Jay-Z, Thom Yorke, and Muse will be headlining 2010’s Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival in Indios, CA April 16th-18th. The Colorado Desert concert well known for its diverse lineup of music’s best bands and artists has become one of the biggest festivals in America since 1993 when Pearl Jam rocked the first Coachella. Other big name acts that will be playing the festival include the innovative group MGMT, Austin Indie heroes Spoon, and reunited soul legends Sly & The Family Stone. The Empire Polo Field is the exact name of the grounds where the festival is located where people from around the country flock to every year. In past years Paul McCartney, Madonna, Roger Waters, Radiohead, and Rage Against the Machine have all headlined the festival. Look for this year’s version of Coachella to live up to reputation the festival has earned in recent years.
Last night, Lady Gaga was scheduled to perform in West Lafayette, Indiana, where there was a packed house of fans. The two warm-up acts went on. But then a police officer came onstage and everyone looked at one another. Was this part of the act? It turned out that the singer had become ill backstage before the show and passed out. She says that she wanted to get out onstage anyway, but they wouldn’t let her. The audience was disappointed, but it appears that there weren’t any really hard feelings about it. Besides, they told us that she guaranteed she would reappear in just a couple weeks for a rescheduled performance. She tweeted at length about the situation. She felt bad about the cancellation and was “crying for hours”. Hopefully she’s ok and this was just a small issue rather than anything more serious. It sounds like she’s resting comfortably and will be back on tour tomorrow night.
I have good news and bad news for those of you who love Jay Leno. His 10 pm Eastern time show has been canceled. It wasn’t doing well enough to keep going and it was giving the local networks a problem getting their audiences back. Most people were watching other networks by then, it would appear, and then didn’t flip back to the NBC local news. But the bad news is this: he won’t be back out on the comedy club tour for all of you to see. You might have thought that he would be ready to get back out to live performances with the end of his nightly show. But thus comes some good news. He will apparently be back in the 11:35 slot, the traditional beginning of the Tonight Show. They haven’t yet announced whether he will simply take back the Tonight Show and Conan O’Brien goes elsewhere or if Conan’s Tonight Show will simply start after a half hour of Jay Leno. It’s a tough situation for everyone involved, but you probably shouldn’t expect to see any of them on the comedy circuit anytime soon.
When U2 took the stage last year, it was pretty clear that they were going to have a greatly successful tour. The band is full of great musicians who are able to give a great show too. The music that they present you has been among the best developed in decades. The group has reached a level of longevity that most bands can only dream of. If you didn’t get a chance to hear their latest hits, you’re really missing something. Their “No Line on the Horizon” is perhaps the best release of 2009, with songs like “Get on Your Boots”. There’s no really deep message in the songs, but it’s just fun to listen to. And we enjoy dancing to the songs or just chilling out listening to them. The tour continues, so you still have a chance to see them this year. Their tour netted the most out of any other tour of 09, so that tells you something about the quality of the show that they put on!
I didn’t know his name before! But I sure do know his music. Duncan Sheik’s Barely Breathing is a staple of adult contemporary radio these days. He’s one of the most important musicians of pop music right now, with a lot of different hits, though none of them are bigger than Barely Breathing was. But according to people who saw some of his most recent concerts will attest that this guy is no one-trick pony. He can sing his songs, but he’ll throw in some great new renditions of Broadway hits and some other exciting covers from other bands. And he doesn’t do any of this in a dull way either. In Dallas, his performance was in a small and comfortable venue, which is unusual for such a famous singer. You can’t do that kind of performance well unless you’re really talented, because you can’t hide behind light shows and special effects.
