Bonnaroo

Haim: From a Family Band to International Acclaim

No Gum Allowed! Stange Items Confiscated By Show Security

You're just trying to go to a concert. (That is, when you're trying not to sneak drugs inside.) And club security personnel are just trying to doing their jobs. (That is, when they're not trying to make a little something extra.) But nonetheless, the men and women blocking your way sometimes seem ... More >>

Which Music Festivals Are Dirtiest?

Our music feature this week focuses on the environmental impact of music festivals, which tend to be -- surprise, surprise -- ecologically problematic. For the piece we talked with Tucker Gumber, known on his blog as The Festival Guy, who goes to just about every festival imaginable. In fact, he's ... More >>

Trashed: Music Festivals Are Environmental Disasters

What can be done?

The Best Concerts to See In L.A. This Week

Don't forget to check our constantly-updated Los Angeles Concert Calendar Monday, June 3 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers THE FONDA THEATRE Going strong since the '70s, Tom Petty still isn't slowing down as he marches onward with his much anticipated summer tour with old pals the Heartbreakers. Havin ... More >>

The Economics of Music Festivals: Who's Getting Rich, Who's Going Broke?

By Chris Parker It's as though the sad, lamentable death of recorded music was accompanied by a kick-ass wake. Sure, label executives have had to sell their fancy homes and put their kids in public schools, but the rest of us have been feasting on a musical smorgasbord. Nothing better exemplifies ... More >>

Worst Idea Ever: Travel Dating Site Calls Coachella a Great First Date

Ladies travel site Misstravel.com recently named named Coachella the number one music festival at which to go on a first date. For so many reasons, this is a terrible idea. Issue number one is that unless you have some day pass scenario worked out, a first date at Coachella means that you're autom ... More >>

STS9 - Hollywood Palladium - 3/2/13

STS9 Hollywood Palladium 3/2/13 Any doubt that jam band culture is alive and healthy in Los Angeles was extinguished at Hollywood Palladium on Saturday night. Here, the heads of the greater L.A. area assembled for the experience of collective sonic ecstasy that is a Sound Tribe Sector 9 show. See ... More >>

How the Musical Jekyll & Hyde Went Steampunk

See also: *New theater reviews, including our take on Jekyll & Hyde *Photos of last year's Edwardian Ball Jekyll & Hyde opened at Hollywood's Pantages Theater last week as part of a national tour preceding the musical's return to Broadway this April. Directed by Jeff Calhoun and starring Constantin ... More >>

In Defense of Jam Bands

[Editor's Note: Fuck Guilty Pleasures celebrates the over-produced, commercial, artless, lowbrow music that we believe is genuinely worthwhile. Like, among the best music ever.] On a warm August night in 2011, roughly 18,000 Angelenos converged on the Hollywood Bowl, to partake in the swirl of cosm ... More >>

Quit Hating on Kings of Leon, Even If You Disliked "Sex On Fire"

[Editor's Note: Fuck Guilty Pleasures celebrates the over-produced, commercial, artless, lowbrow music that we believe is genuinely worthwhile. Like, among the best music ever.] I have several friends who should ostensibly like everything about Kings of Leon, but they strongly dislike the Nashville ... More >>

My Morning Jacket - The Wiltern - 9/12/12

My Morning Jacket The Wiltern 9/12/12 The number of bands building a name and reputation off their live performances has begun dwindling at a startling rate. With Bruce Springsteen and U2 inching closer to performing in wheelchairs, My Morning Jacket seems to be one of the last remaining holdouts w ... More >>

The 20 Worst Hipster Bands: The Complete List

The 20 Worst Hipster Bands: 10-1 Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre Top 20 Whitest Musicians of All Time Who are these hipsters we see each day in the streets, on our Tumblr feeds, and on the local news? And why are so many in bands? It's not the mere existen ... More >>

The 20 Worst Hipster Bands: 10-1

Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre Top 20 Whitest Musicians of All Time 10. White Rabbits Why do bands need a second drummer? In recent years everyone from Local Natives to Bon Iver to fucking Radiohead has thrown a second kit out there, or at least a floor to ... More >>

Five Bizarre Social Networking Sites From Musicians

Remember about a decade ago when every rapper had to have his own clothing line? And then remember about four years ago when every rapper had to have his own social networking site? Surprisingly, it turns out that artists from all across the musical spectrum have been impersonating Mark Zuckerberg f ... More >>

Why Did Goldenvoice Purchase a Bunch of Land Near Coachella?

See also: Coachella 2012 Lineup Goldenvoice announced Sunday that it has purchased 280 acres of land in Indio, ensuring that the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals will be enjoyed by generations of girls in spirit hoods and dudes in speedos and fanny packs The purchase includes El Dorado P ... More >>

Coachella Tickets: Now Is the Best Possible Time to Buy Scalped Ones Online

So Coachella sold out in a heartbeat, again. Even though they added a second week and, you know, certain headliners aren't maybe the most exciting headliners ever. But, of course, that doesn't mean there still won't be passes available, via the so-called "secondary ticket market." (In my day scalp ... More >>

Mobile Venice Studio Jam in the Van Lures in A-List Talent

Abran Rubiner​In London, folks hold acoustic sessions in the back of a taxi. In New York, musicians play rock shows in the subway. But until now, to the best of our knowledge, no one was making any decent music in vans. But that's changed. Witness Jam in the Van rolling down the streets of V ... More >>

Five Bands Bringing Rock Back To Metal

Swedish occult-rockers Ghost​Trademarks such as death-growl vocals and vicious blast beat drumming have caused the term "heavy metal" to be associated in 2011 with the most guttural sounds that can be produced by mankind. It's very easy to forget that prior to the mid-1980s emergence of subgen ... More >>

Faces of Occupy L.A.: The Student, the Actor, the Addict, the Vet

Walking through the tent city out front L.A. City Hall last night, spirits were high. A man in a ragged suit balanced on a fire hydrant, waving a sign with "Join us, don't be scared!" magic-markered in Spanish. Another man, in dreads, lit up some sage on the lawn next to him. Little kids with "99 p ... More >>

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other: Our Off-the-Beaten Path Guide To Summer Festivals

​ One of the best parts about being at a festival are those moments you walk by a stage and have that "what the fuck" moment. It's when you hear something that just doesn't fit. It's the feeling some people probably had at Chaos In Tejas this summer when, coming from Unbroken's set, they stumble ... More >>

Music Picks: Alison Krauss, Flying Lotus, My Morning Jacket

Also, Jaga Jazzist, Kid Cudi, Baths and others

Falling James' Gig of the Week: Buffalo Springfield at the Wiltern, 6/4

Falling James​A few years ago, the notoriously forward-looking Neil Young was in a curiously sentimental mood, waxing nostalgic on his solo tune "Buffalo Springfield Again": "Used to play in a rock & roll band/But they broke up ... I'd like to see those guys again/and give it a shot/Maybe now ... More >>

Dance Club Pick: Silence, Steampunk, Submission

Music Picks: Amanda Jo Williams, Usher, Masaki Batoh, Procol Harum

Also, Dustin Wong, Greg Dulli, Ghostface Killah

Music Picks: Plastic Ono Band, Ooh La LA Fest, Belle & Sebastian

Also, Marianne Dissard, Bad Company, Matador 21 and others