North Coast Music Festival – Page 2

[RH Photos] North Coast Music Festival 2013 Day 2

Photography by Geoff Henao

Day Two of North Coast Music Festival in Union Park went off much smoother than the 2013 debut a day earlier. With the sun finally shining down and the heat pounding festival-goers, things got off to a fast start. Chicago's own Porn and Chicken got things going with their 2:30 set at the Last Stand Stage, picking up where frat-dance kings Milk n' Cookies warmed up the stage earlier.

After floating through the following sets and checking out a truly inspired set from Conspirator, I found myself torn between the silky smooth tones of Aloe Blacc, the rough-edged hip hop of Flatbush Zombies and the endearing DJ sounds of Thibault. I ended up making the rounds to each briefly, unfortunately missing most of Flatbush due to simply not being able to navigate the festival properly. Between Bondax, Gramatik, Future Rock and the smattering of EDM/Dance acts on the Tent Stage, the Saturday afternoon air was soon completely inundated with the glitchy sound of digital music. Being a big fan of both Gramatik and Bondax, it was disappointing that organizers pushed so many similar acts together and brought about memories of monotonous EDM festivals of earlier months.

Emerging from the dense electronic jungle, Nas took the North Stage to close it out for the day. The New York MC showed precisely why he is one of the most decorated hip-hop acts in the history of the genre, filling his hour-long set with tracks from his entire discography. Dipping back to Illmatic for timeless hit ("The World is Yours", "Life's a Bitch", "Memory Lane") and peppering more recent work from several albums (God's Son, Stillmatic, Life is Good), Nasir Jones put on a show that won't soon be forgotten at North Coast.

EDM made it's way back to the stage in two forms to close out Saturday, with Big Gigantic and Afrojack bringing up the rear as the day's headliners. Jeremy Salken and Dominic Lalli continued their string of impressive Chicago shows by performing their instrumental take on the genre that includes live drums and saxophone, drawing one of the biggest crowds of the weekend. A meet and greet organized through Thissongissick.com kept the pair standing stage-side for hours. For his part, Afrojack held things down, giving fans a grittier dance experience from the other side of the festival grounds and closing out what was easily the biggest day at North Coast for anyone trying to dance.

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by Jake Krzeczowski

[Interview] North Coast Music Festival 2013: Cherub

Photos by Bobby Reys

Cherub has been steadily building a name for themselves since crossing paths three years ago with a common musical goal. It was simple, guitarist Jordan Kelley had a sound he wasn't quite sure how to achieve, Jason Huber had just the voice and production skills to make it happen. Having found each other in Nashville, TN, the pair created Cherub, a hybrid dance/funk electro-pop that has drawn comparisons to Prince and Pharrell. Over the past two years the duo have watched their stars rise exponentially, playing Bonaroo and Electric Forest, along with a successful SXSW in Austin last year buoyed by supports from the Red Bull Sound Select series. This year Jason and JordanÂ jumped on tour with Gramatik in the spring and, with festival season out of the way, will begin a Fall tour with ProbCause, Mansions on the Moon and Pell. We had the opportunity to sit down with the pair before the played the Dos Equis stage, check out the conversation below.

Jake: The two of you have had a crazy year or so since latching on with the Red Bull Sound Select series, what's it been like?

Jason: I mean it's been a really crazy year, we've had to take a lot of pictures of moments and step back. We've just been kind of doing our thing and then all of a sudden you'll look back and be like "woah, this is really awesome what we're getting to do." We've had so many amazing opportunities, all the stuff through Red Bull-they've just been putting us on time and time again and have been super awesome about letting us do our own thing and supporting what we're doing-it's been a really great way for us to continue doing exactly what we're doing and do cool stuff at the same time.

Jake: Yeah, the Red Bull show at SXSW in Austin was where I first saw you, all the way back at the beginning of festival season.

Jordan: Yeah, this year's SXSW was a total redemption for the year before. We had a shitty first year we went there and totally redeemed ourselves and it was great.

Jason: We played our first gay bar at SXSW this year. It was a great show, a really, really great show.

by Jake Krzeczowski

[RH Photos] North Coast Music Festival 2013 Day 1

Photos by RaRa Photography

Weather doesn't seem to like Chicago festivals much, and the latest edition of North Coast at Union Park was no exception. The festival got off to a familiar beginning as those in attendance were evacuated from the park within hours of arriving due to a storm that quickly swept through the area. As memories of Bjork getting cut short weeks earlier at Pitchfork Festival danced in everyone's heads, careful planning by organizers REACT Presents and 1833 got North Coast going again before 8 o'clock and sent hundreds dashing across baseball fields and basketball courts to catch RL Grime who restarted the party and essentially re-opened the festival for the weekend.

The soggy crowd bounced between the remaining acts. AlunaGeorge made their US festival debut, playing on the main stage with an electrifying outfit. With only 30 minutes left, they rocked the stage with a graceful performance. The festival continued on with other acts from Laid back Luke, Mac Miller, and Passion Pit who gathered a crowd to the furthest point of the park.

Despite Passion Pit's equipment being severely damaged by the storm they did not disappoint the crowd by canceling, instead playing a DJ set to the enjoyment of a positive and responsive crowd. Mac Miller, performing on the North Stage, put on an inspired performance while playing a variety of his increasingly extensive library as he touched on content from 2009's KIDS to this year's Watching Movies With The Sound Off to a young, raucous crowd.

The surprise act of the day was certainly Chicago's own ProbCause, whose 7 o'clock Tent Stage performance was pushed back, putting him onstage at the same time as Mac and Paper Diamond, who put on a live performance himself. Despite beginning the set with a sparse crowd, Prob faced the adversity head on and rocked the crowd like he was on the main stage, attracting fans old and new. Later, I headed to the Bottom Lounge where he joined fellow North Coast performer Psalm One onstage for the Just Blaze after show.

Day 1 of North Coast may have been set back by the sudden storm, but delivered to everyone who came out. North Coast handled the situation gracefully with a fast and easy path back into the festival and a safe end to it all. -

by RH Staff

[RH Interview] North Coast Music Festival 2013: U-God

Photography by Geoff Henao

Like most anyone involved with hip-hop music or pop culture in general, I grew up listening to Wu-Tang Clan and vividly remember ODB crooning through the speakers of my Mom's Ford Explorer when I was a kid hijacking the radio. So, waiting on the elevator with two photographers to meet and interview U-God during North Coast was one of the crazier moments I've had in my life.Â The two of us said hello, settled in and enjoyed the view from the 29th floor of the Hard Rock Hotel, check out the conversation below.

Jake: Tell me a bit about coming to Chicago after being overseas for a minute.

U-God: Well man you know, Chicago's one of the hometowns that gave us our first little bit of love out here as Wu-Tang and shit so it's a good market for us you know what I'm saying? We had to do a lot to get in this market and it's a hard market to crack so back in the days we put our work in out here and it paid off man, people out here, they like us man.

Jake: What's the ride been like coming up with Wu-Tang?

U-God: Its been a roller coaster man. It's always been a roller coaster to me because I always feel like someone is trying to be our demise. I always feel like there's someone out there trying to stop us, some force or a hidden hand that's always trying to stop us or pull us apart or just some shit like that. But it feels awesome, after all this time we're still putting out good music-I put out a dope record this year, you know what I'm sayin'? I'm just happy to still be here you know? Still being able to tour, run around and still see people like y'all coming through to check me out.

by Jake Krzeczowski

[RH Contest] Official North Coast After Party w/ Just Blaze, Young Chop and more

Are you all excited for North Coast this weekend? All of us at Ruby Hornet are, and we wanted to spread some of that excitement over to two lucky people. We have a pair of tickets for this Friday's official North Coast After Party featuring Just Blaze, Young Chop, ProbCause, and DJ Intel. All you have to do is tweet Ruby Hornet your favorite Just Blaze song with #RH1833 attached to every tweet. Winners will be announced THURSDAY NIGHT (8/29). Good luck!

You can buy tickets to this official North Coast After Party exclusively on Clubtix. Facebook users can also check which of their friends will be going on the event's official Facebook page, as well.

by Geoff Henao

[Video] North Coast Music Festival 2013 Teaser + Daily Lineups Announced

Since it's the halfway mark for the summer, the onslaught of music festivals are prepping to take Chicago over. North Coast has already released its full lineup of artists previously, but the daily list of artists have been made public today. Have you wanted to jam to RL Grime, ProbCause, Mac Miller, and Team Bayside High, on one day? How about PHNM, NaS, and Porn and Chicken? Wu-Tang and Danny Brown? Everything's covered! Remember to buy your 3-day passes for this year's North Coast Music Festival here. The daily lineups are in full below with ticket links for each respective day.

http://youtu.be/mJAPftF93wI

by Geoff Henao

Full list of North Coast Music Festival 2013 artists announced

It's been a month since the last group of North Coast artists had been announced. Today, the entire lineup has been revealed for the Chicago summer's last stand in music festivals. Joining the recently announced list of artists that included NaS, Danny Brown, Mac Miller, Wu-Tang Clan, Midnight Conspiracy, and more are the indie-dance band Passion Pit, Fool's Gold's A-Trak, Gramatik, and a few others.

Now that all of the artists are set in stone, are you planning to check it out? I'm down for Wu-Tang and Danny Brown myself, but I'm open for some surprises. Remember, you can buy tickets for this year’s North Coast Music Festival here. The full lineup is below.

PASSION PIT | WU-TANG CLAN | AFROJACK | BIG GIGANTIC

by Geoff Henao

More Artists Added to North Coast Music Festival Lineup

Continuing on with our long list of summer festival lineups, North Coast has added some new artists to their already large list of musicians. After the mayhem that will be Spring Awakening, Pitchfork, and Lollapalooza, but before Riot Fest, will be the North Coast Music Festival. Serving to be the summer's last hold on music festivals, this year's North Coast is shaping up to be a solid way to spend your weekend before the leaves begin to drop.

New additions have been announced to the lineup that will now feature Danny Brown, RL Grime, Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, Midnight Conspiracy, Flatbush Zombies, and more. In addition to the musical additions, North Coast has also made official partnerships with the Hard Rock Hotel and Crowne Plaza for those traveling into Chicago for the festival.

You can buy tickets for this year's North Coast Music Festival here.

by Geoff Henao