halftime111

Archive for August, 2014|Monthly archive page

,

Electric Zoo Festival Canceled Due to Severe Weather

In Uncategorized on August 31, 2014 at 2:50 pm

The Electric Zoo Festival at Randall’s Island, New York was cut short August 31 after organizers canceled the EDM fest because of dangerous weather. “Electric Zoo NY has shut down for the remainder of the festival due to extreme weather conditions. We apologize to fans, but your safety is our main concern,” the festival tweeted just before 5 p.m. EST. “Please follow all NYPD and #EZoo security instructions. Thank you!” Attendees were told to evacuate the festival grounds six hours before Electric Zoo was scheduled to end. The festival also reiterated that, even if weather conditions improved, there would be no re-entry.

A flash flood warning had been issued in the New York City area just before the festival was halted. Kaskade, Chase & Status, Bingo Players, and Alesso were among the acts scheduled to perform the evening of August 31. Following the cancellation, Kaskade joked on Twitter, “Ummmmmm. No. I just have one question…. Soooooo…… Who has the keys to @barclayscenter???” New York EDM also posted a photo of festival-goers clearing out from Randall’s Island as dark storm clouds rolled in. 

This was the second straight year the final day of the Electric Zoo fest in New York has been cancelled, but for different reasons: In 2013, city officials demanded organizers shut down Electric Zoo after two concertgoers overdosed while at Randall’s Island. Additionally, four more people were hospitalized and another 31 were arrested. While organizers refunded attendees after canceling the third day of the 2013 EZOO, it’s unclear whether similar reimbursements will be made for nixed 2014 date.

via RollingStone.com: Music http://ift.tt/VZh5Mx

,

Courtney Love Struggling to Finish ‘Disaster’ Memoir

In Uncategorized on August 31, 2014 at 1:47 pm

Like many authors, Courtney Love is a victim of writer’s block. For over a year, the Hole singer has been penning a memoir with Rolling Stone writer Anthony Bozza. The Girl With the Most Cake was originally supposed to hit bookshelves in December 2013 before being pushed back to early-2014. Three-quarters of the way through the year and Love’s memoir is still nowhere on the release schedule, and as the singer tells Paper, don’t expect to be reading her life story anytime soon. As it turns out, not everyone can write a 460-page autobiography as quickly and easily as Morrissey.

“It’s a disaster. A nightmare,” Love told Paper (via Billboard) of her memoir. “I never wanted to write a book in my entire life. It just sort of happened. And I have a co-writer, but it’s just not working.” While Love originally told Rolling Stone the book would cover her life up until 2008, she’s since subtracted a few years from the tome. “What happens from 2006 on in the book is my personal business. I’ve been discreet from that time on, and I want to keep it that way,” Love said.

When Love first discussed her memoir with Rolling Stone in June 2013, she had high hopes for the book, citing Patti Smith’s Just Kids and Russell Brand’s My Booky Wook as influences. (But not Keith Richards’ Life, since it was “just so bloody long, I didn’t even finish it.”) If and when Love’s memoir finally arrives through William Morrow at Harper Collins, she promises it will focus on her battles with drug addiction, her “tragic romance” with Kurt Cobain, her relationships with Billy Corgan and Trent Reznor, and her early years as a stripper.

While Love won’t be hosting any book signings soon, you can see her on TV this fall: The 50-year-old rocker will appear in multiple episodes of Sons of Anarchy‘s upcoming season, where she’ll play a preschool teacher. Love also told Paper she hopes to reunite Hole’s classic lineup of Eric Erlandson, Patty Schemel and Melissa Auf der Maur at some point in 2015.

via RollingStone.com: Music http://ift.tt/1wXxYs0

,

Kid Cudi Collapses During Chicago Concert

In Uncategorized on August 31, 2014 at 11:47 am

There was a scary incident at Chicago’s North Coast Music Festival on August 30 as Kid Cudi collapsed during his hour-long set. Crowd-shot video from the concert shows Cudi in the photo pit while performing his hit “Pursuit of Happiness,” Consequence of Sound writes. After high-fiving fans and signing some autographs, at around the one-minute mark in the video, the rapper suddenly loses consciousness and begins to fall backwards. Thankfully, alert security guards manage to catch Cudi before he hits the ground and quickly band together to carry the rapper out of the photo pit.

While there was immediate confusion among the crowd, in a series of tweets following the performance, the rapper assured fans he was okay. “I’m ok!! Blessed to have fans who actually give a fuck about me,” Cudi tweeted. “Mad love to the security who were there and helped me out tonight. Really awesome dudes! Thanx for nursing me back to health ha. Ill do a better and make sure to eat properly on show days 🙂 scouts honor! I love you Chicago. Don’t you forget that shit. Ever. If I scared anyone tonight I am so so sorry from the bottom of my heart.”

The rapper doesn’t have any gigs scheduled until his September 27 slot at Outkast’s ATLast Festival in Atlanta, so he should have plenty of time to recover from the collapse. Cudi had been on the road in support of his most recent album Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon, his first LP since parting ways with Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music.

via RollingStone.com: Music http://ift.tt/W0I2PK

,

Watch Kanye West’s Entire Made in America Festival Performance

In Uncategorized on August 31, 2014 at 10:51 am

Kanye West is accomplishing an impressive feat this Labor Day weekend, headlining two Made in America festivals on different coasts. On August 30, he performed at the Philadelphia fest before heading to Los Angeles for the August 31 event. The Made in America concerts are among the last U.S. dates on the Yeezus tour, but if you missed Kanye’s divisive headlining concerts this summer, you can now watch the full performance from Made in America festival in Philadelphia (via Mr. World Premiere).

Depending on which festivalgoer you asked this summer at Bonnaroo, where the rapper also headlined, West was either a highlight of the fest or maddeningly disappointing. Because West opts not to use the large LCD screens to broadcast his set to the large crowds, preferring instead to rap in silhouette in front of a giant screen, the quality of his performance depends on the location of an audience member, so West often leaves his concertgoer either riveted or infuriated. Perhaps that’s why this video from the Made in America festival is the best way to watch Kanye live: We see in keen detail the magnitude of his bare bones concerts and the energy the rapper brings to each performance.

Among the many highlights in his career-spanning 90-minute Made in America set are the intense “Black Skinhead,” a double dose of “Blood on the Leaves,” and a extra-long rendition of “Runaway,” which Kanye uses as a vessel to pontificate about life, his marriage to Kim Kardashian, and his place in music history. “What’s the main reason why they say that Kanye’s not a good guy,” West sings during “Runaway,” “Because the only thing I do is tell the truth, and if I tell the truth, I’m not a good guy, so what they tell you the rest of the time is all lies.”

Kanye will continue to head west following the Los Angeles Made in America gig for the Yeezus tour’s Australian leg, which was initially postponed so West could work on the follow-up to Yeezus. After that, the rapper has one last concert scheduled October 24 at Las Vegas’ Life Is Beautiful festival.

via RollingStone.com: Music http://ift.tt/1vYJcYV

,

Billy Corgan Continues His Rise at a Rare Acoustic Show

In Uncategorized on August 31, 2014 at 9:47 am

For much of the early 2000s, Billy Corgan had trouble embracing his legacy as a grunge god: The Smashing Pumpkins frontman regularly railed against his own fans, tangled with the press and made no secret of his disdain for trotting out his old band’s biggest hits. But in making 2012’s Oceania, his views began to shift. “Something’s happening,” he told Rolling Stone at the time. “I’ve played a lot of shows and you know when it’s going up and you know when it’s going down and you know when it’s going nowhere. It’s definitely going up.”

It was with this rejuvenated, lively spirit that the 47-year-old singer played a rare Saturday evening solo show at the Ravinia Festival in the leafy Chicago suburb of Highland Park – his only scheduled gig of 2014. Wearing a blazer and occasionally accompanied by Pumpkins’ guitarist Jeff Schroeder – Corgan crossed his career with a 27-song set that included songs from Zwan, his solo years and that band he played in with Jeff.

Corgan, his voice solidly preserved, debuted a piano tribute to Chicago at the outset of the evening. Popular Siamese Dream fare like “Today” and “Disarm” were both re-imagined as gentle, tempered acoustic charmers, and Corgan solo records such as the arpeggio-laden “Prairie Song” and the Future Embrace cut “Now (And Then)” were played for the first time since 2005. Likewise, the thrashing Machina/The Machines of Gods cut “The Crying Tree of Mercury” was brought out for the first time since 1999, and “Burnt Orange Black,” a fiery new solo track featuring a rare (and tasteful) guitar solo, had never been played at all.

The night’s unquestioned centerpiece, though, was a nine-song suite dedicated exclusively to the Pumpkins’ 1995 Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. This portion of the show included never-before-performed Mellon Collie outtake “Methusela” – the ode to his father, Corgan explained, was once too personal to even demo for producers Alan Moulder and Flood – and reserved yet emotionally jarring acoustic takes on “Muzzle” and “Galapagos” and “Tonight Tonight.” The gorgeous “1979,” boosted by a backing drum track, felt tinny and flat by comparison 

“You guys are too kind,” Corgan told the crowd several times throughout the night, brimming with satisfaction and delight. For a man who moped his way through much of the Nineties and once seemed at risk of fading entirely from the spotlight, one couldn’t help but appreciate Corgan’s magnificent smile.

via RollingStone.com: Music http://ift.tt/1nfGjO9

,

Arcade Fire End Tour With Triumphant Wolf Parade Cover

In Uncategorized on August 31, 2014 at 9:29 am

Arcade Fire wrapped up the final North American leg of their Reflektor tour – and with it, those well curated geographically themed cover songs for nearly every stop – with a hometown gig at Montreal, Quebec’s Parc Jean-Drapeau on August 30. With a multitude of great Montreal artists to choose from — Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Grimes, Voivod and even Of Montreal if they wanted to go that route – Arcade Fire settled on one of Win Butler’s personal favorites, Wolf Parade.

By performing Wolf Parade’s “I’ll Believe in Anything,” Arcade Fire brought a sense of closure to their nearly yearlong trek. Both groups came up together in the Montreal music scene nearly a decade ago, and Win Butler and co. brought Wolf Parade on tour with them in the Funeral era. Wolf Parade drummer Arlen Thompson also played drums on the studio version of Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up.” The Montreal band went on “indefinite hiatus” in 2011, but both leading members – Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner – continue to release music with Moonface and Divine Fits, respectively.

In addition to the raucous singalong of the Apologies to the Queen Mary track, the fake band that pantomimes before Arcade Fire return for the encore also “performed” the work of another Quebec legend, Celine Dion. Arcade Fire’s tour in support of Reflektor started nearly a year ago with secret gigs in small Montreal salsa clubs. In 2014 alone the band played nearly 80 concerts, including two North American legs and headlining slots at a handful of music festivals. Finally, the tour date page of their official site is empty, but they leave us with a massive amount of covers from this trek.

Check out the complete list of regional cover songs from this leg of the Arcade Fire tour:

July 30: Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Hey Tonight” in Mountain View, CA
July 1: Jane’s Addiction’s “Been Caught Stealing” in Englewood, CA
July 2: Harold Faltmeyer’s “Axel F” (Beverly Hills Cop theme) in Englewood, CA
August 5: Dead Kennedys’ “California Über Alles” in Chula Vista, CA
August 8: Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” tease in George, WA
August 10: Huey Lewis and the News’ “Back in Time” in Vancouver, BC
August 12: Feist’s “I Feel It All” in Calgary, AB
August 14: Neil Young’s “Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown” in Winnipeg, MB
August 17: Fugazi’s “Waiting Room” in Washington D.C.
August 19: Pixies’ “Alec Eiffel” in Mansfield, MA
August 22: Buster Poindexter’s “Hot Hot Hot” (with David Johansen) in Brooklyn, NY
August 23: Ramones’ “I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement” and “I Wanna Be Sedated” with Marky Ramone in Brooklyn, NY
August 24: Suicide’s “Dream Baby Dream” with David Byrne in Brooklyn, NY
August 26: Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love?” in Chicago, IL
August 27: The Staples Singers’ “This May Be the Last Time” and the Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time” with Mavis Staples in Chicago, IL
August 29: Ronnie Hawkins’ “Who Do You Love?” in Toronto, ON
August 30: Wolf Parade’s “I’ll Believe In Anything” in Montreal, QC

via RollingStone.com: Music http://ift.tt/1B8b0Nv

,

Taylor Swift Joins ‘The Voice’ as Guest Mentor

In Uncategorized on August 30, 2014 at 2:29 pm

Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams aren’t the only huge additions heading to this season of The Voice: Taylor Swift will stop by for an episode to serve as an advisor to the hopeful contestants, Us Weekly reports. “Taylor was an absolute pleasure to work with,” a source told Us of Swift’s The Voice appearance. “She had great feedback for all the contestants. She made for an amazing mentor.” Hopefully Swift won’t also be teaching contestants how to dance.

Swift is the latest superstar to be recruited as guest advisor for The Voice‘s seventh season. Much like Coldplay’s Chris Martin last season, Swift will assist all the contestants and not just one specific judge’s team. Along with Swift, Stevie Nicks (Team Adam Levine), Bush’s Gavin Rossdale (his wife’s Team Stefani), Little Big Town (Team Blake Shelton) and Alicia Keys (Team Williams) will also appear as guest mentors.

Swift’s songs have long been a favorite of Voice contestants, and in June 2013, Swift herself made a surprise appearance during the competition when she visited the rehearsal of contestant Michelle Chamuel, who was set to perform the Red smash “I Know You Were Trouble.” Swift gave Chamuel’s rendition enthusiastic approval. “That was so emotional. All the vocal runs you picked, it was so amazing,” Swift told Chamuel. “The way you doubled over with your hair in your face and everything, don’t stop doing that.”

The Voice‘s seventh season is scheduled to premiere on September 22, five weeks before Swift’s first ‘straight-up pop’ album 1989 arrives on October 27.

via RollingStone.com: Music http://ift.tt/1B5xeiV

,

Miley Cyrus: Elvis Presley Was the Original Twerker

In Uncategorized on August 30, 2014 at 11:49 am

As the face of the twerking movement, Miley Cyrus has been a lightning rod for controversy. Her infamous MTV Video Music Awards performance last year, as evidenced by all those FCC complaints, was arguably the most scandalous music moment since Janet Jackson’s Nipplegate. Even when she isn’t on stage, she’s still causing a stir, whether its chilling topless in the desert or spending time with the Flaming Lips or sending a homeless youth to accept her Video of the Year award. Still, it’s Cyrus’ provocative moves – which were watered-down for her NBC special – that create the most trouble, but as Cyrus tells Australia’s Sunday Night, she’s just carrying the torch lit by Elvis Presley’s gyrating hips.

“Elvis, he wasn’t wearing the outfits I was wearing but he was coming out and he was doing like the OG twerking. Like, no one wants to admit that he was twerking, he was,” Cyrus said (via NME). “He was like sex. He was a symbol of sex but no one would have ever called Elvis a shit because he wasn’t a girl. It’s that double standard and I think I’m doing something for the double standard.”

Miley also has a message for the “concerned parents” riled up that might be sending a bad message to her young fans. “The only thing I’m an example of is freedom, especially in this time where the energy of the world is shifting from male energy to female energy,” Cyrus tells Sunday Night‘s Chris Bath. “I think a lot of that was started by these girls that get to watch my show and see young people just being themselves and representing freedom.”

via RollingStone.com: Music http://ift.tt/1nL7xvQ

,

Arcade Fire Cover Bo Diddley in Chicago and Toronto

In Uncategorized on August 30, 2014 at 9:57 am

Arcade Fire added a little twist to those geographically inspired covers they’ve been peppering into the encores of their current Reflektor tour, playing the same song in two cities but for different reasons. During the band’s first show at Chicago’s United Center on August 26th, Arcade Fire busted out a performance of “Who Do You Love?” by Bo Diddley, since the rock pioneer was based out of the Windy City. Then, at their August 29th concert at Toronto’s Molson Amphitheatre, Arcade Fire played the same cover again during the encore.

Why the repetition? “Who Do You Love?” was also a staple of Ronnie Hawkins, who was a rockabilly legend in the Ontario city and whose version of the track – on which he’s backed by the Hawks, who soon became the Band – was one of Hawkins’ defining singles. He even joined the Band to perform the Diddley classic in The Last Waltz. Arcade Fire: rock historians. The fake band that performs side stage before Arcade Fire deliver the encores also provided a regional favorite, “Picture My Face” by Ontario’s own Teenage Head.

At their second concert in Chicago, Arcade Fire welcomed guest Mavis Staples to the stage during their to perform the Staples Singers’ “This May Be The Last Time” and the Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time.” As Rolling Stone previously reported, it’s been a guest-filled week for the group as they also brought out David Byrne, Buster Poindexter and Marky Ramone during their gigs in Brooklyn.

The only city not to enjoy a geography-inspired cover on the Reflektor tour: Bangor, Maine, although that fake band did tease the Ramones’ “Pet Sematary,” a nod to the Pine Tree State’s famed author Stephen King. Up next for the world’s coolest cover band: An August 30th tour-ending homecoming gig at Montreal’s Parc-Jean Drapeau.

via RollingStone.com: Music http://ift.tt/1qeqfkp

,

Watch the New Trailer for Nas’ ‘Time Is Illmatic’ Documentary

In Uncategorized on August 30, 2014 at 6:44 am

Earlier this year, Nas celebrated the 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking debut LP Illmatic with a double-disc reissue and a documentary titled Nas: Time Is Illmatic that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival back in April. With the movie about to travel nationwide starting October 2nd thanks to Nas’ Time Is Illmatic tour, a new trailer for the film has arrived – a rough cut version of the sneak peek debuted earlier this year — and it reveals Nas: Time Is Illmatic as an in-depth journey into Nasir Jones’ childhood, his musical influences, and how the streets of Queensbridge inspired the young rapper to craft a hip-hop classic.

In addition to unearthed archival footage of Nas from the Illmatic era as well as a portrait of Queens and hip-hop in the early-Nineties, the documentary also features interviews with all of the album’s producers: Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S., and DJ Premier. Nas’ peers like Pharrell Williams, Busta Rhymes, Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys also appear to discuss how the album had influenced them. “Illmatic is one of those transformative moments in hip-hop,” Pharrell says in the trailer.

“It was trying to make the perfect album,” Nas says. “I gave you what the streets felt like, sounded like, tasted like.” The film was directed by One9, written by Erik Parker and produced in collaboration with Robert DeNiro’s Tribeca Productions. Almost every stop on the Time Is Illmatic tour will feature a screening of the documentary followed by Nas performing the album in its entirety live. Check out Nas’ site for ticket information.

Nas: Time Is Illmatic Tour
October 2 – Rochester, NY @ Main Street Armony*
October 3 – Albany, NY @ Palace Theatre
October 4 – Washington D.C. @ Lincoln Theatre
October 5 – Glenside, PA @ Keswick Theatre
October 8 – Toronto, ON @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
October 9 – Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit
October 10 – Hammond, IN @ Horseshoe
October 11 – Lincoln, NE @ Bourbon Theatre*
October 12 – Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre
October 15 – Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre
October 16 – Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
October 17 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas*
October 18 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre
October 19-20 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
October 22 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre

*No Nas: Time Is Illmatic screening

via RollingStone.com: Music http://ift.tt/1wSejd1