There's no better way to end the summer than with an outdoor music festival right on the beach. Celebrate your Labor Day weekend in Virginia Beach at the Verizon Wireless Music Festival.
Things kickoff this evening as the festival celebrates its 15th year of winding down the summer season. Tonight's headline on the 5th Street Main Stage is Morris Day and The Time. A $30 weekend ticket will get you into the show along with the Billy Idol concert on Saturday and the B52's concert on Sunday. If money is a little tight, there are three other stages with free concerts each night. Los Lobos, War and Warrant are just some of the artists that are performing for free.
The shows end with a fireworks display on both Friday and Sunday evenings. Even if you aren't a big fan of the music, there's always plenty to do and eat as you wander through the street vendors that set up shop for the weekend festivities. If you still have your doubts about the weekend in Virginia Beach, there's a Blues-fest in only a couple more weeks if that's more you style.
If your Labor Day to Missouri don't inclue sumo wrestling, then you're probably headed to the 40th Annual Bluegrass Pickin' Time. (Hard to believe that it's already been 40 years!) About 130 miles outside of St. Louis, the small town of Dixon is definitely ready for this year's fun.
Things kick off on Wednesday evening before the holiday weekend with a fish fry, and you're even encouraged to bring a dish to share. Starting Thursday night, the festival will start kickin' with the Bluegrass Pickin' Time Band. After that, things start around lunchtime every day and don't stop until about 10 pm.
In addition to all the music, there will be craft vendors scattered about the park and even a quilt show. [Ed.: Now *that's* Midwestern.] Instrument workshops will also be held so you can get some tips and tricks from the pros to improve your own bluegrass skills. Tickets for the full four days will run you just $35.
Melancholy singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen is out on the road again after a 15-year touring hiatus. The Canadian poet and balladeer, who spent most of the '90s in a Zen Buddhist monastery in California, plays tonight at Switzerland's Montreux Jazz Festival, a genre-crossing concert series on the shores of Lake Geneva in the same city where David Bowie recorded "Heroes."
See bluesman Buddy Guy tomorrow, neo-soul duo Gnarls Barkley on Friday and an all-star tribute to Quincy Jones on July 14 at the festival, which continues through the 19.
Cohen kicked off his tour in Fredericton, New Brunswick in May and follows up his Montreux appearance with concerts in Lyon, Bruges and Amsterdam this weekend.
New York City has a festival for just about everything, so it's no surprise that Brooklyn is currently hosting one dedicated to Afro-punk culture. But you might be surprised that the week-long event is expected to bring in more than 30,000 people.
The majority of the Afro-Punk Festival, which features 40 bands, 15 film screening and an art exhibit, is taking place this week at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. There's also a pop-up skate park in the parking lot across the street, with demonstrations from pro skaters and BMX riders, as well as live bands and DJs throughout the week.
You'll also find a film screening in Fort Greene Park Saturday night, and a party in Williamsburg on Friday. The best part, of course, is that all the events are free.
Last July at Turin's Traffic Festival, Daft Punk and Arctic Monkeys put on performances that we would've paid good money to see. But we didn't have to because it's been free since its inception in 2004.
This year from July 7-11, the event line-up of punk, trip-hop and electro performances, cinema and contemporary art will not only be free, but also green. And to accommodate all the happenings, the fest is expanding from the main stage in Turin's Parco della Pellerina to include the Arena Civica in Milan and other smaller venues around Piedmont.
Check the event schedule before you go to avoid showing up at the wrong venue and looking like a music fest rookie in front of your friends. Besides, you'd be kicking yourself if you missed the Sex Pistols' first-ever Turin performance along with Brit punks The Wire. Others headliners not to miss include Patti Smith, Tricky, Afterhours and Justice.
Although this 3-day weekend of live music and great microbrews from the southwest and beyond is not technically at the resort, the town of Telluride, Colorado wouldn't be much more than a tumbleweed museum and billy goat hang out without the mountain destination.
You can expect lots of great blues and roots bands at the Telluride Blues and Brews Festival starting September 12, including Canned Heat, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, G. Love and Special Sauce and Gov't Mule. The list of brewers is 56 strong and will include heavy hitters and little-knowns alike from as far way as Georgia. Big names to look for include Sierra Nevada, Moab Brewery and Santa Fe Brewing Company.
There are lots of hotel options available in town and there is camping available for $40. Entrance to the festival can be purchased day-to-day or you can go for the full monty for $155. Birkenstocks, patchouli and dreadlocks will not get you any discounts either, hippies!
Only a geographic imbecile would confuse Spain and Brazil, two countries dissimilar in size, language and continent. But if you're looking for the Rock in Rio concert taking place this weekend, better pack your Spanish-English dictionary: After three editions in Brazil, the fest is expanding its reach and has already held concert blowouts in Lisbon and Madrid.
Organizers are banking that the words "Rock in Rio" can become a brand like Bonnaroo or Lollapalooza, not just a callback to the home of samba and Gisele. This final weekend of Rock in Rio, held in the Madrid suburb of Arganda del Rey, will feature The Police, Franz Ferdinand, Amy Winehouse and Bob Dylan.
The Glastonbury Music Festival is perhaps better known for its epic mess than its gritty performances. But this year's fest was remarkably dry, bringing the stars out in record numbers. There was rain, don't doubt it, just less than usual, so Kate Moss' boots looked more like a fashion statement than a meteorological necessity.
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by kjb
