Lollapalooza Introduces Lolla Cash, a Digital Way to Make Payments
Crowds are the absolute worst at music festivals. What's more annoying than being stuck in a crowd of screaming, drunk people? Being stuck in a crowd of screaming, drunk people while waiting in line to purchase something. Usually, lines are so long because people have to fuss with wallets or purses to find their credit cards or cash, then you have to swipe and sign or get change for your bills, and it's just a time-consuming, tedious process that most festival goers must go through if they want some food or drinks. However, C3 Presents, Lollapalooza's promoters, want to revolutionize the festival experience with a new initiative.
Referred to as Lolla Cash, the initiative involves implementing a chip within the Lollapalooza wristbands that can be used to purchase food and drinks from vendors. Lolla attendees simply have to register a credit card with their wristbands to take part in the Lolla Cash program. If all goes accordingly, it should help expedite the process at vendor stands while also ensuring attendees won't lose their wallets along the way. The wristbands use radio frequency identification (RFID) similar to how Ventra cards work, and considering how rough the CTA's new system launch was, there are bound to be bumps in the road for Lollapalooza this year. The wristbands will also store purchase information in case a clear signal can't be made at the moment of purchase to ensure transactions go through properly.
Lolla Cash represents the festival's full embrace of new technology that could find use amongst other major music festivals like South by Southwest, Electronic Daisy Carnival, Bonnaroo, and more. Disney launched a similar initiative last year, My Magic+, that allowed visitors to use their bracelets to make purchases, access their hotel rooms, fast entry into amusement and water parks, and more. It's only a matter of time before we go completely cashless in all areas of our lives.
For now, tell us what you think about Lolla Cash, and if you're going, will you actively use it?
[via Adweek]
Fun Fun Fun Fest 9 Comedy Lineup Announced
Fun Fun Fun Fest 9's music lineup has been set since May, with the festival's daily lineups released a few weeks ago. However, there were still question marks as to who would be taking the festival's vaunted "Yellow Stage," which has been a platform for both comedians and spoken word artists in the past. Finally, the dust has settled and the curtains have been pulled back to reveal who'll help round out the Austin, TX festival.
Fun Fun Fun Fest 9 organizers have announced today that the Yellow Stage will feature such acts as Portlandia's Fred Armisen, Silicon Valley's Thomas Middleditch and Kumail Nanjiani, former Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra, Kroll Show's Jon Daly, and legendary filmmaker John Waters, amongst others. In addition to the comedians and spoken word artists, the Yellow Stage will also feature events including the FFF Fest Dating Show, the Air Sex Championships, the Altercation Punk Comedy Tour, wrestling matches, and much much more.
To find a complete list of Yellow Stage acts, as well as single day passes on the Fun Fun Fun Fest website.
Fun Fun Fun Fest 9 Lineup Announced
Festival lineup announcement season is in full effect. Following last week's amazing Riot Fest announcements, Austin, TX-based Fun Fun Fun Fest just released their lineup for this year's event in November. Taking place from November 7th - 9th, Fun Fun Fun Fest 9 features some heavy hitters across all genres, including Judas Priest, Death Grips, Blood Brothers, Glassjaw, Death from Above 1979, Nas, 2 Chainz, Wiz Khalifa, Run the Jewels, Death Cab for Cutie, Neutral Milk Hotel, Yo La Tengo, and more.
Based on the announcement poster (which you can see below), each of the festival's three stages seems to be separated by genre, with the black stage focusing on punk/rock-oriented bands, blue stage for hip hop and "urban" artists, and the orange stage tailored for indie rock bands. The non-musical portion of FFF9, the comedy and sports lineups, will be announced at a future date.
Passes for Fun Fun Fun Fest 9 are already on sale, which can be purchased here.
[Video] Foster The People: "Coming of Age"
Foster The People has experienced a lot on the way to becoming one of the most well-known bands in the world, years of hard work, touring, recording and sleepless nights that culminated in the success the group enjoys today, playing and headlining a healthy dose of festivals this summer. The group relives the ride and the early days of trying to make it in their latest video for the appropriately-titled "Coming of Age". Playing on distinct 80s aesthetics, the video is an homage to playing in high school on whatever stage was available. "Coming of Age" is available for download when you pre-order the band's next album, Supermodel, due out March 14. The follow-up to 2011's Torch that set put FTP on the national radar, it seems to be a perfect time for everyone to take some time to reminisce as they prepare to do it all over again. Check out the latest from Foster The People as they recount everything that lead to where they are now.
[youtube id="MBqzrj18S2w"]
[RH Interview] Conspirator
Conspirator is a band of chance, really. The project came together when The Disco Biscuits' Marc Brownstein and keyboardist Aron Magner as a way to explore the burgeoning and seemingly endless world that was electronic music, back in 2005 after Sam Altman left DB at that time. Allowing for a more free electronic experience, the pair established the side gig as a way to add and remove musicians at a whim to create a range of sounds. The duo has been playing regularly with Chris Michetti of RAQ, and KJ Sawka of Pendulum and last year released the head-thumping EP Unleashed before heading out on a slew of national headlining dates under the banner of "The Dynasty Tour." The crew rolls through Chicago's Concord Music Hall as they continue to roll through the polar vortex as the musical journey they started years ago takes them from coast to coast throughout this year. I recently got to catch up with Brownstein while the band was just getting out on tour, check out or conversation on the later pages.
[Video] Big Boi Speaks Out on Outkast Reunion
The biggest music news story so far of 2014 is most definitely the larger-than-life announcement that Big Boi and Andre 3000 will assemble once again as Outkast as part of what seems to be a year-long reunion tour spanning over 40 festivals, indicative of the status quo of a music industry that is a much different environment than the one the duo exited stage left from 10 years ago, after their 11x platinum Speakerboxx/The Love Below became the second highest-selling hip-hop album of all time. Big Boi sits down with RevoltTV to discuss his longevity in the game and his excitement at linking back up with his old friend to re-live the music that made both of them stars in their own right. Check out what Big Boi has to say in the video below.
Coachella 2014 Line Up Announced
The day that many music festival fans have all been waiting for is finally here: the revealing of the 2014 Coachella line up. Headlining this year’s highly anticipated two weekend festival in April will be Muse, Arcade Fire, and a reunited OutKast, followed by a line up filled with much variety and amazing talent. Revolt TV revealed OutKast’s reunion and plan to perform at Coachella late last year. Muse had been highly rumored due to strong hints from the band, but nothing was official.
However, there remains much to be anticipated from this exciting line up. Lorde, the youthful alternative act creating much Grammy buzz will be performing amongst the likes of many legends. The EDM scene will once again be a driving force as well with big name acts such as Skrillex and the recently popular Zedd, followed up by many other captivating, similar acts. Local Chicagoan and highly acclaimed artist Chance the Rapper will also get a piece of coveted performance time during the crazy dual weekend festivities. Receiving much critical acclaim from all over the country in the past year, one could only imagine a good turn out for his set.
Other performances will include the Replacements, Queens of the Stone Age, Beck, MGMT, Empire of the Sun, Ellie Goulding, HAIM, Pharrell Williams, Foster the People, Motörhead, Cage the Elephant, Fatboy Slim, A$AP Ferg, Grouplove, Bastille, Neutral Milk Hotel, Disclosure, Broken Bells, Capital Cities, CHVRCHES, John Newman, Flosstradamus, City and Colour, and many more.
2014 marks the third year in which Coachella will be divided between two weekends, with the first of the festivities being the weekend of April 11-13 and the second weekend being April 18-20. Festival passes will go on sale beginning this Friday, January 10, at 10 AM PST. While tickets will be available for both weekends, passes for week one will only be sold with a shuttle combination as opposed to the second weekend. More info regarding tickets, festival details, and a full line up can be found on Coachella’s website.
[via LA Times]
Austin Celebrates "Free Week"
There's no better price than free.99 and the eclectic residents of Austin, Texas seem to know this better than anyone, as they town embarks on "Free Week" a seven day run of free shows around ATX that help celebrate the start to a new year. Fitting, for a city that seems to never turn the music off. On the site's website, the event is promoters say, " Since 2003, Austin has held the tradition of partying to no end during the first week of January."
The decade-old tradition is a perfect example as well of the current state of music in America, as giving it out for free seems to have begun the norm for the large swath of artists trying to come up in the industry. The week-long mini-fest features a smattering of independent acts, both local and not, that come together to start the year off right, for free. For a full list of shows, venues and activities, click here.