With over 60 hours of live music spread across four days and ten stages, Bonnaroo provided both a blessing and a curse - so many musical options, but likewise so many overlapping sets. My friends and I battled back and forth over these “conflictaroos” - how could we possibly see all of our favorite artists in such little time? Four days may sound more than ample when it comes to music festivals, but if I had my choice, I would’ve stayed in Bonnarooland forever.
Now that Week 2 of Coachella is over, the reality is setting in: the end is here. Put away your camping gear, your laser lights should find their way back into your closet, and for godsake put those weird 'fivefinger' shoes in your attic (unless Coachella is only the start of your festival season). For all of you Junkies who just can't get enough, this is the withdrawal period. Symptoms include and are not limited to:
- Coachella word vomit: you try to mention your epic weekend in every conversation you have.
- Coachella Facebook Stalking: when you sit in front of your computer flipping through all your friends (even strangers) Coachella albums.
- Plain old post-festival depression.
The official lineup for this year's Lollapalooza Festival has been announced! Taking place on August 3 - 5 in Grant Park, Chicago, this year's festival is sure to be one for the record books.
Artists include The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Black Keys, a recently reunited Black Sabbath, Jack White, Florence + the Machine, At the Drive-In, Bassnectar, The Shins, Avicii, Justice, The Weeknd, Sigur Ros, a recently reunited Afgan Whigs, M83, Frank Ocean, Nero, Die Antwoord, Tune-Yards, SBTRKT, The Walkmen, Sharon Van Etten, The War on Drugs, Twin Shadow, Toro y Moi, Wale, Zed's Dead, Childish Gambino and many more! For the full lineup, click here.
Get your tickets here, but hurry up, they'll sell out quick!
Bright Eyes – Lover I Don’t Have to Love
Once upon a time, in a small Pennsylvania town filled with troubled kids falling in and out of tortured love, there existed, hands down, the best, most potent remedy for lonesome pre/teen heartbreak in all of the land: AOL Instant Messenger Away Messages.
How do away messages work, exactly? For those of you who weren’t on the AIM circuit, an away message is sort of like the equivalent to today’s Facebook status or Twitter update – a brief amount of space with limited characters, providing the user with a precious platform to voice their intended-for-all-to-read messages. What they were originally supposed to be for was to let your buds know where you were if you weren’t answering your messages. So, if someone messaged, say, Sally, and Sally was out mowing the lawn, then Sally’s away message might read: “Mowing the lawn. BBL,” or something of the like. Get it?
Buffalos graze in the horizon, a moose lifts its snout to the ripe air and lion cubs playfully paw at each other on the gorge. It would seem as though the petrified animals of the Natural History Museum come to life as tUnE-YaRdS, the clever stage moniker of performer Merill Garbus, approaches the stage confidently. She unleashes an a capella string of chants and yodels, her energy immersing the audience immediately as bodies begin to sway with a natural rhythm and feet stomp to the beat of the drums. The first song, "Hatari" is comprised mostly of animalistic sounds and unintelligible words, making it even more powerful when she cries out towards the end of the song, "There is a natural sound that wild things make when they're bound." The energetic opening song sets the tone, and the rest of her 45-minute performance does not disappoint. She has assembled a backing band that is as nontraditional and quirky as her music: two women share one set of drums and one male plays bass while tUnE-YaRdS, a jovial woman with wild hair, clutches the microphone with both hands, leaning into it eagerly as she releases powerful sounds that seem to infuse classic folk with pure noise.