Author Archive
Thom Yorke Opener Flying Lotus Says Gig Arrived in Psychic Dream
April 5th, 2010
Photo: Pickles/WireImageWhen Radiohead’s Thom Yorke kicks off his U.S. tour with solo band Atoms for Peace tonight in New York, he’ll have a very star-crossed opening act: Los Angeles electronic music producer Flying Lotus, who makes textured beat-scapes that skitter and skip with a brain-tickling, psychedelic flow. Born Steven Ellison, nephew to jazz pianist Alice Coltrane, “FlyLo” tells Rolling Stone he and Yorke are something of “astral brothers” — they share the same birthday, October ...
Tenacious D Battle the Devil to Wrap Up Outside Lands Fest
August 31st, 2009
Photograph by Chris Tuite for RollingStone.com
Beastie Boys replacement headliner Jack Black of mock rockers Tenacious D sent his love to the ill Adam Yauch Sunday night during a chilly set that closed out the final day of San Francisco’s Outside Lands in Golden Gate Park. “Adam, I love you, you’re the greatest,” said the charismatic Black, dripping with sweat from their 100-minute, skit-filled performance, which included a duel with the Devil. “Get well, my ...
M.I.A., Modest Mouse, The Dead Weather Heat Up Outside Lands
August 31st, 2009
Photo: Diaz/WireImage
M.I.A. delivered a kicking and screaming Beastie Boys mash-up medley Sunday afternoon to tens of thousands at Outside Lands in San Francisco’s woodsy Golden Gate Park. Clad in a garish, gorgeous tiger print dress complete with blazing red tiger ear-shaped shoulder pads, black wayfarer sunglasses, black tights and bronzed sneakers, M.I.A. strutted in fine form, backed by two fly girls and twin, besuited b-boys. The Sri Lankan sprite spat bits of “Bird Flu” into ...
Mars Volta and Mastodon Pummel the Outside Lands Festival
August 30th, 2009
Photograph by Chris Tuite for RollingStone.com
The Mars Volta wrapped day two at Outside Lands’ Twin Peaks stage with a thundering and delirious 90-minute set that drew Metallica’s Lars Ulrich and Robert Trujillo and their U.K. tourmates Mastodon to the side of the stage to gawk.
The band, led by Omar Rodríguez-López and vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, maxed out allowable sound levels with their theatrical, histrionic brand of meandering, mystical loud-soft prog-metal. Set against a patterned backdrop of ...
Dave Matthews Band Grab Fergie, Robert Randolph at Outside Lands
August 30th, 2009
Photo: Kravitz/FilmMagic
Dave Matthews Band closed day two of Outside Lands in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park with a masterful two-and-half-hour set featuring a cameo by the Black Eyed Peas, cuts from pathos-laden new album Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King and cover closers like a brilliant rendition of Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” featuring pedal steel guitar legend and DMB guest Robert Randolph.
The band opened with “Why I Am” as the iconic SF fog bank ...
Incubus, The National, Silversun Pickups Launch Outside Lands
August 29th, 2009
Photo: Kravitz/FilmMagic
The first-day festivities at San Francisco’s massive Outside Lands Festival in Golden Gate Park offered a model mega-fest environment. A ballet of buses, bikes and walkers kept transportation flowing as smoothly as the free water, and the abundant, cheap food and booze. Thirty-six bands on seven stages drew at least 25,000 throughout the day and the weather proved pitch-perfect.
Outside Lands in photos: Pearl Jam, Incubus, Built to Spill and more.
Incubus lead singer Brandon ...
Pearl Jam Ignite San Francisco as Outside Lands Festival Kicks Off
August 29th, 2009
Photograph by Chris Tuite for RollingStone.com
Hairs stood on end Friday night in Golden Gate Park when tens of thousands of Pearl Jam fans took over vocal duties on “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town,” singing “hearts and thoughts they fade, faaaaade away,” so loud it echoed throughout western San Francisco. Recent touring has shredded Eddie Vedder’s vocal chords, so the ebullient, tanned crowd handled significant chunks of “Even Flow” and “Daughter,” creating ...
Nirvana’s “Bleach” on “Rock Band”? Sub Pop Looks to Code Catalogs Into Playable Tracks
July 22nd, 2009
Music video games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero have become the new stars of American culture. But fans of cult or indie music like, say, the Melvins, can’t exactly inhabit their inner Buzz because rhythm game music catalogs offer a tiny fraction of recorded music. This week however, the newly announced Rock Band Network introduced the option for anyone with a tune to try to get their songs added to the Rock Band ...