NIN Dazzles With Lasers, LEDs and Stealth Screens - wired.com
I had the chance to see Nine Inch Nails perform at the Pemberton Festival, and was blown away by their amazing video technology. If you have a chance to see them in concert, I recommend it. Otherwise check out the wired.com story about the technology behind their live visuals.
Metafilter: "We gave our final concert, The Band's final concert. We called it The Last Waltz."
Thanks to YouTube, we can all watch The Band's final concert from San Francisco in 1976, filmed by Martin Scorsese. Epic live performances.
The list of tracks, with direct video links is here:
Don't Do It, Theme from The Last Waltz, Up on Cripple Creek, The Shape I'm In, Who Do You Love, It Makes No Difference, Such a Night, Helpless, Stage Fright, The Weight, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Dry Your Eyes, Coyote, Mystery Train, Mannish Boy, Further on up the Road, Evangeline, Ophelia, Caravan, Forever Young, Baby Let Me Follow You Down, and I Shall Be Released with a ton of guests.
First concerts: Thanks for the mezzanines (MSNBC)
Begging your mom to let you go, and rocking your first concert T-shirt
My first concert was Grapes of Wrath at the PNE in about 1990. I waited in line for hours to get into the free show, and ended up in the front row, crushed against the barrier to see this melodic, Canadian shoegazer band. Fantastic.
Spice Girls official site
Those delightful Spice Girls have reunited, and are touring the world spreading their cheerful sounds and nausea.
They have a few dates chosen, but are encouraging their fans to vote on cities for their world tour. The jovial pranksters of Fark are encouraging readers to vote for a Spice Girls show in Baghdad, and I would encourage you to do the same.
Why, oh why do the have to start the reunion tour in Vancouver? The horror.
Today's Link source: the pranksters of Fark
Talking Heads - Live in Rome 1980
One of the great all-time rock bands, Talking Heads, was captured by Italian tv playing an epic show in Rome. Featuring lead singer David Byrne, the Talking Heads are a classic New Wave band that has inspired countless other bands.
YouTube has this rare footage of this great concert in Rome from 1980, featuring the following tracks:
Psycho Killer
Stay Hungry
Cities
I Zimbra
Drugs
Take Me to the River
Crosseyed and Painless
Life During Wartime
Houses in Motion
Born under Punches
The Great Curve
All hail the YouTube!
Today's Link source: Metafilter
Exclaim Magazine
Exclaim is Canada's authoritative music rag, with profiles of the coolest up-and-coming artists, playlist charts from Canada's college radio stations, and have indie pop culture news (not to be confused with the trashy mainstream news).
They do feature a lot of new Canadian music, but have also profiled exciting global scenes as well. If you know anything about Canadian music these days, you'll know it's doing okay. The reviews are extensive, featuring films, DVDs, concerts, and music from every genre, including: heavy metal, electronic, hip hop, alt-country, pop and rock (though not mainstream), punk, funk, experimental and avant garde, soul and world.
It's the magazine that people WISH that Rolling Stone and Spin were.
When I lived in Japan, Exclaim was the music magazine that I chose to subscribe to because of their excellent pop culture coverage. The low international rates were a bonus. In Canada, the hardcopy version is certainly worth more than the free cover price.
Today's Link source: I have no clue
RELODA MUSIC DAILY
RELODA is another great mp3 aggregator for legal independent music. RELODA has albums, EPs, singles, demos, webmixes, Sessions, and compilations of miscellaneous material.
While some of the other mp3 aggregators such as elbo.ws and Hype Machine have more tracks available, RELODA is a bit more like a high output music blog. It has a good search feature and I really like that there are direct links to all the downloads. Grouping tracks by artists also helps keep things organized.
I think the coolest feature of RELODA is the mp3s of live concerts (bootlegs?), such as: Pixies in Melbourne 2007, Pavement - Peel Session, Kid Koala doing Solid Steel in 2000, The Police in 1979 and 1984, Wolfmother on XFM, Talking Heads - Demos 1975, David Bowie in Santa Monica 1972 and NY in 1976. New and old concerts are represented here.
Worldwide Events Guide and travel inspirations - Whatsonwhen
What's going on?
Whatsonwhen answers this question wherever you are, whether it's Japan, London, Turkey, Bali, New York, Vancouver and Whistler, Costa Rica, San Francisco, Barcelona, or Hong Kong.
Whenever you travel, a great way to experience the local culture is to check out festivals, concerts, parades, matsuri, or whatever events are going on. You can search by city, country, date, and by the type of events. They have loads of country guides, city guides and listings, and it can be a great source of inspiration for your next vacation.
Today's Link source: Rick Steves' Europe: Favorite Links
I saw the first show of the new comeback tour by The Police in Vancouver last night (May 28, 2007) at GM Place, and thought it was great!
The Police have sooo many great hits!
I don't think there were any covers or new material, but they played all the hits and a few lesser known songs. There were some re-interpretations of a few songs, but it helped inject new energy into them and keep everything fresh.
There were ads shown pre-concert to join the official Police Fanclub.
The show was not too flashy, and kept the emphasis on the music. Wide-open stage, with good views even from behind the stage. There were video screens around the stage, which mostly featured the band. Some nice surprises in the staging, which I won't reveal here, other than a percussion set that rose up behind the drum set, including tympanies and a giant gong.
There were just the three band members on stage, and I noticed extra instrumentation on only one song. Lots of energy from Sting and Stewart Copeland, and everyone seemed happy to be there. The band's musicianship was great, and is really underappreciated, especially drummer Stewart Copeland. Their music has incredible pop sensibility, but the song composition is really unique for a rock, pop or reggae band.
There were two encores, and Sting thanked Vancouver and the Squamish Nation for hosting their concert practices. Great show!!!
NPR Live Concert Series
Wondering if that cool new band is any good live? Or are you an obsessive fan starved for anything by your favourite band?
Now there's even more free and legal mp3s to download from NPR to fill up your ipod.
The Live Concert Series has professionally-recorded, full length shows (often recorded at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.) by the best indie bands on the circuit, including: Cat Power, hot Canadians The Arcade Fire, Damon Albarn's The Good, The Bad & The Queen, Belle & Sebastian, Vancouver's Neko Case, Bloc Party and tons more. My new favourites are Fujiya & Miyagi and Peter Björn and John, and there's a new show coming this week from Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie.
As a bonus, they also have other concerts available as streaming audio, including Bjork, Arctic Monkeys, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Lilly Allen, Wilco, The White Stripes, The New Pornographers, and more.
The audio quality is excellent, and did I mention that they're free?
Today's Link source: NPR All Songs Considered
