Tag: festivals

The Best of Bonnaroo 2012: D’Angelo, fun., Flying Lotus, Das Racist, St. Vincent, Kurt Vile and more

Babe City, population:1 thrasher. St. Vincent gained another crowd fulla converts over the weekend by crawling on top of her fans for the entire length of the set-closing “Krokodil.” That was just one of the unforgettable moments documented by Team SPIN at Bonnaroo 2012 in Manchester, Tennessee. Best weather of the past three years, and a whole lot of best sets captured visually by Ian Witlen and Matt Ellis, and scribed about by Davids Marchese and Bevan, Luke McCormick, and yours truly. Indexed below for your easy access.

FIRST: 60 amazing photos from the festival!  ///// AND NOW: our coverage. Click on the day itself to read about the artists listed and more.

THURSDAY
1. Yelawolf: the best part came with a dedication to the Beastie Boys…
2. MiM0SA: his heart is in hip-hop: swag rap, bass beats, fx-riddled hyphy…
3. Mariachi El Bronx: horns swell, violin soars, percussion bursts…

FRIDAY
1. St. Vincent: writhing and convulsing like she’d been inhabited by demons…
2. Flying Lotus: each track sped up and spliced with all kinds of weird…
3. Ludacris: he played a steady stream of hits from his 12-year-old catalog…
4. Little Dragon: a dangerously locked-in dance band teetering on the edge…

SATURDAY
1. D’Angelo & Questlove: giving his first U.S. concert in nearly 12 years…
2. Das Racist: Kool thanked “The Gathering of the Juggalos” for having them…
3. Khaira Arby & Her Band:  flurries of notes from dueling guitars…

SUNDAY
1. fun.: the bellowing sing-alongs started with the first song and never let up…
2. Here We Go Magic: a rhythmic latter that leads to weirder heights still…
3. Kurt Vile & the Violators: Lou Reed covering Lou Barlow in a dank cave…

Belatedly, From Bonnaroo 2011

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We came, we camped and we conquered. Frankly, SPIN covered the shit out of this festival. We also emptied its moonshine reserves, but you won’t read about that here. Nay, instead you’ll viddy glorious retellings of such historic events as:

The 5 Best Sets of Bonnaroo 2011 Day 1 (I wrote on Wavves, Twin Shadow), Day 2 (Atmosphere), Day 3 (Low Anthem, Gogol Bordello) and Day 4 (Explosions in the Sky, Junip); AS WELL AS Lil Wayne Returns Sober, AND Buffalo Springfield Reunites, AND Iron & Wine Goes Free Jazz (with set lists!) .

Yes, it happened over a month ago and nobody reads this stuff more than 12 hours after the fact, but … well, um, consider it? Maybe?

(Photo by Ian Witlen) Continue reading →

Live: Coachella 2011 Roundup, Day Three

HEALTH-y headbanging. (Andrew Herrold)

Late, late, late. The internet has already forgotten that Coachella 2011 ever happened, but for posterity’s sake, here’s what I wrote about it for Spin.

DAY THREE: Wiz Khalifa, Death From Above 1979, Duck Sauce (A-Trak & Armand Van Helden), HEALTH, Lightning Bolt, Ratatat.

Live: Coachella 2011 Roundup, Day One

Sleigh Bells slay balls. (Erik Voake)

Late, late, late. The internet has already forgotten that Coachella 2011 ever happened, but for posterity’s sake, here’s what I wrote about it for Spin.

DAY ONE: Odd Future & Pharell, Sleigh Bells, Cold Cave, Crystal Castles, Ariel Pink*, YACHT, !!! (plus lil blurbs on Paul McCartney & Best Coast, Omar Rodriguez Lopez & Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Titus Andronicus & Lil B).

*The inimitable Carles of Hipster Runoff picked up on my Ariel Pink diss.

Live: Electric Daisy Carnival 2010 Before and After, Jane’s Addiction, Dead Man’s Bones

Electric Daisy Carnival 2010

We’re getting caught up on two weeks of intense blogging for West Coast Sound, and this batch is all about the live shows, including the highly controversial Electric Daisy Carnival (check out the comments section).

  1. FEATURED: 6 Ways Electric Daisy Can Clean Up its Act*
  2. Before: 10 Electric Daisy DJs You Can’t Afford to Miss
  3. Dead Man’s Bones in Encore ‘Sock Hop’ at Eagle Rock
  4. Free Jane’s Addiction Tickets for  Surprise Roxy Show
  5. Jane’s Addiction To Play ‘Fans-Only’ Show at the Roxy

    6. (all stories via West Coast Sound, via LA Weekly)

* “The festival’s failings are writ large across the headlines, largely thanks to the drug-related death of an underage patron.”

BONNAROO 2010: Reporting from Day Four

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Against Me! spreads love, punk rock style (Matt Kiser)

And finally, there was Day Four, a winding down of sorts that climaxed with Dave Matthews Band headlining. Of course, I wasn’t there for that. And I definitely wasn’t somewhere deep in the campgrounds shooting off fireworks. I’ll tell you where I was was, though: covering sets by Against Me! and Zac Brown Band. Read about that, and about a special appearance from one of the ice cream world’s few celebrities, here.

Check out days one, two, and three.