Fans attend the launch of Daft Punk's new album Friday in Wee Waa, Australia. (Shanna Whan, AFP/Getty)
Bands
The Tupac Shakur hologram was the story of the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, so you knew it was just a matter of time before it caught on. It just took a little longer than expected.
The Rock the Bells festival will feature both Eazy-E and Ol’ Dirty Bastard holograms, rollingstone.com reported Wednesday. ODB will join his former group, the Wu-Tang Clan (which performed at this year’s Coachella), while Eazy-E will be alongside Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, a group he signed in the mid-’90s.
Rock the Bells kicks off Sept. 7-8 in San Bernardino.
For more information, visit http://www.rockthebells.net/
Ron Wood, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts and Keith Richards wrap up "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (but I Like It)." Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY
The Rolling Stones didn’t perform “Time Is On My Side” at the launch of their “50 and Counting” tour Friday at the Staples Center.
Instead, Mick Jagger sang “(This may be) The Last Time” and you could sense the collective thinking as he sang the last two words of the chorus: “Oh, no!” Continue Reading
AraabMUZIK performs Sunday, April 15 during Coachella 2012 in Indio. (Michael Buckner, Getty Images)
The Rolling Stones play a surprise gig Saturday at Echoplex in Los Angeles. (Luis Soto, The Rolling Stones via AP)
Yep, you read that right. Echoplex. Continue Reading
Zac Brown Band performs Sunday night at Stagecoach. Marilyn Chung/The Desert Sun
The Atlanta Georgia-based Zac Brown Band closed out the 2013 edition of Stagecoach Sunday night with their 2008 chart-topping hit, “Chicken Fried,” a fun loving, down-homesy tune about the simple pleasures of Southern living.
The group’s captivating hour and forty minute set served up some tantalizing string work by fiddling phenom Jimmy De Martini.
De Martini just killed it, especially on “Devil Went Down to Georgia,” a song the band dedicated to Charley Daniels, who performed Sunday afternoon at Stagecoach.
They do it for any number of reasons; to keep the romance of the American cowboy alive, for the love of performing or the elaborate cowboy get ups. Whatever the reason, it’s been a fun 35 years of making music for cowboy band Riders in the Sky.
The four-man, Nashville-based band brought their zest for the west to a crowd jazzed for their four-piece harmony and comedy.
Riders in the Sky yodel, sing and fiddle to a mixed crowd on the final day of Stagecoach 2013. (Beth Roessner/The Desert Sun)
Ranger Doug strummed the guitar, Too Slim stroked the bass, Joey the Cowpolka King provided the accordion and Woody Paul fiddled. .
Their work with Disney and Pixar helped them earn two Grammy Awards, making them the only cowboy band to have won the distinction, let along twice.
An appearance at Stagecoach may seem a bit of a stretch for lead singer and songwriter Kearny Nick Jones of psychobilly band Tiger Army, but the artist was right at home among country fans during his Saturday performance.
Unlike Jones’ three-piece gig, his solo act under the stage name Nick 13, allows him to completely submerge himself in the blue grass tunes of the 30s through 60s, eras of music he’s fascinated by.
“As the years went on, I found myself going further and further back to those years as a listener,” said Jones. “I’m just drawn to it.”
Nick 13 poses with reporter Beth Roessner
Playing at a country festival under intense conditions could be enough to throw a band off their game, but Rhode Island-based, folk duo Brown Bird showed fans a bluesy side of music.
The Americana-style band kicked off the final day of Stagecoach on the Mustang Stage. The two don’t consider themselves a country act–the almost-bluesy style or the ornate tattooing on both partners could be indicators–but as the hour-long set continued, the crowd steadily grew.
The heat of the desert wasn’t something they’re used to, admitted singer David Lamb, but the performance didn’t lag.
Rhode Island-based Americana band, Brown Bird, weathered the heat and showed the country fans they can fit right in. (Beth Roessner/The Desert Sun)
MorganEve Swain lent her female voice and effortlessly switched from stand-up bass, violin and cello, while her partner, Lamb stomped out simple-foot percussion and strummed the tunes.
Continue Reading
The mercury slowly crept higher and higher and the line approaching the Stagecoach main entry grew longer.
Fans queued up outside of the main gates, seeking shade from a rot iron fence. The impending noon heat and high temperatures of the day were no deterrent for country music fans on the final day of the Stagecoach festival.
The past two days and heat may have taken a toll on some, but many fans were still in high spirits and anxiously awaiting the day’s lineup. Headliner Zac Brown Band was an act on many radars.
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