This is another one of those week’s of live music in NYC that requires some serious skills with scheduling and logistics. There are a ton of great shows and there’s just not enough time, energy, and cash flow to take them all in. Since I’m still out of pocket, and there’s so much to choose from, I’m foregoing my normal highlight reel and just going with the entire list. Call me a slacker if you will, but given all these options, I think I’m mainly just indecisive…
Interesting shows from this week’s NYC concert calendar:
Having never seen Widespread Panic west of the great city of New Orleans over the course of the last decade, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from the crowd inside the beautiful Wiltern on the uneasy eve of the overhyped Carmageddon (hype in LA, shocker), and whether this alteration in my longitudinal center(s)-of-gravity would translate into a profoundly different musical experience. The crowd, much to my surprise, was more or less the same welcoming, energetic bunch you’d expect to see in Savannah, Nashville, or Chicago – faithful and zoned in for the duration of the lengthy sets and rarin’ for more by the time the final notes of Proving Ground rang out just a shade before midnight. Perhaps the high level of performance Panic operated on can be attributed to a mid-tour stride or the fact that it was night 2 at the band favorite Wiltern, but them fellers seemed to be cruising along in their comfort zone on Thursday night (especially throughout the outrageously absorbing and multi-directional second set). READ MORE
If you’re not lucky enough to be heading down to Manchester, TN for this weekend’s festivities, you’ll once again have a chance to catch a slew of live sets through the official Bonnaroo webcast. The B’roo folks have teamed up with Vevo for this year’s broadcast, which will feature sets from the likes of Arcade Fire, Explosions in the Sky, My Morning Jacket, Mumphord & Sons, and Widespread Panic, among many others. The webcast kicks off Friday at noon CT.
Also, with the festival celebrating its tenth year in existence, they’ve created an official theme song…a bluegrass-tinge number performed by members of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Del McCoury Band. Check it out:
For many, festival season is synonymous with Widespread Panic and their massive, cross-country summer tours. In the last 10 years they have headlined almost every major festival in America (many forget Bonnaroo served as a two night Panic run in 2002 and 2005 – WP has headlined Roo considerably more than any other artist) and are consistently invited back to play our own Jazz Fest nearly every other year. This spring they add The Hangout to that impressive resume – the second year gulf coast festival will feature Panic on opening night. WSP has been no stranger to the Alabama gulf coast, they have been playing Mobile since the 80’s and their more recent stands at Orange Beach have been perfect excuses for fans to slip down to the beach and celebrate the Gulf Coast’s beautiful Spring weather.
Whether you like the artists or not, it’s undeniable that the ‘Roo lineups seem to trump all others and really get people chattering about the state of the entire music industry in general. Read on for the full artist list. READ MORE
Paul Simon
Widespread Panic
The Black Keys
My Morning Jacket Foo Fighters Jane’s Addiction Flaming Lips (make-up show for last year’s cancellation)
Cee Lo Green Primus Pretty Lights
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Bassnectar Girl Talk
Ween
Matisyahu
Slightly Stoopid
Warren Haynes Band
Umphrey’s McGee Galactic
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
Drive-By Truckers
Amos Lee
Xavier Rudd
G. Love & Special Sauce
Medeski, Martin, & Wood Keller Williams
Minus the Bear
Portugal. the man
Jonathan Tyler and Northern Lights
Beats Antique, Truth & Salvage Co.
Rich Aucoin
Kristy Lee
Civil Twilight
A Thousand Horses
Roman Street
Update: The Avett Brothers, STS9, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Brandi Carlile, JJ Grey and Mofro, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Big Gigantic, Soja, Railroad Earth, Greensky Bluegrass, Rival Sons, & Honey Island Swamp Band have been added to the lineup.
Widespread Panic has already gone live with the news that they’ll be one of the top dogs on the lineup at this year’s Hangout Music Festival. The full lineup announcement is coming later today and we promise you need to bookmark this page and check back shortly. It’s a doozy.
The Summer Camp Music Festival lineup just got a headliner leak confirmed through the festival’s Twitter page; the promoters are planning to welcome Widespread Panic this year to help round out the always-stellar lineup of moe., Umphrey’s McGee and Keller Williams. Plenty of other bands are already listed as confirmed over at Consequence of Sound, [...]
