Chicago’s third annual Mamby on the Beach festival has released its lineup for 2017. Just some of the powerhouses scheduled are MGMT, Miike Snow, Flying Lotus, and Cut Copy.
Tickets are still available at decent prices, so don’t wait to snag some. I have a lot of bands to research before June 24th.
Keep your mind open.
Electro legends Depeche Mode have announced a world tour in support of their first album in four years – Spirit (which comes out March 17th).
The tour starts May 5th in Stockholm, Sweden and ends October 27th in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It includes many dates in the U.S. that will surely sell out quick, so get your tickets as soon as possible.
Keep your mind open.
Chicago’s Pitchfork Music Festival has announced its nightly headliners – and they’re a power trio: LCD Soundsystem, A Tribe Called Quest, and Solange.
The festival is July 14-16 in Union Park and will surely sell out, so get your tickets now while you can at a decent price.
Keep your mind open.
Recorded live at the Santa Monica auditorium by local station KMET, Live Santa Monica ’72 captures David Bowie at the height of his Ziggy Stardust phase. His band was one of his classic line-ups – Mick Ronson on lead guitar, Trevor Bolder on bass, Mick “Woody” Woodmansey on drums, and Mike Garson on keyboards, and the set list is excellent.
Opening with “Hang On to Yourself,” Bowie and his pals come out rocking. Ronson and Bolder immediately put down riffs to show the audience they mean business. They tear into “Ziggy Stardust” and “Changes” right after, throwing down two tracks you’d figure they’d have in the encore but put on early instead. They’re great reminders of Ronson’s guitar skills. He was at the top of his funky game.
Bowie gets a little obscure, but still wows the crowd, with “The Supermen,” and then delivers a great performance of “Life on Mars?” (while Garson’s piano accompanies him quite well). Woodmansey puts down a slick beat on “Five Years,” and the crowd cheers in appreciation for it and Bowie’s assured vocals.
“Space Oddity” is another crowd favorite, of course, and Bowie uses his voice instead of his guitar to make the sound of Major Tom’s rocket rising from the surface of the Earth into orbit. “Andy Warhol” is a nice inclusion on this recording, as you don’t hear live versions of it much, let alone “My Death” (just Bowie and his guitar), “The Width of a Circle” (Ronson at his rocking best), and “Queen Bitch.”
Bowie introduces “Moonage Daydream” as “a song written by Ziggy,” and the whole band cooks on it. They’re fast and loose with “John, I’m Only Dancing,” and the inclusion of a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Waiting for the Man” is a nice treat. “Jean Genie” is wonderfully distorted cock rock. Bowie and his pals are so cheeky by now that Bowie momentarily screws up the lyrics of the closer “Suffragette City,” but he makes up for it during the encore of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide.”
It’s a great piece of Bowie history and worth the price if you’re a fan of the Thin White Duke, especially if you like his Ziggy Stardust / “classic” period.
Keep your mind open.
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How’s this for a bombshell? Australian rock legends Midnight Oil announced not long ago that they had some big news coming soon. Most of us figured it would be a new album, but they’ve announced a globe-spanning world tour instead.
The Great Circle tour is going to be a celebration of the band’s work and will start and end in their home country. The band will play everywhere from Brazil to the Czech Republic in-between those dates, so catch them if you can. I plan to catch them in Chicago.
Keep your mind open.
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Austin, Texas’ psych-rock wizards The Black Angels are dropping their newest album, Death Song, on April 21st and have announced a spring tour starting in Nashville and ending in Austin. The first single off the new album, “Currency,” is already out and a great listen.
You can find all the tour dates, album pre-sale bundles that include things like T-shirts and posters, and the lyric video for “Currency” here.
Oh yeah, they’re also touring with A Place to Bury Strangers, so don’t miss this tour.
Keep your mind open.
February 8th, 2017 – Clutch has just announced a string of headline tour dates for May. Supporting the tour will be Lucero and The Sword. The band is also pleased to announce their first annual Earth Rocker Festival at Shiley Acres in Inwood, WV on May 20th. Full line-up to be announced soon. Pre-sale tickets will start at 10am ET today, public stale starts 10am ET on Friday.Ticket info available here: https://ticket.artistarena.com/events/24585. “We did a whole bunch of touring in 2016” states the band’s front man Neil Fallon. “Right now, we’re cooling our heels and starting to kick around some riffs for the next record. We hope to be recording the LP come the end of the year. Where and with whom is yet TBD. At the moment though, we’re really just at the beginning phase of writing and we already have a surplus of ideas.”“In other news, this Spring we will be hosting the first annual Earth Rocker Festival. It’ll take place in Shiley Acres, West Virginia. We played at Shiley Acres last year and it was a real blast. Our intent is to have a really diverse bill. If all goes as planned, Earth Rocker Festival will continue as an annual event, hopefully growing in scope over the years.”Psychic Warfare is the latest and eleventh studio effort from Clutch. The disc debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200, No. 2 on the Billboard Independent, No. 1 on the Billboard Hard Rock and Billboard Rock charts. On Record Store Day this past April 16th Clutch released a limited edition numbered etched vinyl 12 inch that included two previously unreleased tracks from the Psychic Warfare sessions: “Mad Sidewinder” and “Outland Special Clearance“. Psychic Warfare was produced by longtime producer Machine (Lamb Of God, Every Time I Die).Clutch, Lucero and The Sword May Tour Dates:05-10-17 in Asheville, NC at Highland Brewing Company05-12-17 in Louisville, KY at Palace Theatre05-13-17 in Grand Rapids, MI at 20 Monroe Live05-15-17 in Brooklyn, NY at Brooklyn Steel05-16-17 in Providence, RI at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel05-17-17 in Port Chester, NY at The Capitol Theatre05-19-17 in Norfolk, VA at The NorVa05-20-17 in Inwood, WV at “Earth Rocker Festival” at Shiley AcresCLUTCH:Neil Fallon – Vocals/GuitarTim Sult – GuitarDan Maines – BassJean-Paul Gaster – Drums/PercussionFor more information, check out the band’s website:Facebook: www.facebook.com/clutchband Instagram: www.instagram.com/clutchofficial Twitter: www.twitter.com/clutchofficial Official: www.pro-rock.comYouTube: www.youtube.com/user/officialclutch
The Desert Daze Caravan tour, featuring Night Beats, Temples, Deap Vally, Froth, and Jjuujjuu has announced its full U.S. schedule. Beginning in San Francisco February 22nd, the tour winds through the west and southwest until March 17th in San Antonio. Don’t miss your chance to see this tour. It’s sure to be outstanding. I’m catching it at the Phoenix stop. See you there!
Keep your mind open.
Live in Brussels by psychedelic blues rockers All Them Witches (Ben McLeod – guitars, Charlie Michael Parks, Jr. – vocals, bass, and guitar, Robby Staebler – drums, Allan Van Cleve – keyboards and violin) is one of those rare live records that pulls off a double feat. It makes you want to see them live and it makes you want to hear their new record as soon as possible.
I mean, the album opens with “The Death of Coyote Woman,” (in which Charlie Parks apologizes for the band “not being the best at being on time”), over ten minutes of stunning, fuzzy psych-rock that would make the MC5 and Pink Floyd proud. “Funeral for a Great Drunken Bird” keeps the guitar distortion on thick, which is all right with me. It flows into the stunning “When God Comes Back” that has both blues and metal fans nodding in time.
“Dirt Preachers” (from their excellent album Dying Surfer Meets His Maker) takes on a cool new tone with the excellent keyboard work by Van Cleve on it. “The Marriage of Coyote Woman” is a slick blues jam. The keyboards on “Elk.Blood.Heart” are like something from an early Peter Frampton record. The guitars on “Open Passageways” are a bit Middle Eastern, which is a nice touch. “Talisman” is a gritty folk ballad and a favorite among the crowd, especially when it transforms into an early Pink Floyd-like jam.
Speaking of epic jams, wait until you hear “Blood and Sand – Milk and Endless Waters,” which clocks in at 14:40. It’s a stunner with a lot of great keyboard work from Van Cleve. “Mountain” is a great blend of Americana and pysch-rock. “Heavy – Like a Witch” is another trippy rocker, and “Charles William” is a solid close to the set…until the encore when they play their version of a blues classic – “My Last Name Is the Blues.” It’s over eleven minutes of psych-blues freak-out and was worth the price of admission for the Brussels crowd.
You can get this whole album for free, by the way. I suggest you leave a tip to be nice. They suggest six bucks on their Noisetrade page, and that’s a steal for something this good.
Keep your mind open.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAUqIbyiEyg
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