Outkast Announces Over 40 Festival Dates
Outkast is gearing up for one hell of a 2014. On the heels of the announcement that the duo, preparing to celebrate their 20 year anniversary, would headline this year's packed Coachella, Big Boi and Andre 3000 announced a tour of over 40 festival dates that are expected to run the course of the year via their social networking accounts earlier today. No word yet on the precise locations or dates of the announced sets, but expect that to roll out soon.
The Atlanta duo has gotten music fans buzzing with the recent news of their reunion, after stopping work together after their 2006 movie Idlewild and just after their last album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, which went eleven times platinum and sold over 11 million copies. None of the reunion news has come with a promise of new music, but we can all hope. In the mean time, there is a disturbing amount of Belieber Kool-Aid-drinking Twitter fiends who don't have any idea who Outkast is, which has (thankfully) since been taken down.
The announcement was also made on Outkast's personal website, with the following message:
“Ingenious and iconic recording artists and performers, Antwan “Big Boi” Patton and André “3000? Benjamin today announced via Outkast’s social media platforms that their return to the stage celebrating their 20th anniversary will include festival dates around the world. After headlining performances at Coachella in April, the influential group will be the marquee act at over 40 festivals around the world throughout the Spring/Summer of 2014 (dates to be announced).
“It’s truly an honor to celebrate 20 years and still be free to do music the way we choose,” said Big Boi. “Don’t just think outside the box, know that there is no box. I’m looking forward to rocking the stage with my Bro Ski and to all the fans – stank you smelly much, this is for y’all!”
“And imagine, all we wanted to do was rap! I am thankful to have been a part of a group that allowed me to explore anything that came to mind and have fun doing it. Returning to the stage together is the most exciting way for us to thank everyone for their 20 years of supporting Outkast,” said André 3000.”
Ultra Music Festival Announces Packed 2014 Lineup
Ultra Music Festival is the annual Electronic Dance Music super-festival that is easily the largest such event, outside of EDC Las Vegas and Tomorrowland/world. For the sixteenth installment of the neon-splattered mega-rave, organizers went a bit, H.A.M. The first phase of 2014's installment of Ultra Music Festival includes a who's who of artists in the EDM world, including the likes of Armin Van Buuren, Afrojack, Kaskade, Avicii, Krewella and MixMag's No. 1 DJ in the world, Hardwell, who top a packed list.
An interesting tweak at Ultra Music Festival is the split between a DJ and Live lineup. The live lineup has grown and this year includes M.I.A, MGMT, Cut/Copy, Empire of the Sun and Pusha T. I've written about a lot of festivals with over the top lineups, but Ultra may have pushed the envelope another step forward, it's hard to imagine there could be more phases of artist added. The full list of performers can be found below, it may take you a minute to digest the entire situation.
The festival will take place March 28-30 at Bayfront Park in Miami. While VIP tickets have sold out, you can still drop a cool $399.95 for General Admission tix here. Check out a recap video of last year's Ultra and the full list of performers, below.
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[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.