Sunday, August 23rd, 2009
BIG week in the Bay. With several Outside Lands After-parties and the festival itself, there is no shortage of things to do here. Also a visit from Ted Leo, a record release party, and a country music legend stops by an unlikely venue.
Tonight we have The Matches playing the final date off their tour with Judgement Day and Dizzy Balloon at the Fillmore, Six Organs of Admittance and Master Musicians of Bukkake rock The Independent, Fleet Foxes drummer and creator of one of the best albums of 2009, J. Tillman stops by Café du Nord, Jay Reatard does a set at Berkeley’s Amoeba Records at 6pm.
Monday, Ted Leo and The Pharmacists hit up the Bottom of the Hill instead of Treasure Island which they originally intended.
Tuesday features Fruit Bats riding on their new record with Death Vessel at The Independent. The Ruminant Band is a beautiful record full of sweet harmonies and lovely song-writing. Pick it up when you get a chance. Also the amazing Ramona Falls play Café du Nord.
Wednesday will find me at The Fillmore watching dredg, Rx Bandits and As Tall as Lions. All of which have released some pretty impressive albums this year. Also going on is The Dodos and Spencey Dude & the Doodles playing the Rickshaw Stop to kick off Outside Lands fever. Oh yeah and it’s sold out. Bummer.
More Outside Landish shows on Thursday; Akron/Family and Howlin’ Rain crash the Rickshaw Stop and Holy Fuck plays The Independent. In addition, we have The Famous‘ Record Release Party at Café du Nord with 20 Minute Loop and Billy & Dolly.
If you’re not going to Outside Lands this weekend, we have the Outside Lands Afterparty with San Francisco local acts Goodbye Nautilus, The Working Title and Wave Array at Café du Nord.
On Saturday we have hip-hoppers Blue Sky Black Death, Boy in Static and Boy Eats Drum Machine at the Bottom of the Hill, Calexico at The Independent, The Pretenders and Cat Power at Mountain Winery in Saratoga, and country legend David Allan Coe at Petaluma’s Phoenix Theater.
Being joked as this year’s ‘Bro-chella’, Outside Lands Festival has many unimpressive acts but a lot of overlooked impressive acts. This year’s line-up includes; Incubus, Modest Mouse, Pearl Jam, Black Eyed Peas, Thievery Corporation, Tenacious D, Jason Mraz, Dave Matthews Band, TV on the Radio, The Mars Volta, M.I.A., Band of Horses, The National, Built to Spill, Bat for Lashes, Calexico, Tom Jones, Mastodon, Silversun Pickups, Los Campesinos!, Ween, Atmosphere, Brett Dennen, Deerhunter, Lucinda Williams, Os Mutantes, Q-Tip, John Vanderslice, Conor Oberst, Akron/Family, Portugal. The Man, Cage the Elephant, Alpha Blondy, Raphael Saadiq, Groundation, Kinky, Lenka, The Duke Spirit, Matt & Kim, Lila Downs, Autolux, The Avett Brothers, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Dengue Fever, The Dirtbombs, The Dead Weather, Heartless Bastards, Midnite, Blind Pilot, Bettye LaVette, Tea Leaf Green, The Morning Benders, West Indian Girl, Darondo, Ryan Bingham, Zee Avi, Street Sweeper Social Club, Rosin Coven, Extra Golden, JJ Grey & Mofro, Nino Moschella, Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band, Sambada, Reggie Watts, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Big Light, Eric McFadden Trio, Loop!Station, Yard Dogs Road Show, Infantree, Vau De Vire and madd vibe orchestra. A lot to digest. Well I’ll be doing my best to report on everything I see every night when I return from the festival. Photos, mp3s, and everything else I did last year (if you caught that, if not, whatever).
This week is Outside Lands Week here at Kata Rokkar. So we’ll have Kuestionnaires with OLF bands and reports on local acts making their festival debuts. Hope to see you out there!
The Working Title – 
The Crash from About-Face (2006)
Boy in Static – Young San Francisco from Young San Francisco (2009)
Fruit Bats – The Ruminant Band from The Ruminant Band (2009)
As Tall As Lions – Sleepyhead (Acoustic Version) from You Can’t Take It With You (Bonus Track) (2009)
J. Tillman – Steel on Steel from Vacilando Territory Blues (2009)
Ramona Falls – I Say Fever from Intuit (2009)
Tags: Akron/Family, Alpha Blondy, As Tall As Lions, ATMOSPHERE, Autolux, BAND OF HORSES, Bat For Lashes, BETTYE LAVETTE, Big Light, BLACK EYED PEAS, BLIND PILOT, Boy in Static, BRETT DENNEN, BUILT TO SPILL, Cage The Elephant, CALEXICO, Conor Oberst, Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band, Darondo, DAVE MATTHEWS BAND, Deerhunter, DENGUE FEVER, Eric McFadden Trio, EXTRA GOLDEN, Fruit Bats, Groundation, HEARTLESS BASTARDS, INCUBUS, Infantree, J. Tillman, JASON MRAZ, JJ GREY & MOFRO, john vanderslice, KINKY, LENKA, LILA DOWNS, Loop!Station, Los Campesinos!, Lucinda Williams, M.I.A., Mastodon, Matt & Kim, MIDNITE, Modest Mouse, Nino Moschella, OS MUTANTES, PEARL JAM, Portugal. The Man, Q-Tip, Raphael Saadiq, Reggie Watts, ROBERT RANDOLPH & THE FAMILY BAND, Rosin Coven, Ryan Bingham, Sambada, SILVERSUN PICKUPS, Street Sweeper Social Club, Tea Leaf Green, Tenacious D, The Avett Brothers, The Dead Weather, THE DIRTBOMBS, THE DUKE SPIRIT, The Mars Volta, The Matches, The Morning Benders, The National, The Working Title, THIEVERY CORPORATION, TOM JONES, TROMBONE SHORTY & ORLEANS AVENUE, tv on the radio, Vau De Vire and madd vibe orchestra., WEEN, WEST INDIAN GIRL, Yard Dogs Road Show, ZEE AVI
Posted in Music, This Week In Bay Area Live Shows | No Comments »
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
You might already know about this but I’m going to tell you anyways, San Francisco’s Outside Lands Festival we will be providing 1-day tickets starting this Sunday, June 21st. They’ve also released the day-to-day schedule (no times yet) and a handful of new bands added to the line-up:
Alpha Blondy – What do bro’s love more than Incubus and Dave Matthew’s Band? REGGAE! To be fair I like reggae as much as the next guy, which is a little bit…I think. Anyway, I have no problem with Mr. Blondy and his songs about struggle, revolution, peace, love and corruption. Bring the rasta!
Street Sweeper Social Club – Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello and The Coup’s Boots Riley have joined forces to create Street Sweeper Social Club, a funked up revolution party act. The description sounds like Michael Franti…but upon listening to it, it’s a whole lot better than that asshole. It’s tolerable.
Autolux - I am very happy about this addition. Their first album, Future Perfect, is a masterpiece on so many levels. Yet that was back in 2004 and it’s a long time coming for a band that was supposed to revitalize the shoegaze genre, not disappear from it. Well their back and hopefully we’ll get to hear some new tunes.
Cage The Elephant – I should have seen this coming. These guys are becoming one of the most popular new artists in 2009. They’ve already done a handful of festivals and are not showing signs of slowing down. They come off like a UK version of The White Stripes not only because of their blues rock style but because of their electrifying live shows.
Infantree - With an EP called, “Tree-P” you can probably guess what kind of music they play. The Calabasas, CA folk foursome will be starting Saturday and will be a welcome addition to this year’s line-up.
Street Sweeper Social Club – Clap for the Killers
Cage The Elephant - Soil to the Sun
Tags: Alpha Blondy, Autolux, Cage The Elephant, Infantree, San Francisco's Outside Lands Festival, Street Sweeper Social Club
Posted in Concerts, Music | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
Can I afford it? Yes.
Do I have means to travel there? Yes.
Are there ample amounts of acts this year? Absolutely.
So why am I not going to Coachella? I mean, I just moved out here to California. Shouldn’t I take advantage of one of the most anticipated concert events of the year? Yeah I guess. So why have I decided not to go this year?
Because I just don’t care enough. Simple as that.
Paul McCartney, The Killers, and The Cure are all good to “say” you saw (actually, I’m confused when people say it’s cool to “say” you saw somebody. So what?). Most of the other artists I’m really into like TV on the Radio, Lykke Li, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Lupe Fiasco, and Henry Rollins, I have already seen. And artists I’m interested in seeing live like Gang Gang Dance, Girl Talk, Chemical Brothers, Fleet Foxes, Beirut, and My Bloody Valentine, are not worth the trouble and the price. And who’s to say my friends are going to want to see any of those acts? Granted you run into the same issues at any festival, but this year’s line-up just doesn’t seem to be worth the effort.
Plus with Animal Collective with Grouper in May, Mates of State with SUNBEARS! in April, a possible run to Chicago for Lollapalooza, and this year’s Outside Lands Festival here in San Francisco; what’s the point of going through all the trouble?
So to those of you that are going; more power to ya! If you’re writing about it, I’ll be on the look out and would love to hear how it went. I’ll probably be working…and I’m okay with that.
Cloud Cult – Everybody Here is a Cloud
Lykke Li – Little Bit (Aether Remix)
Cage The Elephant – Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked
Tags: Cage The Elephant, Cloud Cult, coachella, Lollapalooza, Lykke Li, outside lands festival
Posted in Concerts, Music, News | 4 Comments »
