Riot Fest 2015 Lineups Revealed
It's been a busy month for Riot Fest organizers as they went from facing problems with Humboldt Park to being named USA Today's top summer music festival to eventually relocating to Douglas Park for their flagship Chicago festival. Finally, after incessant badgering on Twitter, the first wave of the Riot Fest 2015 lineup has been revealed. Some of the announced headliners are a bit surprising, considering the festival's typical M.O. However, it just further illustrates how large and popular the festival has grown over the past few years.
Riot Fest Chicago highlights include a few bands performing full albums like Rancid playing ...And Out Come the Wolves, Snoop Dogg playing Doggystyle, Ice Cube (and guests) performing NWA's Straight Outta Compton, The Academy Is... performing Almost Here, and The Dwarves performing Blood Guts and Pussy. Other musical highlights include No Doubt, Tenacious D, Modest Mouse, Motorhead, Less Than Jake, Modern Life is War, Lifetime, Cypress Hill, and local acts like Alex Wiley, Into It. Over it., and Psalm One.
Riot Fest Toronto highlights include Alexisonfire, Wu-Tang Clan, Tyler, the Creator, and Coheed and Cambria.
Riot Fest Denver highlights include Modest Mouse, Iggy Pop, Flogging Molly, Alkaline Trio, and Pixies.
Pre-sale tickets are already sold out, but you can still find 3-day passes for Chicago, Denver, and Toronto.
Chance the Rapper Puts Faith in Action to Save Chicago
Photo by Bryan Allen Lamb
Holiday weekends during nice weather don't typically go well here in Chicago. It's a sad story told week in and week out, but when the heat rises, so does violence throughout the city. However, Chance the Rapper is doing his part to ensure the Memorial Day weekend goes smoothly without any unnecessary violence.
Following last year's initiative, the highly-influential rapper is once again using his celebrity to bring peace to the city, if only for three days, by promoting various events throughout the city to keep Chicagoans safe alongside Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel. I implore anybody reading this to attend one of the many events taking place, or at the very least, help spread awareness by using the hashtags seen in the proceeding tweets.
S/O #FaithInAction #PutTheGunsDown #SaveChicago and whoever else is tired of holiday wknds in the summer meaning multiple shooting deaths
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) May 21, 2015
We finna party and protest and protect all wknd. I watched the city go 42 hours without a reported shooting this same wknd last year — Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) May 21, 2015
You can find a map of participating parks and businesses here.
[Trailer] Amy
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By now, we're all mostly familiar with the tragic story of Amy Winehouse. It's hard to believe that almost four years have passed since her untimely death, yet the story about the talented songstress is still being shaped to this day. Amy, directed by Senna director Asif Kapadia, utilizes unseen footage to serve as the definitive story of Winehouse's short life.
However, the documentary has received minor backlash from those close to Winehouse, with many who initially supported the documentary now distancing themselves following the doc's premiere at Cannes earlier this year. A statement released by a spokesperson for Winehouse's family reads:
They feel that the film is a missed opportunity to celebrate her life and talent and that it is both misleading and contains some basic untruths....There are specific allegations made against family and management that are unfounded and unbalanced.
Nevertheless, Amy promises an intimate look at Winehouse's life with nearly one-hundred interviews conducted to dictate the documentary's objective look at the Grammy award-winning singer's rise. Amy follows the release of another notable music documentary in Montage of Heck, which examines the life of departed Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain through private home videos and support from Cobain's widow, Courtney Love.
Amy will be in theaters on July 10th.
Riot Fest Chicago is Moving to Douglas Park
The dust has settled and the official verdict is in: Riot Fest is saying goodbye to Humboldt Park and hello to Douglas Park.
Mike Petryshyn, co-founder of the recently named Best Music Festival in the US, released a statement about the festival's move to North Lawndale:
In my very first meeting with Alderman Cardenas, I was happy that we were discussing logistical details and how we could enrich the community. Quite frankly, I was silently ecstatic. He gets it and it was genuine. Our goal has always been to leave a positive impact in the community we call home by helping local independent businesses, hiring ward residents and making an impact year-round. We did that in our previous home and plan to do the same — if not more — in the community surrounding Douglas Park and the 12th Ward.
As soon as we started discussing community, it was refreshing to see George get up from his desk and start pointing on the ward map to the local businesses we need to meet and have a formal introduction. He was excited and so was I. To have an an elected official see clearly how we can bring good things is humbling. To be appreciated for who we are—as people running an indie company and a festival—by the him and all of the supporters has been inspiring.
The strife between Riot Fest organizers and Alderman Maldonado of the 26th Ward (where Humboldt Park is located) has been well-noted since last year's festival that left the park with thousands of dollars in damages. And while the festival is committed to repairing the park, Maldonado and other Humboldt Park residents were vocal with their opposition to the festival's return despite overwhelming support that resulted in over 8,000 signatures (ours included) to keep the festival in Humboldt.
Riot Fest also announced the lineup for this year's festival will be released next week, ensuring a busy Riot Fest-related news month ends on a high note.
You can read the festival's official announcement here.
The American Idol Season 14 Winner Is...
Since this is the second to last finale American Idol will ever get to celebrate, they went for the completely awesome "kitchen sink" method. The finale was full of so many weird choices that perfectly reflect the show's constant struggle to appeal to millenials while refusing to get rid of its old fashioned ways. You had the terrible kid Daniel Seavey performing with New Kids on the Block, Pitbull showed up in like three different performances (with Chris Brown and then Prince Royce), three of the Jackson 5 members sang with another child Tyanna Jones, Janelle Monae slayed with her weird new single (which is completely different from anything she's done so far), Jamie Foxx performed with Rayvon, Fall Out Boy was there for some reason, Vance Joy didn't let Quentin sing much, Jax finally got some closure from her terribly quick elimination after her performance proved she was better than the remaining two finalists, Ford cars were given away weirdly while Season 12 winner Candice Glover sadly stood in the background unacknowledged, Clark Beckham sang with Michael McDonald and it worked way better than you'd think, and finally Nick Fradiani sang with a guy I swear was his twin.
Suffice to say, it was a weird, weird show to cap off such an awkward growing season. As Scott Borchetta stated, the winner this season will present at the Country Music Awards and perform at the Country Music Television awards. So I'm sure the winner will have a very solid country album. After hearing all of that, I'm so glad Jax didn't win since she's way too interesting to be forced into a country holding. Okay, that's enough stalling.
The winner of American Idol Season 14 is...
...Nick Fradiani.
I had predicted he'd take the title after he seemed to pick the right three songs to perform during the final round, and as I said in that article, Nick's going to do pretty much what his new label, Big Machine Records, tells him to do. After Clark Beckham fought with the man in charge to keep his musicality, he was sent into a down spiral from which he never quite recovered. All the while Nick was the Little Engine that Could just kept chugging along at the same pace, never changing his style or performances, and never causing a ruckus.
As quite possibly the most boring American Idol winner in its 14 season history, Nick will paradoxically make a ton of money over a long career. America eats that up with a damn spoon. If he can fare better than Season 12 "winner" Candice Glover or Season 13 "winner" Caleb Johnson (who both weren't invited to sing at their successor's finales), Nick could be okay. We'll just have to wait until next year to see what the final season has in store.
Widespread Panic Headlining North Coast Music Festival 2015
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This post was originally published by our affiliate site, Chicago Music.
North Coast Music Festival (NCMF) is thrilled to announce WIDESPREAD PANIC as the surprise headliner for this year’s festival! The legendary Southern rock jam band has remained in Pollstar’s Top 50 Tours of the Year for the past decade, and continues to be one of the most relevant touring entities on the live music scene after almost 30 years. 2015 marks a special year for the band as they announced the release of their first studio album in five years. This spring WP embarks on a highly anticipated nationwide tour in celebration of their first studio release since Dirty Side Down in 2010.
For more information on NCMF visit here.
USA Today and 10Best Name Riot Fest Best Music Festival
This post was originally published by our affiliate site, Chicago Music.
Riot Fest has consistently been Chicago's best music festival for the past few years, and finally, the festival has been recognized for doing so. USA Today and 10Best have named Riot Fest the country's Best Music Festival as voted by fans, beating out other festivals like Electric Forest Festival and Bonnaroo. Notable music festivals like Chicago's Lollapalooza and Pitchfork Music Festival, Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest, Austin City Limits, and SXSW, and California's Coachella didn't make the Top 10.
The accolades come at an uncomfortable time for Riot Fest organizers as they are currently facing some backlash from some Humboldt Park residents and Ald. Roberto Maldonado over the damage caused to the park from last year's festival. A change.org petition was recently started to keep the festival at Humboldt Park, but it appears that it's been taken down. Nevertheless, despite any opposition, Riot Fest has plenty of support. Being named the country's best music festival goes to show just how much the festival and its organization have grown over the past 10 years. Here's to 10 more!
[via 10Best]
Solo Kurt Cobain Album Coming This Summer
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck has been buzzing in hype since it debuted at Sundance earlier this year. Director Brett Morgan began work on the documentary in 2007 after gaining access to a large archive of memorabilia ranging from home videos to artwork to unreleased tracks, due in part to cooperation between the director, Cobain's widow Courtney Love, and other family members. It's no surprise, then, that Montage of Heck has been highly anticipated within many circles. Even then, nothing would excite Nirvana fans more than the announcement of new, official songs by the enigmatic musician.
During an interview with Bedford + Bowery, Morgan revealed that a solo Kurt Cobain album will be released this summer:
[The album] will feel like you’re kind of hanging out with Kurt Cobain on a hot summer day in Olympia, Washington as he fiddles about. It’s going to really surprise people. Just to be clear, it’s not a Nirvana album, it’s just Kurt and you’re going to hear him do things you never expected to come out of him.
The album will be the first official collection of new music from Cobain since 2002's "You Know You're Right." Whether the untitled album will do justice to Kurt's legacy or be seen as an exploitative cash cow remains to be seen. However, one thing is clear: 2015 just may have become the year of Kurt Cobain's return... for better or worse.
[Bedford + Bowery via punknews.org]