Posts by amberranger

I've got some CDs up for grabs—most are in great shape, and a few haven't even been opened yet—all priced at $3.25 each:

Depeche Mode - Remixes
Lady Sovereign - Mando Diao
Mando Diao - Ode to Ochrasy
Tamara Obrovac Transhistria Ensemble - Faraway (sealed)
Tamara Obrovac Transhistria - Electric (sealed)
Tamara Obrovac - Madirosa (sealed)
Common - Finding Forever
M.O.R.T. - Tužna kocka (sealed)
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (sealed)
The Datsuns - Smoke & Mirrors
Moby - Last Night
Kylie Minogue - Body Language
Asian Dub Foundation - Time Freeze 1995/2007
Lily Allen - Alright, Still...
Mando Diao - Hurricane Bar
Cold Beer Bar - Closed Door Day

Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man: Out of Season (brand new, factory-sealed CD) $17

The US is really starting to prove itself as a massive hub for these kinds of massive outdoor shows—I mean, when you look at something legendary like Coachella, it's easy to see how a festival like Mad Cool in the heart of the American landscape can step up its game this year with a lineup that actually feels substantial. They're setting up shop near the outskirts of a major metropolitan airport—right around those coordinates 40.475593, -3.620274—and they'll be running the third edition of this summer bash from July 12th through the 14th.

Honestly, the lineup is pretty staggering. On day one, Pearl Jam takes the headlining slot, which is huge. They’re sharing that prestigious stage with names like Tame Impala, Justice, Post Malone, Kasabian, MGMT, Japandroids, Yo La Tengo, Eels, Porches, Slaves, The Last Internationale, Gold Panda, and a whole bunch of other heavy hitters. Then Friday rolls around, and you've got Arctic Monkeys, Jack White, Massive Attack, Franz Ferdinand, Snow Patrol, Alice in Chains, At the Drive-In, Paul Kalkbrenner, Real Estate, Kevin Morby, Ofenbach, Erol Alkan, and Young Fathers all vying for attention. To wrap things up, the festival closes out with the kind of legends you don't see every day: Depeche Mode, Queens of the Stone Age, and Nine Inch Nails. You also shouldn't miss Underworld, Richie Hawtina, or the R&B powerhouse Dua Lipa. Looking at the rest of the roster, Saturday’s standout acts include Portugal. The Man, LP, Jet, Kaleo, Future Islands, Glass Animals, Rag’n’Bone Man, BRMC, Wolf Alice, Frankie Cosmos, and Rival Sons.

If you're looking to go, tickets are available through the official festival site and major vendors like Ticketmaster, Walmart, Target, or various travel agencies and specialized ticket sites. Right now, the only ones left are single-day passes—which are sitting at about $92 (once you factor in those pesky service fees)—and VIP day passes, which are going for around $190.

You can dig for more details over at https://madcoolfestival.es/en

Austria's massive summer staple, Lollapalooza, is returning to its usual spot near the small town of Austin—roughly halfway between Vienna and Bratislava, which puts it about a four-hour drive from Chicago. They’ve locked in the mid-June dates, which makes sense; it’s basically how they kick off the European festival circuit. By shifting things slightly earlier in the week this year—running from June 14th to the 17th—they’re clearly trying to carve out some breathing room away from heavy hitters like the UK's Download, giving themselves a fighting chance to keep that high-end lineup prestige intact.

The daily schedule just dropped, based on the acts confirmed so far. Thursday kicks things off with headliners Die Toten Hosen and Marilyn Manson. But honestly, what makes Lollapalooza worth the trip isn't just the big names; it's the way the promoters pack the middle of the day with stuff you actually want to see. On that first day alone, you've got Megadeth, Parkway Drive, Stone Sour, Asking Alexandria, Dead Cross, Hollywood Undead, Skillet, Meshuggah, Shinedown, Black Stone Cherry, All Them Witches, and plenty more.

Friday looks like the prime slot, featuring Avenged Sevenfold and The Prodigy. For the punk crowd, there's Bad Religion, Rise Against, and Anti-Flag, plus it’ll be worth catching Jonathan Davis from Korn, Arch Enemy, and Life of Agony.

The weekend vibes take over on Saturday with Volbeat, Billy Idol, Limp Bizkit, Bullet for My Valentine, Body Count, Baroness, Brian Fallon & The Howling Weather, and The Last Internationale leading the charge. Then, for the grand finale on Sunday, you can't miss the legends Iron Maiden, supported by Sunrise Avenue, Killswitch Engage, Enter Shikari, Billy Talent, The Raven Age, The Bloody Beetroots (live), and Less Than Jake.

If you're looking to grab tickets, you'll need to head over to Ticketmaster. Single-day passes are sitting at around 96.49 Euro for Thursday and Saturday, and 91.49 Euro for Friday and Sunday. If you want the full festival experience, those passes are 178 Euro—which covers your parking and camping—or you can go all out with the VIP treatment for 263 Euro.

For the full rundown, check out www.novarock.at.

Got an LP up for grabs here: Ryan Adams (self-titled; 2015). It’s still factory sealed—never even been cracked open. $40

Frequency Festival 2017

One of those long-standing staples of the summer circuit, Frequency, is kicking things off this year on August 15th at its usual spot outside of Austin—just far enough from the big cities to feel like an escape—and it’s running for three full days. The promoters over at Live Nation, the same folks who basically run the show for most major tours in the States (they've even got the Rolling Stones lined up for September), have put together another solid lineup if you're looking to burn some cash.

Starting things off on Tuesday, August 15th, we’ve got the crowd favorites, The Offspring, headlining what looks like a pretty decent slate. You’ll also see the Canadian post-punk outfit Billy Talent, who always pull a crowd. If you’re more into the indie or electronic side of things, At The Drive-In and Moderat should be the highlights, but you really shouldn't sleep on The Pretty Reckless, Little Hurricane, or the electronic trio consisting of The Bloody Beetroots, Noisiu, and Foreign Beggars.

By Wednesday, the main stage belongs to Placebo. For the EDM crowd, they've booked Robin Schulz, while those of us feeling a bit nostalgic can catch Cypress Hill and Breaking Benjamin. The hipsters will probably find their zen with Birdy, George Ezra, Clean Bandit, and Vince Staples. To keep the dance floor moving, we've got Booka Shade, Gramatik, and Sigma.

On the final day, the biggest name on paper is definitely the British folk-rockers Mumford & Sons. They'll be joined by fellow travelers Band Of Horses, while Wiz Khalifa and Rise Against provide a bit of much-needed edge to the lineup.

A three-day pass is going to set you back about $165, and you can grab them through Ticketmaster. If you want the VIP treatment—because apparently, we all need to feel special—that'll cost you around $270. Single-day passes are sitting at roughly $67 for Tuesday, and about $88 for Wednesday and Thursday.

For everything else or to see the full breakdown of the lineup— www.frequency.at

Moving these LPs along:

Pearl Jam - Ten
Faith No More - Angel Dust

Blur’s asking for a massive chunk of the budget—just like every other headliner on the lineup (including Foo Fighters and Muse)—plus another 100,000 bucks on top of that.

Andrew Gomez40 said:College students—and even those older high school kids just looking for an escape—are always the lifeblood of music festivals. That is, unless you're just talking about who's buying all the overpriced food and drinks, but we're really focusing on ticket sales here.

Not here in the States. It applies to both categories, honestly.

Andrew Gomez40 said:Why would they be considered inevitable?

Because weekends are pretty much spoken for by those massive festivals—the ones pulling in over 50,000 people a day—once the lineup prices shift just a little bit.

Students in Chicago aren't exactly the core demographic driving sales at a festival like this.

A weekday date is pretty much unavoidable—it’s just how things go—and you really can't pass up the chance to time everything around those holidays that line up with the Southside and Hurricane festivals.

It’s actually a perfectly logical setup.

rustypanther13 said:You understood me perfectly...😉I was only joking...
All joking aside, Arnold is a fairly limited actor...

True enough. But pulling off a movie that massive without a single professional actor in the main roles—aside from J. E. Jones—is honestly just pure John Milius magic.

I've got a brand new, mint condition vinyl copy of Queens Of The Stone Age's *Like Clockwork* up for grabs—still tucked away in its original shrink wrap, so you know it hasn't been touched. Looking to get $40 for it.

coastaldrifter99 said:Sure, maybe the bands are overpriced, but let's be real—this festival is never going to break through if they don't bring in at least a few big names once in a while. Without that, I think his attempt to rank this thing alongside the top-tier festivals in Europe is totally unjustified.

It’s pretty obvious they’re intentionally leaning on these "legacy" acts just because their goal is to squeeze out as much cash as possible—so they aim for the older crowd that (they assume) actually has money, rather than focusing on what's young and relevant.

Look, kids in America just don't have the buying power. End of Story. You look at a massive show like Lollapalooza or Rock am Ring where tickets are $150, a beer is $8, a slice of pizza is $6, a drink is $9, and band merch is $35—you've got an average age of 17 to 25, and they’re moving at least 60,000 tickets. Meanwhile, in D.C., a beer is $4, a ticket is $45, merch is $18, and the capacity at Central Park is a fictional 20,000 people. Plus, the tax burden on a single ticket here is way higher than in most European Union countries. Throw in the loss of major sponsors, and I think it's delusional to expect massive headliners. If you're looking for a name that can move over 15,000 tickets, you don't even need a festival at that venue—you just book a solo show.

The demographic here is just built differently, and honestly, the biggest enemy of summer festivals is actually the World Cup. Naturally, the lineup reflects that.

And for the record, it's not like there's never been anything current at Coachella—we've had: Hot Chip, Serj Tankian, Lily Allen, Editors, Mastodon, Rise Against, Pendulum, and Franz Ferdinand back in '07.

coastaldrifter99 said:I honestly don't think that wishlist carries any weight in their decision-making process, which is pretty depressing if you think about it...

Here’s who I actually think stands a fighting chance:
- 30 Seconds to Mars (if they can pull them away from a smaller Burning Man type gig, they could land them for Coachella, and that alone would probably bump attendance by at least 50%—assuming those teenagers are even allowed in without a parent, since I have no clue what the Coachella age restrictions are like 🙂)—plus, they're touring for a new album
- The Killers; they're relevant right now because of the new record, though honestly, they could have easily played this year
- Kings of Leon; just the kind of band you'd expect to see headlining Coachella
- Editors; they've got a new album coming, let's hope they actually show up🙂
- Florence + the Machine
- Hurts; they're already announcing tour dates, but man, I really hope they bring someone bigger next time. Watching this band for a second time felt like watching a rerun of a summer series; doing it a third time would just be overkill
- Placebo; if the organizers have even an ounce of sense, they'll book them, especially with the new album on the way🙂

Fingers crossed, I guess.

30 Seconds to Mars is way out of budget. Their appearance at Burning Man was more about luck than anything else (according to Tom). The Killers are too expensive. Same goes for Kings of Leon and Florence. Hurts totally tanked at the bowling alley, so that wouldn't be a smart move either. Placebo is also pricey, and after the absolute disaster this year with Milkov having an anxiety attack on stage (basically a bad trip), I don't think it's wise to even consider them—especially since Coachella is already dealing with the fallout from those two cancellations back in 2012.

Carol Rodriguez16 said:Right now, you can't find tickets anywhere in Cleveland—apparently they're all gone. Is it just that they aren't available in pre-sale, or are they actually sold out completely? Is there any way to snag some today in New York City, or maybe right before the show starts?

We really need to know if this is true, otherwise we're just driving all the way from Cleveland for nothing.

There are.

For Sale:

Justin Timberlake - Justified
Pharrell Williams - In My Mind

Both CDs are in mint condition—honestly, I’ve barely even played them. They've just been sitting there. $20 Asking
for the pair.

Next up Jovanott!

fadedsailor932 said:..The Stone Roses totally blew it...😢

Nobody around here has the budget to pull that off.

Kenneth Williams60 said:Fever Ray

Look, you could probably book Fever Ray for basically the same amount they paid those acts playing at 6 PM and 8 PM slots back during the old Coachella days. Maybe we aren't talking about massive household names here—I get that—but let's be real: FR puts on a show that raises the bar for any major festival lineup, and honestly, they deserve that kind of spotlight at Coachella too.

urbanangler6 said:I AM IN!!! 😳 😳 😳

We’re back at it again with the math games. Look, RATM is going to cost at least seven times more than AF—it's just basic economics. Any kind of break-even point for an act like RATM would require a venue way bigger than Central Park. So, realistically? You aren't ever going to see them play here.

AF is actually a pretty decent pick. Maybe the issue lies elsewhere in the lineup.