live – Andy Sternberg

Coachella 2013 Highlights, Videos and Photos

Andy Sternberg — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:35:33 +0000

This year’s Coachella lineup was underwhelming from the start, so much so that I didn’t plan on going until a pass fell in my lap about a week before the festival. It wasn’t necessarily the bands in the lineup that I thought was weak, it was the lack of originality and dynamics that I’ve come to expect from a Coachella. No Rolling Stones or David Bowie. No Replacments. Hardly any hip-hop, punk or imaginative electronic music. Too many wimpy “punch-me-in-the-face” bands like Phoenix, The xx, Postal Service… Basically, i feared Coachella had lost its edge. As much as the environment and experience was always more than fulfilling to me, I wasn’t ready to shell out $500 in support of a lineup that seemed staged for taking a big nap on the Polo Grounds.

Coachella 2013 Panorama from Ferris Wheel: Click to embiggen

In the end I had a blast — Coachella is one of those great experiences that triggers dopamine bursts just at the thought. The first heat of late spring under the desert sun, 100,000 people all out for good times, good music and big smiles. 6 stages (with this year’s introduction of the Yuma Tent) and all kinds of inebriating distractions.

The photos and videos below are evidence of my highlights from this year’s festival. As always, it was amazing. For those attending Coachella weekend 2 this weekend I recommend the following:

Highlights & Recommendations

The Make-Up: One of my all-time favorite bands, I never got to see them live before Coachella (they were active 1995-1999 and I just missed them when I lived in DC ’99-’00 and got all into the Dischord bands). Ian Svenonius is still a madman and one of the great frontmen of all time, evoking Jagger and Iggy Pop while standing on the crowd’s shoulders most of the set.

Grinderman / Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: One of the great madmen songwriters of our time, Cave met and exceeded my expectations as a performer, especially the Grinderman set. The tent was virtually empty when the set began, which is how I ended up standing basically in Cave’s crotch when I caught this video. Know what else is awesome? The interactive Nick Cave Spotify app.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs — I hadn’t seen them live since a show at the diminutive Fireside Bowl over 10 years ago so I was more than a little excited to catch the older and more evolved version on the big stage. Guitarist Nick Zinner is a sonic genius and I especially loved how he’d fill in the empty space between songs — it felt like the literal (aural) echo of the “yeah, yeah, yeah” words/vibe. Karen O rules the stage, they played at least one cut from the original EP which I still love. It was probably my top main stage set of the weekend
Visit the Yuma Tent — Even if none of the DJs appeal to you, this tent (new this year) adds a very cool dynamic to Coachella. It’s a totally enclosed, air conditioned dome-like tent (so it feels like club night even in the middle of a hot afternoon) and has wood floors, bringing even more authenticity to the dance party.
Janelle Monae — If you’ve never seen her live, do it. Or even if you have (personally, I can’t get enough). Even after a 15-minute technical delay, Monae came bounding onto the stage and totally owned the crowd, in mid-set form, within minutes. It’s amazing what some bands can do in a short set and Monae and her huge band are something that must be experienced live. I can’t wait to hear her long-awaited follow-up (Sept. 2013?) to 2010’s The ArchAndroid.
Watch official Coachella footage and video via YouTube

What’s buzzing at Coachella?

The Shouting Matches — it’s a Carolina blues band fronted by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. And it’s really good if you can get there early on Friday.
Of Monsters and Men — Pleasant, afternoon Icelandic folk/pop, I was surprised to see a full field at the Outdoor Stage for their set.
Major Lazer — Electro-dance, lights and jamz. The kind of good fun what you’re looking for while bringing on the night. The Mojave Tent was totally overflowing for this set.
∆ (Alt-J) — “An Awesome Wave” was last year’s Mercury Prize winners and righteously so, in my opinion. Their live show definitely stands up and an overflow crowd was enraptured in the Gobi Tent.
Jessie Ware — This should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with her work with SBTRKT and her solo album “Devotion.”

Second year of the second weekend

Last year Coachella expanded to 2 weekends with identical lineups and — one might think — identical experiences. But, outside of highly calculated gimmicks like last year’s Tupac hologram, any live music aficionado knows that no two experiences are ever exactly the same. And I think at least two bands (of the fraction of the bands that I saw) will benefit from a second weekend as well. Modest Mouse: Isaac Brock talked way too much about nothing as if he felt that his 50-minute set would somehow stretch into 90. It didn’t and the bands set ended up falling flat, with no real flow to the set beyond the second song. Tame Impala: Just a couple years ago this band was playing venues as small as Silverlake Lounge even though its sound is built for stadiums. Now on the Outdoor Stage at Coachella, it seemed they mis-timed the length of their set. Lead singer Kevin Parker seemed bummed that he couldn’t launch into one more song and the set felt as if it were cut short. The festival itself: Is weekend two even sold out? I was disappointed with the lack of diversity, depth and edginess to this year’s lineup and wonder if it has something to do with Coachella being too complacent about being able to sellout 2 straight weekends.

Already looking forward to Coachella 2014!

Photos & Interviews from FYF Fest 2011: Dead Milkmen, Fool’s Gold, Future Islands, Explosions in the Sky, OFF! and More

Andy Sternberg — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:40:07 +0000

I took photos and interviewed several bands at FYF Fest earlier this month at Los Angeles State Historic Park. These interviews and photos originally appeared in LAist.

[See image gallery at andysternberg.com]
Click photos to embiggen / view as slideshow or click here to view all the photos on a single page.

Rayani on stage with Explosions in the Sky at FYF Fest 2011 (photo by Andy Sternberg)

I caught up with Explosions in the Sky guitarist Munaf Rayani before the band took the stage at FYF Fest last weekend and got the lowdown on surviving the deadly storm at Pukkelpop Music Fest in Belgium, how an art installation at Hollywood Forever Cemetery to debut the band’s latest album, “Take Care, Take Care, Take Care,” came to pass last April, and why they love Umami Burger.

AS: What did you guys think of the art installation at the cemetery? How did that come about?

Munaf Rayani: We only saw it through pictures and video but we heard it was a smash hit…. It was kind of a collective idea between us and some people that we’d worked with. We got in cahoots with the cemetery and they were cool with running it the week prior. A few creative minds, a few phone calls and it went through! What’d you think of it?

AS: I thought it was a great concept to have this walking tour of unique physical installations as a way to present the album as a first listen.

MR: That’s why I was most pleased that it was a true individual interpretation of these artists and the way we found them — a few we knew their names, others we looked at their work and were curious as to what they’d make of the six pieces. So it was exciting for us to see what these artists see in the songs. And if we picked six different artists it would have been completely different too and that’s the beauty of music and the visual interpretations thereof — to each his own. And it was exciting for us to experience what others “see” or “think” when they hear our songs.

AS: How’s summer tour been? Any notable stories?

MR: We just did a string of festivals in Europe and… a more troubling story — we were at Pukkelpop [music festival in Belgium, where five people died after a stage collapsed] and the storm came through and just kind of blew the whole festival away and shut it down. That was really strange and surreal because we had just finished our set and the storm came through about ten minutes later. When we went on stage, the sun was shining, we played a 45-50 minute set and it darkened up. We loaded pretty quickly into the trailer, locked the doors, and the rain started. We went underneath a tent and boy, it just blew everything away. The timing for us was crazy — how did we just miss that? But the collective experience of what other people went through was devastating, just disastrous. So, that happened.

But on the flipside we played the David Letterman show and that was very exciting. We felt very lucky that whoever was choosing the music there and whoever was pushing us made it work out. because there’s only two talk shows that we really wanted to ever be on and Letterman was #1 and Conan was #2. On our last record we got to play Conan when he was in New York.

Explosions in the Sky perform “Postcard from 1952” on Letterman:

AS: Did you have any directive to keep it under four-and-a-half minutes or anything?

MR: That was exactly it we had to edit a song to three-and-a-half minutes but to tell you the truth, Biff, the stage manager who’s in a lot of the bits and all the crew guys said that in the 20-30 years that they’d been working for CBS of this program they had never seen an instrumental rock band on the show. So it felt really good that, man, we made some sort of impression on someone to allow us that venue.

AS: You guys are based in Austin. Do you have any crazy LA stories?

MR: We just discovered the Umami Burger a couple trips ago and that’s really tasty so we try to make our way there. LA’s a cool place for us to come visit. Growing up in Texas, anything outside of Texas was almost make believe so even when we went to New York for the first time it felt really good. We’ve celebrity sighted a few people — saw Tim Allen get some coffee one morning that was pretty funny. The crowds in L.A. have been so good to us that it’s one of those checkpoints on the tour that we have a good feeling the shows going to go really well. The cemetery, Palladium, and even starting at the Knitting Factory and working our way up.

AS: How would you feel about doing the Hollywood Bowl with the Philharmonic?

MR: We used to want to play it but not anymore. We’ve heard enough about it that we kinda lost our interest. But I know it’s a beautiful place but if the opportunity came up it’s something we’d consider.

AS: Have you considered collaborating with an orchestra?

MR: We’ve batted around the idea of making an orchestral composition of the album — without us. Just a symphony playing it. It’s something we’ve talked about for a while but the execution is tough to pull off. We’re talking to a great orchestral transcriber right now out of San Francisco and if we all stay on course than it might be something that could happen in a few months or a year.

Metallica did it already where the band played with the symphony… this band we love — Mono, out of Japan, played with a symphony a couple times. If we could do it we’d like to do it a little bit differently. We’ll see what happens.

My Morning Jacket Rocks The Village to Benefit KCRW

Andy Sternberg — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 19:37:15 +0000

A few hundred KCRW members were lucky enough to see one of today’s finest live-performing bands in a rare intimate performance at The Village studios in West L.A. Tuesday night.

[See image gallery at andysternberg.com]

Originally posted at LAist on June 22, 2011. Photos by Jeremiah Garcia for KCRW.

In the middle of a tour that included a show before tens of thousands of fans at Bonnaroo, My Morning Jacket set one night aside to give back to KCRW. Toward the end of the set, frontman Jim James noted how lucky both the crowd and the band were to have a station like KCRW, which continues to break new bands at a time when most indie and alternative radio stations have vanished from the airwaves.

And the 250 people in the crowd, some of whom won tickets from the station and others who purchased $125 tickets (all proceeds benefitting KCRW, the Santa Monica-based NPR-affiliated public radio station) knew they were lucky to be there too.

My Morning Jacket performed 15 songs in a nearly two-hour set on the soundstage at the famed Village Recorder studios, site of historic recording sessions including The Rolling Stones’ “Angie” and Sly and the Family Stone’s “There’s a Riot Goin’ On.” The sound was fantastic, and MMJ delivered its dynamic sound without a hitch in a stripped-down stage setup, devoid of the mesmerizing backdrop and halo of lights present at other shows on the band’s current tour.

The renovated performance space was adorned with chandeliers that were used in “A Miracle on 34th Street” a fact that James pointed out more than once, though it was difficult to make out his mumbling from the crowd, many of whom were buzzing on complimentary beer, wine and bourbon.

The Village (also known as Village Studios or Village Recorder) itself was a veritable museum: the walls lined with gold and platinum records from the likes of Bob Dylan, Supertramp and Pink Floyd. Originally built as a Masonic temple in the 1920s, it was Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Los Angeles center for Transcendental Meditation in the ’60’s. It’s still an active recording studio for musicians as well as movie and television soundtracks.

My Morning Jacket’s set at The Village was recorded and will be broadcast on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic on July 15th.

My Morning Jacket performs tonight at Pantages Theater in Hollywood. The show is sold out. MMJ has a history of partnering with charities and donating $1 per ticket to a local charity. The Pantages show benefits My Friend’s Place.

SETLIST:
My Morning Jacket at The Village Studios, West L.A., June 21, 2011

Victory Dance
Circuital
The Day is Coming
Wonderful (The Way I Feel)
Outta My System
Holdin’ on to Black Metal
First Light
You Wanna Freak Out
Slow Slow Tune
Movin’ Away
Wordless Chorus
Smokin” From Shootin”
Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt.2
One Big Holiday
I Will Sing

Flaming Lips at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Andy Sternberg — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:16:18 +0000

My best photos from the Flaming Lips concerts at Hollywood Forever Cemetery on June 14th and 15th 2011. Click on images to view as larger slideshow.

[See image gallery at andysternberg.com]

Videos from other people:

Google I/O Afterparty: Robots, Pinball, Jane’s Addiction, a Self-Driving Car and a Merry-Go-Round Powered by Bicycles

Andy Sternberg — Wed, 11 May 2011 15:30:00 +0000

The Google I/O 2011 afterparty was geek entertainment at it’s best. Complete with a token 45-minute set by Jane’s Addiction (with Chris Chaney on bass – Eric Avery left the band last year) and dozens of extreme geeks holding up their newly gifted Samsung Galaxy Tabs to shoot a few clips of video (watch the set in HD below), the highlight of the event was likely the Maker Faire-esque playground of Google-powered and -inspired installations. Robotic symphonies performed by everyday kitchen appliances; the famous self-driving car; a mellow set by DJ Mark Farina; a pinball arcade; and this thrilling bicycle-powered carousel (warning: watching video may cause dizziness)….

[See image gallery at andysternberg.com]
Click here to view Google I/O photo gallery on flickr.

“Welcome to Googlepalooza,” joked Perry Farrell, constantly making fun of the mostly male and very geeky crowd. “I don’t know what we got paid here – we did it just because, right?”

Flaming Lips to Perform The Soft Bulletin and Dark Side of the Moon at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Andy Sternberg — Fri, 06 May 2011 18:30:01 +0000

It’s likely that The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne will one day be buried inside that bubble (photo by chasingfun via flickr)

The Flaming Lips is coming to town this summer for two special nights at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Bouncing in on a tagline from the single “Do You Realize” — “Every One You Know Some Day Will Die” — the Lips’ wildly entertaining psycho-pop shenanigans will attempt to bury you on June 14th and 15th.

And there’s a bonus: On the 14th the band will play its [mainstream] breakthrough 1999 release “The Soft Bulletin” in its entirety and the following night will perform Pink Floyd’s breathtaking 1973 album “Dark Side of the Moon” from front to back.

Tickets for the performances go on sale this Friday at 2 p.m. (2-night package for $80) and Saturday at 2 p.m. (single nights at $40) and will sell out quickly. Hollywood Forever is a bring your own blanket, wine, and picnic kind of place. But be sure to leave no trace, for there are zombies.

The concert takes place on the cemetery’s Fairbanks Lawn. Gates are at 7 p.m., wickedly brilliant guitarist and songwriter Marnie Stern opens.

The Flaming Lips tweeted evidence this week that a live version of “The Soft Bulletin” is forthcoming, allegedly with bonus tracks.

In the last week of 2009 the band digitally released “The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon.” The Flaming Lips’ 12th studio album (since 1986), “Embryonic,” was released in October 2009.

‘lectrifying last week of january ’11

Andy Sternberg — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 08:46:30 +0000

2011 has been ramping up — slowly but surely — to be huge. Perhaps coincidentally, but as the Chinese New Year approaches, things are getting busy. The Year of the Rabbit ready to run.

Was lucky to hit a few fantastic live events over the past week and want to share some highlights / video / photos in a post.

Last Tuesday was my first visit to the venue formerly known as Spaceland, now called The Satellite, and for all practical purposes same as it ever was.

But it was like the British Invasion 3.0 all over again. The Vaccines, stopping in LA for a one-off after a quickie in NYC, rocked me every bit as much as I hoped. I felt transported to the early days of Franz Ferdinand or The Hives when they’d pop into Empty Bottle on a Tuesday night riding a bunch of buzz. Though I originally feared that Justin Young’s vocal approach was in the faux-Interpol vein, which fully annoys me in its unoriginality, it was apparent live that he wasn’t trying too hard to be pretty while leading a quartet that motored through their short catalog (debut LP What Did You Expect from The Vaccines is due out in late March) like a Ramones-lite or early Replacements (if they were tight and composed on stage).

I returned to The Satellite the following night to catch Typhoon — an eleven-member Portland-based band that sings, claps, and plays various instruments as a backdrop to the oft-epic compositions of Kyle Morton. If this band ever comes near your town on tour, do what you can to catch them. It’s always a wonder to see a large band pull it off on a small stage, given the inevitably muddled sound coming from their monitors.

My Saturday began in a mellow tone, catching up with one of my fave poets and hip-hoppers from my Chicago days, Idris Goodwin (good friends will remember the Eye Spy disc I often played in my car circa 2004). Turns out now he’s [literally] chillin’ in another of my old ZIPs, Iowa City. Picked up a copy of his new book and better yet got to hear him read some hits from it. Watch those below:

I made it home around 10 and was all set for an early night when I got the word that I was on the FYF list for the Peter, Bjorn, & John “secret show” which conveniently happened to be downtown. The trio sounded tight and the sound wasn’t too bad considering the makeshift setup in a walkup loftspace. I dug the feel of their new songs — reminiscent of late 70’s garage. Gimme Some is out in late March and the kids’ll dig it.

I streamed parts of the show live on my phone… so please excuse the sound if you wish to check out the video.

Out with January. And live music season has yet to truly begin. It’s gonna be a great year!

Must See: Pink Floyd’s The Wall Performed Live

Andy Sternberg — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 18:42:12 +0000

Like many others, I shrugged off the idea of another Roger Waters tour, bringing the music of Pink Floyd into arenas nationwide sans David Gilmour. As much as Floyd meant to me in my high school years, I haven’t listened to their music on my own volition for at least a dozen years. It would be nice to hear an album that I had loved straight through in concert.

Then I heard about how full bore Waters was going with the production — recreating the spectacle of The Wall on its 30th anniversary and then some — on this Sound Opinions podcast in October. Yeah, I can dig it.

Only top top bands with a serious legacy can truly demand $250 and up for a top ticket and still manage to fill arenas nationwide (often for multi-night runs). But there sure as hell better be some spectacular video / light show / side show to go along with the tired greatest hits nonsense. Regardless, Waters will have absolutely no reason to work again after galavanting around the world for 10 months on the strength of his 30-year old magnum opus. Look for his name near the top of the next weekly Pollstar Top 20 Concerts list.

In this case there was amazing video — the wall featured a steady stream of motion graphics and video, many from the original The Wall, projected onto a huge wall — about 240 feet wide and 33 feet tall. The story of The Wall holds up very well, all the way to The Trial, even if it can get a little tiresome looking at Waters parading in front of the wall alone in love with himself as the lead character in the story as his presumed alter ego, Pink Floyd. A 12-piece band including horns and a childrens choir comprised of kids from the Heart of Los Angeles after-school program took the stage for the cockneyed refrain on “Another Brick in the Wall” and probably the most elaborate and crisp sound I’ve heard in an arena. There were monster speakers in teh back of the house and from the floor, you could literally feel the helicopters closing in from all sides at some points. Holiday season — maybe I was feeling sentimental, but I got major chills a few times.

I definitely recommend seeing this show if you can, tickets were going for below face value for the Staples Center (I got lucky and was whisked in on a friend’s last-minute extra ticket, thanks Gretchen!). The remaining U.S. tour dates are listed below along with a clip from “Hey You” which opened up the second part of the show from behind The Wall.

Dec 03, Oracle Arena Oakland, CA
Dec 05 Staples Center Los Angeles, CA
Dec 07 HP Pavilion San Jose, CA
Dec 08 HP Pavilion San Jose, CA
Dec 10 Rogers Arena Vancouver, BC
Dec 11 Tacoma Dome Tacoma, WA
Dec 13 Honda Center Anaheim, CA
Dec 14 Honda Center Anaheim, CA
then to Mexico and off to Europe for the entire first half of 2011.

Crooked Fingers Afternoon Set at Old Style Guitar Shop, LA, 9/7/2010

Andy Sternberg — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:30:44 +0000

What a treat it was to catch Eric Bachmann and Liz Durrett of Crooked Fingers just a half-block from the coffeeshop where I was drinking and WiFi-ing yesterday! I never knew of this shop — which is a tiny walk-in with old wood floors — basically a studio for Reuben Cox, who makes the super-old style guitars by hand. Got some great photos and took a couple videos with the Blackberry Torch (9800). AT&T gave me the latest and greatest Blackberry to mess around with so you’ll see me posting more and more content from and with it. This also resolves my which-Android-phone-should-I-get dilemma for the time being

Reuben Cox, Liz Durrett, Eric Bachmann (photos taken with Canon PowerShot S90)

More video below….

Photos and More From CitizenGulf LA – August 25 2010

Andy Sternberg — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:23:56 +0000

You’ll see more and more content here as the night goes on. And come on down — it’s going to be fun and it’s going late — here are the details.

Unable to attend a CitizenGulf Benefit tonight? You can still donate directly by clicking the icon below. Tag your tweets and photos #CitizenGulf so we can see them here. Thanks for your support.

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PHOTOS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY:

The main DEETS:

The Central Social Aid & Pleasure Club — 1348 14th Street, Santa Monica (former 14 Below space, now fully revamped and reopened)

An 18-minute Katrina documentary will be screened at 8pm, introduced by the (Venice-based) filmmakers.

3 bands will perform! Le Switch, Big Moves, and Hiram Rimmer. Stranger Danger DJ duo will bookend the night’s music to keep us dancing until bar close at 2. Bar opens at 5 for happy hour. Event start is 7:30.

There will be an entire room of art inspired by and depicting the Gulf Coast from Katrina in August 2005 to the present day Oil Spill disaster. Some will be available for a charity auction.

HOW MUCH: Just $10 toward a fund set up specifically for this CitizenGulf National Day of Action. Citizen Effect and Catholic Charities of New Orleans will put forth all of the proceeds from these 20 events toward extending an after school program that was started in New Orleans after Katrina into coastal parishes and provide fifty children with a safe environment that will give participants access to interactive learning opportunities, self-esteem building workshops, therapeutic art activities and other activities and services needed by the children affected by the spill.

There will also be a food truck in The Central’s private lot — Dante Food Truck

All the main details and RSVP at http://citizengulfla.eventbrite.com (shorturl: http://bit.ly/CitGulfLA)