Posts from the Concert Category at Spinner.com

My Morning Jacket Frontman Hospitalized After Injury

My Morning Jacket leader Jim James was treated and released from Iowa City Hospital after taking one to the head mid-performance Tuesday night. Following a rendition of 'Off the Record,' James fell off the stage, collapsing onto a speaker stack and reportedly landed on his noggin. He wasn't trying to stage dive; he merely misjudged where the stage actually ended.

Drummer Patrick Hallahan told the crowd that, "Jim is really hurt and he's headed to the hospital right now." As a result of the injury, tonight's benefit for Barack Obama at Chicago's Schubas Theater has been canceled. MMJ's shows this Thursday and Friday in the Windy City have also been postponed.

Embarrassing Onstage Antics

Continue reading My Morning Jacket Frontman Hospitalized After Injury

Posted by Benjy Eisen on Oct 8th 2008 2:00PM
Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News

Vampire Weekend Host Guitar Duel, Make Nice With MGMT

On Monday, New York City's breakout indie combo Vampire Weekend walked the red carpet at London's Q Awards.

The event saw the four-piece brush shoulders with the likes of the Who's Roger Daltry, Coldplay, Keane and a host of other popular British acts, but it might have been one of the group's last star-studded run ins of the year. Bassist Chris Baio recently told Spinner that following stops in Iceland and Europe, they are heading home at the end of fall to start work on the follow up to their 2008 self-titled debut.

"It's our last long tour on this album," Baio said. "We go from Iceland to the UK, then we're doing a week and a half in Germany, and then we come home, but it feels good," he said. "We're sort of at the end of touring on this album and we're all looking forward to going home and making another album."

Continue reading Vampire Weekend Host Guitar Duel, Make Nice With MGMT

Posted by Jolie Lash on Oct 7th 2008 5:00PM
Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News, Exclusive

Rock Pix: Peaches, Band of Horses + More

This Week: Peaches was hot in pink down under, a very bearded Band of Horses rocked Austin City Limits, Jenny Lewis dazzled in Pennsylvania and much more.

Posted by Kim Davis on Oct 3rd 2008 8:00PM
Filed under: Concerts and Tours, Rock Pix

Ra Ra Riot Gamble With Priceline, Get Into '30 Rock'

Ra Ra Riot are on the road again, mirroring Willie Nelson's ode to touring by making music with their friends, going places that they've never been and seeing things that they may never see again. But unlike Nelson, Ra Ra Riot doesn't exactly get treated to the penthouse suite in a luxury resort every night. However they do luck out sometimes and go big at a Sheraton.

"We're big fans of Priceline," violinist Rebecca Zeller tells Spinner. "I feel it's like any other form of gambling -- you win big and lose big. So you can get the Hyatt for $50 and then, some nights, for $90 you get some really crap hotel."

Regardless of which brand they land, the Riot kids are -- like most -- big fans of hotels with free wireless in every room. And, just like us, they like to surf the internet for fun and frolic. "We come back from the shows and I'm exhausted and I geek out," Zeller admits. Her number one internet destination? Sites that stream TV shows. Although she was never much of a television junkie growing up, with all the free time on the road she's gotten into shows like 'Gossip Girl,' 'The Wire,' 'The Colbert Report' and '30 Rock.'

Continue reading Ra Ra Riot Gamble With Priceline, Get Into '30 Rock'

Posted by Benjy Eisen on Oct 3rd 2008 2:00PM
Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News, Exclusive

MGMT Hang With Beck, Get Hip to 'Gossip Girl'

Weeks after spending most of their summer on the festival circuit, New York City's MGMT jumped on tour supporting Beck earlier this fall. The trek has taken the duo of Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser across the country, including to the Hollywood Bowl, where they played the famous venue for the first time, last month.

"That venue is unbelievable," VanWyngarden raved to Spinner. "It's probably the coolest venue I've ever been to."

The gents said they took it all in when they played the historic Hollywood Hills-nestled arena, getting history from longtime staff members and checking out the backstage photos -- including ones of Jimi Hendrix opening for the Monkees -- but they also got a little closer to the family of their headliner.

"I met [Beck's] son at the Hollywood Bowl," VanWyngarden said when Spinner asked about gig attendance from the family of the 'Odelay' singer. "He's really shy."

Continue reading MGMT Hang With Beck, Get Hip to 'Gossip Girl'

Posted by Jolie Lash on Oct 2nd 2008 4:00PM
Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News, Exclusive

Rose Hill Drive Ring in the New Year With Led Zeppelin

So it may be true that Rose Hill Drive once brought Pete Townsend onstage to help them cover the Who, but it's Jimmy Page that they'll want come December. The trio from Boulder, Colorado just announced that they will continue their New Year's Eve tradition of covering albums in their entirety by tackling 'Led Zeppelin II' this time around. The tradition began in 2005 with 'Led Zeppelin I' (and continued onward with albums by Jimi Hendrix and Aerosmith, respectively).

How much you wanna bet that it'll be 'Led Zeppelin III' in the next few years? Before you calculate the odds, consider this: frontman Jake Sproul told Spinner that in the future, the band would like to cover albums by "the Police, Grand Funk, Cream, the Doors, Fall Out Boy and the Jonas Brothers."

Continue reading Rose Hill Drive Ring in the New Year With Led Zeppelin

Posted by Benjy Eisen on Oct 1st 2008 4:00PM
Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News, Exclusive

Phish Reunite ... for Real This Time

Possibly due to a perceived absence of second-hand patchouli in public parking lots, or perhaps to curb the disappearance of unlicensed grilled cheese vending, Phish have decided to reunite in 2009. The band's website announced early this morning that Phish will return to the site of their most notorious arena shows -- Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia -- for a three-night stand beginning March 6. Ticket's go on sale through Ticketmaster on October 18 (for about, um, maybe 10 or 15 seconds.)

Phish reunion rumors ran rampant during the past few months -- first when they appeared together to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Jammys, then when three of the four members made cameos in each other's sets at the Rothbury music festival. More recently, the band performed three songs together at their road manager's wedding reception.

Continue reading Phish Reunite ... for Real This Time

Posted by Benjy Eisen on Oct 1st 2008 12:00PM
Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News

David Byrne Was a Wanted Man at Austin City Limits

Under some of the coolest temperatures in its recent festival history, Austin City Limits wrapped up over the weekend, bringing together 65,000 patrons on each of the event's three days to catch the likes of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, David Byrne, Fleet Foxes, Hot Chip, MGMT, Beck and Foo Fighters.

The event kicked off on Friday in Texas, where indie-darlings Vampire Weekend churned out two new songs, including one currently-untitled cut which finds frontman Ezra Koenig and guitarist Rostam Batmanglij dueling on their instruments, and another number not found on their self-titled, 2008 debut album. "The working title of [the other one] is 'White Sky,'" bassist Chris Baio told Spinner. "We've been kind of coy about saying it out loud, but it's all over the internet. I don't really care at this point."

After thrilling the crowd with their set, which featured -- at times -- string quartet Tosca, Baio said he was hoping to catch David Byrne, who hit the stage in all white, complimented by choreographed dancers.

"He wrote about us on his blog when he came to see us open for Animal Collective last year," Baio said. "He said some very nice things, but we've never actually met him in person."

Continue reading David Byrne Was a Wanted Man at Austin City Limits

Posted by Jolie Lash on Sep 29th 2008 3:00PM
Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News

Bruce Springsteen Playing Super Bowl

During NBC's NFL broadcast on Sunday, Bob Costas confirmed confirmed long-standing rumors that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will serve as the Super Bowl halftime entertainment, to be held February 1 in Tampa, Florida.

Following footage of last year's act -- Tom Petty -- Costas, a devout Springsteen fan, said "This year's act will be ..." and went to a clip of Springsteen introducing the "legendary, earth-shaking, Viagra-taking E Street Band" from their recent 'Magic' tour. A live snapshot of 'Born to Run' was also aired, a song that we bet our Giants tickets on is sure to be played.

Now that's boss.

Continue reading Bruce Springsteen Playing Super Bowl

Posted by Steve Baltin on Sep 29th 2008 1:00PM
Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News

Rock Pix: The Raconteurs, Weezer + More

This Week: The Raconteurs rocked Treasure Island in San Francisco, Weezer jumped around in jumpsuits in NYC, My Bloody Valentine made their triumphant return to the U.S. at All Tomorrow's Parties, and much more.