Dispersed throughout the eclectic sets at the 2nd Annual Bonnaroo Music Festival held in Manchester, Tennessee, many artists attended intimate press conferences in order to answer media questions, express their various thoughts on the event, and offer general comments about the industry and specifically the ever-changing improvisational scene. There were many poignant moments, and equally as many humorous ones. Here is a collection of some of our favorites.
Dashboard Confessional has left its support slot on Beck’s North American tour, effective immediately. The Chris Carrabba-led group played its final gig on the trek Saturday outside Denver. The move is being chalked up to “circumstances beyond our control” on Dashboard’s official Web site, although sources indicate the band left the tour for financial reasons.
Fellow support act the Black Keys will remain on the trek through its June 27 conclusion in Irvine, Calif., and will play a longer set in Dashboard’s absence.
The move comes amid reports that despite respectable business in markets such as Atlanta and Chicago, the tour is not performing as well as had been expected at the box office. Venues for two of the remaining seven shows are being downsized, beginning Wednesday (June 18) in Vancouver. That show has been moved from the 10,000-capacity Plaza of Nations to the 2,788-capacity Orpheum Theatre. Sources say only about 1,400 tickets have been sold for the performance.
Meanwhile, Thursday’s concert at Portland, Ore.’s Rose Garden Arena has been moved to the Keller Auditorium.
Sources say the venue changes would have required Dashboard to accept a lesser performance fee, which the group declined to do, in favor of beginning promotional work for its new Vagrant album. The set, “A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar,” is due Aug. 12.
According to the Dashboard site, fans wishing refunds can obtain them at points of purchase. “However, we STRONGLY recommend that you do yourself a favor and take in the rest of their tour dates and experience the creative brilliance that is Beck,” the site says. “We have had a great time on this tour; we were treated so well by Beck and his crew that we will be forever grateful.”
Dashboard Confessional is expected to return to the road later this summer.
Source Billboard.com.
Lollapalooza has canceled its opening date. Lollapalooza was to open July 3 in Ionia, Mich., but organizers have called off that date because of “staging and technical difficulties with the event site.” That’s got Ionia officials hopping mad. Korina Haga of the Ionia Fair Association tells The Grand Rapids Press her office found out about the cancellation from a Lansing radio station, not from the tour. She says they were able to handle 25,000 Metallica fans a few years ago and they could easily handle that many Jane’s Addiction fans. Lollapalooza publicist Laura Cohen says the problem was with the size of the stage in Ionia. Jane’s Addiction didn’t think they could fit all their production onto it. She says slow sales were not behind the cancellation. About 4,000 tickets were sold for that stop. The tour will now open July 4 in Noblesville, Ind.
Source Pollstar.com.
Ween is developing a computer software application dubbed “WeenAmp” that will allow fans one-click access to the band’s online radio station, official Web site, message board and chat rooms, and its own peer-to-peer service for trading live concerts. The group hopes to make the software available on copies of its upcoming Sanctuary album, “Quebec” or its Web site. “Quebec” will now arrive Aug. 5, two weeks later than its original July 22 date.
The band says “WeenAmp” will allow users to view cybercasts of concerts from Ween’s upcoming tour, including one “all-request” show where fans can vote for songs in advance. The trek begins July 24 in Pittsburgh and will likely encompass four separate legs of three-to-four weeks in North America, followed by international shows. Dates are expected to be announced shortly.
Source Billboard.com .
