Festivals

Foo Fighters have recorded five new songs, including one with Ben Kweller

Foo Fighters, headlining both weekends of Austin City Limits, came out with exciting news on Friday night for the second performance of the festival.

“You know what I did last night?” Dave Grohl asked the crowd during their performance on Friday evening. “I recorded a fucking song in your beautiful city of Austin, Texas.” And that isn’t. “And I’m just gonna say it now: We recorded five fucking new songs in your beautiful city of Austin, Texas. And we’re gonna give it to you! But not tonight.”

“Just by chance,” Grohl continued telling the crowd. “I bumped into an old friend that I hadn’t seen in about 16 years, right as I was recording a vocal. This motherfucker walks in — I’m like, ‘Hey, man!’ — and he starts fucking singing the most beautiful harmony to the thing I was singing. I was like, ‘Get your ass in the vocal booth right now.’ And then he said, ‘Hey, if you want, I’ll come up and sing a song with you tonight.’” Austin resident rocker Ben Kweller took the stage to help with “some straight-up sweet, tug-your-heartstrings ballad shit” on “Big Me,” off of Foo Fighters’ self-titled debut, which had turned 20 in July. Watch below.

Unsound Festival concerts cancelled following satanism accusations

After claims that Poland’s Unsound Festival, that is starting tomorrow in Krakow, “promotes and propagates Satanism,” festival organizers have been forced to find different venues for several concerts scheduled to take place in two churches. “These accusations, initially made in a letter to St. Catherine’s Church, are completely unfounded, unreasonable, and slanderous,” the festival’s organizers wrote in an official statement on the Unsound website. “They undermine the good name of the festival, which since 2003 has been an enthusiastic participant in Krakow’s cultural life…We of course categorically deny that Satanism is now or has ever been promoted at our festival. The goal of the Unsound festival has always been bringing artists and audiences together in the promotion of art and culture.”

Officials at St. Catherine’s Church have decided to cancel a show from Britsh neofolk group, Current 93. “We are especially sorry because David Tibet — the founder and leader of Current 93 — sent us a statement in which he explains his faith as a Christian, as he has many times in interviews,” festival organizers say. “This letter was forwarded to the church, but without effect. He is upset and hurt by the fact we are now forced to change venues.” Also, Pitchfork reports that other shows at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul have been canceled as well. Pianist John Tilbury, jazz guitarist Raphael Roginski, and experimental electronic musician Rrose were scheduled to perform surprise sets at the venue.

Read the festival and Tibet’s statements here. Unsound starts tomorrow, October 11th and continues through the 18th, with this year’s theme being “surprise,” so no full lineup as been announces, but the confirmed performers are Andy Stott, Tim Hecker, Liturgy, Greg Fox, HEALTH, and Holly Herndon.

Austin City Limits 2015: the best moments

Austin City Limits came to a close on Sunday night and it is time for us to reflect on the best moments of the weekend. The beautiful city of Austin hosted their 12th annual festival this yea and it has one of the most diverse lineups in its history.

Billy Idol still has it going on at 60. It seems as though we were transported back to the 1980’s as Billy Idol and his band came out sporting Idol’s classic blonde hair and clad in leather and denim. Still looking great at 60, it seems like Idol and the band haven’t aged at all in terms of energy. Playing hits like “Dancing With Myself” and Rebel Yell” (although having to restart “Rebel Yell” three times and sarcastically saying “one more time and if we can’t do it this time, I’m retiring”). It was an energetic set was jam-packed with hits and new material, which seemed to drag the show a little bit. However, the band can still put on a dynamic show 34 years later.

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Father John Misty did everything you could ever imagine him doing, and even more. He walked out, immediately raised his mic stand behind his back and continued to do his usual pretend striptease as Misty and the band went straight into their set. Although there were not as much sarcasm as expected from him during the set, he still made fun of those filming with their iPhones and even faked filming on a lucky fan’s phone, moving around and holding the phone out. His performance was dramatic, smooth, and entertaining as one would expect from Tillman.

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Tame Impala brings a psychedelic mood to the festival as they played a variety of songs from their catalog of albums and EPs including their debut album, Innerspeaker. Moving from song to song, the band accommodated to their hour-long set, joking about the heat and spraying water bottles over the front rows of fans during an instrumental break in between the songs. Kevin Parker’s voice was as trippy as it is when Tame Impala is in the studio. Even though they played shorter than they should have, it was a still a stunning set.

 

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High intensity is the simplest way to put Twenty One Pilots’ set as they played through their songs, ranging from hit to hit from “Tear In My Heart” from their smash album, Blurryface to “Car Radio” from Vessels. Running around across the stage, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun seemed to be relentless and filled with energy. They also initially came out in ski masks and Joseph with the classic black on his body that represents insecurities that he and everyone face that suffocates them. The highlight of the set was when Joseph climbed their stage, the Samsung stage, the largest stage at the festival, and performed the rest of “Car Radio” (or at least tried to with microphone issues) at the top of the stage, holding onto the Texas flag.

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As dreamy as in the studio, José González performed at Tito’s Homemade Vodka stage and seemed to put his audience into a trance with his enthralling yet quiet voice and fascinating instrumentals. Without talking much, González went through his set, which included a Junip song and new songs from Vestiges & Claws. The light show that went on  worked perfectly with his calming music and the setting sun behind the audience. His set was like the calm before the storm at the hectic, crowded, and sold out Saturday of the festival.

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Although coming on ten minutes late and the occasional slip of lyrics, The Strokes performed a worthy set for being closing out the first weekend of the festival. With the occasional snark from frontman Julian Casablancas, the band played through the majority of their discography including a large chunk of their hits including “Reptilla,” however disappointing a number of fans by not playing “Under the Cover of Darkness.” It was a special set as there have been rumors of the band having internal conflicts, but still recording a new album. Nonetheless, the band still sounded and performed as intensely as ever, even performing a one song encore, if it should be called that as they left the stage initially twenty minutes before they should have.

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There is one word to describe the Foo Fighter’s headlining two-hour set on Friday night: rambunctious. The band tore through their career-spanning hits, from “Best of You” to the set opener, “Everlong.” Still in the “throne” Grohl performed as energetically as ever, lecturing the crowd how to scream like him, claiming his secret his “vocal juice” (his champagne and beer). It was, to say the least, expected from everyone in the crowd that Gary Clark Jr. would join the band on stage as they recorded What Did I Do? / God As My Witness with him at the legendary Austin City Limits studio in Austin with him and Clark performed at the next stage an hour before. Nonetheless, it was as rowdy and loud as anyone would expect from the Foo Fighters, even twenty years after their debut album. Die-hard fans and the casual listener can all agree that this set proves that the band still has it going on.

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Austin City Limits Weekend 1 in photos

Top 10 Moments of Austin City Limits Weekend Two

10. The Calvin Harris set in its entirety. It was as if the audience almost shook the ground during the set. Mixing a variety of songs, such as “I Don’t Care” by Icona Pop, Harris seemed virtually unstoppable and looked as though he was on top of the world. Many fans had been at the festival since 9, or even earlier, in the morning waiting for Harris, thus making the experience all the worthwhile.

9. When Davy Havoc from AFI crowdsurfed. He went into the crowd various occasions while singing. However, this time, he climbed over the front few rows and balanced himself amongst audience members  to finish off one of the songs. Many fans were glad he had stepped over, and on, them, receiving bragging rights for the rest of their lives.

8. The absolute raw energy during Spoon’s set. The Austin natives seem to have an unwavering attitude to them that keeps crowds coming performance after performance. Their set during this festival was no exception. There is absolutely no beating watching Spoon play as the sun begins to set in the background.

7. Temples’ style and performance. The way the band dresses and sound makes their listeners and audience time travel back to the 1970’s. With that sort of early Led Zeppelin influenced style and psychedelic rock sound, there is nothing that could make Temples’ set more enjoyable.

6. Mø’s general vibe towards the audiences. It seemed as though she treated everyone as if they were on stage with her as she spent a few songs actually in the crowd.

5. How happy Fitz and the Tantrums seemed to be performing at the festival. Performing both weekends and a show in between in Austin, it seemed as though they were still genuinely ecstatic that they were able to perform three times in a row in the Austin.

4. Jack Antonoff’s energy. Playing during what felt like the hottest part of the day, Bleachers seemed unstoppable when it comes down to their energy, and maybe a part of that were a part of that.

3. When St. Vincent pulled an Eddie Vedder and climbed up on the side of the stage and began acting as though she was falling off. Her set overall was the typical wildness that she is so closely related to. At the end of her set, she stole a hat, glasses, and a crutch from various audience members in the front row and wore them until she left the stage.

2. Outkast. Currently on a reunion festival tour, Outkast seems to be just as exciting as they were when they were just starting out.

1. Finally, Young and Sick never seem to disappoint in a live setting. The feeling from listening to their music is so unmatched.