Bjork

Bjork

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Music Festivals 2018: All Points East Is London's Brand-New Fest

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Goldenvoice preps new three-day festival and 10-day conference next summer in London's Victoria Park
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Oct 31, 2017 - 5:58 pm

Mark your calendars now for a brand new music festival hitting London early next summer, All Points East. Produced by Goldenvoice, the company behind Coachella, FYF, Panorama, and more, the three-day festival and 10-day conference will take place in Victoia Park May 23 through June 3, 2018.

While full details for All Points East are scheduled to be released in early November, we do know the festival will present music across six stages during the main festival portion, Friday, May 25 to Sunday, May 27, plus additional stand-alone shows.

If the artists already announced are any indication, this lineup will be worth the trip. The bill already includes Björk  LCD Soundsystem, the xx, The War On Drugs, the National, Warpaint, and Future Islands, with more to be announced.

Tickets for All Points East's main festival and the first additional show are on sale now the festival's website.

Kayzo, NGHTMRE Added To 2018 OMFG NYE Lineup

Chicano Batman

Chicano Batman

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Mike Tyson To Host Inaugural Kind Music Festival In The Coachella Valley Featuring Chicano Batman, Starcrawler & More

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The new music event will feature a handful of bright Los Angeles-based talent
Ana Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Jan 3, 2019 - 2:11 pm

The Kind Music Festival has announced the lineup for their first-ever event set to take place in Desert Hot Springs, Calif. on Feb. 23.

Attendees will be able to soak up the diverse sounds and vibes of So Cal under the bright desert sun with a curated sampling of Los Angeles-based artists: GRAMMY winner Miguel, plus Chicano Batman, Starcrawler, Yonee and All My Friends Hate Me.

The organizers for what they are calling a "'pop-up' micro-festival"  include former heavyweight champion boxer Mike Tyson, who is offering the site of future home to Tyson Ranch Resort.

Tyson recently broke ground on the property last month, which a press release for the festival says will be a "420-acre entertainment complex, luxury glamping resort and cannabis research and design facility." The Blast reports that Tyson has been a longtime believer in the healing benefits of cannabis and "says taking care of men and women who have served in the armed forces is a top priority" on the ranch.

Organizers also say that the event will be the first music festival to celebrate California's new 2019 marijuana legislation.

"Kind Music Festival is a revolution—leading the way for a new generation of health and wellness focused cannabis consumers, 'The Kind Generation,'" says a KIND festival producer. "The word 'kind' is defined as 'a group of people or things having similar characteristics' as well as 'of a good or benevolent nature or disposition…Kind Music Festival challenges conventional thinking while being mainstream."

Jul 7, 2018 – 2:46 pm

Miguel On 'War & Leisure' & Essence Fest

A portion of ticket sales will benefit Standing United, a non-profit organization aimed at helping individuals recover from drug addiction and homelessness to "reintegrate into society and become upstanding citizens in their communities." Tyson himself, along with other Kind Festival employees, the press release reports, have struggled with addiction.

Tickets are available now at Kind Festival's website.

2019 Music Festival Preview: Noise Pop, Ultra & More

61st GRAMMY Awards
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Poll: Who Do You Think Voters Will Choose For Best Alternative Album?

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Arctic Monkeys, Beck, Björk, David Byrne, and St. Vincent are the nominees. Who would you vote for?
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Jan 2, 2019 - 5:16 pm

The 61st GRAMMY Award nominees for Best Alternative Music Album represent a group of artists pushing the limits of genre into something different and albums that take those artists' sound into new realms.

Polls

Who Do You Think Voters Will Choose For Best Alternative Album?

The Arctic Monkeys' Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino dives into a sci-fi fantasy world outside of earth, executed with frontman Alex Turner's suave voice. Beck, who over the years has mastered the ability to mix and match hip-hop, folk, and other unlikely combinations, delivers Colors, his13th studio album. St. Vincent blazes her own trail forward in Masseduction, in which lyrics project personal feels and thoughts about herself as an artist and a lover, while Björk's follow up to Vulnicura—which documented her break-up feels from her long-time partner—, Utopia, is a comeback filled with new ways of looking at romance and a promise to break traumatic cycles. David Byrne creates a different kind of utopia with the socially and politically analytical American Utopia, seen as his first true solo album in 14 years.

Who do you think GRAMMY voters will choose for Best Alternative album at 61st GRAMMY Awards? Vote here and catch the show on CBS Feb. 10 to see if voters chose your favorite pick.

2019 GRAMMY Awards: Complete Nominations List

 

Woodstock 1969

Woodstock 1969

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Two Woodstock 50th Anniversary Events Planned For Aug. 2019

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As the golden birthday of the historic music festival approaches, available rooms in Sullivan County for Aug. 15–18 are already in limited supply, even before the lineups or major details for either event have been announced
Ana Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Jan 2, 2019 - 1:54 pm

Judging by the rapid rate hotels and Airbnbs are been being booked in Sullivan County, the site of the iconic ’69 Woodstock Music And Arts Fair, music fans from around the world are ready and excited to celebrate the historic fest's 50th birthday.

Two music festivals will take place on the anniversary weekend, one unofficial at the Bethel Woods Center For The Arts, and an official 50th celebration at a to-be-announced venue, hosted by organizers of the original event.

If you want to take part in the magic of the Woodstock 50th anniversary events and stay in Sullivan County during the long weekend of Aug. 15–18, you should think about booking a room soon. The Times-Herald Record Of Middletown reports that hotels, Airbnbs and everything in between have been booking up quickly, even before official news of an anniversary event had been revealed last month.

The newspaper also shared that many places to stay near the Bethel Woods Center—the venue which now lives at the site of the original event—are already completely booked with already-lengthy waiting lists. One hotel, which is still under construction and set to open this summer, is already fully booked with a waitlist, and shared that their first guest inquiry came in two years ago.

"There's a lot of interest on the domestic front and the international front, whether you were there in 1969, or just want to be here today," said Sullivan County Visitors Association CEO Roberta Byron Lockwood.

In terms of how exactly you can relive Woodstock in Upstate New York this August, the two major events are the aforementioned Bethel Woods Music and Culture Festival, hosted by Live Nation, INVNT (a "global brands communication agency") and Bethel Woods Center. Meanwhile, Michael Lang, the co-creator of the original event, has just confirmed an Official Woodstock 50 Celebration. Further details and a location are yet to be revealed.

The organizers of the Bethel Woods Festival describe their three-day event as a "pan-generational music, culture, and community event" with "live performances from prominent and emerging artists spanning multiple genres and decades, and TED-style talks from leading futurists and retro-tech experts." Attendees will get to visit the venue's year-round Woodstock-centric museum which will feature special new 2019 exhibit called We Are Golden: Reflections On The 50th Anniversary Of The Woodstock Festival And Aspirations For An Aquarian Future.

"50 years ago, people gathered peacefully on our site inspired to change the world through music," said Darlene Fedun, Bethel Woods Center CEO. "As the stewards of this historic site, we remain committed to preserving this rich history and spirit, and to educating and inspiring new generations to contribute positively to the world through music, culture, and community."

Lang, who was one of the main promoters for Woodstock '69 and has been hinting at an official 50th anniversary event for some time, confirmed minimal details with the Poughkeepsie Journal, who on Dec. 19 wrote that Lang had "definite plans" for an anniversary concert not held at the original location.

On Dec. 30, Woodstock Ventures, which runs the official Woodstock website and works with Lang, shared a statement from the co-founder:

"While the original site in Bethel remains close to our hearts, it no longer has the capacity to hold a real Woodstock Festival. I'm delighted that Bethel Woods is doing events in the coming year to celebrate what we brought to life in 1969," wrote Lang.

However you choose to celebrate Woodstock's 50th anniversary, Sullivan County is ready to welcome you this summer with peace and love vibes, complete with 36 fiberglass dove statues painted by local artists in '60s-inspired colors.

Just make sure to book a place to stay sooner rather than later, unless you want to relive the memories of many would-have-been-Woodstock-goers stuck on Route 17B, aka Woodstock Way.

2019 Music Festival Preview: Noise Pop, Ultra & More

Music Festival AUS

Photo: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

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Australia's Pill Testing Debate Heats Up Following Music Festival Deaths

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Authorities have threatened to cancel future music fests in order to decrease accidental on-site deaths, but others say pill testing could do more
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Jan 2, 2019 - 1:19 pm

The conversation over whether pills should be tested at Australian music festivals is intensifying after two recent deaths.

A man died on Dec. 30 of a suspected overdose at the Lost Paradise music festival in New South Wales, and another man died on Jan 1. of a suspected drug overdose after attending the Beyond The Valley festival in Victoria.

Pill testing is one possible solution to the overdose deaths continuing to happen at music festivals in Australia, according to medical experts. But the option has been met with resistance.

Although the Australian Bureau Of Statistics can provide date on the number of people who have died from drug-related cases, the data does not show how many occurred "at large scale public events," according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

In 2016, there were 1,808 drug induced deaths in the country, according to the Australian Bureau Of Statistics. Illicit drugs increased that year, with the death rate from Psychostimulants quadrupling since 1999.

Authorities have threatened to cancel music festival events; the New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she would do "everything we can" to shut down the Defqon.1 festival after two people died in Sept.

READ: Music Fans Traveled The World For Live Events In 2018

But some say shutting down festivals is not a realistic way of keeping people from taking illicit drugs and welcome pill testing as a way to decrease deaths.

In the past, Berejikian has had a zero tolerance stance on pill testing, stating: "Anyone who advocates pill testing is giving the green light to drugs. That is absolutely unacceptable."

But as other leaders in parts of Australia rule out pill testing at music festivals, following the recent deaths, the Premier is warming to the idea.

"If there was a way in which we could ensure that lives were saved through pill testing, we would consider it—but there is no evidence provided to the government on that," Berejiklian said, according to the Guardian.

READ: Hearing Clinics Help Make Summer Festivals Rock

The country held its first pill test trial at the Groovin the Moo festival in Canberra in April. Participants were able to provide a small sample of their pill(s) or powder to volunteers, who then analyzed the m in a mobile laboratory.

Former Australian Federal Police commissioner has said that the governments have to consider all available evidence to save people's lives, including pill testing.

"Pill testing is not a silver bullet, but it's a proven and positive way to help prevent this kind of tragedy, has majority support from Australians and must be at least trialed on a pilot basis —if it doesn't work, then stop it," Palmer told the Australian.

After the death of the man in New South Wales, Brisbane Water Police district commander Acting Superintendent Rod Peet said, "the best safety message is don't take drugs."

ABC Triple J conducted a survey of 11,000 young people that showed 55% have brought drugs to a festival and 83% would use pill testing, if available.

2019 Music Festival Preview: Noise Pop, Ultra & More