one good band but I ended up being MORE than pleasantly surprised by all 3 artists on the bill!
P.S. You can't see much in my videos because the lighting was pretty dim but the audio's ALL good!
OK so I'll admit, when I first saw Lollapalooza's lineup announcement late last night, I wasn't initially thrilled with the headliners...but now I've totally warmed up to the entire lineup! Muse is INCREDIBLE live. I saw them at Coachella 2010 & they're also headlining Outside Lands in SF the week after Lolla. I'll see them in both Chicago & SF though & I know they'll be great. I've never seen Foo Fighters before but I'll be seeing them for my first time at Sasquatch at The Gorge in Washington next month. I'm convinced they'll kick ass at both Sasquatch & Lolla so I'll be seeing both sets for sure.
As for Coldplay & Eminem...I've never seen either live &, although I wasn't expecting them to be announced as headliners, I've decided I'm actually kinda excited to see both of them too. Coldplay has some quality material (God Put A Smile Upon Your Face is one my all-time faves) & I've heard they put on a really good live show. And Eminem is just classic, man. I haven't actually heard his new album yet but I've been told it's surprisingly decent. I'm praying he'll play My Name Is...haha!
Aside from the headliners, there are SO many acts I am SOOO stoked to see! Some of my top favorite artists are going to be there including My Morning Jacket, Atmosphere, Lykke Li, Ween, The Kills, Phantogram, Local Natives, Deadmau5, Ratatat, Fitz & The Tantrums, Sleigh Bells, Kid Cudi, Pretty Lights, Black Lips, Damian Marley & Nas, Delta Spirit, Girl Talk, Titus Andronicus, Foster the People, Explosions in the Sky, etc. I'm especially pumped to see A Perfect Circle & Deftones for my first time. And I've heard positive things about Manchester Orchestra, Two Door Cinema Club, Cage the Elephant, Portugal, The Man, Beats Antique, The Drums, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart & Mayer Hawthorne so hopefully I'll get to check all of them out as well!
Good thing I already bought my 3-day pass & booked my flights months ago! :-)
The full, star-studded, 30 minute film Fight For Your Right (Revisited) has finally been released!!! It features Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Seth Rogen, Elijah Wood, Danny McBride, Jack Black, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Will Arnett, Jason Schwartman, Ted Danson, Steve Buscemi, Amy Poehler, David Cross, Rainn Wilson, Adam Scott, Rashida Jones, Shannyn Sossamon, Alicia Silverstone, Mary Steenburgen, Laura Dern, Chloe Sevigney, Kirsten Dunst, Maya Rudolph &, of course, THE BEASTIE BOYS as Cops 1, 2 & 3!!!
I can't wait to download the new album when I get home! I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that The Beastie Boys will be announced as one of Lollapalooza's headliners tomorrow when the lineup is officially released! Please let the concert gods be kind!
Prince at Coachella 2008 will forever remain one of THE best shows I've seen but, unfortunately, I can't QUITE say the same about his performance on Friday 4/22 at The Forum in Los Angeles. I don't mean to say he didn't put on a great show because he certainly did (his duet with special guest Alicia Keys was particularly fantastic) but he kinda gypped Friday night's crowd.
Friday was the 3rd show of Prince's 21 night residency in LA &, on both night 1 (on 4/14) & night 2 (on 4/21), after turning on the lights for about 20-30 minutes & tricking everyone into thinking he was done, he came back out & ended up played hourlong encores. I knew a lot of people who had been to one of the 1st 2 shows & I was specifically instructed to wait for Prince to come back so my roommate Stephanie & I waited for a full hour along with about 2,000 other people who were still holding out hope that he'd return. There were some serious holes in Prince's set-list (he hadn't played 1999, Kiss OR Little Red Corvette yet) so we were extra convinced he wasn't done but, much to our chagrin, Prince NEVER CAME BACK! The ushers finally came around & kicked us all out. Everyone was PISSED.
Waiting...
I heard Prince ended up playing another set for all the VIPs underneath The Forum but I'm not 100% sure that's true. I wouldn't be surprised though. Prince is an incredible performer who SHREDS on electric guitar & has countless classic hits but he's also a little diva who does whatever the f*ck he wants. I'm sure he played a 2 hour encore last night for his night 4 crowd because that'd be just my luck but whatever. I still had a FABULOUS time dancing up a storm with my roomie in our sequined outfits :-)
Prince will most likely have all my Youtube videos removed from the Internet within the week so please watch them asap (because they ARE good!). Once Youtube nazi Prince has them taken down though, I'll put them up on my Facebook page instead. I'm hoping/thinking he might not be able to get to them that way but we'll see.
Coachella 2008 (when I saw The Raconteurs, Hot Chip, Portishead, Prince, My Morning Jacket, Roger Waters' 2 1/2 hour Dark Side of the Moon extravaganza & Justice) & Coachella 2011 are officially my top 2 favorite Coachellas EVER! I've been to Coachella 7 years in a row & it just keeps getting better! The new lighting/visual systems in The Sahara Tent & on The Main Stage were unbelievable!
Last year, the system kinda broke down when counterfeit tickets were sold & accepted & thousands upon thousands of people managed to sneak into the Empire Polo Fields. This year, the new high tech scannable 3-day pass wristbands were mailed out only ~2-3 weeks before the show (in a BEAUTIFUL, treat-filled package btw) & people without wristbands weren't allowed within a 1 mile radius of the festival. I never waited in a single port-o-potty line, food & beer lines were short & quick & there were was WAY more shade available for concert-goers to rest underneath. I never once felt crowded &/or annoyed & I saw an obscene amount of amazing live music.
Animal Collective
Afrojack
Arcade Fire
Trentmoller
My favorite acts of the festival included !!!, PZB in The Energy Factory, Afrojack, Cut Copy, Magnetic Man, Sasha, The Chemical Brothers, Broken Social Scene, The Kills, Animal Collective, ARCADE FIRE (see the beautiful glowing ball drop below!), Delta Spirit, Damian Marley & Nas, Death From Above 1979, Sven Vath, TRENTMOLLER (who I thought was going to be a single DJ but turned out to be a full band that just blew my mind at sunset on Day 3), Ratatat, Phantogram, The Strokes, Leftfield, Kanye, Axwell & The Presets.
I had to skip The Black Keys & Kings of Leon to see Cut Copy, Magnetic Man & Sasha but, luckily, I've seen both bands a few times before & I'll be seeing The Keys again in August at Outside Lands. I also had to skip Duran Duran & The National to see Trentmoller but he turned out to be one of my TOP favorite acts of the weekend so, again, I have no regrets :-)
After days of camping, my camera died around 8pm Sunday so I didn't get ANY footage from Ratatat through The Presets which is a huge bummer but at least I was able to focus solely on the music! The Presets KILLED the final set of the weekend! I'd never seen them before & was SO happy I chose them over staying at Kanye. When we went to check out part of Kanye's set before checking out part of Axwell in the Sahara, we heard Jesus Walks, Can't Tell Me Nothing & Diamonds From Sierra Leonne AND of course we saw a fireworks so that was the perfect little snippet of Kanye.
Also, car camping is SO much fun! I can't believe I was such a huge house rental snob for 6 whole years! There is this fabulous sense of community & SUCH a positive & exciting vibe on the campgrounds. Plus, you don't have to drive at all the entire weekend AND you're allowed to go to & from your campsite during the festival so you can make cocktail pitstops instead of wasting $7 per beer &/or $13 per cocktail in the beer gardens. From now on, it's pretty much the only way to go.
In conclusion, I'm sunburnt, sore & have no voice left BUT...it was ALL worth it! :-)
COACHELLA 4 LIFE!!!
Check out all of my videos below!!!
Cold Cave
OFWGKTA = Odd Future Wolfgang Kill Them All
PZB in The Energy Factory
Afrojack
Magnetic Man
The Chemical Brothers
Sander Kleinenberg
Delta Spirit - "If you're feelin what I'm feelin, come on!"
Broken Social Scene - "This is the one that's supposed to make you feel alive."
The Kills - Future Starts Slow
Animal Collective
ARCADE FIRE - Wake Up Glowing Ball Drop!!!
Green Velvet - "It's time for the percolator."
Damian Marley & Nas - COULD YOU BE LOVED Reggae Dance Party :-)
My summertime clothes are packed & I leave for the desert in less than 3 hours! This will be my 7th Coachella in a row & I'm more excited than ever! I can't wait to see the new main stage setup as well as the new crazy light installations inside the Sahara Tent! This year's lineup is beyond impressive AND I'm camping for my 1st time ever (at Coachella) which should be interesting in 95 degree heat. I'm ready for it though! Keep an eye out for my Coachella 2011 post early next week!
YAY! The Phish rumors were true & I'm finally gonna get to see Little Dragon!!! I can never get enough of Arcade Fire & The Black Keys! And Muse is SOOO good live! Plus, Phantogram, Starfucker, Deadmau5, Toro Y Moi, The Roots, Junip, Arctic Monkeys, Sound Tribe, Big Boi, Major Lazer, OK GO, !!!, Best Coast & Beirut!
I'm more than pleased with this lineup...especially since I only spent $171 on all 3 days! Some people would pay that much for Phish alone. Also, I'm loving the fact that we get 2 sets! Outside Lands in SF will be a spectacular way to end my 2011 4-fest run!
