#Festival Review

[skylark913]

Appalachian Summer Solstice 2023 Festival Review

[speckofglitter]

Is yardland the new frachella?

We’ve seen countless festivals try to dethrone Coachella as the number one musical festival over the past couple of years. From huge successes such as Wireless to epic failures such as the Fyre festival, the realm of musical festivals has not lacked new entrants.  Despite the abundance of new festivals entering the scene, many have struggled to truly innovate and capture the imagination of…

[methodman13]

The Essence of Cali Vibes: A Tapestry of Sound and Spirit

The Essence of Cali Vibes: A Tapestry of Sound and Spirit

[poppedmusic]

Festival Review: Camp Bestival Shropshire 2023

Words & Photos: Elena Katrina Camp Bestival – Shropshire – August 2023Instagram//2024 TICKETS This is a whole new direction for us here at Popped Music – this is a fully-fledged family festival review. After our trip to Deer Shed without my little ones, I suddenly felt compelled to take them to their first festival and it needed to be good, it needed to be great. I feel certain we made the…

[gbhbl]

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Slam Dunk 2023 - South

Another year, another Slam Dunk in the bag. We give you the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Slam Dunk 2023 - South.

Another year, another Slam Dunk in the bag. We’re crispy, hung-over (still), and a little bit deaf, but mostly satisfied. Yet, to talk about our personal experience of Slam Dunk 2023 is to ignore the shocking reports we’ve seen and heard from many others. We’ll talk a little bit more about that as we give you the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Slam Dunk 2023 – South. The Good Getting in – we…

[sorryasianparents]

#sorryasianparents EP19 - Skyline Festival Los Angeles 2023

#sorryasianparents EP19 - #SkylineFestival Los Angeles 2023 #festivals #house #techno #humor

Talking about Skyline Festival in Los Angeles. Sorry, I had been sitting on this video for a while. Been busy with work and other projects, which I hope to share with y’all as soon as it’s published. Ray and Anthony join me to talk about our Skyline Festival 2023 experience. It was super awesome. Also, the song “Age of Love” (1990) is a self-titled track by Italian-Belgian duo Age of Love. I…

[thephotopitmagazine]

FROM THE PIT TO THE CROWD: HEARTSUPPORT FEST DAY 1 - CENTRAL FLORIA FAIRGROUNDS - ORLANDO FL - FEBRUARY 18, 2023

[concerthopperblog]

The Best of Americanafest 2022

Even if Concert Hopper sent every writer we had, there's no way we'd be able to see everything there is going on at Americanafest. The long-running Nashville festival isn't held in one location like most fests but in clubs, parks, and bars across Nashville. Throw in over 300 bands and you're looking at a sisyphean task for any journalist. So this is in no way a comprehensive list, just the best things I saw in the tiny fraction I was able to catch over four days.

Best of the Fest- Tami Neilson After the fireball that was her Kingmaker album, there was always a good chance of Tami Neilson bringing the best set of Americanafest. What I got exceeded any expectations I could have had. Flanked by her brother Jay and teenage guitarist Grace Bowers, Neilson delivered a full run of songs from that album as well as a few favorites in a dynamic display of feminist fury. Neilson's genius is that she tackles these heavy topics with so much joy, never becoming “preachy” or trite, but throwing a joke or a smile that can de-fang the patriarchy and disarm her audience simultaneously. It's appropriate that Neilson played the last slot Saturday night, closing out the festival, because Americanafest was a Tami Neilson concert with four days of really good opening acts.

Best Place to See Star-Struck Musicians- Taj Mahal and Friends It's always fun to see famous musicians struck dumb in the face of a music god. That was the beauty of the opening night “Taj Mahal and Friends” set at Basement East. You'd think veteran artists like Jim Lauderdale, Keb Mo, Will Hoge, and Kaia Kater would be immune to starry eyes but performing with a legend as accomplished as blues/jazz/folk/Americana/calypso/a dozen other genres artist Taj Mahal, all seemed about to pinch themselves to make sure they weren't dreaming. All the guest shuffling could be chaotic at times but Taj held court with such humor the crowd never became bored.

Best. History. Teacher. Ever- Jake Blount Did you ever have that one teacher who had so much passion for his subject, he made it come alive for you? That's Jake Blount. A talented vocalist and banjo player, Blount is also one of music's more accomplished historians in the field of black string music and his set at The Basement was the world's coolest history lesson. Playing songs from his forthcoming album, The New Faith, Blount showed a bit of the album's concept, an apocalyptic future rent by global warming, all through old, sometimes ancient, gospel and black string ballads.

Best Diversity- Queer Roots and 8th Fire Sessions Americanafest dedicated itself to diversity long before it became cool for festivals to do so. This year, they crossed two more underrepresented groups off the list with the Queer Roots Party at The Groove and the 8th Fire Sessions from Ishkode Records at Dee's. Queer Country has existed for decades, with Lavender Country paving the way in the '70s, but this was the first true showcase of queer country artists. With dynamite acts like Secret Emchy Society, Crys Matthews, and Ever More Nest, the party proved that Queer Country was merely good music that happened to be performed by gay artists. It shouldn't even have to be a genre but, with mainstream country shying away from anything not white, male, and straight, it is and it's glorious. It was as fun a party as I've been to at Americanafest in years.

If Queer Country has been underrepresented, indigenous roots music has been almost forgotten. If you think about it, you can't get much more “roots” than the music performed by a group of people who were in North America long before a bunch of people from Europe became the continent's first illegal aliens. The 8th Fire Sessions presented by Ishkode Records featured acts like Digging Roots and Amanda Rheaume who brought their message of systemic persecution wrapped in some of the best pure Americana musical talent I've seen in years. Grass dancer Trenton Wheeler also put on a memorable display for the audience.

Best Dressed- Henry Wagons While conflicts kept me from seeing Henry Wagons' full set at City Winery, I was able to see him sit in for one song at Exit/In with Tami Neilson, filling in Willie Nelson's vocals on “Beyond the Stars.” I've seen Wagons previously at both Americanafest and Bonnaroo so I knew he was one of Australia's best comedic musicians. It therefore, came as no surprise that he showed up at Tami Neilson's set dressed in a shirt than can only be described as something Porter Waggoner would wear if he started using Earth, Wind, and Fire's tailor.

Best Satire- Will Hoge Americana is home to some of music's best satire. The thing that drew me to the genre in the first place was my professor in a satire class bringing John Prine's “Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore,” so I've got a soft spot for artists who can use humor to shine a light on the world's wrongs. With his song “Whose God Is This?,” Will Hoge weaves a tale of a bar (tended by John the Baptist, natch) full of the world's gods who socialize amiably until a gun-toting god with a red hat and a superiority complex saunters in, leading to an attempt to find someone to take him home. The capper is an attempt to “grab” Lilith that ends with the god laid out and vowing to “go back to where they worship me in the good ole' USA).

Rookie of the Year- Miko Marks Some of my favorite Americanafest performances over the years have been artist I didn't know who played in the same venue as the one I came to see. So when I ventured to the WMOT Day Stage to watch BJ Barham of American Aquarium, I was not surprised to discover my favorite set of the day came from Miko Marks. A mix of soul, country, and pure rock and roll, Marks and her band had an energy that flowed over the crowd. Catching her set is going to put a dent in my bank account as, upon getting home, I immediately followed her on Bandcamp and will be purchasing her music next Bandcamp Friday.

Best Unofficial Americanafest Performance- Anana Kaye and Irakli Gabriel Because 4 days of 300 bands isn't enough for some people, many venues in Nashville put on “unofficial” Americanafest parties throughout the week. One was the “Get Fried” Fish Fry at Dee's where I finally got to see Anana Kaye and Irakli Gabriel. Their collaboration album with the late David Olney, Whispers and Sighs, was my favorite album of 2020 and one that has kept a spot on my turntable since. Kaye and Gabriel did not disappoint, with the set highlight being a performance of the Rolling Stones-esque satire “Last Days of Rome,” with Kaye ably filling in the spoken-word breakdown supplied by Olney in the original.

Best Group Sing- A Tribute to 1972 Group “tribute” concerts risk becoming an edition of celebrity karaoke, only mildly entertaining in seeing famous people cover other famous people. That's been my problem with all but one of the Bonnaroo Superjams I saw. It wasn't a problem with Americanafest's Tribute to 1972, the sets all connected by a superb band. Highlights included an energetic sing-along of David Bowie's “All the Young Dudes” by Jon Latham and a surprisingly metal Foghat breakdown by Lauren Morrow.

Enjoy a selection of pictures from this year’s Americanafest and be sure to check out the full gallery on our Facebook page!

[reportwire]

Look Inside Meow Wolf's 2022 Vortex Festival, a Surrealist Escape In Denver - EDM.com

Look Inside Meow Wolf’s 2022 Vortex Festival, a Surrealist Escape In Denver – EDM.com

Different city, same Meow Wolf. Teeming rain in Denver couldn’t stop the brand’s flagship music festival, Vortex, from making a statement in 2022. Moving the fest from New Mexico to the Mile High City for the first time, Meow Wolf proved their prestige is immutable. Vortex made a splash over the weekend at The Junkyard, a new open-air venue promising immersive live music experiences in Denver.…

[commodorez]

Clint / LGR and his exhibit, featuring the Bear-A-Byte PC - VCF Midwest 18

[thecluelessdoctor]

CHRISTMAS MOVIES

Now as much as I rip and hate on chrismas at times, I need to admit there is not a better feeling than experiencing a childlike wonder again. Seeing beautiful hand crafted clock work decor and extraordinary snow globes, or seeing those mechanical trains youd see in the movies, nothing beats the feeling like that.

I'ma talk about the movie Klaus. A personal favorite of mine, not just for chrismas.

Klaus was released on Netflix about four years ago (I feel old)

I love this movie. It breaks the Christmas movie stereotype and it does it well. I love it from animation, to story, to duologue to characters, it's amazing.

So to start off, let's start with animation and style.

Uhm.

I can't explain it just look

Stupid thumbnail. But yeah. Watch it. Beautiful.

Story!

The story is beautiful.

It starts, with a letter. Just a letter.

And a man.

The plot starts with Jesper, the snotty son of the owner of a huge postal company. Jesper is failing postal school, before being told to be a post man in a town in a island called Smeerinsberg, and have 6000 letters done in one year.

Smeerinsberg is a violent town, a large feud between two family's that go back generations living there.

Jesper has a hard time getting letters at all. Until that is a small child drops his drawing out the window and towards Jesper. Remember this. Jesper tries to get the child to mail the letter, before he is attacked by the child's father's dogs. Before this he meets a character named Ava, who was a attempted teacher

Weeks pass by, and he finds out about the old woodsman cabin, and desides to go there, finding many hand crafted toys.

The woodsman comes home, holding his large axe, and scaring jesper. Jesper flees, dropping the drawing from the child.

Things happen, and the woodsman, Klaus, tells jesper to bring him to the home of that child to deliver a present. Jesper does so (unwillingly) and nearly dying.

The next day, jesper wakes up to a few children saying they have letters for Klaus. Montage of Jesper bribing kids for toys lmao.

Jesper then goes back to klaus's home, pleadunf to be able to take the toys to the kids and shiz. Klaus agrees, and they'll do it at the dead of night.

Word gets around about Klaus, no one knowing it's actually jesper that's going into the homes lol.

One day he's getting letters, and meets a little girl named Márgu, who is Sámi, and Jesper cant understand her. He also learns some of the children can't write and read, so he sends them to Ava's school.

He also remeets a kid who told him to go home earlier in the movie, who he gave coal, and ends up making a thing called the Naughty list, sorta as a explanation.

Children all over town start doing good deeds, and soon after, the adults follow after. The two family's have dwinled, the large fued basically being ignored. The two leaders of the families make a truce to put a end to this peace.

Jesper is then at Klaus's cabin, rambling about his idea called 'Christmas'

After this, Jesper and Klaus get into a argument, and jesper goes home to find Márgu there. Jesper sorta vents, before deciding to try and figure out what Márgu wants. He goes to Ava's school, who helps translate a letter basically

Jesper goes home, and attempts to make what Márgu wanted, even though he doesn't know how to work wood

Klaus comes back, and helps him make Márgu's gift, and they go to deliver it, seeing her excited. They are later back at Klaus's cabin feeding the reindeer, and jesper is obviously happy that he made Márgu happy.

More stuff happens, and after a bit, Márgu's people have come to Klaus's cabin to help. They make him a sleigh, and a outfit similar to theirs, as well as help with toy making.

Though during this, what's left of the two family's finds out about jesper's goal of 6000 letters, and end up 'helping' him.

It's December 24th now, daylight, and suddenly jesper's dad comes to collect him, saying he's done 14000 letters. Klaus, Ava, and the Sámi people feel betrayed, and are mad at him

He goes to leave, but looks extremely sad, sadder than when he came to Smeerinsberg. His dad gives him the look, and he ends up staying.

Márgu went to go find him, trying to stop him. But looks like he missed his ride.

He ends up seeing the mob planning to get rid of the gifts, and trys to intervene, que drama scene with lots of tension, before it was revealed it was all a decoy, and jesper ends up regaining everyone's trust, and they go to deliver the gifts.

Years pass, and word spread, and they had to expand, just as they had hoped. Ava and jesper are in love, and jesper gets a mustache at one point (in which Klaus remarks 'what is on your face')

But suddenly, by the 12th year, Klaus's time has finally come, and he goes to join his wife. To anyone other than the viewer though, he seems to have just.m disappeared.

We cut to later, in a Christmas eve with jesper's kids. Him and Ava tuck them into bed, and Jesper goes down, to stay up for the night, the movie ending with the line 'but once a year, I get to see my friend'

Truly a beautiful movie.

I can't express how much I love this movie, and I can't even explain how good it is.

It's a 20/10, go check it out

[doll-elvis]

PRISCILLA 2023: the press conference and incoming reviews

today was my day off of work so naturally I stayed up until 5:15 am (pacific standard time thingz) to watch the press conference, and to read some of the incoming reviews for the film 😩

here are the most interesting notes from the press conference (it was extremely brief) and the reviews that I found the most interesting ⬇️

✭ the key moment in the press conference was most definitely Priscilla getting asked a question despite her not being on the panel but in the audience. She was asked how she felt about her life being represented on film and what touched her most about the movie… she gave the best answer of the conference imo

- she became emotional nearly right away and had to take a moment to wipe her tears for which she apologized

- at first she simply said “the ending”, referring to what touched her most about the film. Based on that, and another question, I’m assuming the film ends with Priscilla leaving Elvis

-there were a few questions which shed Elvis in a bad light and so Priscilla referenced one of the journalists and began defending Elvis: she said that her parents had no idea why Elvis was so drawn to her and wanted to be with her, but she states that she was someone that Elvis could completely pour his heart out into (she references the loss of Gladys, his fears, and his frustration with his career)

-As she says it, she was there to listen and to comfort him, she said that is what drew Elvis to her. She states she was mature for her age “older in life but not in numbers”. She also says that in the beginning of the relationship, when she was 14, the relationship was not about sex and that he always respected her

“People think, ‘Oh, it was sex.’ No, it wasn’t. I never had sex with him. He was very kind, very soft, very loving, but he also respected the fact I was only 14 years old”

-she talked about how she didn’t know why Elvis had put so much trust into her but she realized it was because she never gave him up. She never told anyone at school she was seeing him etc. etc

-to end her statement she says that Elvis was the love of her life, and that she didn’t leave him because she didn’t love him, she left because she couldn’t handle the lifestyle

some other key notes-

- the very first question by a journalist referenced physical and mental abuse that is shown in the film

-Jacob Elordi seriously surprised me (in the best way) with his very first answer: he was asked about Elvis telling Priscilla “maybe another time, maybe another place” and how he related to that. He first talked about how Priscilla’s book was the main source for him, and how he came to understand the scale of their love (between Elvis and Priscilla) and the power of it. He said it’s “true”, “undying”, and “it’s beautiful”. He finished by saying that Elvis and Priscilla will be tethered for eternity because of their love

(I honestly didn’t expect such an insightful answer from him lmaoo 🤧)

- Sofia talked about how it was really important for this film to only be the from the perspective of Priscilla, and she says that one of the reasons she loves film is because you can experience someone else’s story

- One journalist asked Sofia if she learned anything new about Elvis from talking with Priscilla and she says that Priscilla told her about how when they would go to movies together in Germany, Elvis would always mouth the words to film… that is how badly he wanted to be a serious actor

- Jacob was asked if he drew any inspiration from the 2022 “Elvis” and he said “no.”, and that Sofia helped him tackle his fears in portraying someone as big as Elvis

- When asked about why Jacob was casted as Elvis, Sofia said that she felt that he had the same charisma as Elvis but most importantly he could play the sensitive and vulnerable side to Elvis

There were a few other technical questions about the film’s palette and music but the press conference ended super quickly, it was a bit awkward to watch and the lead actress, Cailee Spaeny, was naturally very nervous 😭

Overall, reviews have been mixed. Some are saying it’s Coppola’s best work. Some are saying it lacks any depth. And many have had not good things to say about Elvis which makes me anxious for what kind of content is shown in the movie

Here are some of the newest reviews for the film, courtesy of letterboxd ⬇️:

“it avoids giving any sort of context to why Elvis was acting the way he was” is the most worrisome line out of all of these to me… elvis is quite possibly the most context needing person ever

it’s a lot to digest at once, what do y’all think about everything?

[andoutofharm]

honestly so much about this festival has turned out so much better than we were all fearing, and none of it has anything to do with the festival itself.

last minute cancellation due to weather conditions that the festival SHOULD have accounted for and communicated much earlier? fuck it, here are free concerts put together by numerous bands solely because they didn’t want their fans to leave disappointed.

the festival attempting to shoehorn MCR back into a commodified version of them from years back because it’s what was popular and brought in crowds and what sold tickets? fuck it, they’re going on stage as elderly caricatures of their revenge-era selves, acting up their own stereotypes yet playing only the hits or the songs that explicitly call out the fuckery of this industry.

not to mention on top of all of this that the concerns many of us had about crowd safety were largely a non-issue because the crowd was so full of rich-kid clout chasers who barely even cared about the set being played once they realized they weren’t getting “pretty, compliant, nostalgic mcr who loves you and plays your favorite song and then does what they’re told and fits their role from the past as if 20 years haven’t passed”.

honestly this has been a wild ride in the best possible way.

[poppedmusic]

Festival Review: Deer Shed 2023

Words: Elena Katrina Deer Shed Festival – North Yorkshire – 28th-30th July 2023Instagram//Lineup//2024 TICKETS Now in its 13th year, Deer Shed made its return to its home in Baldersby Park, North Yorkshire. Not only a music festival but one that really and truly looks after everyone. I can really attest to this on a very personal level. I’ve not been to a festival for 4 years. 2019 I was a very…

[gbhbl]

Live Review: Uprising 6 at The O2 Academy, Leicester (29/04/23)

Taking place at The O2 Academy in Leicester, one of the UK’s best kept secrets is Uprising and this year, Uprising 6, we decided to jump in our car and see what all the fuss was about.

Taking place at The O2 Academy in Leicester, one of the UK’s best kept secrets is Uprising and this year, Uprising 6, we decided to jump in our car and see what all the fuss was about. Featuring a varied and exciting blend of rock and metal bands, Uprising 6 was a spectacular day of music. The three stages played host to young up and comers, legends of the scene, and everyone in between. We saw a…

[sorryasianparents]

#sorryasianparents EP18 - Our Take on the First Dreamstate Harbor

My written review and video podcast on #Dreamstate Harbor. #Dreamstateharbor #Trance #Festivals #sorryasianparents #EDM

Last weekend, Insomniac took over the Port of Los Angeles with its newest addition to the Dreamstate series: Dreamstate Harbor. With only two stages, this rave by the bay is smaller when compared to the massive DS SoCal coming in November. But, this intimate group therapy was more than enough to barge into my heart with all the big festival feelz. The first stage I went to was The Hydra because…