Punk super group Implants, featuring current and former members of bands like Strung Out, Pulley, Ten Foot Pole and Death By Stereo, performed at the Juke Joint in Anaheim Friday night. Drown the Witness, Lowbrow and Sederra opened.
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Photos by David Hall, for OrangeCounty.com
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Los Angeles-based quintet Youngblood Hawke performed at the Constellation Room in Santa Ana Thursday night along with Tapioca and the Flea.
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Next at the Constellation Room: The Album Leaf, Aug. 31; Micah Brown, Sept. 1; Pawnshop kings, Sept. 3; The Fresh & Onlys, Sept. 5; Brother Ali, Sept. 13.
Photos by David Hall, for OrangeCounty.com
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The SOBECA (South On Bristol, Entertainment, Culture, Arts) Summer Sounds Series concluded on Saturday with activities at both the CAMP and the LAB in Costa Mesa as well as live performances by Sarah Nicole Wallace, Diamond Carter, Shaun Canon, Chris Ryan and more.
Click here for more photos of the SOBECA Summer Sounds Series.
The SOBECA Summer Sounds Series also featured several activities and promotions to support local arts charities like Sweet Relief Musicians Fund and Music Saves Lives.
More from the SOBECA Summer Sounds Series:
Slideshow: SOBECA Summer Sounds Series at the CAMP Aug. 5
Slideshow: SOBECA Summer Sounds Series at the LAB July 1
Photos by David Hall, for OrangeCounty.com
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Fatlip of the hip-hop group the Pharcyde performed at the Slidebar Rock-N-Roll Kitchen Thursday night with the Speech Impediments and IAMOMNI.
Click here for more photos from Fatlip’s performance.
Next at Slidebar: The Funeral Pyre, Aug. 27; Aceyalone, Aug. 29; Cheap Girls and the Drowning Men, Aug. 31; the Iron Maidens, Sept. 1; Pigeon John, Sept. 2.
Photos by David Hall, for OrangeCounty.com
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Rock, punk and country artist Hank III, grandson of country music legend Hank Williams, performed at the Observatory in Santa Ana Tuesday night.
Click here for more photos from Hank III at the Observatory.
Next at the Observatory: Wild Records Night, Aug. 24; Voodoo Glow Skulls with Buck-O-Nine, Aug. 25; Old 97′s, Aug. 30; Don Carlos, Aug. 31; Kotton Mouth Kings, Sept. 1.
Photos by David Hall, for OrangeCounty.com
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For the first time in nine incarnations, hip-hop’s Mecca festival, Rock the Bells, expanded to two days, the first of its three regional events taking place Aug. 18-19 in Satan’s Sauna, San Bernardino’s frustratingly hot NOS Events Center. (The fest hits Mountain View this weekend and Holmdel, N.J. just before Labor Day.)
Click here for more photos from Rock the Bells.
Another big change: Alongside RTB veterans such as Nas, Common and various Wu-Tang Clan members, this year’s roster embraced a significant number of more radio-ready acts – most notably J. Cole, Kid Cudi, Tyga, 2 Chainz and Wiz Khalifa. All of them are more likely to turn up at a Powerhouse at Honda Center than this traditionally underground-focused bash.
Organizers claimed they wanted to construct a lineup that fulfilled an old-school-meets-new-school theme. But given that Day 1 comprised mostly mainstream players and Day 2 predominantly underground and classic artists, it’s debatable whether that goal was actually met.
Regardless, what was achieved amid that milieu was what Rock the Bells does best: draw in rare performances and reunions that continue to solidify it as the world’s highest-tier hip-hop and rap gathering.
On Saturday, the strongest of all performers – absolutely uncontested – was Eve’s return to the stage alongside fellow Ruff Ryder star DMX. Not that it wasn’t a blast witnessing the latter rapper hype fans with the ever-aggressive hit “Party Up (Up In Here),” but it was infinitely more thrilling when Eve, exuding more beauty and confidence than ever, strutted down the main stage’s center catwalk, downright killing it on her verse of “Ruff Ryders Anthem.”
Read more on Rock the Bells on the Soundcheck Blog.
Photos and article by David Hall, for the Orange County Register
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I thought I’d quenched my thirst for Franz Ferdinand – who hadn’t played a West Coast gig since the tail-end of 2009 – with a tremendous showing at the final day of Outside Lands in San Francisco on Sunday. But that performance was so convincingly fierce that when offered the chance to catch them again at Pomona’s Glass House Tuesday night, I couldn’t resist.
Given how sporadically the band has toured the U.S., how could I pass up a performance so relatively close to my O.C. base and in such an intimate setting?
This evening’s audience was apparently thinking along similar lines. So hyped were these fans that chanted, clapped and jumped along to every song, there was hardly a moment that didn’t suggest a euphoric release of pent-up love for the Scottish quartet.
That adoration was returned tenfold by the band during a 90-minute set that celebrated plenty from the group’s 2004 self-titled debut (all but three songs were performed) plus a few new cuts and the most groove-worthy bits from 2005’s You Could Have it So Much Better and 2009’s Tonight: Franz Ferdinand.
Read more on Franz Ferdinand on the Soundcheck Blog.
Photo and article by David Hall, for the Orange County Register
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Even if you disagree with my initial assertion that this year’s Outside Lands lineup is the best of any multi-day festival this year (I’m still backing that claim), there was no denying by midday Sunday – the 5th annual event’s final third at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park – that at the very least, this last afternoon was on a path to proliferate some of the most stellar sets of the weekend.
Really, though, who would expect anything less from such an immensely talented slate of players – chiefly Franz Ferdinand, Regina Spektor, Jack White and Stevie Wonder – to close out the main stage?
Click here for more photos from Outside Lands.
There were plenty more noteworthy acts to see elsewhere (Big Gigantic, City & Colour, Amadou & Miriam, Santigold and Dispatch all had satellite sets), I was determined not to miss as beat a the massive Lands End stage, planting myself there just in time to hear L.A. group fun. close on a highly energetic cover of the Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”
Read more on Outside Lands on the Soundcheck Blog.
Article and photos by David Hall, for the Orange County Register.
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As many might have guessed, Day 2 of the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco was all about Metallica. Given that Golden Gate Park was likely the only hometown venue the Bay Area quartet hadn’t performed at during its 31-year career, their day-capping show took the cake for most historically significant of the weekend.
Click here for more photos from Outside Lands.
Though it’s certainly debatable, I’d say the outfit’s two-hour, pyro-packed, fireworks-filled set – comprised chiefly of highly regarded ’80s classics – easily beat out Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s powerhouse performance on Friday and is likely to trump Stevie Wonder’s sure-to-be impressive event-closing concert Sunday night.
Frontman James Hetfield, guitarist Kirk Hammett, bassist Robert Trujillo and drummer Lars Ulrich were clearly out to prove something with selections that began and concluded with their oldest and most thrash-focused material, avoiding anything post-’97 save for “Hell and Back,” from last December’s Beyond Magnetic EP.
Read more on Outside Lands on the Soundcheck Blog.
Article and photos by David Hall, for the Orange County Register.
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There were numerous apparent reasons Friday – the first day of the 5thannual Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park – that emphasized why this is not just the West Coast event’s best lineup yet but arguably one of the grandest multi-day rosters of the past decade.
Click here for more photos from Outside Lands.
One was a triumphant set from Beck, who after pulling out some seriously rockin’ grooves (“Devil’s Haircut,” “Loser” and a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat”) then dedicated “Lost Cause” to Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch (aka MCA), pointing out that the late musician was responsible for the last time he and fellow main-stagers Foo Fighters played Golden Gate, during a Free Tibet concert in 1996.
The L.A. musician then drove home the chief reason for this day’s excitement – a headlining performance from Neil Young & Crazy Horse – by delivering a spellbinding rendition of Young’s “After the Gold Rush.”
Foos frontman Dave Grohl likewise didn’t hesitate to point out such significance during a 75-minute set comprising the group’s most rollicking cuts (“White Limo” and “All My Life” right out of the gate) and some significantly special deep cuts (their debut album’s “New Way Home” and “Aurora,” that song’s first live appearance since 2006).
“I’m gonna be honest,” he said, breaking into a brief speech after a searing extended run-through of “My Hero,” “I don’t have a lot of time to talk … we have a short amount of time to play a lot of f***in’ songs … and the quicker I get done, the quicker I get to see Neil f***in’ Young!”
Read more on Outside Lands on the Soundcheck Blog.
Article and photos by David Hall, for the Orange County Register.
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