Prog-Rock superstars, dopapod recently announced their Spring 2014 Tour Dates. The band will be playing some Upstate, NY dates – 4/24 at Saratoga’s Putnam Den with Aqueous, 4/25 at The Westcott Theater in Syracuse, NY with Aqueous and then 4/26 at The Waiting Room in Buffalo, NY with a third night with Buffalo’s own Aqueous and favorites and Albany natives, Mister F. For tickets and info please visit www.dopapod.com.
Category: Beyond NYS
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dopapod Announces 2014 Spring Tour
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Real Estate Plays The Higher Ground in Burlington, VT – March, 21
It’s not common to see an staff writer stray from his or her namesake territory and cover a show on foreign turf. Every so often, an act so deserving makes an appearance in a neighboring state, a small road trip ensues and the audience is made even more aware of the boundless concert opportunities offered in the Northeast.
The most recent example of this came about on Friday night at The Higher Ground in Burlington, Vermont, where the New Jersey-based jangle-pop outfit, Real Estate put on a headlining set with opening act, Pure X.
Currently on the road in support of their recently released third album, Real Estate played several dates at South by Southwest and two sold out nights in Cambridge, Massachusetts before heading north to Burlington. Their tour with Pure X is currently en route to the Midwest before heading overseas for a European Circuit in May.
While Real Estate’s set at the Higher Ground featured a large portion of material from their debut LP and 2011’s Days, much of the set was made up of material from the latest addition to their discography, Atlas.
Real Estate introduced their set with “Had to Hear,” the same track that opens Atlas. “Had to Hear,” along with much of the material on Real Estate’s latest album, focuses on the barriers in communication brought about by life on the road. For someone who writes so openly about the difficulties of touring, however, Martin Courtney gave the impression of being perfectly comfortable on stage at The Higher Ground.
Real Estate’s live set was incredibly cohesive; Courtney, Bleeker, and guitarist Matt Mondanile’s experience playing together since high school is entirely apparent in their performance. The threesome’s ability to lengthen their songs into intricate jams showed an amazing level of musical awareness. With the recent addition of keyboardist Matt Kallman and contributions from drummer Jackson Pollis, Real Estate’s live sound features a collection of textures and layers that produce a remarkably full sound.
The consistency in Real Estate’s current lineup is largely the result of the recording process behind Atlas. During a sting of tour dates in Wilco’s schedule last summer, Real Estate took over Jeff Tweedy’s Loft studio in Chicago and recorded the album in a relatively short period of time, coming into the process with the album completely written.
It was no surprise on Friday that Real Estate’s set had been the product of more than a year of rehearsing Atlas’ material. While Burlington may be a hike from the Upstate area, Real Estate’s appearance at The Higher Ground proved to be a wholly acceptable reason to make the weekend trip to our northern neighbor.
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Improv Supergroup Meddling Kids to Perform at Silk City in Philadelphia March 19th
Appearing at the Silk City Dinner Bar & Lounge on Wednesday, March 19th is Philadelphia electronic improvisational super group “Meddling Kids”, comprised of Mike Greenfield from Lotus on drums, Clay Parnell from Particle and Brothers Past on electric bass, and Ian McGuire from Sonic Spank on keyboards.
Featuring special guest guitarist Clay Sears, who has toured and recorded with Jay-Z, Janet Jackson, Pharrell Williams, Brittany Spears, and Janet Jackson, among others, this show is sure to be a great night of electronic music improvisation -
Gathering of the Vibes 2014 Announces Initial Lineup
Gathering of the Vibes 2014 organizers knocked this year’s lineup out of Seaside Park and clear across the Long Island Sound for a grand slam. Rounding out the mid summer festival season with a variety of performances, Vibes promises four days of unique musical experiences and collaborations, friendship renewals and spiritual awakenings – traditional VibeTribe happenings – founded on celebrating the life of Jerry Garcia.
Gathering of the Vibes will return to Bridgeport, CT from July 31 – August 3, 2014. Widespread Panic and John Fogerty are making their first appearances to the festival. As southern rock outfits perfectly suited for the other, on stage collaborations are likely. The biggest surprise to this year’s lineup and perhaps the most talked about is the appearance of the Disco Biscuits featuring Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann. Keeping with the Dead theme, this promises to add an element of unique musical styling and soundscape. Rounding out the Grateful tradition will be performances by Dark Star Orchestra, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead and Keller Williams Grateful Grass.
Completing the spotlight are moe. and Umphrey’s McGee. Other acts set to perform are Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Ziggy Marley, Latin duo Rodrigo Y Gabriella, Left Over Salmon, Rusted Root and many more. A variety of acts put Vibes on track with a special musical experience for its nineteenth year.
Tickets can be purchased at the Gathering of the Vibes website.
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Beck Coming to the Northeast This Summer
Beck, who just released the critically acclaimed Morning Phase, will be coming to the Northeast and tri-state area in June, after his appearance at Firefly, Beck will make his way to the beautiful site MASS MoCA on June 24th.
MASS MoCA has hosted many shows in the past couple of years, most notably Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival. July 1st, Beck will play Central Park’s Summerstage in New York City.
Morning Phase has been linked to another great Beck album Sea Change. Many of the same players from that album worked with Beck again on this one. Beck always brings something special to his shows and since he hasn’t been touring on a regular basis for a while now, these shows should definitely be packing a punch.
Presale for both shows began March 12th at 10 a.m. (the general password is “MORNING,” and the Central Park password is “PHASE”), and general sales start on March 14 at noon.
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Gathering of the Vibes will announce lineup LIVE this Saturday March 15th
Gathering of the Vibes will announce their 2014 lineup this Saturday March 15th, LIVE at the Legendary Capitol Theatre with vibe veterans, Deep Banana Blackout and Kung Fu. Doors are at 7 pm with the show set to start at 8pm but the official announcement will be made at 11pm and fans can join in on the action via Facebook.
The annual musical and arts festival is set to take place July 31st-August 3rd, once again at the beautiful Seaside Park in Bridgeport, CT. With past headliners, Phil Lesh & Friends, Primus, STS9, Elvis Costello and much more, all bets are on to see who will join the Vibe Tribe in a weekend of love and light.
The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY is the ideal location for the Vibes announcement because it holds special ties with The Grateful Dead and their fan base. It makes sense to bring together the vibe tribe and Dead Head community to remember their roots as well as look forward to the excitement of this year’s festival season. Deep Banana Blackout is a funky New Orleans jazz group with a full horn section and a high energy attitude. Kung Fu packs a punch with psychedelic funky melodies and electro-jazz fused fun. The two Connecticut bands are a powerful combo for the night and are sure to get the party vibes flowing.
You can purchase tickets here, they range from $25 to $45 or you can enter this contest to win two free tickets to Saturday’s show.
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Bonnaroo Unveils Massive 2014 Lineup
Bonnaroo has finally announced their eclectic 2014 lineup. In what could be seen as one of the most diverse festivals of the year, Bonnaroo has outdone themselves once again. For many years now Bonnaroo has made sure that their lineup has a little bit of everything for any music fan out there and has brought rock, hip hop, EDM, blues, country, and jam down to the farm. The headliners this year are made up of Elton John, Kanye West, Jack White, and Lionel Richie. Other major names playing in Tennessee this year are Vampire Weekend, The Avett Brothers, Phoenix, Skrillex, Arctic Monkeys, Frank Ocean, The Flaming Lips, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Ms. Lauryn Hill.
In the past couple of years the festival has shied away from its jam band roots, but this year boasts many bands that could fall under that category with The Tedeschi Trucks Band, Umphrey’s McGee, Yonder Mountain String Band, and The John Butler Trio all slated to perform. Other jam bands on the schedule include The Wood Brothers, Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Greensky Bluegrass, and Break Science. There are also three Superjams occurring this year with one remaining unannounced at the moment, Skrillex and friends holding down an EDM one, and Ed Helms hosting The Bluegrass Situation.Some other noteworthy acts include Janelle Monae, Cake, Ice Cube, Fitz and the Tantrums, Cage the Elephant, Dr. Dog, Mastodon, White Denim, Polica, and Damon Albarn. Over on Relix there is a great interview with Rick Farman about how they put the festival together this year. He talks about everything from getting Elton John at his first US festival ever to acts that continuously come back and grow with Bonnaroo to why they booked Kanye West again after the debacle of 2008.
Tickets go on sale over at Bonnaroo’s site on Saturday at Noon. Get your tickets and get ready to head down to the farm.
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7th Annual Delfest Announces Lineup, String Cheese Incident Joins the Family
Bluegrass fans got what the were waiting for today from the folks at DelFest. The initial lineup announcement has once again struck a chord with the festival goers and the lineup brings DelFest into the spotlight once again. Returning this year are festival favorites Yonder Mountain String Band, Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby with Kentucky Thunder, Railroad Earth, 2 sets with the String Cheese Incident and of course the festival namesake and recent Grammy Winner – The Del McCoury Band.DelFest continues to do what festivals must do from year to year to survive, they keep coming back with line-ups that bring the fans. This festival promises to be both a good party and a family-friendly vacation into the world of old-timey bluegrass bands and current popular bands that cross the genres of bluegrass and jam band.
The most notable new name on this year’s line up is The String Cheese Incident. Billy Nershi has been at almost every DelFest in one configuration or another, but rumors really started flying after the Del McCoury Band guested with String Cheese on New Year’s. The two bands have shared the bill several times and the mutual respect between the two camps led to this being a natural fit this year. The lineup also includes DelFest favorites Yonder Mountain String Band, Railroad Earth, Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, among others, along with everyone’s favorite emcee, Mr. Joe Craven.
Here’s a look at this year’s initial lineup (more acts will be announced in the coming months):
The Del McCoury Band
The String Cheese Incident (2 Sets)
Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby with Kentucky Thunder
Yonder Mountain String Band
Railroad Earth
Hot Rize feat. Red Knuckles & the Trailblazers
Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn
The Travelin’ McCourys
Greensky Bluegrass
Carolina Chocolate Drops
The Gibson Brothers
Tim O’Brien & Darrell Scott
Sierra Hull
The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Kruger Brothers
The Duhks
Joe Craven
The Deadly Gentlemen
Spirit Family Reunion
Cabinet
The California Honeydrops
The Unseen StrangersFour day festival tickets are currently on sale at www.delfest.com along with DELuxe tickets. All RV passes with hook ups are sold out, and there are a limited number of “dry” RV passes still available. Early Bird Passes on sale now! https://delfest.eventbrite.com/
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The 16th New England Metal Festival Hits This April
One thing that makes this country so great is we get fantastic destination music festivals. Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Rock on the Range – all great festivals, don’t get me wrong, but what about a festival that caters to pure, unadulterated, metal? That’s where the 16th annual New England Metal and Hardcore Festival drops the mic.
Three days of nothing but metal at the great Palladium in Worcester, MA. The show starts slaying on Thursday, April 17 through Saturday, April 19. This year we’ll be served with All That Remains, Behemoth, and Iced Earth as the main headliners.
But there’s so much more for the headbanger.
The line-up for Day One is:
All That Remains-Headlining
Emmure
Bleeding Through
Broken Hope
Fallujah
Gideon
Obey The Brave
Rivers of Nihil
Kublai Khan
Years Since The Storm
Young and In The Way
Enabler
Cop Problem
Day One will serve as an unofficial homecoming for All That Remains, which on its on merit promises to be very exciting. But, there are two show stealers to catch here: Bleeding Through and Broken Hope.
It was last year that Bleeding Through announced their retirement, which makes this perhaps the sole reason to come to this festival. This will be, in fact, their very last show on the east coast. I personally haven’t seen Bleeding Through since 2006. So this will be it for sure. They recently came to Upstate Music Hall in Clifton Park, NY as part of the first leg of their retirement tour and I missed it. So those of you like me who missed that show should make plans to attend this one.
And the other show stopper of this line up is Broken Hope. This is truly an exciting time if you’re a huge death metal fan. Broken Hope (as far as I’m concerned) are one of the original top notch death metal bands along with Cannibal Corpse, Death, and Obituary. Broken Hope reunited last year after a decade-plus long hiatus and released the critically acclaimed album Omen of Disease.
Looking at Day Two we have:
Behemoth-Headlining
Whitechapel
The Acacia Strain
Slapshot
Goatwhore
1349
Cruel Hand
Carnifex
Colin of Arabia
Within The Ruins
Suburban Scum
Thy Art Is Murder
Fire and Ice
I Declare War
Naysayer
Fit For An Autopsy
Born Low
Erra
Inquistion
Black Crown Initiate
The Mongoloids
Bent Life
Warhound
Malfunction
This is a stellar line up. I would recommend bringing ear plugs because this will be loud, and relentless. I would expect to see a few casualties in the punch bowl to cause mayhem for venue security.
The show stoppers to catch on this day will be Behemoth – for sure – and White Chapel.
Behemoth, in recent years has been the poster boy for shock factor. It has been banned in certain parts of Europe for portraying a strong belief in the Anti-Christ. Also keep in mind frontman Nergal survived a cancer scare a few years ago, which postponed the band’s activities for a bit. Last year, metal fans were excited to see Behemoth’s scheduled participation in last year’s Rockstar Mayhemfest, only to have it lead to disappointment when, at the last minute, the band pulled out due to an injury to their drummer.
Behemoth has not toured North America in quite some time and now the east coast has been treated for a HEADLINGING appearance at New England Metal and Hardcore Fest.
White Chapel has been selling out clubs the past five years whenever they pass through.
They have sold out The Lost Horizon in Syracuse everytime. This is a high-in-demand band that does not come through often. They are pure evil, and simply phenomenal. Recently White Chapel succeeded in an indiegogo campaign. Fans donated more than $35,000 to aid in the funding for a new DVD release due out soon.
And finally closing the festival on Saturday is:
Iced Earth-Headlining
Nails
Nile
Sabaton
All Out War
Ramallah
Twitching Tongues
ReVamp
Scars of Tomorrow
Battlecross
Counterparts
Lionheart
Harms Way
Alpha & Omega
Those Who Fear
The Last Ten Seconds of Life
Sylar
Loyal To The Grave
Reign Supreme
King Nine
Discourse
Will To Die
Barrier
Indirections
Gift Giver
This day is definitely different than the other two days. Iced Earth is WORSHIPPED in Europe and rarely passes through upstate New York. They have rocked concert goers over three different decades and have preserved a sound that harkens back to the hay-day of heavy metal.
In stark contrast, ReVamp has only been around a couple years and they just released their new album Wild Card, but they excite me nonetheless.
Frontwoman Floor Jansen has an INTOXICATING voice, and is absolutely beautiful. It will be a real treat to see her perform. Jansen is also the singer of Nightwish, which should give you an idea how talented this woman is.
My recommendation for this three-day fest? Get your tickets now. Book your hotel now. Pack plenty of boos, food, and get a good workout in before you leave, because it’s going to be a loud and crazy ride worth remembering.
