Made In America released its lineup for this year’s festival, and I’m loving it. Jay Z and J. Cole are headlining, which is amazing. And while many dismiss the small print acts, artists like They. and Smino are playing and I am more than excited.
I created a playlist of one of my favorite songs of all the artists that I would love to see at this festival. Is anyone going?
Coachella is live streaming some of their performances again on YouTube. As someone who has been to festivals before (Pitchfork, Lollapalooza) and have watched a lot of different festivals, including Coachella, at home, I am excited about this.
Advantages of this include it being free, you are in control of the temperature, and the food is so much cheaper. Haha. Jokes aside, a lot of time with the streaming option you get a better view than being there because the camera angels are amazing.
So far announced acts that will be on the live stream include Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, Radiohead, Lorde, Bon Iver, the xx, Future, ScHoolboy Q, Two Door Cinema Club, New Order, and Gucci Mane. More information will be released closer to the date.
After coming to Chicago as an opening act for Bryson Tiller’s TRAPSOUL tour and Jeremih and PARTYNEXTDOOR’S Summer’s Over tour, THEY. were finally headlining their own.
THEY. introduced themselves as stars in their own right by coming out in hooded capes by emerging from the crowd in hooded capes to “Africa.” Wordless, THEY. stood facing each other, letting the track play out. However, when the opening bars to “Deep End,” the first THEY. song I fell in love with, they threw off their capes and were completely turned up.
What I find most interesting about concerts is that you can see the motivating force behind an artist. You can see if they are doing all this for the money, to party all the time, for their ego…I’ve seen any number of reasons. The best reasons I’ve seen which I see in THEY. is that they do this because they feel as if they aren’t meant to do this and can’t do anything else. This is how they express themselves. Drew shared a story about how he didn’t fit in growing up and when he was younger on his birthday some TP’d his house. He said the Nu religion movement and The Wolf Pac was the space where everyone can be themselves. Dante then initiated the crowd into the Wolf Pac with these words:
The WolfPac Creed . pic.twitter.com/IRPW3YALcJ
— THEY. (@unofficialTHEY) March 1, 2017
THEY.’s motivation is to be able to exist in a place where they can be themselves and express themselves. They want the same for everyone else.
While performing all their songs off Nu Religion: Hyena, it was a sonic journey to say the least. A lot of times with music, the lyrics or the beat are great, and the other is an afterthought. With THEY. considering the marriage of both these aspects, the songs are stronger, taking you to the mindset that they want you to be in.
Highlights from the show also included performing Motley Crew, with the whole audience doing the whip motion for “riding around Sunset Boulevard.” And while a lot of the time the show was very hype with songs like “U-Rite,” they did slow it down for “Silence” and a cover of The Weeknd’s “High for This.”
I’m very excited for what is next for THEY. I got to meet them after the show and they were very sweet. With how they interact with fans in person and online and the amount of attention and care they put into their music, I think THEY. will go far.
Check out more pictures from the show, their tour diary and the album below.
A day after selling 4 Day passes, Lollapalooza has announced its lineup. As expected, Chance The Rapper is a headliner, performing on Sunday. Another expected choice was Lorde, who is headlining on Thursday. Saturday one day tickets sold out within 30 minutes, followed by Friday, then Thursday. Sunday tickets still remain.
Here is what are the highlights in my opinion by day
Thursday: Lorde, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Uzi Vert
Friday: DJ Snake, Run The Jewels, Little Dragon
Saturday: Chance The Rapper, The XX, 21 Savage, Banks
Sunday: Big Sean, Rae Sremmurd, Lil Yachty, Noname, Sampha
Honestly, I liked the 2016 lineup more, but I actually discovered a lot of new music there, so I’m hoping that will be the case this year as well.
Vince Staples brought his Life Aquatic Tour to the Metro on Saturday and Sunday. I caught the Saturday show and I was more than impressed.
The Metro isn’t the biggest venue, so I was surprised by how his large set was. He had three large TV screens that had images appear like fish and skeletons that made you feel like you were underwater near a sunken ship. The blue strobe lights also added the feeling that you were on an underwater execution.
Despite the nautical theme of the set, Vince was in his usual uniform of a hoodie, jeans and Converse high tops. He was extremely energetic throughout his entire set, which included songs from his debut full length album “Summer ’06” and his EPs “Primma Donna” and “Hell Can Wait.” In the middle of the show, he also performed his singles that he is featured on. For instance, one of the highlight was his performance of “Smoke & Retribution,” his song with Flume.
The highlight of the night was during the encore, when he performed “Norf Norf.” It was crazy to hear people shout out Northside, Long Beach in Chicago, and I’m sure it was a surreal moment for him.
Vince Staples will be back in Chicago for the Pitchfork Music Festival in July.
A few days after the release of his debut album “blkswn,” Smino has announced the Swanita tour to promote the album. He is hitting the road pretty soon, with the tour kicking off April 26 in Chicago.
I’m very excited for this tour. I love the album so much and have been listening to it non-stop. I’ve also seen him live before and know he can put on a good show.
Tickets are on sell now. Look at the tour dates and stream the album below.
Pitchfork announced the rest of the lineup for the 2017 Festival, the same way they announced the headliners, on Facebook Live painting a mural. The end result was exciting, mostly because I’m a huge Vince Staples fan. I first saw Vince perform at Lolla last year and he puts on such a good show, so I’m excited to see him on the festival circuit again.
While I know many of the other acts, I’m not deeply familiar with their entire catalogs, and a great way to experience new music is by watching it live. This is how I became a huge Anderson. Paak fan at this exact festival last year.
Check out the lineup for this year. Anyone you are excited for?
Friday, July 14
LCD Soundsystem, Dirty Projectors, Danny Brown, Thurston Moore Group, Vince Staples, Arca & Jesse Kanda, Kamaiyah, Hiss Golden Messenger, Frankie Cosmos, William Tyler, D∆WN, Priests, and Madame Gandhi.
Saturday, July 15
A Tribe Called Quest, PJ Harvey, Angel Olsen, the Feelies, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Mitski, Madlib, Arab Strap, S U R V I V E, Francis and the Lights, Weyes Blood, Jeff Rosenstock, Cherry Glazerr, and Vagabon.
Sunday, July 16
Solange, Nicolas Jaar, the Avalanches, Ride, American Football, Isaiah Rashad, Hamilton Leithauser, Pinegrove, Jamila Woods, Colin Stetson, Derrick Carter, Joey Purp, NE-HI, and Kilo Kish.
