Phoenix

Happy Bonnaroo weekend! The Tennessee-based arts and music festival effectively kicked off the season on Friday. Per USA Today’s recap, he weather was appropriately mild and the rain that threatened for the entire day never came through, letting crowds enjoy the show free from sweltering heat and soaking rain – a good thing, considering that the lineup, including the likes of Phoenix, CVRCHES, Vampire Weekend and Neutral Milk Hotel were not to be missed. And then there were the headliners.

CHVRCHES were just one of the bands playing Bonnaroo Friday.

Kanye West kicked off his set late at night on Friday. As usual, West’s performance was on point, but due to the large crowd and somewhat poor technical execution, it was difficult for many fans to connect. A number of the people, who were too far from the stage, reportedly booed the rapper.

Continue reading: Sam Smith, Janelle Monae - The Unexpected Gems Of Bonnaroo Day 1

Austin City Limits Music Festival is set to hit Texas for its twelfth year, bringing with it two weekends of fabulous live music and family fun.

The festival organisers first decided to spread the fun out over two weekends last year, in a bid to welcome yet more people into this unique world, and it appears that they haven't gone back on their word as they are set to return to Zilker Park on October 4th - 6th and 11th - 13th. This year sees some impressive headline acts including Depeche Mode, The Cure, Muse and Kings Of Leon - and if that wasn't exciting enough, Atoms For Peace, Lionel Richie, Phoenix and Wilco are also high up on this year's bill! Some of the other acts scattered around are just as jaw-droppingly impressive, not to mention extremely diverse. We have Californian rockers Queens Of The Stone Age, country star Hank Williams Jr.'s daughter Holly Williams, Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar, LA sisters Haim, alt-folk group Thao & The Get Down Stay Down Nottingham singer Jake Bugg and legendary 'Gay Bar' hitmakers Electric Six.

Continue reading: Austin City Limits 2013 Set To Return With A Stunningly Diverse New Line-Up

Remember when everyone thought Phoenix was an American band, or a Scandinavian band? It was probably rather annoying for the Versailles rockers, though it seems as though there's one huge benefit of nobody being quite sure we're you're from.

Contactmusic Caught Up With Phoenix At Leeds Festival 2013

We caught up with Thomas Mars and Laurent Brancowitz of the French quartet ahead of their triumphant set at Leeds Festival over the weekend and asked how it felt to be the subject of mistaken identity.

Continue reading: Phoenix Claim, "We Can Copy French Songs, People Think We're Geniuses"

It may be nearing the end of the summer but Leeds and Reading Festival 2013 goers don't have much to worry about in terms of the unpredictable English weather this weekend (August 23rd - 25th).

The Met Office website has suggested some okay weather for Friday and Saturday with information still to come for Sunday. According to them, Leeds can expect temperatures going up to 23 degrees on Friday though mostly accompanied by clouds, while the following day seems to be a little cooler with a good chance of rain for most of the day before clearing up towards the evening. As for Reading, you lucky Southerners; you can expect rather a sunny morning and temperatures of possibly 25 degrees on the first day, though Saturday in Reading will perhaps also see some spots of rain before the evening approaches.

BBC Weather appears to be more optimistic, seeing 24 degree temperatures in Leeds and 26 in Reading on the Friday, though it looks mildly wet for most of the day on Saturday in Leeds and fairly bright in Reading. Sunday could be the nicest day of the weekend as campers emerge from their tents with their penultimate hangovers to find it brightening up in Leeds at 25 degrees and even reaching 27 in Reading. Other sources suggest similar forecasts, though there have been suggestions of a little rain on the Friday; possibly not disposable raincoat and heavy-duty wellies style weather, however.

Continue reading: Weather-Worries Are Looking Few For Leeds And Reading Festival 2013

As Thomas Mars – the lead singer of Phoenix – explained, "Usually on Sunday night people are really tired.” He was talking about festivals, and he was right, bit he and his band had something planned. "This," he said as the catchy into to 1901 began behind him, "is something different."

Tired crowd or not, the band rocked the final night of Lollapalooza.

So blistering was their closing set, that Rolling Stone have called it “the best performance of the entire weekend.” And this on a record weekend - 300,000 people descended upon Grant Park for the three-day festival, which featured eight stages and 130 acts.

Continue reading: “This Is Something Different” - Phoenix Close Lollapalooza 2013 In Style

You, being a seasoned festival-goer, will know that it’s Lollapalooza 2013 in Chicago’s Grant Park this weekend (August 2 – 4, 2013), which promises to play host to some of the biggest acts in the world as well as showcasing the most exciting and innovate new bands on the planet. And that’s what we’re here to concentrate on: the young, fresh and ready to impress.

It seems a long, long time since Disclosure’s first single Offline Dexterity, though the British electronic duo have gone from strength to strength in recent years and finally released their debut album, Settle, on PMR Records on June 2, 2013.It was met with both commercial and critical success, including a score of 9.1 from the notoriously picky musos at Pitchfork – no mean feat.

Sure, we’d rather see Disclosure in a club - perhaps in the early hours of the morning – though Lollapalooza-goers will have to settle for 6pm at The Grove, on Friday (August 2, 2013). Saying that, both Guy and Howard will be DJ’ing at The Mid club in Chicago’s West Town from 10pm on Friday.

Continue reading: Lollapalooza 2013: The Best New Bands Worth Checking Out

The Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival is back on August 9th - 11th 2013 bringing us the best in art and music as we see the likes of Paul McCartney, Nine Inch Nails and Red Hot Chili Peppers top this year's bill.

San Francisco hosts this annual festival which has soared in popularity since the first event in 2008. It takes place at Golden Gate Park and, as well as some brilliant bands and artists being on show all weekend, presents some fantastic food and drink offerings from the Bay Area. Food includes everything from mac and cheese and hot dogs to falafel and noodles and there'll be food trucks and special cheese and chocolate stalls good enough to pull you away from the awesome music for a while. There'll also be a wide array of wines and beers to enjoy plus live painting and Levi's Mobile Bike Shop as Outside Lands is all about being eco-friendly and reducing our carbon footprints.

Continue reading: Outside Lands Festival 2013 To Bring You Much More Than Music This Year

This Week In Albums... There was only album anyone was really talking about wasn't there? Daft Punk's much anticipated fourth LP Random Access Memories was streamed early after it leaked on the internet allowing the world's media their chance to get in quick with their gut-check reactions. Our man Joe Wilde was a little more reflective in his assessments though, and found much to love about the French duo's comeback - even if hasn't ended up being the classic that so many people were hoping for. He wrote: "Guy-Manuel and Thomas are perfectionists in every sense, and whilst the album itself isn't a perfect listen, it is still a thoroughly rewarding and worthwhile one; and what more could we and the robots have asked for?"

There were some other much-vaunted French types releasing their comeback album this Spring too; it's a case of if it ain't broke don't fix it for Phoenix. Hoewever that means we once again get an LP of intelligent pop that's as catchy as it is inventive. Jim Pusey found it to be an enjoyable listen, although he felt it lacked something that its mainstream-breaking predecessor Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix had; he commented "There's much here to like, but it lacks some of the charm that made Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix quite so endearing."

Continue reading: A Week In Music - Daft Punk Get Lucky, Lana Del Rey Soundtracks Gatsby And Rod Stewart Shocks Us All