Maximum Performance
  • This week marks the kickoff of Yahoo! Music's new live concert program, Guitar Hero 5 Fridays--featuring rifftastic bands whose classic songs have been included in the game--and there's perhaps no better band to launch it than GH faves Weezer, who more than 15 years into their career are at the top of their live game (no pun intended), rocking harder onstage than ever before.

    Yes, the shift of original drummer Pat Wilson to rhythm guitar--and the subsequent addition to the lineup of drumming legend Josh Freese, who is a MACHINE--has turned Weezer into an unstoppable live force, with band leader Rivers Cuomo now free to stalk the stage like a true frontman.

    This is evident in Weezer's Guitar Hero 5 Fridays footage--shot for a private, ardent, intimate audience of diehard fans at the Roxy on L.A.'s Sunset Strip--in which Rivers tosses around a football, leaps into the crowd, boldly orders concertgoers to dance, smashes a ukulele to smithereens, bounces aerodynamically on a

    Read More »from Weezer: Guitar Hero 5 Fridays on Yahoo! Music
  • Every year, I attend at least one big-shebang music festival. And at least one time per festival, I hit a mental wall and wonder why I ever submitted myself to such rock 'n' roll torture in the first place. Whether I've been wellie-deep in Glastonbury mud or melting into a Wicked Witch-style sweat puddle in Coachella's 105-degrees-in-the-shade desert heat, I've suffered all sorts of indignities and inconveniences in my quest for festival fun, and sometimes I've pondered if it was all worth it.

    But of course, I still wanted to hit up a rockfest this summer. But which one? Chicago's Lollapalooza and Pitchfork would be too muggy. San Francisco's Outside Lands, too windy. New York's All Points West and Seattle's Bumbershoot, too rainy. It was a rock 'n' roll conundrum of Goldilocks-like proportions...

    But then I found the festival that was juuuusssst riiiiight: All Tomorrow's Parties in upstate New York's crumbling-yet-charming Catskills area. I mean, just check out this press release

    Read More »from All Tomorrow’s Parties: These Bands Got Catskillz
  • If you haven't figured it out yet, you're in the middle of Beatles Week.

    Or, more specifically, Beatles Year. Because 2009 is looking to be one of the biggest in the legendary rock band's history.

    By now you've heard of the Beatles' Rock Band venture; it's a timely videogame venture that will likely introduce an entire new generation of young game players and budding music fans to the music of the Beatles, and it's big, big news.

    But even bigger news--any way you look at it--is this week's reissue of the complete Beatles catalog in newly remastered versions. Consumers can now purchase all of the Beatles' albums either separately or in boxed set form; the boxed set format offers consumers either stereo or mono versions of their work and--especially in the latter case--has audiophiles the world over drooling.

    In sequence of their original release, the classic albums include:  Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Beatles For Sale, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt.

    Read More »from Documenting The Beatles’ ‘Let It Be’
  • It was hard to resist the notion of seeing Steely Dan performing in Los Angeles Tuesday night for two reasons: First, the highly respected, quirky, all around fab band have given a staggeringly low number of live performances since forming, taking an extended hiatus, and reuniting yet again in the course of the past 35 years or so. Secondly, what they planned to play was entirely what ticket buyers themselves wanted to hear.

    In fact, check out the core Steely Dan dudes, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, and their explanation below of what "Internet Request Night" was really supposed to be about. Want to hear a particular song? Which song?

     

     

    And so it was that band played a few select cities for several nights, ran through a few of their classic albums--Aja, Gaucho, and The Royal Scam--one apiece each night, and then, in Boston, New York, LA & Chicago--opened the floodgates for fan requests.

    In LA, the music was played impeccably well, as anyone who's seen the group since their

    Read More »from Steely Dan: Internet Request Night!
  • It's been of the year's most anticipated tours, and it's been one of the biggest.

    Britney Spears--who, any way you look at it, is today's Queen Of Pop--has come back with a massive, well-received bang with both her Circus album and the first leg of The Circus Starring Britney Spears, a concert tour spectacular like no other seen before.

    With the second leg of the North American Tour now heading for take-off--it's slated to start Aug. 20th in Hamilton, Ontario and finish Sept. 27th in Las Vegas--Ms. Spears and her colorful troupe will soon be heading off to Australia for six long-awaited tour performances, hitting Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane starting in early November. It'll be the first time she's performed in Australia, and fans-from all reports--are drooling in anticipation.

    Ticket info for all the tour packages can be found here.

    In the meantime, Yahoo! Music is thrilled to be able to showcase this exclusive performance of Britney performing "Circus" onstage while on her

    Read More »from Britney’s ‘Circus’ Is Coming To Town!
  • The final day of Lollapalooza at Chicago's Grant Park hit a high-drama note with a slightly late performance by Lou Reed, which allegedly caused some discontent among Band Of Horses, who had to wait until he was finished to start their set on the nearby PlayStation stage. But honestly, guys? He's Lou Reed. He doesn't know how to be uncool (though he did look a tad grumpy). And, wait--he's LOU REED.

    Lou opened his set with "Sweet Jane," and then played an excellent 15-minute droning session toward the end of the show, segueing into "Waiting For My Man." Fans sang along to "Walk On The Wild Side" until the sun went down, and then the New York King exited the stage.

    To complete festival organizer Perry Farrell's vision of a crazy dance space, MSTRKRFT was booked for Perry's Stage, and the area was packed with blinged-out scenesters getting their jam on.

    Before Jane's Addiction took the main stage, a helicopter did rounds above the crowd. For a second I thought the band would pull

    Read More »from Lollapalooza Day 3: Lou Reed Brings Drama, Jane’s Addiction Bring Chicago Home
  • Day two of Perry Farrell's Lollapalooza fest in Chicago's Grant Park kicked things up a notch by adding some diva flavor to its indie-boy band lineup. But first, No Age bravely kicked off the second half of the day, even though band member Randy Randall had recently dislocated his shoulder in a dance contest and had to play wearing a sling. The duo debuted at Lollapalooza regardless, bringing much-needed L.A. noise to the festival.

    Sweden's Lykke Li is known for her charming pop debut Youth Novels, but what people don't know about this diva is she can bang on the drums like a real punk and dance like a dream, as evidenced by her afternoon Lolla set.

    Animal Collective rocked the Vitamin Water stage at sunset, screaming much-welcomed jams from Merriweather Post Pavillion.

    Has Karen O been inducted to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame yet? All bets say she will be one day. The rock goddess came beaming onto the stage with a gigantic headpiece and dress made of felt hands, then

    Read More »from Lollapalooza Day 2: Diva Day With The Yeah Yeah Yeahs & Lykke Li
  • Oh, Lollapalooza...Perry Farrell's famed festival of festivals has been rocking with a '90s spirit since, well, the '90s. Restarted in 2003 and now a long Chicago weekender instead of a touring fest, this seventh-year event made no cuts in budgets, pomp, or circumstance, with three days billed to the brim with new indie acts and old icons alike. But most of all, this year marked Jane's Addiction's epic return to the stage for the first time since the festival's revival. And knowing Perry Farrell, it would be worth all three days of insane heat.

    Although the first day began with a promise of rain, Seattle's Fleet Foxes warmed the wet festival grounds with a folky, forest-y set.

    Thievery Corporation had fields of people dancing.

    Angus Young---um, I mean Peter Bjorn & John--brought indie quirk with shorts just short enough to make for an idiosyncratic AC/DC effect onstage.

    Of Montreal took a rock 'n' roll voyage to Mars when they covered David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream" with special

    Read More »from Lollapalooza Day 1: Waiting For The Night To Fall On Depeche Mode
  • With his latest album Cradlesong making some significant noise in the marketplace, Rob Thomas--known to most as the lead singer of Matchbox Twenty--continues to impress.

    Thomas's songwriting ability is growing by leaps and bounds, as witnessed by some of the heavier topics covered on the new album and the melodic hooks in which they are couched. But however strong his ability to craft solid pieces of stirring rock 'n' roll, it may be in the live context--onstage, where the singer has spent much of his public life since Matchbox Twenty's 1996 debut Yourself Or Someone Like You--that Thomas has really made his mark.

    Need proof? Check out this performance of "Lonely No More" from Thomas's latest DVD, Something To Be Tour - Live At Red Rocks. It captures him at his finest and shows that today's very best artists are the ones whose talent comes across both in the recording studio and onstage.

    Info for his upcoming tour is available here.

    Read More »from Rob Thomas: Onstage And Very Live
  • At numerous points the All Points West Festival seemed like an ongoing parody of the epic mudbath of Woodstock '69: a bad, bad joke without the life-changing lineup. Nevertheless, hoards of concertgoers stayed optimistic, tromping through Jersey City's Liberty State Park for three consecutive days to see their favorite indie-rock stars.

    Day One:

    I had been on festival grounds for five minutes, and already decided to throw out my jellies.

    The National played a gorgeous silvery and black set full of numbers that warmed the heart of every city kid in the crowd.

    Ever-enigmatic Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontman Karen O brought the love at sunset by giving "Get Well Soon" shoutouts to the Beastie Boys, who cancelled their APW festival performance due to Adam Yauch's recent throat cancer diagnosis. She then spit out water like a badass rock-star whale, and the band did an awesome cover of the Cramps' "Human Fly."

    Hippie fever surged as the fields grew even muddier and the sun came down.

    The

    Read More »from Yahoo! Music Braves The All Points West Mudfest

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News for You

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    NEW YORK (AP) — ABC's newest "Bachelorette," Desiree Hartsock, says it's not hard to keep the details of her experience on the show a secret from her friends.

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  • Jersey shore reopens for 1st post-Sandy summer

    SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey rolled out some of its big guns Friday to proclaim that the shore is back following Superstorm Sandy, using Gov. Chris Christie and the cast of MTV's "Jersey Shore" to tell a national audience the state is ready for summer fun.

  • Takei says Cho good choice for latest 'Star Trek'

    SINGAPORE (AP) — Portraying USS Enterprise helmsman Hikaru Sulu in the latest "Star Trek" movie comes with big shoes to fill, but the man who played the part in the TV series and six films has given his blessing to the actor currently playing the role.

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Police say actress Amanda Bynes has been arrested in midtown Manhattan after she heaved a marijuana bong out of a window.

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