We started day two of Lollapalooza 2009 at the coveted Rock Star Brunch hosted by Playboy at The Hilton Chicago. There was an ample supply of delicious treats, a generous bar, and of course beautiful women parading around The Imperial Suites, chatting up barely awake media personnel. Rock Band, Playboy Twister, and a "Make Out Room" were just a few of the 11 a.m. activities available as we dodged flashing cameras and a plethora of video crews doing their best to capture all the action at this event that reached full capacity by noon or so. On to the festival itself, adorable Welsh outfit Los Campesinos! offered the early afternoon dose of adrenalin today with a herky-jerky, spastic multi-instrumental assault on a very respectably sized crowd. An insistent Sun and 90 plus degree temperature had replaced the previous day's relentless rain and a red-faced Gareth Campesino was in inspired form, delivering his share of the vocals with much vigor, and also finding time to pay tribute to Elliott Smith ("..would have been 40 this month..") and reminisce ("Our first ever U.S. show was at Lollapalooza..we have great memories.") more ›

Mustering up our last reserves of stamina, we headed to day three at Lollapalooza around 1 p.m. Now based in Brooklyn, Car Stereo (Wars) had quite a posse in tow and assisted by MC (and Austinite) Neiliyo, he ushered in an afternoon dance party with the intro to Def Leppard's "Rocket." Neiliyo was at his charismatic best, jumping on the speakers and jumping down to the photo pit, eventually inviting many in the crowd to join the dancers already on stage. The unyielding Sun might have deflated a few but the majority of the audience sweated heartily to remixes, samples, and mash-ups of everything from MGMT to Joy Division to Daft Punk and bits 'n' pieces of the themes from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Ghostbusters. And Michael Jackson. Plenty of Michael Jackson. more ›

For our first 36 hours in town, Chicago sure did feel like Austin. Sunny and warm for a day, then dull and drizzly the next, and with nearly triple digit temperatures forecast for the weekend, we might have still been in the Lone Star State. On Thursday evening, we took in an Austin-centric show at The Hideout, a brilliantly named secluded venue not too far from Wicker Park. Car Stereo (Wars) (who recently relocated to Brooklyn) and Neiliyo, along with Chicago's The Hood Internet had the audience bumping and dancing through the wee hours. Neiliyo was playing his second show in two nights in Chicago and seemed to have amassed quite a following, a female fan club even it seemed. After an abbreviated night's sleep, we dodged the rain and swung by The Music Lounge at the Hard Rock Hotel early on Friday only to find more fellow Austinites, this time Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears lapping up the attention of the cameras at the busy Dickies gifting room. Less than an hour later, the band's soulful blues 'n' funk was casting a bright light on the first legitimate crowd of Lollapalooza 2009 on a dreary day one. The rain might have kept many away during the festival's first afternoon but nothing could dampen the spirits of this audience as Black Joe and crew delivered much adrenalin via a scintillating set. Still feeling a tad homesick, we decided to check in on DJ Mel at Perry's, essentially a dance club amidst all the live stages. It was coming down relentlessly now but that was no hindrance to the fans as they bounced around, especially when the Austin DJ busted out the early Depeche Mode classic "Just Can't Get Enough." A sign of things to come perhaps? more ›

"Every year, over 500 acts from around the world perform for 70,000 music fans and industry delegates at 40 clubs and outdoor stages during the four-day, four-night festival." No, it's not a SXSW marketing blurb from the early days, it's a legitimate summation of NXNE, Canada's own little festival that could. Now in its fifteenth year and much like its older counterpart in Austin, NXNE offers live performances by a fair share of underground and established musicians, tons of educational opportunities via panels, and a healthy dose of film, albeit largely music related. more ›

We kicked off our 2008 SPI Music Fest experience at the Dunes Stage at Schlitterbahn on Halloween in South Padre Island with funk 'n' punk courtesy of Mexico's 60 Tigres. The variety of costumes in the crowd included Alexander the Great and Wonder Woman, and plenty of nurses, fairies, devils, and a bat or two, making for a somewhat surreal afternoon. Add to that the plethora of cats that seem to have found home at the waterpark and it was truly unique beginning to this festival. more ›

The crowd waited eagerly even if impatiently, a mother requested us to move so her child could get a better look at the royalty, and finally after having made the audience wait for nearly half hour past the scheduled time, Prince took the stage at Coachella on Saturday evening. Backed up by an extensive band featuring the horns section of Austin’s own Grupo Fantasma as well as long time associates such as Sheila E. and Morris Day, Prince readied the masses with a touch of caution -- “I will come to party..but I get to choose the music. Is that alright?” We didn’t care, even if it meant that our optimistic dreams of hearing something off the Batman soundtrack were quashed instantly. Early set highlights included “Jungle Love” (with Day taking over lead vocals) and Sheila E.’s Prince penned, Grammy nominated (in 1985 that is) “Glamorous Life.” Prince, meanwhile was clearly up for it, prancing around stage all evening long and his genius on guitar was evident throughout. Drummer CC Dunham was impeccable and caught our eye very early on, and the ensemble’s exhilarating combination of funk and soul invigorated the hordes for a good hour and a half. more ›

As you know by now we have a passing interest in karaoke and when Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. was kind enough to invite Austinist to the launch events for the latest edition of PlayStation 3's SingStar, we had to take them up on the offer to get a sneak peak at the karaoke video game series before its U.S. (and Canadian) release on May 20th. As you can imagine, SingStar is not your average sit-at-home-on-the-couch-all-day type video game: players, preferably in a vivacious state, possibly in social settings, compete with each other to score the highest rating (out of 10,000) based on their talent and ability to sing on pitch. Pretty simple, eh? Well, SingStar for PS3 incorporates a community element, My SingStar Online, while also allowing users to download songs off an ever increasing database known as SingStore (with the matching music video to boot). more ›

Attending the launch events for Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.’s SingStar (for PlayStation 3) was our primary focus this past weekend but the added bonus of a wristband to that little festival going on in Indio, California was a welcome perk we could not pass up. Our two day experience at Coachella 2008 kicked off with SebastiAn’s remix of the Justice anthem “D.A.N.C.E.” Non-stop beats invigorated an extremely hot Sahara tent as flashing lasers and lights made the 3 p.m. set seem more like a 3 a.m. one! Battles were next for us. The band’s shifting rhythms and changing tempos were well received by the swaying crowd, bottled up in the Gobi tent which was bursting at the seams. Another quality set during the afternoon was over at the Mojave tent where Black Kids furnished the festival with dance-pop accentuated by a variety of synth output. Tracks like “Hurricane Jane” and “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You” were instant hits with the crowd, some just getting to know this talented Florida outfit, others apparently already big fans. more ›