Bat Bites: New Bands, Lollapalooza, MOG Network

New Bands

Jack White of White Stripes and Raconteurs has a new band called The Dead Weather, basically another indie rock super group, featuring Dean Fertita of Queen of the Stone Ages, Alison Mosshart of The Kill's on vocals, and Jack Lawrence of The Raconteur's... and Jack White. I am praying they'll sign on for Lollapalooza this summer. The Raconteurs have played the last couple of Lolla's and I have heard rumors that they could be added to the lineup. They have a big gap around their scheduled show dates too that coincide with Lollapalooza. Hmmm. If anyone finds out if they confirm Lolla, let me know!

Want to hear The Dead Weather? Go to The Dead Weather website and click on the image on the main page. Rockin'. Videos that were uploaded to YouTube have been pulled, but I expect something to be out in a few days and all over the blog-o-sphere. They're preselling the album as of last Saturday, too.

Tinted Windows is another supergroup I've been reading about over the past few months and contains musicians from three of my favorite bands: James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins, bassist Adam Schlesinger of Ivy, Fountains of Wayne and drummer Bun E. Carlos from Cheap Trick and Taylor Hanson of Hanson. Tinted Windows are also a good contender for a late entry to Lollapalooza, dontcha think!

Lollapalooza

It looks like a killer line-up (featuring The Killers at that!) Oh, how I love Brandon Flowers (and I hope he shaves before the show ;-)

Also playing, Depeche Mode, Beastie Boys, Tool, Kings of Leon, Vampire Weekend. You can download an MP3 of a mashup of Lolla 09 Artists here.



Here's the full lineup. It's funny how they always have good picks for the headliners, but it's always the lesser known bands who I'm always most excited to see. Ra Ra Riot! Passion Pit! Glasvegas! Yes! No real big surprises (Madonna isn't on the schedule), but a solid line-up none the less:

Depeche Mode Tool The Killers Jane's Addiction Beastie Boys Kings of Leon Lou Reed Ben Harper and Relentless7 Thievery Corporation Snoop Dogg Rise Against Andrew Bird TV on the Radio Vampire Weekend The Decemberists Neko Case STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9) Animal Collective Band of Horses Of Montreal Arctic Monkeys Coheed and Cambria

Ben Folds Fleet Foxes Silversun Pickups Kaiser Chiefs Crystal Castles Bon Iver Santigold Atmosphere Dan Auerbach Cold War Kids Deerhunter Lykke Li Robert Earl Keen Peter Bjorn and John Heartless Bastards Gomez Glasvegas Federico Aubele Dan Deacon Passion Pit Zap Mama The Raveonettes The Gaslight Anthem

The Airborne Toxic Event White Lies Ra Ra Riot No Age Asher Roth Los Campesinos! Bat For Lashes Chairlift Gang Gang Dance The Virgins Amazing Baby Portugal. The Man The Knux Ida Maria Delta Spirit Friendly Fires Manchester Orchestra Constantines Ezra Furman & The Harpoons Hockey

Miike Snow Alberta Cross Hey Champ Sam Roberts Band The Henry Clay People Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam Cage the Elephant Living Things Low Anthem Blind Pilot Langhorne Slim Other Lives The Builders and The Butchers Eric Church Joe Pug Kevin Devine The Greencards Carney Thenewno2

MOG Network

Max Bumps has been accepted into the MOG Network, a community of the best music blogs from around the internet. Horray! I will be putting the MOG info into the site today and tomorrow. I did mean to do this over the weekend but I was gone most of the weekend, not at any hot concerts, but I did present at a film festival :-)

More on the MOG network in the near future.

Your Vegas Pictures from Lollapalooza

It took a very long time for me to find my camera cable, but I wanted to post these photos I took during day #1 of Lollapalooza of Your Vegas. They were FANTASTIC. Check out the reviews of Lollapalooza Day #1, Day #2 and Day #3.

Lollapalooza Day #3

My apologies for taking so long to post this. I promise it will be entertaining.


Lollapalooza Crowd

The security Nazi's struck again, but this time it wasn't the sunscreen which I had very well hidden in a towel in the bottom of my bag. It was my nalgene water bottle which I had taken in the previous 2 days and didn't have a bit of trouble. This mall cop on steroids tells me I can't bring it in because it's a banned item... even though it was NOT on the list. I told him that and he said "you didn't bring that through THIS security". I sure as hell did. So he sent me to his manager. He told me to stash it in the bushes and pick it up on the way out.

Well, the rebel in me came out. 'Screw them, man', I thought. I could smuggle in a tub full of 'I can't believe it's not pot' if I wanted to with no problem but God forbid I bring in an empty water bottle made of plastic. Those old white guy guards are on a power trip, like mall security on steroids, I swear. I walked away, stashed the bottle in my bag and went to the other side, 50 feet away. I found a nice black guy and got in with no problem. The black guys in security are always so nice and so cool and have never once hassled me. My advice, always find a black guy if you want to bring in anything illegal... you know, the stuff that could kill someone like sunscreen and empty water bottles.

I wanted to catch the whole set of Wild Sweet Orange but only caught the last 3 songs, due to my snafu with the bastard's in security. WSO was amazing. If U2 and Travis had a baby, it might sound like this. I am definitely buying their album. They were probably one of my favorites of the weekend.



After that, I was walking over to Weakerthan's and this guy handed me a token for a free bottle of water if I filled out a survey about my opinions about Lollapalooza. Oh, trust me, I'd give them an earful about their ridiculous security. But first... Weakerthans.

Weakerthans were a no show! A Chicago band called Office played their slot. They were decent but sounded really 80s to me, and not the 80s that I adore, but the 80s that I abhor.... late 80s cheese rock. Meh. Were Weakerthan's held up by security at the gate?

I decided to go back and fill out the survey. One of the workers had to read the first two pages to me because it was all about "How many corporate sponsors of Lollapalooza can you name... without looking?" and "Will you buy products from these corporate sponsors?"


Corporate sponsored balls bounce around the crowd

Then I got to complain about the security... which must be the fault of the corporate sponsors. They didn't get an extra $6 per day out of me because I filled up my own bottle and you know they were doing everything in their power to keep me from bringing it in. And sunscreen - they're selling it at their Lollapalooza kiosk. Its all about making money. They don't give a crap if I die from skin cancer or dehydration. You know if they were selling weed at the concession stand, they'd be checking the backpacks for pot, yet they completely turned a blind eye (not that I care if people are smoking weed, but isn't it illegal? It's EVERYWHERE here.). I'm sure they know they'll sell more food with a bunch of stoned 18 year olds.

I met up with Jeff again and we caught some of Chromeo's set. They were so much fun. The singer wore a suit with no shirt underneath. He kind of looked like a pimped out Patrick Dempsey. The keyboard player, the fat one, was shirtless with his underwear hanging out. Hawt. They did Bonafide Lovin', You're so Gangsta, Tenderoni and all the great songs.



I did want to catch a few minutes of Black Kids who were playing right next door and I have to say I wasn't all that impressed. It was really loud and over-modulated. Bad sound. Some bands here sound fantastic and others have some sound guy riding the faders way too high. Argh.



I went and got some food. This time I ate a slice of cheese pizza loaded with hot pepper flakes and a pineapple-coconut-kefir smoothie. The smoothie was a bit weaker than I would've liked, but the pizza was good. I could've gone for another piece.

Jeff and I caught the first 10 minutes of Saul Williams and it was completely unlistenable. It was way too loud and sounded like random noise. I like what I've heard of Saul Williams. Trent Reznor must really put some slick production on his tracks because this was rubbish.



We walked over to see Love and Rockets. Flogging Molly was playing on the stage next door and they were awesome. They are Irish punk and I wish I would've caught their show instead of wasting time at Saul Williams. The people were PACKED in for the show so far back. I couldn't see a thing - the screens much less the band. They are on my list for bands to catch next time I'm around Chicago. They always seem to be playing Chicago. If they play Lolla next year, I'll be up front!



Love and Rockets is a band which I have wanted to see since Earth Sun Moon came out while I was in high school and FINALLY, I get to see them. Perry Farrell announced them.



Daniel Ash was looking like he'd lived the life of a rockstar but David J. looked the same as he did 20 years ago. The drummer is super cute but I have no idea who he is. We'll just call him the handsome one.

The sound, once again, was way too loud and distorted. Other bands I've seen at that stage had really good sound so it certainly wasn't the speakers. I guarantee some sound board jockey thinks he's cool by turning it up to 11. They did a few of their hits but didn't do 'So Alive' which I was looking forward to hearing. They did No New Tale to Tell and Ball of Confusion (opening song), which was hard to make out with the distorted noise coming out of the speakers.


Daniel Ash of Love and Rockets singing and the cute drummer

The band pretty much stood in one spot and didn't really interact with each other. I had a great vantage point but it wasn't that entertaining. Next to me were 2 ultra skinny middle-aged gay men who were completely into the show, screaming the lyrics and acting like teenage girls. They were more entertaining than the band. Thank you random gay guys for keeping me entertained for an hour.


David J. of Love and Rockets

Love and Rockets also had the crummy camera guy who couldn't keep the dumb thing focused and kept making choppy zooms and pans all over the place. I honestly could've done better myself. My 5 year old could've done better. Maybe I should apply for the job next year. I do have a degree in Film and Video, so I'm more than qualified and I sure as hell can focus a camera.

The Bubblemen came out at the end of the show. Below is a clip of The Bubblemen on stage and a very good indication of the crappy audio at the show. Okay, it wasn't quite this bad, but it was not at all good.



Just as Love and Rockets ended, a massive surge of people came up to see Nine Inch Nails which weren't on for another hour. I decided to head over to the other stage and catch some of The National, a band that Apocalypse really wanted to see. They did not disappoint. The sound was great both in their playing and in the sound coming out of the speakers. They are also very good looking, which is very important in the age of video. Plus, they had a camera man who can frame a shot! I am picking up their album too. I have lots of music to buy.



This guy named Andy started talking to me during the show. Andy is from Ohio and we collectively decided to check out Kanye's show. (Andy is also known as Spoons on T61 and you can thank his Top Rookie status to me giving him some T61 pro tips.)


Spoons and Batface89

I was dying to see Obama and the rumor was (now) he was going to be a special guest during Kanye's show. We got a pretty decent spot. Kanye is one hell of a performer, but I don't really know his music... much more than Jesus Walks and that Daft Punk song. He didn't do Kanye's Workout Song... too bad :(



He ran back and forth and jumped all over the stage, while under a fantastic light show. He was wearing a white coat and sunglasses. The sunglasses I can understand with the bright lights, but he was sweating bullets after 5 minutes on stage but never took the coat off. Suffering for fashion. He also had some pretty ridiculous sunglasses on, but they're just like the ones he is always wearing (you know, when we hang out).



At one point, he started talking about how computers were as big as a room and now they pack a full computer into a phone, so how new is better. Then he went on to say that music legends are worshiped while the newer guys don't get that kind of respect. He mentioned the greats by name, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Kanye West. "Well, maybe not yet," he said about himself.


Kanye on the big screen

Kanye and his ego performed for about 2 hours. Oddly the highlight of the show was when the backup singer belted out "Don't Stop Believin'"... hey a song I know! Andy and I were wondering whether this was Kanye's usual audience demographic - suburban white twenty-somethings. Probably not.


Kanye's Light Show

Obama didn't show. I cried for an hour. Okay, not really but I was disappointed.

We decided to go to Piece, a pizza place that is co-owned by Rick Neilsen of Cheap Trick. Cheap Trick is one of my favorite bands ever. The crowd getting on the L Train (subway) was nuts. The station was packed as tight as the MGMT show and it was twice as hot. We ended up having to wait for 3 trains to get a spot because there were so many people. It's up at the Damen Station on the blue line, so we had to catch another train, which was another 3 train wait. It was late and when we got to Piece it was closed. :(

We walked to another place and sat down but the kitchen was also closed. So Andy, who is from Ohio, not Chicago, says "I have an idea". We start walking down the sidewalk and came across this area that had plywood and a few concert posters glued to the walls. Andy opens the door and I honestly thought he was taking me into some abandoned building to murder me. Not the case. It was a top secret speakeasy called The Violet Hour. It's completely hidden with no sign or address and the inside is swanky! All the cocktails were $11 each but they were all prohibition era recipes. I've never had a better cocktail in my life. The music was a bit weird. Some sexy jazz would've been great but they played singer/songwriter type stuff. It seemed really out of place. The drinks were fantastic, the crab cakes to die for and the ambience was ultra cool. The company was also terrific :-)



Afterward, we went to my friend Mason's VJ party a block away and had some cheap pints of Stella.

I got back to Mary's REALLY late but I had a blast all weekend. Lolla was a lot of fun and I wish 1000x over Apocalypse could've spent the weekend at the show, I still had a fantastic weekend.

Next year, Apocalypse. 2009, baby.

Lollapalooza Day #2

I got to Grant Park early again, as it is the best time to fill the water bottle, use the facilities before they stink and pick up free schwag from corporate sponsors. This is the part that cracks me up.... Lollapalooza is supposed to be so rebellious, young and hip, yet it's sponsored by every corporate entity under the sun. AT&T is so hip and cool. Not. I stashed my sunscreen in the bottom of my bag wrapped in a towel. I was not about to have a repeat of yesterday. The guy barely looked in my bag and asked me if I had any food in the bag. I of course told him know because I didn't want my Clif Bars confiscated and he said I was good to go.

I got to the AT&T stage at the south end of Grant Park early and had an excellent spot to see The Ting Tings. The singer reminds me a bit of Debbie Harry in her blond coolness and odd fashion sense. She plays guitar and works the foot pedal and the guy in the band drums and also plays guitar (could have been a bass... I wasn't THAT close). The two of them can sure make a lot of noise! Their songs were all very catchy and I found myself singing along to songs I'd never heard. They played pretty much their whole catalog I'm guessing... every song I knew anyway.

Next up I caught the Foals. This was a completely unplanned visit and they freakin' blew my mind. They were so tight and had some interesting twists and turns throughout their music. They are officially labeled "math rock" whatever the hell that means. I'm buying their album.

MGMT was one show I was very excited to see. I got their early and the crowd was dense. Everywhere around me were kids smoking dope. Seriously, 360°. There were kids next to me with a butter tub full of pot. A butter tub, no joke! The same kids brought in those Sunny D mini-bottles filled with whisky and were chugging it. Man, I felt old all of a sudden.

Let me say, there is always a lot of pot at Lollapalooza but I've never seen this much. I saw lots of clever secret dope smoking contraptions too. There was no security inside Grant Park whatsoever arresting people for marijuana. I easily saw more joints than cigarettes. Also, smuggled liquor... so many people with water bottles filled with vodka. I wonder about those parents who bring their 10 year old kids to the show... what do they tell their kids?

MGMT sounded absolutely fantastic. I couldn't see a thing even though I was 50 feet from the stage. Their performance is not what I will remember about their set unfortunately.

About halfway through the show all that pot and liquor must have kicked in because I've never experienced a wilder crowd. They were throwing crap all over the place and crowd surfing non-stop.



Time to Pretend came on and the crowd went absolutely insane. The whole crowd was pushed so tight together at one point I dropped my water bottle and bent over to pick it up, just as the crowd surged. I totally thought I was going to die for a split second - like the Who concert where 13 people died in the 80s. Some girl behind me picked me up. Thank you, Random Girl!

Of course, this is a brilliant time for two golf carts carrying big trailers full of ice to pull through the crowd. Not sure what genius couldn't wait 10 more minutes for the set to finish but they literally went right in front of me, squishing the crowd on each side. It felt kind of good to rub my hands on the ice bags, but the little drunkards somehow got a hold of some of the ice and were whipping it through the crowd and splashing water from bottles all over. It literally felt like a cold rain.

After the show, the band was hanging out on the side of the stage and waving at everyone. I snapped a pic on my cellie but it could be any guy on that stage.

After MGMT I was ravenous (probably the munchies from the contact buzz at MGMT). I grabbed a burrito with black beans and sweet potato that was only $6 and so delicious. I was surprised that the food was really good and not all that expensive this year.

I ate the burrito and walked through the "Green booths" area where they had a thing you can buy to offset your carbon emissions to the show. Hey, I took the train and stayed at a friends place. I think my carbon emissions had to be pretty low. Whole Foods was there and were giving out bananas, cheese sticks and some organic lotion. I love free crap.

I caught some of the DJ sets next. I first caught some of Does it Offend You, Yeah?'s DJ set and it was awesome. DJ AM came on a bit later. I'm only familiar with DJ AM because of his hookups with D-List celebrity tramps, but he really is a freakin' good DJ.

I caught a few songs of Okkervil River's set. hey sounded great but I was a long way back. It was packed with people and my legs were starting to get a bit stiff and I just wasn't in the mood to snake through the crowd after the MGMT show. The Okkervil singer's voice has a David Byrne quality to it. They are fantastic and I totally need to buy their album... I just wish I could've seen better.



So the headliner of the night was either Rage Against the Machine or Wilco. I've seen Rage before and there was also a rumor that Barack Obama would introduce Wilco, so Wilco won.

I snaked to stage left, right in front of a speaker. Before the show I started talking to this guy standing next to me named Jeff and he was really cool.

I've never really listened to Wilco. They've always sort of bored me. Their live show, though, was FANTASTIC. They came out on stage with bedazzled^TM suits in bright red, blue, green, etc. Jeff Tweedy's suit was red and had the Maneki Cat on it. Where can I get one!?



I had a great view of the show, nice and close and my new friend Jeff kept switching spots so I could see better. Thanks, Jeff!

Wilco jammed a lot and played some mindblowing guitar solos. I was seriously impressed with the skills of everyone in the band. The musicianship in Wilco is top-notch. If you ever get the chance to catch them live, by all means, do it!

I hear the Rage show wasn't all that great. We could actually hear the Rage show from Wilco's end. It's a mile away! I read they had some problems with a couple hundred people outside the show who bum-rushed the fence and got into the show. They said 14 people were hurt with broken bones. Scary.

After the show, I was a knackered and just went back to my friend Mary's place and actually got some sleep!

Lollapalooza Day #1

Apocalypse and I headed down to the show early. When we got there, I got my wristband since I bought tickets online a couple of months ago. Apoc did not and guess what? He was SOL. Completely sold out of 3 day passes and the Friday and Saturday shows. He decided to look for some scalped tickets but there were so many people looking for tickets that it was impossible. This was the first Lollapalooza to ever sell out. Who knew. Apoc ended up having some business to attend to so it was maybe for the best.

The line for ticket holders without wristbands was literally all the way around the park to the opposite side of the entry. It did take longer to get to the back of the line than it did to move in the line! Later I found out that since I had my wrist band, I could've just gone up to the front.

Anyway, I did it alone. Awww. Poor Apoc, having to miss it!

So... security was a major pain in the butt. I had a plastic container of fruit that they were making me pitch, so I ate it quickly. Then they saw my sunscreen and wouldn't let me bring it in! It's the spray kind. I stood there and sprayed myself really good. I asked what was up with that and the lady told me that I could throw it at the band and hurt them. WTF? They are probably selling sunscreen inside for $12/bottle. Trust me, I would not throw my bottle of sunscreen at the band. W en the lady wasn't looking, I rushed ahead and stashed it into my bag. Yeah, I am a rebel with pale skin and I burn easily!

At the show, I first caught Manchester Orchestra on the Citi Stage. I got to sit in the shade and they sounded really good. To be honest, I'm not all that familiar with their music but the writing seems really strong.

Next, I saw Rogue Wave. They were really good! Their drummer is really talented and plays really loud. I wore ear plugs for this one.

At this point in the afternoon it was really getting hot outside. I heard someone say it was 95° but I think it may have peaked around 86°.

Next, I caught Yeasayer. They we're incredible and I need to buy their album. They have two guys who seem to lead the band, the singer and the bass player, who sings and wears twin braids. I was up fairly close and the freakin' loud. So loud in fact that my rib cage rattled at every thump of bass!

Next up, I caught a few minutes of Duffy. She was good but not really my cup of tea. She is very cute and has an interesting soulful voice, and reminded me a bit of Amy Winehouse, minus the crack.

I walked back clear to the other end of the concert (seriously, Grant Park is 3/4 mile in length) and watch Gogol Bordello. I chose to watch this show from way back behind the second speaker. The sound was much better here, although I could only see the big screens. Every time the sun went behind a cloud it was a Godsend, but the band was incredible and in cooler circumstances, I would've been dancing like crazy to their gypsy punk. There were hippie girls in the audience dancing with hula hoops. I admit, they were great with a hoop, but it seemed a bit dangerous, given the density of the crowd. And what the hell? They let them in with hula hoops and I couldn't bring in sunscreen? Oh, I'm sure hula hoops didn't make their list.

Next I saw Your Vegas, and I snapped some nice pix, but I forgot to bring my camera cable (and charger!) to Chicago, so unfortunately, I may not have many photos. Your Vegas sounded phenomenal. The singer has some serious pipes and their songs are so well written. I really dug them. Their sound does not really match their look though. I really thought they'd be more glammy looking. Also, I swear I was standing next to Buffyslayergirl. Was that you, Buffy?

I decided to skip Raconteurs (seen 'em before) and stop by and see how Apoc was doing, but it was just a short visit, scarfed some Subway and back to Radiohead.

Oh, Radiohead.... They're one of my favorite bands ever. They sounded amazing, exactly as they do on the albums, as a matter of fact. The sound wasn't too loud, which was nice. The crowd, however was radiating heat. After a full day in the hot sunshine, being packed like a sardine with a bunch of stinky, sweaty people, wasn't really appealing to me. The light show and video on the big screen was completely boring, which surprised me. Last year, Muse was phenomenal and had a mindblowingly awesome light show. Radioheads... meh. I decided to check out early, as it was a very long day in the hot sun and I was tired, and I have plenty of Radiohead on my iPod. I left the park walked along Columbus Drive and there were hundreds of people sitting outside across the street listening to the show. The show actually sounded better (several sweet spots, I noticed), and they certainly weren't missing a killer light show.

There's a rumor that Barrack Obama will be introducing Wilco tomorrow. I was going to see Rage Against the Machine at that time, but I've seen Rage before and I would LOVE to see Obama. Maybe he'll sing a few notes.

Until tomorrow... Batface signing off! Hey, if any of you are at Lolla, email me at batface89@gmail.com!