Category: Festivals

Milestones: Lollapalooza debuted 20 years ago today; watch MTV ‘120 Minutes’ coverage

Milestones: Lollapalooza debuted 20 years ago today; watch MTV ‘120 Minutes’ coverage

Twenty years ago today, the Perry Farrell-spawned Lollapalooza festival — which, in retrospect, joins Nevermind as perhaps the best historical encapsulation of ‘the year punk broke’ — made its debut in the sun-baked Arizona desert with performances by Nine Inch Nails, Living Colour, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Jane’s Addiction.

Video: Watch U2’s full Glastonbury set

Video: Watch U2’s full Glastonbury set

Although they’d hinted they had something special up their sleeves for their debut slot at the venerable Glastonbury festival, U2 instead played what was mostly a truncated and rearranged version of their current 360° Tour set last night. See it here in HD.

Video: Watch Morrissey’s full Glastonbury set

Video: Watch Morrissey’s full Glastonbury set

Greeting the crowd with ‘Hello Glasto… fancy seeing me here,’ Morrissey took to the main stage at Glastonbury tonight to perform a 16-song set that mixed songs old and brand-new, with a generous heaping of classics from The Smiths thrown in.

Video: Yazoo, Erasure, The Assembly, most of Depeche Mode at Short Circuit Presents Mute

Video: Yazoo, Erasure, The Assembly, most of Depeche Mode at Short Circuit Presents Mute

Short Circuit Presents Mute wrapped up last night in London with a Vince Clarke extravaganza, which included a set with Erasure, an appearance by Alison Moyet for what might have been Yazoo’s final performance and a surprise reunion with Feargal Sharkey to play the lone single the duo recorded as The Assembly.

Erasure, Yazoo, members of Depeche Mode to perform at Short Circuit Presents Mute

Erasure, Yazoo, members of Depeche Mode to perform at Short Circuit Presents Mute

A parade of classic synthpop and electronic artists including Erasure, Yazoo, Nitzer Ebb and four current and former members of Depeche Mode will take the stage in London this weekend to celebrate the hugely influential Mute Records label at the annual Short Circuit Electronic Music Festival.

The Cure playing first 3 albums in Sydney with ex-members Lol Tolhurst, Roger O’Donnell

The Cure playing first 3 albums in Sydney with ex-members Lol Tolhurst, Roger O’Donnell

Ousted keyboardist Lol Tolhurst will rejoin The Cure after 22 years to help perform the band’s first three albums — 1979’s ‘Three Imaginary Boys,’ 1980’s ‘Seventeen Seconds’ and 1981’s ‘Faith’ — in their entirety on May 31 and June 1 at the Vivid Live Festival at Australia’s famed Sydney Opera House.

Lollapalooza at 20: Big Audio Dynamite, The Cars join headliners Eminem, Foo Fighters

Lollapalooza at 20: Big Audio Dynamite, The Cars join headliners Eminem, Foo Fighters

The organizers of Lollapalooza tonight unveiled the lineup for this year’s 20th anniversary festival, and while there are no throwbacks to that inaugural 1991 fest, there are a couple acts on the bill older than the event itself: Big Audio Dynamite and The Cars.

Video: Watch Duran Duran’s full Coachella set

Yesterday we brought you Big Audio Dynamite’s full set at Coachella last weekend, and today, here’s Duran Duran’s complete hour-long performance — captured, once again, from the festival’s streaming video by the ever-reliable Audio Perv.

Video: Watch Big Audio Dynamite’s complete, hour-long Coachella festival performance

Couldn’t make it to Coachella last weekend to see the reunited Big Audio Dynamite play one of just three U.S. shows this spring? No worries, you can watch the hour-long set right here.

Video: OMD plays ‘If You Leave’ in a bicycle shop at South By Southwest last month

Seattle radio station KEXP (90.3 FM) filmed Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark playing a set last month during SXSW at Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop in Austin. Here’s ‘If You Leave’ and ‘Sister Marie Says.’

Glastonbury 2011: U2, Morrissey, Big Audio Dynamite, Primal Scream and more

Glastonbury 2011: U2, Morrissey, Big Audio Dynamite, Primal Scream and more

The lineup for the 2011 installment of the venerable Glastonbury Festival was unveiled today, and, in addition to expected headliner U2, the massive fest also will feature sets by Morrissey, Big Audio Dynamite, Primal Scream, Hothouse Flowers, Robyn Hitchcock, Suzanne Vega, Billy Bragg and Nick Lowe.

SXSW 2011: Duran Duran, OMD, Peter Buck, World Party, J Mascis, Bob Geldof

SXSW 2011: Duran Duran, OMD, Peter Buck, World Party, J Mascis, Bob Geldof

Now less than a month away, the schedule for the South By Southwest music festival is starting to solidify, with a host of ’80s college rock vets slated to make appearances in Austin, Texas, next month — including Duran Duran, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Edwyn Collins, World Party, J Mascis and more.

Duran Duran joins Erasure on first night of Miami’s Ultra Music Festival in March

Duran Duran joins Erasure on first night of Miami’s Ultra Music Festival in March

The first night of next month’s Ultra Music Festival in Miami will take on something of a New Wave/synthpop vibe, with Duran Duran this week joining the already-announced Erasure at the electronic music bash.