The Coachella lineup for 2017 is now here, and it’s not holding back, with Radiohead, Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé announced as its three main headliners. The remainder of the lineup is just as diverse, an ever-impressive feat for the famed California festival.
While Kendrick Lamar surprised fans by popping up during several sets at last year’s event, this year he’ll take centre stage. There will no doubt be a little uproar surrounding the booking of pop queen Beyoncé for Coachella, but considering the reception that 2016’s Lemonade received, it will likely be drowned out by those more excited than disappointed.
As always, it’s really exciting to also see a small, but impressive array of acts representing Australia, including Empire of the Sun, Jagwar Ma, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, The Avalanches and What So Not.
On the indie side of things you’ve got the xx, Glass Animals, Father John Misty, Bon Iver, Mitski, Devendra Banhart, Whitney and more, while hip-hop rears its head to the tune of Travis Scott, Mac Miller, Future, ScHoolboy Q, Gucci Mane and Raury among others. Sampha, Thunderat, Crystal Castles, Mac DeMarco, Kehlani and Kaytranada are just some of the other many highlights throughout the three day event. Meanwhile, a really solid spread of mainstream and more experimental electronic artists will also be in attendance, from the likes of Steve Angello, Dillon Francis, Porter Robinson and Martin Garrix right over to Tycho, Four Tet, Bonobo, Nicolas Jaar, Moderat and Floating Points.
Coachella runs across two weekends this April: 14-16 and 21-23. Tickets are sold out – details here.
Image: Pond by Dani Hansen for H&E
If your still getting over your case of FOMO from missing this year’s instalment of Coachella then we have bad news for you.
The official dates and ticket prices for next years installment have just been announced with the ticket pre-sale beginning TOMORROW.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf3Dl-LqT0s
The 2017 Coachella Festival will be held from April 14th-16th and 21st-23rd at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indo, California. Tickets for the event will start from $399, with V.I.P passes setting you back a cool $899.
Thankfully not all the tickets for the event will be on-sale tomorrow, but it will be the only time that any payment plans are available for those of us who are trying to pay off exorbitant HECS-debts.
The Coachella payment plan will see fans charged $57 a month for their ticket, starting this month, and continuing all the way through to December, paying off one full weekend pass in the process.
Find all the info that you need here.
Last year’s festival saw some insane antics from the artists taking part, including an Anderson .Paak and Kendrick Lamar on-stage collab, an N.W.A reunification and one of the all time most cooked interviews, courtesy of Yannis Philippakis from Foals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIc0bRrm-1c
We also had a gripe with one wanky Coachella reviewer – read all about that here.
Image: YouTube
Coachella is the kind of event which consistently defines the true meaning of FOMO. More than a music event, Coachella has become an eye of the Cultural hurricane, so to speak, drawing multiple high-profile celebrities, guest appearances, surprise performances and more each and every year to the event.
This year’s edition, for example, contained such high profile names as LCD Soundsystem, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Calvin Harris, Major Lazer, Sia, and such event highlights as NWA‘s surviving members reuniting on stage and Anderson .Paak linking up with both Kendrick Lamar and Dr Dre for his live set.
One of the most exciting moments from upcoming acts was Vancouver producer EKALI‘s phenomenal set, which is now available to enjoy in mastered sound quality. Combining, and reworking, the sounds of such artists as Travi$ Scott, Kendrick Lamar, TNGHT, The Weeknd, A$AP Ferg and G.O.O.D. Music rapper Desiigner‘s huge Panda single.
One of the single hottest treats you can offer your eardrums (short of directly injecting a long black coffee in to your ear canal), EKALI proves why he is one of the world’s hottest producers, one even who managed to catch the ear of a certain fellow Canadian by the name of Drake (with EKALI’s Unfaith receiving a sound sample in, and on, Drake’s Preach featuring PARTYNEXTDOOR).
Happy I can talk about this now… go download the new Drake Album, track # 10 samples my song “Unfaith.” https://t.co/9SX0Hkycdw
— Ekali (@EkaliMusic) February 13, 2015
Peep the full Coachella mix below, and find EKALI’s twitter here.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/266632095″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=’166′ iframe=”true” /]
You can find James Schofield on Twitter and Instagram.
Image via Hypetrak
In January of this year, Ice Cube revealed on The Talk that he was “going to try to bring the members of N.W.A. together and join me onstage [at Coachella].” Cube wanted to “give everybody a little history lesson on Ice Cube and N.W.A., Westside Connection, everything I’ve been doing over the years.”
Ice Cube has made good on those statements, and last week he brought MC Ren and DJ Yella out on stage to perform Straight Outta Compton, Dopeman (with son and film likeness O’Shea Jackson Jr.) and the notorious Fuck Tha Police, which Cube was warned about performing. N.W.A. were told not to perform Fuck Tha Police back in the ‘80s and now almost 30 years on, the song still holds its power.
Despite three out of the four remaining members of N.W.A. performing some of their classics, fans wanted more. This weekend, Cube brought out MC Ren and DJ Yella again for Straight Outta Compton, before bringing Lil Eazy-E out for a rendition of his father Eazy-E’s classic, Boyz-N-The-Hood. Showing that he had not Forgot About Dre, Cube then asked, “Is there a doctor in the motherfucking house?” Seconds later, Dr. Dre emerged from backstage, and for the first time in 27 years all remaining members of N.W.A. were on stage together.
https://youtu.be/2b7zgHu-SX0
Although it wasn’t the reunion we were all hoping for, as they didn’t perform any N.W.A. songs once Dre graced the stage, it gives hope for die hard West Coast fans like myself that this is the start of something – potentially a N.W.A. tour?
Dre performed Still Dre and the Tupac classic, California Love, but wasn’t the only surprise up Cube’s sleeve, as his set also featured WC from Westside Connection to perform Why We Thugs, and The Game came out for Don’t Trip.
To close the set (which he dedicated to the late Prince), Cube brought out Compton’s current finest Kendrick Lamar to perform his megahit Alright. Kendrick Lamar inducted N.W.A. into the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame a few weeks ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwfy-CTILKA
Image: Twitter
Coachella wasn’t the only festival to kick off this weekend; Jews around the world observed the first two nights of eight day festival Passover, which centres on the story of the Jewish people leaving Egypt, where they were slaves, and making theit way through the desert, during which Moses received the Ten Commandments. There’s a lot of reading, eating, singing, drinking and more, including a series of strict dietary requirements, the most notable of which is the banning of all yeast products (including things like bread and beer) for eight days. Luckily, Coachella organisers knew the events would be overlapping, and catered to their Jewish attendees who wished to celebrate the holy event.
There’s actually a “Shabbat Tent” at Coachella, as well as Bonnaroo, langerado, High Sierra and Gathering of the Vibes festivals, for those who wanted to keep the faith while partying. This year, the tent held a “Matzahchella Seder” once an hour for those who wished to observe. The seders were led on Friday and Saturday by Rabbi Yonah Bookstein of the University of Southern California Hillel. “We’ll be doing ten-minute Seders and distributing matzah through one of the Jewish artists who we work with a lot, [rapper] Kosha Dillz,” he explained.
Passover observers (and their non-Jewish friends) were welcome to partake in the mini-Seder, which included a traditional Seder plate including charoset, lamb shank and maror, as well as Matzah (for any gentiles reading, click here for a brief rundown of what this all means), and could even charge their phones at the same time.
For those playing at home, you can even enjoy this festive Passover-themed playlist from Kosha Dillz aka 35-year-old Rami Even-Esh, who is also set to release a new album, What I Do All Day and Pickle, via his own Oy Vey! Records. Listen to one of his tracks below.
Image: Billboard
Much like everyone else not in Indio, California right now, I’ve spent a lot of time this week perusing Coachella coverage. This morning, I read a lengthy review on a website I’ve been a loyal fan of for years. Overall it was just your average review, but one part of it really, really pissed me off.
Reviews like this are exactly why people think music reviewers are all sanctimonious assholes.
I’m sorry Ben Wener, but that is the most entitled, elitist review I’ve ever read in my life.
Look, I’m no Calvin Harris fan. I wouldn’t have watched his set and I’m not here to defend his music or EDM. But this is so remarkably self-righteous and pretentious that it feels like a mockery of itself.
“Calvin Harris’ utterly pointless 70-minute finale to an otherwise consistently solid day dotted by very few crap turns was so nearly a complete waste of time and money… Not that anyone among the massive crowd (surely the largest ever on the Polo Field) would agree.”
Ben immediately separates himself from the crowd. High up in his panopticon tower, peering down at the hapless plebs below, he notes that it is the largest crowd ever seen at that stage (like it’s a bad thing). They were all having a great time, but not Ben. Fun is for the commoner. Fun is for the weak-minded and ignorant.
“They just kept on dancing and cheering for an exceptionally ordinary mix synced to a ginormously generic light show.”
OH NO! I’m at a festival that I paid a tonne of money to attend and now I’m dancing to the music and enjoying myself! THIS IS TERRIBLE!
Who are you to criticise it so wholly, so definitively, to title it The Worst Headlining Set In Coachella History? Don’t answer, “I’m a music reviewer and my opinion’s more important,” because that’s the wrong fucking answer.
You don’t need to be a music journalist to know what a bad set sounds like. A “bad” set is usually one that’s boring, messy, lacking in energy, or if the artist doesn’t care about being there, if they’re too wasted to play, if they don’t care about the crowd, if they are clearly just going through the motions, etc. Describing Drake’s 2015 set as a “stiff turd” is a great example of a bad headline set. But you’ve literally just written about how thousands of people were loving the hell out of Harris’ set.
What you have described is not The Worst set, it is not even a bad set. It is just a set that you didn’t enjoy because you don’t like Calvin Harris’ music. There is a huge difference in those two statements.
Watching that crowd having such a great time, there’s no way it could have been described as The Worst Headlining Set In Coachella History. You could’ve said he pulled a massive crowd, threw a really impressive, or even excessive light show, and played his hits to those who love them. It’s not your thing but it evidently is for the thousands who paid for a ticket. Instead, you have ridiculed and degraded every single person there.
They didn’t care that T-Swift didn’t come out for a couple songs, like so many were hoping Harris’ girlfriend to do. Doesn’t matter, because look! There’s Rihanna! Up on that platform by the sound booth! Like Kanye was five years ago! She’s even kinda singing! Couple lines, at least.
Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Let me clue you in on a little secret, Ben Wener: Calvin Harris didn’t fucking perform his headline set for you to enjoy. He performed for his thousands of fans. By all accounts they had a great time, but it seems like you’re saying they should have hated it like you did.
What gets me the most is that this review doesn’t actually review the music once during its epic takedown. It reviews the crowd. It reviews the crowd’s overwhelmingly positive response and somehow makes that an extremely negative thing.
You are clearly describing thousands of people having a great time. Yet you’re saying it as if this very fact is irrelevant. You’re saying that in spite of, or perhaps because everyone was loving it, it was shit. What a pretentious, pompous ass, holier-than-thou attitude to have.
Ben, seriously, what did you expect from a Calvin Harris set? Did you really expect it to be any different to what it was? You know his songs, you know his crowd, you have no doubt seen and heard about his immense stage productions. What else were you hoping for at a Calvin Harris show?!
Furthermore, what did you expect from Coachella? If you wanted a more obscure or less generic headliner, you shouldn’t have gone to the biggest festival in the world. Or, you should’ve just watched Deafheaven, who were playing at the same time, and are awesome.
It would’ve been fine, had Ben written that he thought it was bad because he hates the music, or because he thought Rihanna’s appearance was arbitrary. He didn’t do that though. He insulted the entire crowd, scoffed at their enjoyment, and basically said “Hey you tens of thousands of people, you’re all idiots. You’re having fun, but you shouldn’t be. You should be hating this because I hate this. I think this is The Worst and therefore, it is.”
If you hate an artist’s music you are going to hate them live on stage. That does not make it the worst, it just doesn’t. This is poor music reviewing. Get off your goddamn high horse.
Image: Getty Images
Goldenvoice, the company behind Coachella and the Hangout Music Festival, have officially announced the complete lineup for the first ever Panorama Music Festival, to be hosted at Randall’s Island Park from July 22-24 2016.
Announced by official media partner The Verge, the event classifies itself as a music, arts, and technology festival. The event will be headlined by Arcade Fire, Kendrick Lamar and LCD Soundsystem, with the “middle-tier” artists stealing just as much spotlight (if not more, in this editor’s opinion,) including Grammy winners Alabama Shakes, Sufjan Stevens, Run The Jewels, Foals, The National, A$AP Rocky, Sia, Schoolboy Q, Anderson .Paak, SZA, Rufus and many others.
To add to the traditional “music and arts” style festival, Panorama will include a technological experience for tech-savvy festivalgoers. The Verge notes that it “is partnering with Panorama to create Future Lab, an interactive, experiential installation that explores the possibilities of music and technology. Future Lab will showcase new technology in unconventional ways.” The Verge and Panorama also note Alabama Shakes will part of this experience playing a their “futuristic soul” in their Friday night set – that’s sure to be interesting.
The festival has seen a number of controversies in the months leading up to its official announcement, namely that it threatens Governor’s Ball in its place as the premium east coast festival – the two events take place about six weeks apart and are at the exact same location. In October of last year, Governors Ball petitioned the mayor’s office to block Goldenvoice’s original proposals, stating, “the timing of this proposed event is an aggressive, greedy attempt by [Goldenvoice] to push a small independent company of born and bred New Yorkers out of business and out of the market.”
The lineup, however, features almost no overlaps whatsoever – Governors Ball is headlined by artists including Kanye West, The Killers, M83, Haim, Chvrches, De La Soul, Father John Misty, Jamie xx, Action Bronson, Joey Bada$$ and Miguel, none of whom feature on the Panorama bill. Which is pretty damn awesome if you ask us. If we were there, we’d head to both. RIP wallets.
For those reading us across the pond, three day general admission passes will go on sale on Friday, March 4th at 12 PM EST for a cool USD$369.
Visit Panorama’s website here for full info and the full lineup on the newest heavyweight music festival.
Image: The Verge
One of the world’s biggest festivals, California’s Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival, has officially announced its 2016 lineup.
As always, it’s incredibly diverse, catering to people with any tastes, from hip-hop to electro to pop to, well, 80’s hair metal bands. As previously reported, the festival will be headlined by newly reformed bands Guns N’ Roses and LCD Soundsystem, as well as EDM star and Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, Calvin Harris.
On the indie/rock side of things we’ve got some legendary acts including Sufjan Stevens, Foals, Years & Years, Wolf Alice and more, while Jack U, M83, ZHU, Nina Kraviz, Baauer, Hudson Mohawke and a tonne more will be representing electronic music. The lineup’s hip-hop and R&B artists are fucking top notch, including Ice Cube, A$AP Rocky, Run The Jewels, Rae Sremmurd, SZA, Death Grips, Anderson. Paak, Shamir and Joey Badass.
But what we’re most excited about is the incredible list of Australian artists who’ll be waving the green and gold flag in the Valley this April. Flume (who just teased his long-awaited new album) and Sia, who has not played a concert in five years) lead the way, alongside DMAs, Courtney Barnett, Miami Horror and Nina Las Vegas.
If you’re planning on going to Coachella, tickets go on sale on Wednesday, January 6, 11 am PT.
Peep the full lineup below:
It’s been a WILD few weeks for Guns N’ Roses fans, who have been kept guessing at the meaning behind the band’s cryptic website updates and mysterious ads during film screenings. A new album? A tour? What could it possibly be?
The wait and the mystery is now over: Guns N’ Roses are set to reunite with founding members Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan to headline Coachella 2016, with a potential stadium tour in the works too. While original drummer Steve Adler will probably not be in attendance, their second drummer Matt Sorum is apparently going to be behind the kit.
Billboard also reveal that negotiations are underway to book a 25-date North America stadium tour, including one of the first ever shows to be played at the Las Vegas Arena after it opens on April 6.
As fellow hair-metal-rocker Steve Tyler once said, “You’d be surprised how expensive it costs to look this cheap,” so prepare yourselves for the hefty costs: with the band reportedly asking for up to US$3 million per show, concert tickets will set you back around US$250-275. Eeek.
Axl and Slash haven’t performed together since 1993. Although Guns N’ Roses have since performed and recorded in a number of incarnations, the only original member on their most recent tour was Axl Rose. Meanwhile, Slash has maintained a strong solo career, as well as success in rock supergroup Velvet Revolver.
Reunions and nostalgia are all the rage right now, sure, and everyone from Pulp to AC/DC to Tupac‘s hologram have graced the Coachella main stage. But surely some things are better left in the past.
Coachella will take place April 15-17 and April 22-24, 2016
Originally published on Indie Shuffle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1tj2zJ2Wvg
Last week Jack White announced he would be playing a few acoustic shows in states he’s never played in across the US, before going on a lengthy hiatus. Whilst this was completely devastating to Australian fans, who will now miss out on the Lazaretto so-called “World Tour”, we must accept that one of music’s living legends must really need a break from his relentless tour schedule.
His final electric performance before his break was the second weekend of Coachella. If you caught him the weekend before, like I did, you may not have been looking out for news to come from his set – other than the case of it being totally amazing as always – but it seems White wasn’t planning on leaving the scene quietly at all.
Apparently packing a few more punches than usual, White really gave it more than his all to the lucky few thousand in attendance for his headlining set, but it was the performance of the anthemic Seven Nation Army that really had him going. The track turned into a nine minute jam, with White rallying the audience in a semi-call to arms.
“I want you to do me a favour,” he said over the deafening chanting of the iconic riff. “Do everything you can, tell everyone you know, and the children that you have one day, that music is sacred,” before the chant changed to “Music is sacred!”
“This is your world right now. Digital, analogue… However you consume music, let it move your balls and move your brain. I want everyone in this audience to spread the word: Treat musicians with as much respect as you treat actors, directors, and film studios. Treat your local punk bands as well as your treat the new blockbuster movie.”
He then threw a drum cymbal across the stage. You can watch the whole performance below, which gave me goosebumps from about 2 seconds in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfs9cO56t20
We love you Jack, never change.