2003

Despite ongoing complaints that the world

London-based dance-music brand Ministry of Sound (MoS) has begun offering almost 100,000 tracks for legitimate download from its Web site.MoS relaunched the site Monday, declaring its ambition to become the “No. 1 global legal music download and streaming site.”All five majors are offering content to the service. Users can purchase downloads for 99p ($1.57) apiece from http://www.ministryofsound.com. Tracks can be burned to CD or transferred to a portable device. Alternatively, a monthly payment of 4.99 pounds ($7.94) gives the user 500 credits; permanent downloads cost 100 credits, while 30-day timed-out downloads are 10 each.Pay-per-view streaming for the broadband version of MoS radio is priced at 1.50 pounds ($2.38) for 24 hours of access (during which time users can connect up to 10 times); other pay-per-view content, such as videos and DJ mixes, carries the same price.
Source ETonline.com.

The Austin City Limits Music Festival, in its second year will feature more than 100 artists over three days, September 19-21. The festival is a spin off of the 25 year old Austin City Limits music program on public television. The confirmed artists include: R.E.M., Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Beth Orton, String Cheese Incident, Beta Band, Spoon, Patty Griffin, Los Lobos, Nickel Creek, Mavis Staples, Alejandro Escovedo, Ween, Robert Randolph and Gomez.
For more info visit – Aclfestival.com.

More than seventy acts performed across five stages this weekend at the fourth Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. Drawing more than 30,000 to the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, Calif., the festival closed last night with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, while a politically charged set by the Beastie Boys finished off Saturday’s bill.
The Chili Peppers’ performance was dominated by their recent string of modern rock radio hits, including opener “By the Way,” “Around the World,” “Californication,” “Otherside,” and “Scar Tissue.” The set closed with the group’s “Give It Away.”
Other Sunday highlights included Iggy Pop’s first performance in more than 25 years with the surviving members of the Stooges. The group, augmented by punk rock icon Mike Watt on bass, sounded sharp as it powered through such staples as “TV Eye” and “Fun House.”
Sets by Sonic Youth, Interpol, and the White Stripes didn’t disappoint. Earlier in the day, the 20-member strong Polyphonic Spree added a healthy dose of the bizarre with its blend of Queen-style pomp rock and salvation-seeking, white-robed choir.
In the Sahara Tent, some of the biggest names in dance and electronic music held court, including Richie Hawtin, Deep Dish, and Felix da Housecat. Last night, Underworld had thousands of dancers on the verge of frenzy with a set that featured dance favorites like “Two Months Off,” “King of Snake,” and “Born Slippy Nuxx.”
On Saturday, the Beastie Boys played just their second U.S. show since fall 2001. The group debuted a new song with the repeated line “That’s it / that’s all / that’s all there is,” as well as its recent anti-war track “In a World Gone Mad,” which the Beasties offered via download from its Web site. Nonetheless, the best responses came for such classics as “So What You Want,” “Root Down,” “Intergalactic,” and even a snippet of the ancient “Brass Monkey.”
Taking a cue from a question-and-answer session held earlier in the day by Fugazi’s Ian MacKaye, the Beasties expressed their dissatisfaction with what they called the Bush administration’s “bullying” foreign policy and urged concertgoers to vote for “anyone but this fool” in the 2004 election.
Earlier in the day, hometown rock outfit Queens Of The Stone Age unleashed an uncommonly powerful set highlighted by the singles “No One Knows” and “Go With the Flow,” as well as older cuts such as “Regular John” and “The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret.” Other mainstage performers included Ben Harper, the Donnas, N*E*R*D, Blur, and in what is expected to be their only U.S. show of the year, Swedish rock upstarts the Hives.
Source Billboard.com.

Pearl Jam is working with the organization Conservation International to make the environment a little safer by offsetting the greenhouse gas emissions caused by their current tour. According to Pearl Jam

The list of artists confirmed to play Bonnaroo NE during August 8-10 in Riverton, NY has been announced. The Dead will be playing both nights along with a list of other acts that include: Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Bob Dylan,Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers,The String Cheese Incident, Ween, Gov’t Mule Medeski Martin & Wood, moe., Les Claypool’s Frog Brigade, Yo La Tengo, Talib Kweli, Rusted Root, Soulive, North Mississippi Allstars, Yonder Mountain String Band, Disco Biscuits, Cut Chemist, Grandaddy, X-ecutioners, Kings of Leon, and Los Amigos Invisibles. More bands are too be announced shortly. Tickets go on sale May 7th.
For a full list of info visit Bonnaroo.com

As the summer festival season gets jammed packed, there

Radiohead and Sigur Ros will create new music for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s piece “Split Sides,” which will debut Oct. 14 at New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). It

Norah Jones and the Roots will perform a free concert May 9 at New York’s Battery Park as part of the Tribeca Film Festival. The concert, titled 100% NYC: A Concert Celebrating the Tribeca Film Festival will showcase a slew of music and movies, including those starring Jay-Z, the Ramones, and Eric Clapton. The 2003 Tribeca Film Festival will take place May 3 -May 11 throughout the lower Manhattan neighborhood of Tribeca and additional performers will be announced at a later date.
Source Billboard.com.

Mike Gordon of Phish, Jamie Masefield of the Jazz Mandolin Project and Doug Perkins of Smoking Grass will perform two shows as Grappa Boom at the Iron Horse in Northhampton, MA on May 31st. The trio plays original compositions as well as a variety of jazz and bluegrass standards. This trio has performed previously a couple times for fundraisers in the town of Starksboro, VT. Masefield and Perkins have also collaborated numerous times amongst the coffee houses and small bars of Burlington, VT. For ticket info visit – Iheg.com