NYS Music 202​0

Tag: Music Festivals

  • LivexLive Set to Host The Vote Ready Festival on Oct. 2

    LiveXLive, based out of New York City, is hosting the Vote Ready Festival livestream event on Oct. 2 at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT. The partnership of Atlantic Records’ ATL Votes Initiative, Elektra Music Group, and the voter outreach organization HeadCount will host the three-hour virtual event. The festival will be available to watch for free on LiveXLive’s site and apps.

    Vote Ready Festival

    The Vote Ready Festival will include special appearances from Jack Harlow, Jojo, and Why Don’t We, along with the featured performers listed above. LiveXLive’s has already seen abundant success with its “Music Lives On” festival series that launched back in May of this year. The series has included performances from 90 artists reaching over 165 million fans. In addition to livestream events, LiveXLive’s global platform elevates artists and celebrity voices to cover topics including music, comedy, and pop culture through videos and podcasts.

    Music is a uniting force that we’ve watched bring the global village together during this pandemic and every other major movement in history. Joining forces with Atlantic Records on the ATL Votes initiative in association with Headcount to encourage Americans to vote is an important partnership as we head toward Election Day.

    LiveXLive’s President Dermot McCormack

    The goal of The Vote Ready Festival is to increase support for Headcount’s mission of encouraging fans to register and get out to vote with the help of artists. HeadCount is a non-profit organization that promotes participation in democracy through music, culture, and digital media. Headcount has already registered over 200,000 voters for the 2020 election.

    ATL Votes, created by Atlantic Records, encourages voter registration by utilizing the labels’ roster of artists. ATL Votes has incorporated Headcount’s voter registration tools into Atlantic artist websites, email lists, and livestreams. Elektra Music Group, a sister label group of the Atlantic records subsidiaries, will also work closely with ATL Votes and Headcount to encourage fan participation in democracy.

    Click here to RSVP for the livestream event.

    Democracy–and in turn, our country–doesn’t function properly without full participation from its citizens. We are very fortunate to have incredible artists, managers, and partners like Elektra Music Group, Warner Records, HeadCount, and LiveXLive to work alongside us in executing a truly special event we are all proud to be a part of.”

    Nick Harvey, Atlantic Records’ Director of Digital Marketing

  • Music Festivals Start Using an “Event Bubble” Strategy to Exist During the Pandemic Era

    Music Festivals have started to use the “Event Bubble” strategy to create a safe environment during the pandemic era. A music festival doesn’t sound like the most safe activity during COVID-19, but with festivals like the Utopia Music Festival using the “Event Bubble” strategy attending a music festival is relatively safe activity for individuals to partake in while the pandemic rages on. 

    Event Bubble
    Tumbledown 2018 pictured by Dave DeCrescente.

    How the “Event Bubble” strategy works is that  all attendees are screened with a COVID-19 test a few days before the festival takes place and are then tested again at the entrance with a wrapped test. This double test works to help create this bubble of safety at the event because everyone in attendance should be COVID-19 free.

    At Utopia Music Festival, which took place over the Labor Day weekend, there were open-air gatherings using these strategies allowed an attendance of 250 people.

    The current hope is these strategies could make large music festivals in the midst of a global pandemic a possibility. The problem right now is the fact the COVID-19 test isn’t 100% accurate. According to Harvard Health Publishing, “The reported rate of false negatives is as low as 2% and as high as 37%” for Molecular tests. 

    This means that in some areas there is a 37% chance that if someone is tested and it comes back negative they could actually be positive for COVID-19. The chances of getting a false positive are exponentially lower and are close to zero. Generally it’s a lab error if someone does get a false positive result. 

    Event Bubble
    Levitate 2019 photo by Zingari photography.

    According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, “Requiring COVID-19 testing is a significant financial undertaking that might not make sense for DIY events with tight budgets, or for large festivals such as Coachella, whose guests don’t stay on site” a possibility. The “Event Bubble” approach can create a virus-free bubble where screened staff and attendees can enjoy the festivities while being removed from the danger of outside contact with the rest of the world for the duration of the event. This would however definitely be difficult to enforce and control in larger scale events let alone the free of false negatives being present at the event. 

    If the “Event Bubble” takes off more and more festivals in the real world could be a possibility sooner than one might think but most likely they will be small scale festivities for the time being. 

  • Where does the time go? A look back at the best sit-ins in moe.down history

    Labor Day weekend is a weekend to enjoy the last remnants of summer, catch up with friends and family. For most Labor Day weekends since 2000, moe. fans found themselves heading to Turin (or Mohawk), NY for the end of summer festival, moe.down.

    We’re taking a look back at moe.down this weekend and reminiscing on the lineups, the incredible bands that were discovered, and of course, moe. But one aspect of moe.down that was always unpredictable were the special guest sit-ins, if not the weather. Explore these 10 choice sit-ins, presented in random order, for this weeks installment of moe.mondays.

    moe.down sit-ins
    photo by Brian Cornish, moe.down 17

    We’ll start with something for the children, literally. moe.down 8 started out with an afternoon set that featured the Kids Tent joining the band on stage. That year’s theme for the kids was ‘Year of the Pig’ so naturally, “Buster” was the perfect song to invite the kids up to sing. With parents close by, 20+ kids took the stage and sang “Pig can fly!” alongside moe., for a spectacular start to the day’s music.

    moe.down 8 indeed had more than its fair share of guests, and as the Saturday afternoon set came to a close, Meat Puppets Curt Kirkwood joined moe. for a shredding ~19 minute version of “Mexico.”

    moe.down sit-ins
    Curt Kirkwood sitting in with moe.

    Jumping back to moe.down 4, and moe. took a unique spin on their improv-friendly “Rebubula” by playing it for an entire set – nearly an hour in length. Listen below or check out an AUD on the Internet Archive.

    For two years (2010-2011), moe.down relocated to Mohawk, NY and performed on the Gelston Castle Estate, and brought out some heavy hitting names in the process. Bob Weir was a special guest with Levon Helm’s band, and Weir joined moe. for “The Other One” > “Smokestack Lightning” > “The Other One,” Dylan’s “Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again” and a set closing “Feel Like a Stranger.”

    Of course, Weir has performed earlier in the day with Levon Helm’s band, and sang (among many others) one of the Dylan songs that The Band and Grateful Dead had in common, “When I Paint My Masterpiece.”

    moe.down 6 was held over Labor Day weekend 2005, as the remnants of Hurricane Katrina soaked the crowd throughout the weekend. Keller Williams joined moe. for “Stairway to Watchtower” through the pouring rain.

    Umphrey’s McGee, who first caught the attention of moe. when Brendan Bayliss sent Al Schnier a demo of their cover of “Rebubula,” have appeared at multiple moe.downs, not to mention 20 Summer Camp Music Festivals together. Watch Umphrey’s join moe. for Pink Floyd’s “Time” from moe.down 13.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0nAjm8d3XQ

    Earlier that day, Umphrey’s McGee welcomed Stanley Jordan for part of their set, including a “40’s Theme” -> “Hajimemashite” > “40’s Theme,” allowing Jordan’s guitar skills to shine.

    More recently, moe.down 17, held over July 4th weekend 2019, featured Blackberry Smoke, Fishbone, Railroad Earth, Ryan Montbleau, Twiddle, and Mike Dillon Band, who welcomed moe. percussionist Jim Loughlin for their set. moe. would return the favor by bringing up Otto Schrang from Mike Dillon Band for “McBain,” adding a second percussionist on Coughlin’s vibraphone.

    Rounding our our list, let’s go back to moe.down 8, which had a deep lineup as many moe.downs have. When Ryan Adams had to back out at the last minute, the festival was blessed with the founder of Lollapalooza himself, Perry Farrell and his Satellite Party. Few complained about this lineup swap, and after Farrell and his party worked through all the hits, moe. welcomed Farrell to the stage for the only hit not played yet – “Ocean Size.” After some banter behind the Mayor of moe.ville competition, the band broke into the Jane’s Addiction arena rocker.

    Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments!

  • Watch performances from Day 2 of Woodstock

    Friday left the crowd exhausted, but looking for more. A motionless field was peppered with life around 8AM, hippies making friends with neighbors as they awoke, ahead of the second day of Woodstock.

    woodstock

    According to Robert Spitz’s Barefoot in Babylon, Director of Operations Mel Lawrence, would wake the crowd up with a rousing “GGOOOOOD MOOOR-NINGGG” followed by:

    Sorry about that. Let’s try that one again. Good Morning. Thank You. Listen, last night was incredible, and we just wanted to let you know that everything’s okay. No hassles. We’re going to have another groovy day today and into the night and tomorrow.

    I just need your help with one small favor. We’re going to pass out these bags now so that we can keep our home clean. We’ll hand them out to those of you on this side of the bowl, and I’d appreciate it if all of you over there will toss your junk in and pass the bag on until it gets over to the other side of the field. Some of the guys from the Peace Service Corps will pick them up over there and get rid of that stuff for tyou.

    We’ve gotta keep this place liveable so we can prove to the rest of the world that we can make it to together in peace and comfort. And we’re gonna do it too.

    Mel Lawrence, with intermittent cheers from a quickly awoken crowd.

    A day of heavy-hitters would perform on Saturday, including The Who, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Santana among them.

    Santana’s appearance has always been regarded as one of the highlights of the festival. According to Spitz, with 92′ heat and 97% humidity, the bowl had turned into a sauna, and emotions, fueled by boredom from early performances from Quill, Country Joe McDonald, John Sebastian, and Keef Hartley Band, were heating up. Santana jolted the crowd to their feet, making his mark on the festival and providing an electrifying bridge to the rest of that day’s performers.

    The Who would not perform until 3:30AM on Sunday, playing well into the morning. The set was famously interrupted by activist Abbie Hoffman who stormed the stage to say:

    This festival is meaningless as long as John Sinclair’s rotting in prison!

    Abbie Hoffman at Woodstock

    Hoffman was dispatched from the stage by Pete Townshend, who used his guitar to escort Hoffman into the photographer’s pit.

    Jefferson Airplane hit the stage at 8:30AM on Sunday, with a set that paralleed the exhausted corowd. Much of the audience was passed out even as the hits “Volunteers” and “Somebody to Love” rounded out the set. At 10AM on Sunday, the music would take a break, for a few hours.

    Watch performances from 13 of the 14 artists who performed at Woodstock on August 15, 1969.

    Quill

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfH18WqJuY8

    Country Joe McDonald

    John B. Sebastian

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnsB4Ck__OE

    Keef Hartley Band

    Allegedly, Hartley’s manager demanded payment up front for the rights to record or film the band. Thus, they were never included in any Woodstock footage until 2019, when the full Woodstock set was released.

    Santana

    Incredible String Band

    Canned Heat

    Grateful Dead

    Leslie West & Mountain

    Creedence Clearwater Revival

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75VQp8iGNF0

    Janis Joplin

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h66qXAK-q3o

    Sly and the Family Stone

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fZBaPS_XvQ

    The Who

    Jefferson Airplane

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QAF2qF4wHU

    Watch performances from every Woodstock artist with our full playlist