A blog about festivals
MC Hammer helped release the official Outside Lands lineup today after a week of teasing clues via Ranger Dave’s, instagram. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t what I was expecting, but I am far from dissapointed.
Similar to Lollapalooza, and organized by the same people who brought you Bonnaroo, Outside Lands takes place in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park and features local vineyards, chefs, and food trucks throughout. From Wine Lands, to Choco lands, this festi is 100% bay area awesome and will likely draw huge crowds for years to come.
Hola to NOLA
The week long New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is one of the oldest music festivals in the country, entering its 42nd year on April 27th.This heritage celebration isn’t like many of the festivals I cover on this blog, however, because it expands itself far beyond the festival grounds. Artists across genres and styles will convene on the big easy for 10 days that not only includes a killer musical lineup within the festival grounds but after parties in all corners of the city, featuring unique collaborations and impromptu jam sessions from some of the most talented contemporary jazz/funk/rock artists.
The festivities also include mind blowing cultural performances, some of the best food you can find anywhere, and an all around celebration of all things New Orleans. Rivaled only by Mardi Gras, NOLA’s Jazz fest is one of the biggest shindigs the city sees all year and for only $50 a ticket, festival value doesn’t get much better. Not to mention is has seriously one of the best lineups of any festival so far this sumer. It’s wayyy to long to post in its entirety but check out this massively truncated version…
Those headliners are seriously making me drool.
You can see the whole lineup here.
I know I know it’s shameless self promotion but it would be awesome if you would vote for my Girlfriend and I for the King and Queen of Electric Forest!
All rhyming aside I definitely approve of these Electric Forest artist additions…
Here’s an excellent collection of shots from SXSW.
“There’s nothing wrong with standing in a park listening to music with lots of other people. As such, there’s nothing essentially wrong with Occupy Festival— a two-day music festival in Chicago’s Union Park in mid-May. But essence aside, there’s reason to be wary.
The two-day open-air festival, planned for May 12-13 (purposefully, just in advance of Chicago’s NATO summit), is being organized autonomously by a group called Solid Clarity LLC, but won the endorsement of Occupy Chicago. Yet-unnamed “top international, national and local” musicians are slated to play across three stages. Half the profits will go to Occupy Chicago; a portion will go to a Catholic, faith-based social justice advocacy group in Chicago. Who will get the rest isn’t clear.
Festival organizers made an embarrassing early move (aside from using cringe-inducing phrases like “music – the heartbeat of our cultures”). They advertised VIP passes, with access to a private lounge, special viewing areas and more. An Occupy event with VIP tickets: The idea is truly laughable. Evidently, public responses made this more than clear. Just over a day after the VIP passes were announced in a press release, they were scrapped.
“There is no VIP or premium access … That was an oversight that was pretty big,” Grahan Czach, an organizer with Solid Clarity LLC, told RedEye Chicago.
However, that the idea was floated in the first place suggests that those behind Occupy Festival might not be familiar with the horizontalism underpinning Occupy organizing, despite Czach’s claim that they are “part of the movement.” It’s worth noting that standard-price tickets are already $35 for one day, $55 for two, which will exclude many Occupy supporters anyway.”
Interesting. Some people forget exactly how much of an ‘industry’ live music really is. Yeah our favorite artists are relatable and often remind us of equality, opportunity, hope, and revolution, but they are still subject to the all-powerful recording industry executives and massive ticketing giants like AEG Live. The good news is real music is free and can come from anyone, anywhere, anytime. That is the true beauty of it. The problem is that really GOOD music is going to cost you and the artists you love aren’t always the ones who will profit the most.
My recap of Snowball was posted on LIVEMUSICBLOG.COM. Hopefully I’ll be writing for them more and more in the future so be sure to check them out on the reg!
Hangout Fest artist additions.
(Source: lineup.hangoutmusicfest.com)
