GLASTONBURY 2010

The xx featuring Florence from Florence and the Machine



The National



Mumford & Sons

Glastonbury has to be the mother of all festivals, bringing the biggest names together and creating some of the most memorable moments. Weekend highlights include The xx with Florence from Florence and the Machine, Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood, Stevie Wonder with his MJ tribute and a ton of others.

We are so there next year!

BONNAROO WRAP-UP

The Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee completed another successful year. With temperatures reaching 100 degrees at times and little to no rain, air-conditioned medical tents seemed to be the popular spot. Twenty-five percent more people were treated this year than in the past; however, a little heat exhaustion wasn't going to keep the fans from seeing their favorite bands.

This is definitely a big difference from the Sasquatch Festival in Washington. I think temps probably never reached 75 degrees, which is nice when you are dealing with long days and big crowds. Unfortunately, musicbleep didn't make it out to Bonnaroo this year, but it's definitely in our future. Check out some of the highlights from Bonnaroo, courtesy of Ford & the Youtube Bonnaroo broadcast.

Click here for more Bonnaroo photos, reviews & more!

WE HAVE BEEN SASQUATCHED!

This last weekend was a great weekend for musicbleep as we headed up to Seattle to catch the SASQUATCH! Music Festival at the Gorge in Washington, and I have to say, it was quite the magical weekend! We started out our adventure on Friday night in Ballard, a neighborhood in Seattle known for a list of cherished music venues and hidden hot spots.  After dinner at King's Hardware, we were headed back to the car and passed Aaron Dessner from one of our favorite bands, The National.  Now, it was my birthday and I did meet them on my birthday two years ago, so I thought this to be a little ironic, so I had to stop him.  The next thing you know, we were at the Tractor Tavern with the National drinking PBR's and watching an intimate set by Peter Buck from R.E.M.  That was just the beginning.  The next morning we got up and drove east, past the cascades and pine trees to the Gorge.

The spectacular views of the Columbia River, and the broken cliff edges of the gorge as the backdrop and scenery for the amazing lineup of artists that they put together, set the mood for the weekend and was certainly well thought out.  Each day had remarkable sets, no matter which stage you chose; Sasquatch Main, Bigfoot or the Yeti, you were guaranteed a great performance.

We arrived early Day 1 of the festival to make sure that we caught some of the earlier acts; Laura Marling, Mumford & Sons (unbelievable)  Portugal. The Man (whom we had the chance to hang out and chat with after their show), The Middle East,  Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros (best show of theirs I have seen so far),  and a speechless performance by The National.  Just to name a few.

The overall set-up of the festival was amazing, with it being built out of nature and using nature as the driving force behind the acoustics for live performances, to the overall vibe of the people that were there.  Nobody was there to fight, push, or shove (although there were times where a lot of dancing and pushing around during shows), everybody was there to share an experience that we all have a common bond over and that is MUSIC!  And to have it all laid out in those breathtaking surroundings, created a complete package.

Day 2 of the fest we started out our day right by hitting the Bigfoot stage, which was right by the entrance and two ponds.  Local Natives opened our late morning with lively energy and then we walked our way down the gorge to the Sasquatch stage to see Seattle locals The Long Winters, and They Might Be Giants (I bought my first TMBG album in the 7th grade, it was a nostalgic moment).  We decided to just take in all that was going on for a while; walking around, people-watching, checking out different stages and bands and then wondered back up the hill the catch an unforgettable set by the UK's The XX.  And they KILLED it!  We had the opportunity to meet up with the XX after and talked to them for a while.  We finished our day by watching a set by LCD Soundsystem which just blew us away.  Spectacle not to be missed.

Sadly Day 3 arrived *tear*.  But our frowns were quickly turned upside down, because we still had a FULL DAYS worth of bands and music we love.  Our day started of rather early with a surprisingly interesting performance by Detroit's Mayor Hawthorne and then some of our favorite AUSSIE'S....The Temper Trap, where Dougy and Co. nailed it, once again!  Drums + Water = RAD!  The Passion Pit soon came after and we danced to their electro-rock beats.  We were preparing ourselves for a more mellow ending to our evening, but She & Him have, well grown.  When musicbleep first saw this "duo", they were just that, Zooey and M.Ward.  Now they are a full grown band with much more upbeat and danceable sounds.  And how can you resist her face and personality...so adorable.  We had some time to kill so we walked around a bit and caught up with the drummer and singer from Band of Horses.  They were really sweet guys and very humble, which was nice to see with their quick rise to their success.  They soon took the stage and...I don't even know what to say.  We have been listening to them for years, but to see them live completely introduced us to them on a whole new level. After they finished their unspeakably amazing collections of songs, we walked up to finish the night with The New Pornographers, which we all know involves one of musicbleeps favorite singer/songwriters, Neko Case.  I have seen them before, but to see them so close to their Canadian home, was very special.  They were full of personality and humor, and then put on the perfect final touch to this amazing weekend!

As you can imagine, this was a great experience and we are so grateful that we were a part of it and be able to bring all the music love back to share with all of our muscbleep readers.  Keep reading this week as we will doing full individual reviews of highlighted performances, as well as reviews on some upcoming shows this week: The School of Seven Bells, The Hundred In The Hand, The Middle East and Mumford & Sons (yes, twice in one week).  We are very excited and look forward to going back to the SASQUATCH! Festival next year.  I'm sure the line-up of artists and the atmosphere will just be as great as this year, if not better.

WE ARE SASQUATCH!!

STORY: TONY CRAGO/CORY RADKE 
PHOTOS: TONY CRAGO/CORY RADKE

SASQUATCH DAY 1 - THE NATIONAL

PHOTOS: TONY CRAGO

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

TONIGHT is the return of The National!! It's been since Coachella like 3 years ago when I saw the band last, we also had that moment at the House of Blues in San Diego when Cory (staff writer) met the band and had a moment with them when they sang Happy Birthday to him. I'm super excited to see them tonight, their new CD is AMAZING! The band continues to grow with each album & continue to blow me away with their talent. We will have a full review next week.

Also, we have a super busy musical week - kicking it off with The Uglysuit. The Uglysuit is a band out of Oklahoma that I've been wanting to see for years. If you don't know this band, you gotta check em out! The band has 2 gigs next week in LA - a night at the Hotel Cafe as well as the famous Viper Room on the Sunset Strip.

www.myspace.com/theuglysuit

Let's not forget they dynamic Australian duo, Angus & Julia Stone. They are returning to Hollywood for a 2 night stint at the Cemetery. I believe they also have a FREE show at a record store in Long Beach and another show they added in Venice.

It all adds up to the BIG Sasquatch Festival weekend in Washington. More details to come...

THIS WEEKS NEWS!

A few great things happened this week in music and for musicbleep. For starters, two of our favorite collaborators released two new albums; the National and the New Pornographers. Both very different, but both sets of artists have one thing in common, they are collaborators. This will be the New Pornographer's 5th studio release, but this does not compare to their other collaborative efforts [Dark Was the Night]. For the National (one of my favorite bands), this will be their 6th studio release, and, like the Pornographers, they collaborate quite a bit, including spear-heading the success of the 'Dark Was the Night's double CD masterpiece.

I have had the opportunity to listen to both albums for quite some time now, and I have to say that I think that it is both their finest. I do have my nostalgic pieces from previous records, and I do hold them close to me, but they both stepped it up and proved it to me and music that they are established and here to stay. From strong compelling lyrics and melodies, whether dark or bright, as these two bands are so different, but have so much in common.

Stay up to date with musicbleep as we will be doing a full review of both the National and the New Pornographers when they are in LA as well as.....(more news!!!)....

THE SASQUATCH FESTIVAL IN WASHINGTON STATE! WHERE MUSICBLEEP WILL BE THERE REVIEWING SHOWS AND GIVING UP TO DATE INFORMATION ON THE FESTIVAL AND PERFORMANCES. THE NATIONAL AND NEW PORNOGRAPHERS ARE BOTH PERFORMING AMONGST MANY, MANY OTHER GREAT BANDS. CHECK OUT OUR EARLIER POST ON THE FESTIVAL AND WE WILL BE KEEPING YOU UPDATED AS WE PREPARE FOR THE FESTIVAL AND INVITE YOU TO JOIN US; VIDEOS, PHOTOS, REVIEWS!! IT'S GOING TO BE AMAZING!

I highly recommend checking them out and you can find them on iTunes or check them out at:

the National: http://www.blogger.com/www.americanmary.com
the New Pornographers: http://www.blogger.com/www.thenewpornographers.com



Story by Cory Radke

FLYAWAY WITH THE NATIONAL

Those who donate to KCRW between May 4 and 7 are automatically entered to win a trip to see the band on Saturday, May 15. Presented by Zync from American Express


Los Angeles-based public radio station KCRW (89.9FM and KCRW.com) is thrilled to announce a special sweepstakes for a trip for two to New York City to see The National perform a special concert at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) on Saturday May 15 to benefit Red Hot AIDS charity. The concert is presented by Zync from American Express.

"The buzz on The National is palpable, and as an early candidate for one of the best albums of the year, this is an amazing opportunity to see the band perform to a hometown crowd in New York City. For a KCRW music fan, this getaway is a dream come true," said Jason Bentley, KCRW Music Director and host of Morning Becomes Eclectic.

The majority of KCRW’s funds come directly from member donations. Anyone who joins, renews or makes an additional donation to the non-profit station between Tuesday, May 4 and Friday May 7 at noon will be automatically entered to win. KCRW Star Members, who contribute on a monthly basis, are automatically entered as well.

The winner will fly to New York City on Friday, May 14 and have two nights at the ACE Hotel in Manhattan. Transportation to the hotel and concert will also be taken care of.

This very special evening of music will be webcast live on You Tube and directed by DA Pennebaker.

This special concert event follows the release of The National’s highly anticipated new record, High Violet, on May 11. KCRW will be streaming the album in its entirety on the Album Preview page: http://www.kcrw.com/albumpreview

All the information about the sweepstakes, including rules, can be found online at http://www.kcrw.com/TheNational

Donations to KCRW can be made online at http://www.kcrw.com/join

IN CASE YOU MISSED EM...

The National gave the world a little preview of their upcoming album. "Terrible Love" is the first single off the bands new album HIGH VIOLET, out in May. The band performed the first single on the Late Show with Jimmy Falon.

The boys will also be kicking off a tour, hitting L.A. in May.

IN CASE YOU MISSED EM...

I had a ticket to see The National over the weekend, but I wasn't able to make the show. I headed to the desert to escape the hot L.A. heat for some even hotter temps in Palm Springs.

It looked like it was a great show!! Here are a few clips.

IN CASE YOU MISSED EM...

The National performed "So Far Around The Bend" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. This single is off the album Dark Was The Night, a compilation curated by the National for AIDS awareness.

LOLLAPALOOZA WRAP UP

The National, Nine Inch Nails, Gnarls Barkley, Broken Social Scene and many many more were all part of the 3 day Lollapalooza Festival that wrapped up in Chicago this past weekend.

For festival highlights head over to Rollingstone.com.

Photos by Rory O' Conner for Rollingstone.com

The National HOB, San Diego

Although The National were opening for R.E.M at the Hollywood Bowl the next night, I decided to head to San Diego to catch them at a smaller venue: the House of Blues, and it happened to be my birthday, and yes, I flew solo to the show. I had not been feeling that great for the few days prior, including that day, but decided to go anyways, as they are one of my favorite bands, and put on some of the most intense shows I have seen in long time.

I arrived Downtown San Diego HOURS before the show, walked around for five minutes, decided it was too hot, so I went to my car, cranked up the air conditioning and took a nap for two hours. After waking up, still hours to go, I called my cousin to meet me for appetizers and I watched her drink a martini and had a nice innocent ginger ale. We left that place, with still two hours to go, and headed to the House of Blues Bar to hang there until the doors opened. After about 30 minutes, I looked up to see the guitarist from The National standing there, meek, with his hands in his pockets looking for someone. I was coaxed to go say something, but that's not my style, so I left him alone and he went back to his table with the rest of the band, sans the singer and drummer. Minutes later he came back, and I came up with the dork courage to say something. I discretely called him over, and introduced myself and my cousin, Brynn, and he was sweet as pie. He told us to hang on a second, and went and grabbed the rest of the band and introduced them to us and they sat around and hung out with us for a good 15 minutes, at least. My cousin told them it was my B-Day, and I came down alone, and was going to the show, alone..........they were all really genuine and real and wished me a happy birthday and thanked me for my gratitude towards the band.

7:00 came, I walked my cousin to her car, and went to the venue to grab my place on the floor. While waiting for the opening act, I met a cute couple from upstate NY, Alex and Lora, who were en route from NY to Portland, and being The National fans they were, they decided to drive 18 hours out of there way to see this show, their 7th time at a National show, die hard fans, my kind of people. We talked, and laughed, and they gave me raspberry gum, which lost it's flavor half way through the long set of the opening band. Lights came up, curtains closed, and we waited. Anxiously.

As with every show, house lights went down, the curtains opened to an empty stage. The band walked out and the sold out audience went crazy. They introduced some visiting artists they had on stage with them, a fiddle player, and trombone player, and a trumpet man! The first four songs were passionate, loud, intense, and even brought a tear to my eye. They stopped for a pause, and the singer slyly said my name , "Cory". He announced that it was my birthday, the guitarists pointed me out, he came to the foot of the stage and told the crowd I was solo on my birthday, came down from LA to see them, and for them all to wish me warm birthday wishes. The crowd started shouting Happy Birthdays, we love you Cory, and all sorts of other wishes. He then said this song is for you, I hope you like it. One of the other guitarists leaned into the mic, looked at me and said 'yes, this is your song tonight, so we do hope you like it'. First three chords into it, I knew it was 'ABEL', which happens to be my favorite song, and I went crazy! Definitely worth my day, my not feeling well, my drive and my nap in my car.

Aside from my personal experience, it was, by far, the BEST and most energetic show I have seen them perform. They even said it was the best time, and performance they have ever put on. Their intensity, and passion brought tears to my eyes, and I went nuts throughout the whole show! They came back for an encore, ended with Mr. November, then started to leave, came back and said, we are having such a great night, we are going to play one more and ended the set with a 15 minute version of 'About Today', a song I have never heard them perform, it was spectacular!!




To ANYONE out there who are not familiar with The National please, please, PLEASE, check them out www.myspace.com/thenational or on itunes. They are lyrical geniuses, amazing musicians, and all around great guys, who evoke so many emotions during each show that I have seen!!!

BY CORY RADKE