@shiftywhiteguy:  If you read all of part one, then congratulations, you either have a lot of free time, or some kind of weird crush on me.  Both are admirable.  Here’s Part 2, the end of the weekend.

SATURDAY

9:30 am:  My sunburn has reached epic proportions.  Waking up is kind of painful, and today is obviously a day to stay the fuck out of the sun.  I’m tempted to start pounding beers to make sure I’m nice and warmed up, but this is going to be a long day.  The last thing you want on the Saturday night of Bonnaroo is for a same-day hangover to hamper your progress.  Instead, I try to force a little bit of extra sleep.

11:30:  @andlaurasays sends the day’s first text.  She’s getting her Latin dance fix with Bomba Estereo.  I would love to, but it’s way too sunny.  Besides, I have a very important life event coming up in a few hours.  I have to get prepared.   Read the rest of this entry »

@AndyShore There is a ton of hype surrounding Deadmau5 right now. People left Jay Z at Coachella to go to his set. Bryn had only good things to say about his Bonnaroo set as well. I left right after Travis x A-Trak to make sure I’d be in prime position to shoot his set. I wound up in a box in the Coliseum, during my quest to find the right entrance to the photo pit for Deadmau5. It was a sight to see. I could see just how many people were packed into the stadium. Also there were a couple of carnival rides. Kaskade was finishing his set and had dancing onstage. I was glad to get a scope for the enormity of Electric Daisy Carnival, but I wanted an up close view of Deadmau5. Read the rest of this entry »

@shiftywhiteguy If you’re a fan of Bill Simmons, you’re familiar with the retro diary, it’s a great way to revisit an important event, and in this case, I need to do this so I can sort through my mind and actually remember all of this amazing 2010 Bonnaroo.  We begin in the car, somewhere around Dallas:

WEDNESDAY

6:30 pm:  My radar detector goes off about .4 microseconds before I see the police car.  Thanks, buddy, where were you on that one?  I wasn’t going more than 77 or so, but I hate flashing lights…and here they come.  Shiftiness wins again.  No ticket.  But, definitely not the way you want to start Bonnaroo.

THURSDAY

4:00 am:  Arrival in Manchester.  That’s right, Texas to Tennessee, 931 miles in 14 consecutive hours, and wasted time by getting pulled over.  I’m a madman. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom I’ve seen LCD Soundsystem open for Arcade Fire at the Hollywood Bowl. I was there when LCD played “Daft Punk is playing at my House” before Daft Punk played right after them at Lollapalooza 2007. I was there when LCD played Coachella in 2010 between Them Crooked Vultures and Jay-Z. None held a candle to last night.

It was a pantheon performance by LCD Soundsystem. One that made you feel alive. If you were there. I reviewed the whole show doing a slight variation on “Losing My Edge.” I’ll also debut the new rating system Shore came up with. Excuse all the “I was there” lines. I’m not rubbing it in for those of you who weren’t. Just listen to “Losing my Edge” while you read and it will all make sense.

“If it’s crowded, all the better.”

A sticky, sweaty, swaying sold-out sea of citizens saw it go down at Stubbs.  Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom UPDATE: The Strokes and Further (feat. Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh & Bob Weir) join Kings of Leon at the top of the line-up. It’s a solid line-up full of festival mainstays like Phoenix and My Morning Jacket. I’m not thrilled. Further is the biggest addition to be excited about. And I’m not even that big into the Dead (comparatively.)

This may be the 18,000th consecutive festival with KoL headlining, The Strokes are hitting the late summer trifecta of Lolla/Outside Lands/ACL and Phoenix never seems to take a break to record.

The video by Electic Method (Remember them? They did the video for the Phish Halloween costume) is solid, but basic. You could say the exact same thing about the line-up. You’ll really notice it when they do the hour by hour schedule. Don’t get me wrong, there will be some strong afternoon sets (Al Green, Wolfmother, Mayer Hawthorne, The Temper Trap, The Soft Pack) and dance parties (Al Green, Chromeo) but if you’re big on the festival circuit, it’s not worth flying out for. It fails to match Bonnaroo, Lolla, ACL, Coachella. etc. Disagree?

UPDATE: LINE-UP IS HERE:

Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom There are few times I wish I was still in Chicago. This last week is one of them. The weather was gorgeous, the hardest rocking supergroups in the world were in town and Conan came to Chicago with two  more legends. Thankfully, Brett was there to cover it all for us. Without further ado, the first of many posts for the newest member of Festival Crashers’ beta class.

@snoogans913 I knew going into this past week that it was going to be one to remember, but I still couldn’t fathom just how epic it ended up being. The week kicked off with a bang with the start of the conference finals between the Hawks and Sharks on Sunday, and as I gathered around my TV with my friends and Buffalo Joes in tow, I was already elated. I wait the entire year for playoff hockey, and here I was, in good company, watching my Hawks tear shit up on visiting ice. As you should know by now, the Hawks got the W that day, and the next game was set for Tuesday. I had a panic attack when I realized that was the very night that I’d be in the presence of rock G-ds at the Them Crooked Vultures show. So when Tuesday finally rolled around, I donned my Blackhawks skull cup and headed out to the Aragon. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom We can’t sleep over at FC headquarters. Phish & Muse. Andy can’t even decide who’s #1. He has The Eagles in his top 5. I don’t have them in my top 7,000. Maybe I’ve been watching The Big Lebowski too much. It’s a 15-minute Podcrash analysis and we go deep to find the bands you need to know about. Andy gushes over lasers, I get confused about who Norah Jones is and I think we all learn a little something. Listen here:

THE PODCRASH EPISODE 8

And if you want to read along with the 2010 ACL line-up, it’s here…

Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom We can feel good, good, good about ACL 2010. Hopefully you got the Phish “Harry Hood” reference and you’re starting to get as hyped up as I am about October. Austin City Limits 2010 outdid Lollapalooza with their line-up this year. They snagged two of Festival Crashers’ absolute favorite live acts in Phish and Muse, stacked the middle with LCD, The Strokes, MIA, Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, Monsters of Folk and Spoon, rounded it out with deeper line-up gems like Miike Snow, Local Natives, Broken Bells, Yeasayer, The Black Keys, Hockey, Temper Trap, Mayer Hawthorne and despite the sad fact that The Eagles get top billing, this is a world class line-up. That’s right, The Eagles. Just ask the dude.

Let’s get into this bad boy. I figure a video-heavy preview with the full 2010 ACL Line-up should whet your appetite. How about a Top 35 to see? You got it. A podcrash dedicated to the line-up? Done. Phish’s official e-mail says we’ll be getting a two-hour Friday set. I wish it was more, but I’ll take what I can get. Thank you, Mr. Minor! Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Austin’s biggest festival announces their line-up tomorrow. Can we wait until then to try to guess it? Of course not. We’ve been scouring the Internet looking for clues official and unofficial. And with our friends at Consequence of Sound and Two Groove, we’ve got a decent grasp on this festival. We can pretty much count on M.I.A. making us do the fake gun hand motion during “Paper Planes,” we know Spoon will make us go Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga for them all over again, Band of Horses will have us swooning and The Eagles will… well, they’ll be there too. Your parents might be excited.

But what about Phish or Eminem?  Can Austin finally get a Texas-sized dose of Phish? Will Em show us the festival love he showed New Orleans last year?

I broke it down into “Count on it,” “Chronicle clues,” “Other Austin Clues,” “Likely”  and “Long shot.”

Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom I want you to disagree with this list, but I want you to respect it. Sure, it can be argued and could use a few tweeks, but there’s a reason for this list. This is every band I can ever remember seeing with a grade. If I’ve seen a band more than once, I pick the show that I think best encapsulates what you’d get from them on any given night.

What I want you to do, is get mad about my rankings and argue with me. Is Phish really a 10? Is Neil? Does B.B. King at 8.1 bother you? How about Tool at 4.5? Do Miike Snow and Kanye West really deserve the same grade? Who is missing from the list? Andy and I will discuss the best comments in a podcrash this Sunday, so don’t hesitate. I also want to know why Andy never ranks bands and which he disagrees with most instead of having him go back and re-rate all those shows. It’s been a lot of shows. Go on. Give me a hard time for this list. I’m begging you.

Read the rest of this entry »