Photo: Hill/FilmMagic

This weekend Rothbury, Michigan celebrated July Fourth with the second annual Rothbury Festival, a multi-day event featuring Bob Dylan, the Dead, Nas, Girl Talk, the Cool Kids and many more. Check out all the live action in our photo gallery:

• Rothbury 2009: Bob Dylan, The Dead, Girl Talk and More Onstage in Michigan

The eighth edition of the Bonnaroo Arts & Music Festival worked hard to shed its image as the dusty home to eight-hour jam-band noodle sessions. Its most eclectic lineup to date had the heavenly voice of the Rev. Al Green sharing field space with the unholy racket of Nine Inch Nails, and the ensuing throng of nearly 80,000 attendees was accordingly diverse. Beyond the usual granola munchers and tie-dyed flower children, there were healthy flocks of sunglassed indie kids ready to freak to MGMT, headbangers slamdancing in the sand to High On Fire, sock-and-sandal yupsters politely enjoying jùjú legend King Sunny Adé and phratty Phishheads going wherever the party was. Though after Thursday’s torrential downpour, the only two subcultures of import were “wet” and “dry.” Check out Bonnaroo’s unique cross-sections in these photos taken from both the festival floor and the too-close-for-comfort campgrounds.

• Bonnaroo 2009: Faces in the Crowd

Many Bonnaroo ‘09 attendees pitched their tents in the pouring rain Thursday, and it seemed like clouds might shield the fest’s final day from the blazing Tennessee sun. But the sky began to clear around 3:00 p.m. when Citizen Cope started playing their slow emotive funk on the Which Stage, and Erykah Badu brought the metaphorical and physical sunshine for her set on the gargantuan What Stage. She came out with a slow sassy strut, wearing a Public Enemy sweatshirt and a tall bowler hat. “Peace and love y’all,” she announced before singing “The Healer,” a jazzy rap with lyrics befitting the Bonnaroo spirit: “Sex, music, hip-hop is bigger than religion here. Sex, music, hip-hop is bigger than government here.”

(Dive into Bonnaroo ‘09 in our gallery of shots from the stage and beyond.)

Andrew Bird praised the ‘Roo while performing his intelligent brand of rock on the Which Stage: “This is my favorite of all the festivals,” he said before starting up “Opposite Day” with its xylophone, plucked violin and lots of whistling. On the other side of the festival grounds Okkervil River played to a packed crowd in the Other Tent, their red-bearded frontman, Will Sheff, singing energetically and passionately. “I’d like to play a song about jumping off a bridge” he said before kicking into “John Allyn Smith Sails.” In the This Tent Merle Haggard played classics with his fine tuned country band. People raised beers and yelled when he played “Folsom Prison Blues.”

As the late afternoon approached and the crowd began to get giddy for Phish, Snoop Dogg took his place on the main stage. (more…)

As the late afternoon sun beat down over the grounds of Bonnaroo 2009, Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs was prowling across Which Stage, sporting wild yellow-and-black leopard-print tights and a billowing tank top, when she suddenly stopped for a second, panted into her microphone and shouted: “It’s hot out there, Bonnaroo!” Over at That Tent, futuristic pop singer Santigold echoed a similar sentiment: “Whooooooo!” she hollered. “I’m dripping with sweat but I’m having a really great time!” (Click above to see footage from the Yeahs’ set and watch their pre-show limber up, plus check out our interview with French rockers Phoenix with a dash of their performance of “Lisztomania.”)

(Dive into Bonnaroo ‘09 in our gallery of shots from the stage and beyond.)

It was brutally hot and humid for the second day of Bonnaroo — the temp soared to almost 90 degrees — and there was little shade for fest-goers to escape the swelter. But the afternoon’s performers still managed to bring high-energy performances and attendees were willing to sweat it out (or, in some cases, pass out from exhaustion on the lawn) to catch some great sets, which were heavy on indie-rock bands for the first part of the day. Animal Collective dug deep for some trippy, electronic grooves; Dirty Projectors were joined by David Byrne for a set of knotty, Afro-pop-inspired art-rock and Yeah Yeah Yeahs got the crowd pogoing to raging versions of “Date With the Night” and their fantastic new single “Zero,” as TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe rooted them on.

Later that night, the Beastie Boys delivered a set of classic jams (”Intergalactic”; a raging, set-closing “Sabotage”) and a couple of deep cuts (”Heart Attack Man”). They also unveiled a few surprises: (more…)

For the past few years, Bonnaroo’s kick-off night has typically been devoted to small indie-rock bands but last night’s lineup was one of the best and most diverse openers in years, featuring synth-pop (Passion Pit) country (Zac Brown Band), rave-y acts (Tobacco) hip-hop (the Knux) and comedy from the one and only Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.

(Check out photos from Bonnaroo’s opening day.)

Like Vampire Weekend last year, Passion Pit had the biggest buzz going into Bonnaroo and their 11 p.m. set was packed with fest-goers looking get down to the group’s highly danceable synth-pop anthems (check out footage from their set, above). All throughout their set, singer Michael Angelakos (who rocks a giant ‘fro and eerily resembles the Eagles’ Don Henley in the ’70s) led the crowd through sweaty sing-alongs and deafening clapping fits, particularly at the start of their best song “Sleepyhead.” Angelakos has one of the coolest new voices in pop — a shrill, high shriek that could bust glass — and he let it ring out in full over the festival grounds on tight, propulsive jams like “Make Light,” which sent the crowd into a pogo frenzy.

Best-set-of-the-night award goes to Tobacco, who performed a 1 a.m. slot at the tiny Troo Music Lounge. (more…)

To kick off the first night of Bonnaroo ‘09, Rolling Stone did what we do best: we invited some ace up-and-coming acts to play our very own party, sponsored by Vitamin Water. At 8 p.m., Brooklyn synth-pop trio Chairlift heated up the fest as the sun set over the 650-acre Great Stage Park in Manchester, Tennessee. The crew delivered a mellow set of woozy, ’80s-throwback tracks that was heavy on tunes from their gorgeous debut, Does You Inspire You.

(Click above to catch Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes hanging in a hammock with Janelle Monae and Chairlift explaining how it felt to brush against Phish’s Mike Gordon on the festival grounds.)

“I’ve always wanted to do that — play these songs as the sun was setting over some giant field,” singer Caroline Polachek told us backstage. “I always thought our songs were suited to that.” The trio also pulled out a couple of neat tricks, closing their set with a gothic-disco version of Snoop Dogg’s “Sensual Seduction.” A classically trained opera singer, Polachek effortlessly simulated Snoop’s Auto-Tuned vocals — and she did it without the help of the effect. As bandmate Aaron Pfenning told us, “She doesn’t need any Auto-Tune. Her voice is perfect.” Jay-Z would approve.

(Dive into Bonnaroo in our gallery of live shots.) (more…)

Photo: Tim Mosenfelder

Central Washington’s Columbia River Valley is some of the most beautiful natural landscape in the U.S., and the headlining acts at the Sasquatch! Festival, at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, WA, over Memorial Day weekend knew it. “Give it up for the Earth!” shouted Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio as his band played a Sunday night Gorge set. Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, who followed TV on the Radio, went further. “This is one of my favorite places in the world to play,” he said. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be than here right now.”

(Check out photos of Kings of Leon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more at the Northwest’s hottest fest.)

Several thousand music fans agreed. Sasquatch! has become one of the most reliably well booked festivals in the country, but its Northwest base and inclusion of many area bands give it a homegrown feel as well as national pull. Sets by up-and-comers abounded, from Portland power-poppers Viva Voce to the bookish indie of Seattle’s Pica Beats.

The biggest Northwestern band on the bill was the Decemberists, who played Saturday evening, shortly before sundown. Colin Meloy, in a black suit and tie and long muttonchops, led the ensemble through a committed rendition of the songs from the band’s new album, The Hazards of Love. Unfortunately, the band were upstaged by a couple visibly having sex far up in the bluffs behind a venue fence. When security finally escorted them out they were cheered as loudly as the Decemberists. (more…)

Hard rock ruled the heartland this weekend as Mötley Crüe, Slipknot and Alice in Chains headlined Rock on the Range. For its third year, the Columbus festival drew 38 bands and sold a two-day total of 56,000 tickets, according to L.A.-based promoter Del Williams. A mixed crowd — college kids in baseball caps to bikers — partied under dreary skies on Saturday, and were energized and ready to toss the devil horns on sunny Sunday.

(Go behind the scenes at Rock on the Range with exclusive interviews — watch backstage chats with Mötley Crüe, Korn, Slipknot, Alice in Chains and Duff McKagan by clicking the video above.)

On day one, before he joined Alice in Chains for a haunting rendition of “Rooster,” Velvet Revolver’s Duff McKagan played a side stage, fronting his band Loaded. “The thing about Rock on the Range, I didn’t understand it until Velvet Revolver played here a couple years ago,” explained Duff backstage between appearances. “It’s in Columbus, a little college town — how big a festival can you have here? But people come here from Cleveland, Detroit, Toledo, Cincinnati, Indiana, West Virginia, from Kentucky, Tennessee. They all converge, and this is the big thing of the summer.”

(Check out photos of all the blistering hard-rock action from Rock on the Range.) (more…)

This year’s Bamboozle crammed more than 70 bands a day into the most pop-friendly lineup the fest has seen in its four-year history. No Doubt and Fall Out Boy claimed the biggest headlines, but a six-pack of up-and-coming acts were making noise on the smaller stages. Here’s a rundown:

Name: All the Day Holiday
From: Cincinnati, Ohio
Sounds Like: Dreamily ambient rock, like Sigur Ros or Explosions in the Sky
Their Story: Born from the remains of a screamo act featuring singer Daniel Simmons and drummer Mark Ventura, All the Day Holiday’s current sound blends layered arrangements into gorgeous, atmospheric tracks. The band released its debut album, The Things We’ve Grown to Love on indie label Linc Star records last month.

Name: Danger Radio
From: Seattle, Washington
Sounds Like: Jonas Brothers fronted by Justin Timberlake (more…)

Photo: Brecheisen/WireImage

In the weeks leading up to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the recession was the tense undercurrent beneath the excitement over its 40th anniversary. The lineup was announced early this year to extend the ticket-buying season, and other festivals canceled or scaled down. Corporate sponsors Borders, AIG and Southern Comfort withdrew their support, but any concerns about Jazz Fest’s economic well-being evaporated Saturday when Bon Jovi delivered the second-largest audience in festival history.

(Check out photos of Dave Matthews, Wilco and more at Jazz Fest)

Bon Jovi was this festival’s cause célèbre, evidence for festival veterans that Jazz Fest is losing its way, trading New Orleans music for “Living on a Prayer,” the set opener. The band will never be mistaken for Bonnie Raitt or the Rebirth Brass Band, but Bon Jovi leaned heavily on its current pop country material including “Who Says You Can’t Go Home,” the Grammy-winning duet with Sugarland that Sugarland played on the same stage 24 hours earlier. Bon Jovi also nodded toward its roots, first with a cover of Gary U.S. Bonds’ “New Orleans,” then with “Shout” and “Twist and Shout” to close the show.

Kings of Leon made their Jazz Fest debut this year as well. “We don’t have any jazz songs,” Caleb Followill announced. “We’ll try to jazz things up a bit.” (more…)

On the first day of the Bamboozle, the nine-stage rock festival spread across an East Rutherford, New Jersey parking lot, only one group of unlikely special guest superstars could outshine much-adored headliners Fall Out Boy. Still riding a two-year wave of rediscovery, arena-rock diehards Journey appeared as the secret performers for a four-song set. Or “Journey” as it turned out — the group appears to have been a stellar Long Island cover band called Evolution. Blasting out “Separate Ways,” “Faithfully,” “Any Way You Want It” and the still totally unkillable “Don’t Stop Believing,” Evolution — who many in the crowd, including this reporter, mistook for the real deal — cued a wildly mixed audience reaction, some fans literally shrieking or running towards the stage, others angrily storming away en masse. But even with a few freaked audience members gone, a triumphant “Believing” got a louder, more powerful sing-along than anything else the entire day.

Fall Out Boy kept the energy high with a set heavy on hits, strobe lights and Andy Hurley, one of the most animated drummers around. For a show heavy with costume changes and videos, the band was clearly trying to keep things loose and casual. Cassadee Pope from Hey Monday helped sing the chorus to “Sugar We’re Goin Down” and bassist Pete Wentz shared a lengthy motivational speech apparently fueled by having watched Marley And Me. The band did their cover of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and ultimate party anthem “Hey Ya” by OutKast, the latter so seemingly spur-of-the-moment that the band stumbled over the bridge. When Wentz introduced it with, “I feel like everybody wants to dance right now,” that could have been any part of a pepped-up day where just watching bands could feel like overstimulation. (more…)

Photo: Mazur/WireImage

Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band and the Beastie Boys will headline this year’s Austin City Limits festival, taking place in the Texas capital’s Zilker Park October 2-4th. The eclectic bill also includes current Rolling Stone cover stars Kings of Leon, Sonic Youth, Ben Harper and Relentless7, the Dead Weather, Arctic Monkeys and over 150 more acts from the world of rock, rap, folk and blues.

If a festival headlined by Pearl Jam, DMB and the Beasties sound familiar, there’s a good reason for it: The three bands will also be the marquee acts at San Francisco’s Outside Lands festival. For Pearl Jam, the ACL show is only the second announced date on their U.S. itinerary. DMB is spending the entire summer on the road in support of Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King and the Beastie Boys are pretty much playing anything that has the word “Festival” in it, booking slots at Lollapalooza and All Points West.

Grizzly Bear, the B-52’s, Girl Talk, Bon Iver, Lily Allen, the Levon Helm Band, Toadies and tons more will be on hand for the three-day event, with tickets priced at $185. Full lineup after the jump. (more…)

Photo: Diamond/Getty

“New Orleans is the soul of America,” Gil Cerezo of Kinky declared. The dance rock band from Monterey, Mexico, was onstage and finishing up the first weekend of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell in exhilarating fashion, merging Wall of Voodoo’s “Mexican Radio” with their own.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Jazz Fest, a two-weekend-long celebration of what festival producer Quint Davis refers to as “the heritage of jazz.” This weekend, that heritage manifested itself with approximately 180 acts on 11 stages and two performances by Wynton Marsalis including “Congo Square,” an epic composition performed with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Ghanian percussionist Yacub Addy and Odadaa!

(Don’t miss photos of DMB, Wilco and more at 2009’s Jazz Fest.)

In some cases, the heritage of jazz was tough to detect. That certainly was the case when the Drive-By Truckers opened their set Friday afternoon with the stomping “Lookout Mountain.” It was the Truckers’ second show with Booker T. Jones, who they backed on his new album, Potato Hole, and he seemed less at home on their songs than they were on his. (more…)

Photo: Haaseth/NBC

With Coachella in the rear-view mirror, the next big ‘09 festival on the horizon is Bonnaroo, which will bring the recently reunited Phish and road warrior Bruce Springsteen to Manchester, Tennessee from June 11th to 14th. While the fest built its name on lineups that jam deep into the night, over the past few years Bonnaroo has emerged as a major destination for comedy aficionados, as well. So just how has the funny business become such an integral part of ‘Roo? “I think because the tent is air-conditioned,” Parks and Recreation star Aziz Ansari joked during a teleconference yesterday. (Grab the current issue of RS for a story on the new Amy Poehler show by Rob Sheffield.)

This year’s Bonnaroo features perhaps its best slate of comics yet, with late-night host Jimmy Fallon, The State’s Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and Todd Barry. Ansari will back despite an uncomfortable incident that (probably didn’t) happen to him last time around. “I was at the artist catering area and I’m sitting there getting some mashed potatoes, and the guys from Peter Bjorn and John are like ‘Those mashed potatoes are for us, they’re not for anybody else.’ I was like ‘No, they’re for everybody.’ Then they started beating me up,” Ansari said. (more…)

Photo: Kravitz/FilmMagic

Thanks to a star-packed lineup anchored by Paul McCartney, Leonard Cohen and the return of My Bloody Valentine, this year’s Coachella enjoyed its second-best attendance ever, attracting roughly 166,000 concertgoers, Billboard reports. The news is a sigh of relief for the entire festival industry, concerns over how the recession would affect the festival biz led to layaway ticket options. Coachella’s 2007 festival, which featured Rage Against the Machine and Red Hot Chili Peppers, remains the event’s most popular year, with a draw of 186,000.

While the economy didn’t prevent the masses from catching performances by Macca and hundreds more, nearly 18 percent of attendants still opted to purchase tickets using Coachella’s payment plan, Billboard reports. Many festivals, like Bonnaroo, Outside Lands and All Points West, have adopted a similar payment approach, while Lollapalooza has stuck with the lump sum method. Still, it was the likely the lineup featuring a member of the Fab Four that most helped Coachella put up the big numbers. “The lineup I thought was really good this year, and we’ve got the momentum of all the years we’ve been going,” Paul Tollett, president of Coachella organizers Goldenvoice, told Billboard. (more…)