Festival News and Rumors
Rage Against the Machine & Travis Scott to Headline Coachella 2022, Frank Ocean Moved to 2023
Coachella co-founder Paul Tollett has confirmed that Rage Against the Machine and Travis Scott will return to headline the festival in 2022, while Frank Ocean has been bumped to 2023. All three acts had been originally booked to headline Coachella in 2020 prior to the festival’s postponement due to the pandemic. Tollett shared the news in a rare interview with the Los Angles Times, explaining that he wanted to provide fans “some reassurance after the chaos and uncertainty of the last year and a half,” notes the Times. Advertisement Related Video “Right now, it’s the Wild West,” Tollett is quoted as saying. “I’m just trying to be as fair as I can to artists and to the fans to make sure that eventually they get to see everyone that we talked about.” As Tollett explained, Ocean was not availa...
Governors Ball Drops Homophobic Rapper DaBaby From 2021 Festival
Governors Ball is the latest US festival to boot DaBaby from its 2021 lineup in the wake of a series of homophobic comments made by the rapper. In a statement, Governors Ball producers Founders Entertainment said it “does not and will not tolerate hate or discrimination of any kind. We welcome and celebrate the diverse communities that make New York City the greatest city in the world. Thank you to the fans who continue to speak up for what is right. Along with you, we will continue to use our platform for good.” DaBaby had been scheduled to play the festival’s opening night on Friday, September 24th. “Stay tuned for a lineup addition,” advised Founders Entertainment. Advertisement Related Video DaBaby has been roundly criticized for remarks he made last weekend at Miami’s Rollin...
On the Ground at Lollapalooza: How Are the Festival’s COVID-19 Protocols Holding Up?
When Lollapalooza announced its return to Chicago back in May, it felt like one more positive sign of a return to some kind of post-pandemic normal. Flash forward to this week, and the sentiment around Chicago has become far more ambivalent; stalling COVID-19 vaccination rates and the emergence of the dangerous Delta variant led prominent local music critics to label the festival a potential superspreader event. Jim DeRogatis of Sound Opinions went as far as to call for Lollapalooza’s cancellation. “They can’t control their own gates,” DeRogatis told Chicago’s WTTW. “Why are we supposed to believe that they are going to be diligent about checking for vaccination?” Lollapalooza’s COVID-19 mitigation plan is comprehensive on paper. The festival website’s Health and Safety section sets out a ...
Hopscotch Announces 2021 Lineup with Animal Collective, Flying Lotus, Dr. Dog and More
In the spirit of the game for which it was named, Hopscotch Music Festival has leapt over the square marked 2020 and landed on 2021. The event returns to Raleigh, North Carolina from September 9th through 11th with appearances by Animal Collective, Flying Lotus, and Dr. Dog on their farewell tour. Hopscotch built its brand around an experimental and underground vibe, though those adjectives haven’t described this year’s headliners for quite a while. But few will complain about seeing more recognizable names on the roster. In addition to the bold-faced acts, the fest boasts performances by Caroline Polachek, Parquet Courts, and Shannon & The Clams, as well as Archers of Loaf, Body Meat, Bowerbirds, Colin Stetson, Dougie Poole, Garcia Peoples, Hannah Jadagu, Helado Negro, Hippo Camp...
Lollapalooza Set to Go Virtual with Hulu Livestream
Lollapalooza announced today that it has partnered with Hulu to livestream this year’s festival. It’s the first time the long-running Chicago event has teamed with the Disney-owned streaming service. According to a report from Billboard, subscribers to the streaming platform will have access to all four days of the 2021 festival, which is set to take place July 29th through August 1st at Chicago’s Grant Park. The livestream will be accessible each day from 11:00 a.m. PT to 8:00 p.m. PT. “We are thrilled to be partnering for the first time with Hulu for this year’s livestream and are excited that the Lollapalooza fans who cannot be with us in Chicago have such a great platform to experience the show,” read a statement from Courtney Trucksess, sponsorship director for the festival’s promotor...
Pearl Jam, Beck, Brandi Carlile to Play Eddie Vedder’s Ohana Encore Festival in 2021
Eddie Vedder‘s fifth annual music extravaganza Ohana Festival can’t be contained in just one weekend. In addition to the previously announced event scheduled for September 24th-26th, the Pearl Jam frontman has just announced Ohana Encore, a bonus festival that will return to Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, California for October 1st-2nd. Due to overwhelming demand, the encore weekend will of course include headlining sets by Pearl Jam on both Friday and Saturday nights. It marks the band’s only additional concert dates for 2021, and perhaps their only gigs for a while considering Pearl Jam’s own Jeff Ament isn’t comfortable playing indoor shows or “checking vaccination cards” for fans just yet. The bill for Friday, October 1st includes Beck, Lord Huron, and White Reaper in the upper...
Summer Camp Unveils 2021 Lineup: moe., Umphrey’s McGee, Three 6 Mafia, Ween
Summer Camp broke it’s 19th camp in 2019, but before organizers could celebrate their vicennial anniversary, that 20th music festival was put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ll finally get to commemorate two decades of jamming August 20th-22nd, 2021 in Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe, Illinois. Most of the aborted 2020 lineup will return, including moe. and Umphrey’s McGee, who will perform three sets across the three days, as well as two each from Ween and Three 6 Mafia. But not everything is the same. Billy Strings has been upgraded to two performances from one, and the roster has added about a dozen additional acts. The new supergroup Death Kings will perform, with jam favorites Ryan Stasik (Umphrey’s McGee), Mike Gantzer (Aqueous), and Mikey Carubba (Turkuaz)...
Primavera Sound Coming to Los Angeles in 2022
Los Angeles is a city for showing up fashionably late, and Primavera Sound is nothing if not fashionable. The beloved Barcelona, Spain festival had hoped to debut an LA counterpart in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to cancel last May. After a brief flirtation with 2021, festival organizers have now settled on September 16th through the 18th of 2022. The good news is that the additional year’s wait comes with an extra date, as the two-day festival expands to a three-day weekend. Primavera Sound LA will take place at the Los Angeles State Historic Park, which has a capacity of about 25,000 people. That’s a big step down from Primavera’s digs in Barcelona, which has hosted over 200,000 people in a year. In other words, the festival will look more like its Portuguese sibling...
Morrissey, Blondie, Bauhaus & DEVO to Play Rescheduled Cruel World Fest in May 2022
Goldenvoice has rescheduled Cruel World, its celebration of new wave, post-punk, goth, and 80’s alt-rock. The festival, which will be headlined by Morrissey, Bauhaus, Blondie, and DEVO, will now take place on May 14th, 2022 at Brookside at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Update: Due to overwhelming demand, a second date has been added for May 15th. Cruel World was originally supposed to take place in May 2020, but was postponed indefinitely due to the pandemic. Fortunately, many of the acts originally booked to play the festival will appear at the rescheduled date. Other notable acts include Echo & The Bunnymen, The Psychedelic Furs, Violent Femmes, The English Beat, Public Image LTD., The Damned, Cold Cave, The Church, TR/ST, Soft Kill, and Drab Majesty, among others. Rela...
New Orleans Jazz Fest 2021: Stevie Nicks, Foo Fighters, Dead & Company Lead Lineup
New Orleans Jazz Fest will return this fall for a multi-weekend event featuring Stevie Nicks, Foo Fighters, Dead & Company, Lizzo, Demi Lovato, and Jimmy Buffett. Due to the pandemic, Jazz Fest scraped its 2020 staging altogether and postponed its 2021 event until the fall. Now, organizers have announced the preliminary lineup for the first-ever fall Jazz Fest, which will go down October 8th-17th at the Fairground Race Course. Other notable names set to play include The Beach Boys, Wu-Tang Clan featuring The Soul Rebels, Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Randy Newman, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Brittany Howard, The Black Crowes, The Isley Brothers, H.E.R., Brandi Carlile, Norah Jones, Tedeschi Trucks Band Ludacris, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Jon Batiste, Tank and The Bangas,...
2021 Punk in Drublic Festivals: NOFX, Pennywise, Less Than Jake, Sick of It All, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and More
NOFX have announced two 2021 editions of their Punk in Drublic Craft Beer + Music Festival, one in Denver and the other in Worcester, Massachusetts. The veteran punk band will headline both events, which are scheduled for July and September, respectively. The Denver edition will take place July 17th at Sculpture Park, and features Less Than Jake, Sick of It All, Get Dead, Potato Pirates, and more acts to be named. The Massachusetts event happens on September 25th, at the Palladium Outdoors in Worcester, and includes The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Pennywise, Get Dead, and more bands to be announced. Related Video Tickets for both Punk in Drublic events go on sale this Friday (June 25th) via the official festival website. Last month, NOFX announced they were dropping off the 2021 Punk Rock Bow...
Al Green, Snoop Dogg, and Ice Cube to Headline Once Upon a Time in LA Festival
Whoever said old-school hip-hop and R&B were dead hasn’t seen the lineup for Once Upon a Time in LA, an epic one-day fest going down at Banc of California & Exposition Park on December 18th, 2021. Al Green is the main headliner, and while that’s incredible enough on its own, the fest’s lineup is also stacked with West Coast icons like Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Ice Cube, The Game, Cypress Hill, E-40, and tons more. This is, in fact, not a fairytale. Along with the aforementioned artists, this fest will include additional veteran hip-hop favorites like Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Three Six Mafia, DJ Quik, Warren G, Xzibit, and Too Short. There’s also a big pull for funk and soul fans, with performances by the Isley Brothers, Parliament-Funkadelic, War, Zapp, Brenton Wood, Mary Jane Girls, Morri...
