In case you missed it, the lineup for this year’s Wakarusa Music Festival was finalized late last week. Topping the bill is a solid eclectic mix with Pretty Lights, The Avett Brothers and Primus all set to headline the festival, with LMB favorites Umphrey’s Mcgee, Girl Talk, Ghostland Observatory, Big Gigantic, EOTO, Orgone, Blitzen Trapper and tons more joining them to round out the festival’s ninth year in operation.
The festival returns to the Ozarks on May 31-June 3, 2012 and tickets are still on sale. READ MORE
One of the music festivals that can often get overlooked amidst a sea of the bigger OSL’s and ACL’s of the world is the upstate New York gem known as Catskill Chill Music Festival. We’ve written about the festival in the past and would be remiss to not mention this mini-festival again in 2011. This year’s lineup is stacked with some jamband middleweights like Umphrey’s McGee, but following right behind are the untz-Bisco stylings of Conspirator and the Dead-based nostalgia funk thing called 7 Walkers (with the Grateful Dead’s Bill Kreutzmann at the helm). Dumpstaphunk with Nikki Glaspie is on the lineup as is Perpetual Groove, Big Sam’s Funky Nation and Break Science — all LMB favorites and a sure-fire good time if we were able to attend this festival in the flesh.
If you’re going, get in touch as we’d love a report or two of how everything goes down. Read on for the full lineup and don’t miss this one if you’re within driving distance. The schedule is live so you can start planning your attack now… >>>
This week’s NYC Concert Calendar seems a tad quieter than last week’s….which makes it seemingly a perfect week to highlight a bunch of smaller, intimate shows that are going on in town. In last week’s post I already flagged Music for Money, specifically for fans of Battles and Tortoise. Those guys continue their run of NYC shows this week. But if you’re looking for another interesting instrumental band, I’d also hit Delicate Steve et al at the Morgan….those dudes are all over the map sonically, but a lot of fun. Another great intimate show option this week is Charlie Hunter, who’s got a Thursday-night residency going on this month at the unique Sycamore Bar & Flower Shop down in Ditmas Park (just south of Prospect Park in Brooklyn). I already posted tour dates for The Wood Brothers this past weekend, so we know they’re definitely a solid bet as they swing through town. Yellow Ostrich at Glasslands is another one at the top of my list. I caught their set at SXSW and was really impressed with their songwriting chops and creative use of the loop pedal.
For the jammier set, I’d probably just recommend camping out at Brooklyn Bowl this weekend for Rubblebucket (Fri) and Perpetual Groove (Sat). For something more in the Indie vein, there’s The Rapture — back on the road after a long break to show off their freaky brand of dance-punk to fans at Music Hall of Williamsburg — and Deerhunter — bringing their stretched-out psych-rock to Webster Hall (on Monday; technically next week). After catching Bradford Cox and the boys at SXSW and Pitchfork, I can easily say that Deerhunter is hitting a really solid touring stride. I love how they’re pushing the envelope of their live show, stretching out their well-known studio cuts, and basically ripping up the hackneyed labels and stereotypes that dictate what it means to be an indie rock or “jam” band (a bit more on that here and here).
As always, there’s plenty more than I’ve called out in the intro, so check the list below and GO SEE SOME LIVE SHOWS!
Interesting shows from this week’s NYC concert calendar:
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The lineup for Jam Cruise was announced first thing this morning here on the West Coast, and I couldn’t be happier that I’ve already taken the plunge and pre-booked a cabin for the 10th anniversary of the floating festival that everybody has been raving about for years. This will be my first year on the boat, so I’ll be seeing plenty of unbelievably great music all while sailing the seas and partying with my fellow like-minded fans. Can’t wait.
One of the bigger reveals of the lineup has been the port destinations that the cruise is choosing, and this time the festival is setting sail a full week after New Year’s Eve with a January 9th departure n Ft. Lauderdale to make stops in Labadee, Haiti and then onto Falmouth, Jamaica. The whole thing winds back down on January 14th, 2012. Umphrey’s McGee, Surprise Me Mr. Davis, Galactic, The New Deal, Shpongle, New Mastersounds, EOTO, and Orgone are just some of the artists I’m excited to get a crack at seeing this year, and there’s tons more talent rounding out the lineup this year.
As hedonistic as the whole vacation is, I’m actually proud that the organizers thought to bring a stop by Haiti into the equation. More about those efforts were detailed in today’s press release… READ MORE
bearcreekmusicfestival.com
moe. was just added to the headlining slot for this year’s Bear Creek Music Festival, joining Umphrey’s McGee and more the week of November 12th-14th in Suwannee Music Park down in Live Oak, Florida. This festival looks pretty rad.
Also scheduled to perform are Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Lettuce, The New Mastersounds, Perpetual Groove, George Porter’s Running Pardners, Toubab Krewe, Zach Deputy, Maceo Parker, Pee Wee Ellis, Fred Wesley, Bernie Worrell, DJ Logic, Soulive, The New Deal, Bonobo Live Band, Eliot Lipp and many others.
Many others is friggin’-a-right. Read on for the full list, and we’ll be paying attention to this one closely. With Skerik as an artist-at-large, we’re pretty sure this festival is amazing without even needing to attend it. READ MORE
Jambands.com alerted us to Perpetual Groove’s plans for their Halloween concert at the National in Richmond, VA: a John Hughes Variety Show. From the P-Groove website:
Once again carrying the torch for their favorite movies, Perpetual Groove will present their tribute to movie director John Hughes for Halloween 2009. We highly suggest you attend dressed as your favorite character from any of John Hughes’ movies. Except maybe Curly Sue.
That just has awesome written all over it. Of course, maybe I just have a thing for the John Hughes classics having grown up in the 80s in the near-north suburbs of Chicago (Evanston). By the way, if you’re looking for great Halloween show to attend, check out our Halloween Round-up…it’s massive.
Like New Year’s Eve, Halloween is another holiday that a lot of bands choose to celebrate in style. There’s just something about mixing the live concert experience with all the fun and choas of Halloween that really brings out the freaks. While most bands typically play into the Halloween vibe in some way, touring bands often approach Halloween as an opportunity to really create a unique live music event. Just as we did with our New Year’s Eve concert round-up, we’ve compiled a list of Halloween concerts that will be going on this weekend (see below for the long list).
We have also noticed a few bands that are taking a similar approach to Halloween as Phish by doing some sort of “musical costume” and either covering another band’s music or playing a full show of thematic covers. Here are a few of the more interesting “musical costumes” we’ve seen announced this year:
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