Another epic year of North Coast Music Festival is in the books, and GoWhere is the place to get the whole scoop. JPoos and I had the privilege to attend, and with us, we have brought back some very dope coverage from Friday and Saturday of the event, along with a couple late night get downs. STS9, Pretty Lights, Umphrey's McGee, Steve Aoki, Excision, Knife Party, Future Rock...the list goes on and on. Simply put, it was a weekend of unreal music, beautiful weather, party people and great vibes. Here, I have put together a slideshow with some of the best pictures of the weekend, taken byOren Amzaleg. Check them out here, and check out the rest of our coverage too! Still more to come…Peace & Love.
The expectations were set high in Chicago for North Coast Music Festival and it's safe to say that they were met and exceeded. There were reports of Hurricane Irene coming north and putting a damper on the weekend, but luckily on Friday the only thing we got was a very small drizzle. This left plenty of energy to be spent by Chicagoans to dance and party for "Summer's Last Stand." A few acts took the stage during the early afternoon but the party really got started at about 6:00 PM whenTwo Fresh and Midnight Conspiracy took to a couple of stages and began warming people up for the night. The temperature was scorching and it was as humid as hell itself but as the sun started going down during these sets you could feel the mood at Union Park changing, it was time to get down. Two Fresh was one of the more impressive undercards of the weekend with fresh hip hop remixes along with electronic beats, it made for a good warm up for the night ahead. After these guys got done settin the mood it was time for EOTO to really get things going. EOTO consists of two brilliant musicians and members of The String Cheese Incident. Michael Travis and Jason Hann have the ability to do something with dubstep that very few other artists in the scene can, improv for an entire set. Watching these two percussion gurus get down on some electro beats was quite the site to see. Along with EOTO, the final undercard of the night was Papadosio. These guys do such a great job of blending so many styles, their shows are really a fusion of everything this scene is about. For people that wanted to see some good old fashion instruments instead of the more electronic EOTO, Papadosio was the place to be. After EOTO it was time for the headliners to come out and show everyone what all of the hype with North Coast was all about. The main headliners of the night were Axwell and STS9. This gave an option to people that were there for the more electronic DJ house sounds of Axwell or the more electro-jam fusion that STS9 uses both instruments and computers to make. If you had been at North Coast the previous year, or are even somewhat into the electronic and jam music scenes then you know that Sound Tribe Sector 9 ALWAYS brings the heat. They played to the biggest crowd of the whole weekend except for Pretty Lights on Sunday, but we'll talk about that another time. They started things off with a new song of theirs, "20-12" and segued into the title track off of their newest album, "When The Dust Settles." The set also included old school Sector 9 jam, "T.W.E.L.V.E". and one of my personal favorites, "Really Wut." The show was a basically standard festival setlist for STS9 but the songs were well played. The well played songs and new innovations that lighting enginner Saxton Waller brings to the table every time made this show one of the highlights of the weekend, as STS9 always is. The first day of the festival was incredible and it was just the beginning of what was a weekend that won't easily be forgotten. Check the video above of EOTO throwin down some funky dubstep, and shoutout to our homie Oren Amzaleg over at Oren A Photo for the pics below and helpin us cover the festival and gettin some great shots. Much more to come from the weekend.
Kendrick Nicholls of Two Fresh EOTO Jason Haan of EOTO on the Bongo
EOTO Michael Travis of EOTO EOTO
STS9 STS9 Keyboard Player David Phipps STS9
STS9 Bass Player David "Murph" Murphy STS9 David Murphy and Hunter Brown of STS9
Drummer Zach Velmer, Guitarist Hunter Brown, Keyboard Player David Phipps, Bassist David Murphy, Percussion Player Jeffree Lerner
David Murphy is coming home to Atlanta to play a concert, but it won't be an STS9 show. It has been confirmed that Murph's Pink Floyd tribute band, Pigs on the Wing, will be playing a show at Terminal West in Atlanta on September 26. Along with Murph, the band consists of members of Maserati and Collective Efforts. In the past the band has included Murph's STS9 band mate David Phipps and both Dominic Lalli and Jeremy Salken of Big Gigantic.
They have only played a few times, the last couple coming in 2011 when they played at the Georgia Theater and at STS9's Re:Generation festival at Horning's Hideout in North Plains, Oregon. Pigs on the Wing is a unique take on the rock legends and is sure to be quite the treat for any fans of Floyd, STS9, or good music in general.
Tickets for the show are only $15.00 and can be purchased right here through Terminal West. If you're going to be in the ATL around then be sure to check it out, it'll be a good one. Check the video above featuring Pigs on the Wing playing Floyd's classic "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".
Many east coast fans of STS9 haven't had a chance to see their incredible Great Cycle Spectacles shows, but that is about to change. The band just came out and announced a lineup of brand new tour dates to illuminate the east coast including a two night run in New York City's Best Buy Theater. If you're going to be out east and haven't had a chance to catch this tour I suggest you get tickets ASAP, it'll sell out, it always does and it's well worth it. Tickets for all fall tour shows are avaialable as of today through STS9's official ticketing website. Check out the video above of STS9's "Scheme Reprise" as a part of the great cycle spectacles when it came to the Congress Theater in Chicago. What the band's lighting engineer Saxton Waller does with the lights here (especially from 6:30 til the end of the video) proves why he's far and away the best in the business. The majority of the lighting in this song is done by the LED screen but there are other songs where he takes it old school and only uses the cannons and several combinations of the two, either way it's amazing the whole time. Not to be bias or anything but this is the best band in the world and the show will not dissapoint. Here is a list of their fall tour dates, be there or be square.
STS9 2012 Fall Tour
August 25 - Mountain Winery - Saratoga, CA
August 31 - North Coast Music Fest - Chicago, IL
September 1 - House of Blues - Chicago, IL
October 24 - Ryman Auditorium - Nashville, TN
October 25 - The Fillmore - Charlotte, NC
October 26 - Fox Theatre - Atlanta, GA
October 27 - Fox Theatre - Atlanta, GA
October 30 - The National - Richmond, VA
October 31 - Tower Theater - Philadelphia, PA
November 1 - House of Blues - Boston, MA
November 2 - Best Buy Theater - New York, NY
November 3 - Best Buy Theater - New York, NY
December 17 to 21 - Mayan Holidaze - Tulum, Mexico
I remember when I first heard about North Coast. I was at Summer Camp in 2010 watching Umphrey’s McGee when their front man Brendan Bayless announced that they were playing this new festival in Chicago called North Coast Labor Day weekend. I was pumped at the prospect of a major festival with this kind of music in the city, and it has lived up to the hype to say the least. It has turned into an end of summer staple in Chicago and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. The first two North Coast Music festivals featured incredible line ups and were great but I think it’s safe to say that this year’s line up is one for the ages. A majority of the acts are electro style DJs but they made sure to squeeze in a little room for bands and hip hop artists too. Friday is being headlined by STS9 which is the best of the best when it comes to the fusion of electronic music and jam. Saturday night will be one where Umphrey’s McGee will take the stage to show some of the new school electro fans that some old school bands that don’t use computers can still bring the party hard. Sunday’s headliner however is the showstopper. If there’s one way to guarantee a sell out its to bring Derek Vincent Smith aka Pretty Lights to the stage. Don’t get me wrong I love all three of those acts, especially STS9, but it’s hard to find a show with as much energy as Pretty Lights. As far as the hip hop acts go, Atmosphere will be there and so will Big Boi. I can’t think of many people I’d rather see than Big Boi, I just wish Andre was gonna be there too. If you’re looking to buy a single day pass and try to pick which day you’ll like the best, don’t bother, just buy all three because it’s going to be a weekend to remember. There’s something for everyone this time around at North coast and if you go, you will have fun. I know Chicago’s big daddy of festivals, Lollapalooza, is coming up this weekend and it’ll be hard for Chicagoans to think of North Coast quite yet but keep this thing in the back of your minds Chi City, you won’t regret it. Check the video above of STS9 from last year’s North Coast after party at Congress Theater to get an idea of what it might be like this time around.
