Metal Lungies

On Saturday in Chicago, Rock The Bells launches it’s cross-country Hip Hop head tour of choice. Needless to say ML will be there.. in 3 locations (think this X 3); Washington DC, Boston and San Bernardino. Here are the full dates, we won’t even bother recommending acts to see cause we have some sort of interest in every single one.

In case you didn’t know the dates are:
Sat 7/19 – Chicago, IL – First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Sun 7/20 – Toronto, ON, CAN – Arrow Hall
Sat 7/26 – Boston, MA – Tweeter Center
Sun 7/27 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Sat 8/2 – Miami, FL – Bicentennial Park
Sun 8/3 – New York, NY – Jones Beach Amphitheatre
Sat 8/9 – San Bernardino, CA – Glen Helen Pavilion
Sat 8/16 – San Francisco, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre
Sat 8/23 – Denver, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
Sat 9/6 – George, WA – The Gorge Amphitheatre

Stay tuned for ML-flavored recaps by the gang.

So glad I got to attend this show. I’m taking those who missed it through the highlights and lowlights of the concert.

The full lineup in order of performance:

Chip-Fu of the Fu-Schnickens and Ali Shaheed Muhammed

EMC (Masta Ace, Wordsworth, Punchline and Stricklin, with Frequency on the wheels of steel)

O.C.

DJ Premier

Jeru the Damaja

Chubb Rock

Buckshot and Special Ed

Crooklyn Dodgers reunion (ft.Masta Ace, Buckshot, Special Ed, Chubb Rock, O.C. and Jeru the Damaja)

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Miffed at missing all the action of Bonnaroo? In San Francisco / The Bay (or Yay for you Hyphy radicals) ? Then you have no worries, you can quickly get over missing the Roo with 2 very solid festivals coming to San Francisco.

First up is Outside Lands @ the Golden Gate Park from August 22-24.

Then follow that up with Trasure Island Music Festival on September 20 & 21.

Saturday September 20th
JUSTICE
TV ON THE RADIO
GOLDFRAPP
HOT CHIP
CSS
ANTIBALAS
AESOP ROCK
AMON TOBIN
FOALS
MIKE RELM
NORTEC: BOSTICH + FUSSIBLE

Sunday September 21st
THE RACONTEURS
TEGAN & SARA
VAMPIRE WEEKEND
SPIRITUALIZED
OKKERVIL RIVER
TOKYO POLICE CLUB
THE KILLS
DR. DOG
JOHN VANDERSLICE
THE DODOS
FLEET FOXES

Full Lineup for Outside Lands after the jump.

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(The whole ML flickr stash here)

ScottieL has finally recovered and sent in this lengthy & ML flavor filled report from Bonnaroo:

I just got back from Bonnaroo at 3:00 on Tuesday morning, and after a long weekend of listening to music, dancing, partying, and doing everything else there was to do (I’ll call it Roo’ing), I’m still exhausted. Half of me wants to crawl into bed and sleep for a week, but the other half wishes I was still in Manchester, Tennessee. I want to thank my friends at Metal Lungies for giving me the opportunity to attend this festival for the first time, and for a helluva weekend. I have heard things from friends who have attended Bonnaroo in the past, but nothing really prepares you for it until you actually experience it firsthand. In my day-by-day breakdowns, I’ll do my best to review the music, as well as describe some of the other activities, people, and overall unique atmosphere that makes Bonnaroo different from anything I’ve ever been a part of.

*****

We reached our destination of Manchester around 6:00 on Friday morning after a relatively uneventful (I did get a carton of cigarettes for under $30 in Virginia) twelve-hour drive. Me and three of my friends, we’ll call them Dolla Bill, Mitya, and S-Money, were packed into a tiny Honda Accord stuffed with backpacks, suitcases, tents, blowup dolls, etc. As we drove on the main road through town, we noticed signs up outside most of the stores and restaurants welcoming Bonnaroo goers. We had finally arrived.

We met up with our buddy Drosci, who drove down yesterday and had been waiting for us to get there. He told us that his cousin, who helped set up Bonnaroo as well as many other festivals, hooked it up with guest camping passes for all of us. The passes allowed us to camp right by Centeroo, the main area of Bonnaroo. I didn’t realize how crucial that was until later after seeing the distance between the regular campgrounds and Centeroo. Let’s just say it was a hike. We picked up our wristbands at the local Holliday Inn and headed toward our campsite.

As we drove in to the site we were stopped by security guards, who checked to see if we had a guest parking pass. They saw the pass and waved us through. We pulled into the lot and the first thing I noticed was a long line of people waiting to use a shower. Showers at Bonnaroo??I’m really starting to feel like a big shot with these passes. We parked and set up our tents. Now it’s time for the fun to begin! Well, fuck, after a little nap, I’m tired.

I woke up fully energized and ready to kick Bonnaroo’s ass. Dolla Bill, also a Bonnaroo virgin, joined me for a walk around the grounds. Centeroo can best be described as a psychedelic fair complete with an assortment of stages, tents, shops, food stands, a ferris wheel and a fountain shaped like a mushroom (remember kids, just say no). It was still pretty early so there wasn’t any music yet, but the place was alive and there was more than enough going on to keep busy. We passed by a stand called the MLB Road Show, complete with a batting cage and a radar detector to test how fast you can throw. The high speed was in the mid- 80’s. Damn, I didn’t know Jamie Moyer was going to be here! I thought about giving it a shot, but the line was pretty long and I didn’t want to embarrass myself.

I was getting hungry so I grabbed a $10 burrito and wolfed it down. Definitely the worst thing I had the whole time I was there, it would come back to haunt me later. Overall, the food was decent in Centeroo. I recommend the kabobs or the pizza. There’s something about paying $5 for a slice that makes it that much better. If you’re looking for more variety and better prices and don’t mind walking, your best bet is to make the trek up to 3rd street, or Shakedown Street as it’s more commonly known. Shakedown Street is full of vendors selling food, clothing, glass, as well as whatever other products hippies sell. Also, there are just a lot of strange people around, and it’s always good for a laugh. One of my friends said they saw a topless girl get tackled into a puddle of mud by a cop, while she screamed “I want my hoverboard! Give me back my hoverboard!” Unfortunately, there was no hoverboard in sight.

The music after the jump:

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You the fair ML reader are stuck at a 9 to 5, or maybe even summer school. Not the ML Family, we sent out ML friend ScottieL (no relation to the North American superstar DaddyL) to cover all the ongoings at one of the biggest music festivals in the world, Bonnaroo. Stay tuned for daily breakdowns of the madness!

(click for full size images)

Pardon my laziness in getting around to posting about this. A memorable night for sure, with performances from Yak Ballz, Kidz in the Hall, Supernatural and Scratch, Murs and 9th Wonder, Buckshot, Blackalicious, GZA and Rakim. Unfortunately, the Nokia Theater is not ideal for taking pictures, especially when you’re in the middle of a crowd and not seven feet tall. So I only got a couple of passable pictures. Also, take into account the fact that I usually use my camera to break open chestnuts.

Kidz in the Hall killed it, but their performance was a truncated, slightly more energetic version of their album release party last month.

Scratch came out and rocked it alone for awhile because Supernatural was caught in traffic. Luckily, he showed up with enough time to drop a great off the top freesytle, using a camera and an umbrella from the audience.

Accompanied by 9th Wonder on the 1s and 2s, Murs held it down. My favorite part was when he randomly gave out a cheat code for the old Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! game between songs.

Buckshot stole the show, doing some Black Moon classics before bringing out…

KRS-One! who I managed to catch looking like Michael Jackson at the end of Thriller. Buckshot also brought out half of Smif-n-Wessun (don’t know which half) who did Bucktown.
After a Blackalicious performance that went on for way too long, GZA and family stole the show again and did all the Wu classics. Masta Killa made a guest appearance. GZA stood still long enough for me to get my best picture of the night.

All that was left was Rakim, who was late. Technician the DJ, who I’ve liked since Styles P’s Live in New York, rocked it for a bit. Oddly, Styles’ performance on his live album also preceded a Rakim performance. Tech then passed the baton to Kid Capri who spun classic records until Rakim showed up.

At this point I had made my way from the overwhelmingly packed front to the back where a few people were break dancing. Rakim’s performance was well worth the wait, but was cut short at around 12:30 by the folks at the Nokia Theater. I bet he regretted showing up so late and then doing a good 5 minutes of ‘which side is the livest’.

But I’ll cut him some slack because apparently he had lost a loved one two days prior to the show, for whom NYC put up their lighters.

It was a great night that was unfortunately broken up by long waits between performances and cut short during its grand finale.

I’ll never forget Chino XL telling me there is only one live act he gets hype for, Kris.  If you are in the NYC area here’s your chance to get a real hip hop experience.

Sunday May 25th
Doors: 8pm
Show: 9pm
Admission: $20 Advance/$25 Day of Show

(click for full size images)

I’d tell you what I think of Kidz in the Hall’s new album The In Crowd, but Naledge has made it perfectly clear that he "doesn’t give a flying fuck, like if you put some wings on Halle". Fair enough, but the party last night was knockin’ and Metal Lungies was in the house by way of your boy Knobbz. I got there around 7:45 which gave me an hour and a half to stare at people googly-moogly from across the room before the show started. Tim William and the Arcade Stars opened up, for which a lot of the screwface hip-hop-heads in the building had little patience. After four songs with little crowd response, a disgruntled Tim William dropped his mic and stormed off stage like a real rock star. I was paying more attention to Just Blaze setting up on the 1’s and 2’s.

Just Blaze rocked it for a little more than an hour, starting off with his hits (PSA, What We Do, etc.) then moving into classic New York shit. Just Blaze joints are a thing of beauty at full blast – they really fill the room and the crowd was definitely feeling it. Double-0 came out and worked the crowd a little bit too. A classic moment came when Just Blaze gave Double-0 his chain and put on Chain Hang Low. 0 bent down and hung the chain as low as he could, mocking the Jibbs hit; "they ain’t feelin’ that" went Just Blaze before going back to some explosive M.O.P. That wasn’t the last time mainstream rap would be shat on, either – Blaze quipped before finishing his set, "I don’t have any Lil Wayne".

Naledge finally came on and him and Double-0 went into songs off the album, starting with Black Out. After a couple of songs, they brought on Phonte and did Paper Trail. After the song, Phonte confessed that he’s the biggest zSHARE, RapidShare user there is, but everybody should go out and support the album. That’s the first time I’ve heard zSHARE get a shout out.

A few songs later, they brought on Skyzoo, my personal favorite artist in attendance last night, to do Let Your Hair Down.  I would’ve liked if they let him do The Necessary Evils, but that would’ve killed the party vibe. And people were having fun – there were some expressionless guys in the back with their arms folded, but most people were dancing and head-nodding.

Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes came on for Lucifer’s Joyride along with Tim William who was still on after doing The In Crowd.

Then Naledge and Double-0 launched into the single, which they had been proudly touting as landing number six on TRL, Drivin’ Down The Block. Halfway through, they stopped and brought everybody back on, including Tim William and the Arcade Stars who took the song to another level. This dude with the mullet and the Hello Kitty guitar threw some guitar riffs on the hook of the song which were awesome.

A few songs later, the Kidz went into campaign mode. They talked up Barack Obama, and forced everyone to put their hands up before they went into Work To Do. No, he’s not throwing up the Roc.

The highlight of the night was the surprise guest, Estelle, who’s been running the charts in the UK for a minute. I got some face time with her before she went on, because I was standing by the steps leading on stage. Needless to say, I snapped some obnoxiously close-up pictures.

I didn’t notice in the darkness of SOB’s, but Ms. Estelle has braces. Crooked teeth might fly in England, but not over here.

She did Love Hangover and then did American Boy which brought the house down and brought everyone back on stage to get a piece of the action.

They wrapped it up with another go at Drivin’ Down the Block. Unfortunately, Bun B and Pusha T didn’t show up to do the remix, as was hyped on the SOB’s page. Instead, Double-0 dropped the beat and Naledge did Pusha’s verse slowed down to some heavy drums. With his parting words, Naledge took a moment to comment on the state of rap music: "I’d rather brainwash you with a Low End Theory tape than Soulja Boy."

Marco sent this over a few days back while I was in the process of a high blood pressure filled move back home for the summer. Anyway, all you Euro hip-hop heads better check this out.

The Dates:

May (2008)

14 – Berlin @ Cassiopeia (Germany)
15 – München @ Atomic Cafe (Germany)
16 – Bucarest @ Arenele Romane (Romania)
17 – Zürich @ Dynamo (Switzerland)
18 – Weinheim @ Cafe Central (Germany)
20 – Hamburg @ Mandarin Kasino (Germany)
21 – Bielefeld @ Hip Hop Kongress (Germany) – Festival –
23 – Münster @ Skaters Palace (Germany)
24 – Gothenburg @ Pusterviksbar (Sweden)
25 – Copenhagen @ Loppen (Denmark)
26 – Kiel @ Luna (Germany)
28 – Köln @ Bogen2 (Germany) w/The Beatnuts
29 – Stuttgart @ Altes Zollamt (Germany)
30 – Lodz @ City Festival (Poland) – festival –
31 – Breda @ Boogie Down Breda Festival (Holland)

June (2008)

1- Paris @ Elysee Montmartre (France)
3- Hannover @ Faust (Germany)
5 – Oslo @ Bla (Norway)
6 – Amsterdam @ Tropenmuseum (Holland)
7 – Graz @ Arcadium (Austria)

Ticket info: $12 Advance/$15 Day of; Available on Ticketmaster and the S.O.B.’s Box Office
212-243-4940. Doors open 7pm.

You already know ML will be there (probably not DaddyL).