Live Music Spotlight ::: Outkast at CounterPoint 2014

     Let me start off this post by saying this: The crowd at Coachella DID NOT deserve the privilege of seeing Outkast's first live show in over a decade. They were much too apathetic towards the event and towards two members of hip-hop royalty that deserved much, much better. There would be no "Southern Hip-Hop" genre without Antwan "Big Boi" Patton and Andre "3000" Benjamin. That being said, the crowd at CounterPoint, which took place about an hour away from Outkast's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, was more than prepared to give Andre 3000 and Daddy Fat Saxxx the reception they truly deserved.
     I only had two problems with this show. First, there was not enough space at the main stage to handle this crowd. The Blu Freedom Stage at CounterPoint was a good bit smaller than most typical main stages at music festivals, and it just did not have the room to accommodate both the 3-day attendees and the influx of people that bought Sunday only passes so that they could see Stankonia come to life. Second, the start of the show was delayed by about 30 minutes because the crew had trouble getting the big cube that was a part of the show production to work (The crowd got so antsy that everyone started chanting "F*** that box!" in unison). Bottom line: if you have an hour in between shows to prep the next show, that is plenty of time to work that stuff out. Negativity out of the way, I will now tell you a story about the time I finally saw Outkast...

     As soon as the lights went out and the opening bars to "B.O.B." started, you knew this was going to be a completely different environment than the one that Outkast was "treated to" at Coachella. The fact that this show turned into one long singalong/dance party was seen as much onstage as it was in the crowd. Big Boi and Andre clearly fed off the crowd energy, much more so than in the Indio desert. The kids who go to Coachella on their Daddy's dime had probably never even heard of Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. At one point, Big Boi even thanked the crowd and showed some love for how much energy the home state audience was giving their favorite sons. During "B.O.B.", the entire crowd was jumping from side to side and swinging their arms around like those inflatable tube men you see at used car dealerships. We all know Andre 3000 is a quirky guy and that can be somewhat moody, but that was not an issue at this show because the crowd kept him happy all night. From "B.O.B." the duo transitioned into "Gasoline Dreams" and "ATLiens", followed by five straight songs from Aquemini (Skew It On the Bar-B, Rosa Parks, Da Art of Storytellin' Pt 1, Aquemini, and SpottieOttieDopaliscious). For those who have wondered: the name Aquemini comes from combining the names of the two astrological signs of the band members; Gemini for Andre and Aquarius for Big Boi. After this run of Aquemini songs, the duo played the song that launched them into international superstardom: "Ms. Jackson" off of the Stankonia album. The scenes in the crowd for this song were pretty amazing. I didn't see one pair of lips in the entire place not singing along to the chorus.

     After Ms. Jackson, Andre 3000 headed to the back for a little break while Big Boi did two songs by himself (Kryptonite and GhettoMusick) and one with Sleepy Brown (The Way You Move). During those first two songs, the crowd went absolutely crazy. It was definitely close quarters near the front of the stage, and people were dropping their phones left and right. There are some people out there who get mad at seeing a bunch of phones taking pictures and videos at a concert, but don't count me as one of them, particularly at this historic of a show. Who wouldn't want to be able to remember this historic moment for years to come? Anyway, "The Way You Move" was a blast and everyone enjoyed dancing along to the track from Big Boi's side of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. As much fun as these songs were, Big Boi decided that it was time for him to take a little halftime break, and Andre 3000 came out to do a short solo set of his own.

(Hit the jump for the 2nd half of the show)

Live Music Spotlight ::: Foster the People at Counterpoint 2014

     In the real world, my jobs are that of a sports talk radio host and a Public Address Announcer at live sporting events, so I know a little bit about hyperbole. People speak in it all the time. "That's the best sandwich I've ever had" or "Nickelback is the greatest band of all time" (Okay, nobody has ever or will ever say that, but you get my point) are some examples of this. This next sentence, however, is not hyperbole and I cannot stress that enough. Foster the People's show at CounterPoint 2014 is one of the best live shows I have ever seen in my life. Obviously, in order for a show to fall into that category, the band you are seeing has to be one of your favorite bands. Foster the People is that for me. Their debut album Torches is one of the best debut albums I've ever heard; there isn't a bad song on it. Their follow up Supermodel didn't reach the heights of it's predecessor, but it still contains some of my favorite songs they've recorded. 

     The set at CounterPoint contained the best of both worlds. About half of the set consisted of all the good songs off of Supermodel (Are You What You Want to Be?, Pseudologia Fantastica, Coming of Age, Ask Yourself, A Beginner's Guide to Destroying the Moon, The Truth, and Best Friend) and the other half contained some great songs off of Torches (Life On A Nickel, Miss You, Waste, Call It What You Want, Houdini, Pumped Up Kicks, Helena Beat, and Don't Stop [Color On The Walls]). When this show was over, I texted the other contributors on this blog, because I had to relay a message to them. When the band played "Best Friend", I actually teared up, and that has never happened to me at a show. Ever. My two colleagues here at You Ought to Hear This are my best friends, and while I was sad they weren't there to enjoy this amazing show with me, that song reminded me of how important having those people in your life is and I owe that reminder to the lyrics of Mark Foster: "I am here, no matter where you are. I'm waiting here with open arms, no matter where you are... You ought to know that I'm here no matter where you go." So, not to get preachy, but let your friends know how much you appreciate them from time to time.

     The only negative thing I have to say about this show has nothing to do with the band or their performance, but with the festival. For me, having Foster the People there was one of the major selling points because they are one of my favorite bands, but their musical style just didn't fit CounterPoint. For being a headliner, the crowd did not extend very far back compared to the other headlining sets of the weekend (Pretty Lights and Outkast). Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of people at the show, but there were other, more "CounterPoint-esque" sets going on during it (GRiZ and Wolfgang Gartner). I was up on the rail (literally as close as you can get) so I could not have cared less about what was going on behind me, and the crowd of people around me were very into the show, but another major EDM act would have probably done better for them here. You've got to know your audience, and CounterPoint might have missed the mark here.

(Hit the jump for more on this amazing show, including 9 full length videos)

Live Music Spotlight ::: Wild Child at Vinyl

Wild Child
w. Them Wagoneers and The Good Graces
Thursday, April 17th, 2014
Vinyl
Atlanta, GA

We arrived as the second opening act, Them Wagoneers, had recently taken the stage the small Vinyl stage. The three piece band is a product of Canton, Georgia just up the road from Atlanta. It was hard to tell whom among the crowd were family and friends and who was just really feeling their great energy and sound. The outlaw folk trio is comprised of Jeremy Wayne Dean (vocals, acoustic guitar, ukulele, harmonica, and cajon), Waylon Elsberry (vocals, acoustic guitar, doboro, harmonica), and Ian Schumacher (vocals, electric guitar, and percussion). From what I've seen this was their first time performing live as a trio, though you wouldn't know from watching them. The three Wagoneers all perform as solo acts around Atlanta. Waylon sometimes adds 'w's in to his stage name and Ian has an EDM act know and Ian Live. Ian also seems to be a marathon performer as he performs 'over 250 shows a year'. It's not entirely clear which songs were each members solo performed songs and which were actually Them Wagoneers songs, but a few things were clear; they have great chemistry, control on the non-ADD portion of the crowd, and musical versatility for days.

The biggest roar from the crowd was anytime a harmonica was present, but don't be fooled they put on a great show highlighted by . I would encourage you to not only like them on facebook (linked above), check them out when they're playing, but also check out the folky story on their 'about me' of how they became Them Wagoneers. Also you can purchase their recording of this show here for a mere five dollars and you can keep it FOREVER. We hope to bring you more from these local products.

Kelsey applies Wild Child paint to the audience

Wild Child has been a bucket list band for You Ought To Hear This since we first heard them looked into them researching 2013 SXSW artists. The Austin, Texas outfit got their start in 2010 and released their first album Pillow Talk in late October 2011. The six-piece indie folk band melds typical folk instruments, but in a way few are or even could. Not to mention the added dynamic of Alexander Beggins (lead vocals, barritone ukulele) and Kelsey Wilson's (lead vocals, violin) incredible stage presence and back and forth rivaled by few. The band is rounded out by the very talented group of Evan Magers (keyboard), Drew Bruetti (drums), Chris D'Annunzio (bass), and James Bookert (banjo).

As the band was finalizing their preshow set up Kelsey interacted with the crowd and applied their signature three blue streaks of face paint to fans in the first couple of rows to match the band's. The show started with the beautifully plucked 'The Escape' flowing into a night a duets. As the majority of their songs do 'Vicitim To Charm' is a reflection on fleeting relationships. In a way only they could it is hard not to grin uncontrollably even as they sing of love sinking like the Titanic. Runaround picked up the pace and the crowd moved with every note from the group and singing along. The whistle ladened 'Crazy Bird' the band's latest single of their well received second album, 2013's The Runaround. Wild Child  sandwiched one of their new songs, as they're working on a new albums already, with two emotion dripping tunes 'This Place' and 'Stitches'.

The sextet wasn't done playing new songs as they debuted another great song, this one being heavy on the synth, something relatively new to the band. Alexander divulged that the song was only three days old, but you couldn't tell. The main show concluded with the amazing fast paced 'Tale of You & Me' a great cap to a great show.
After a short off-stage break, to great ovation, Alexander and Kelsey asked the crowd if would be up for hearing 'Pillow Talk' if they played it in the crowd. The answer was as ruckus as one would expect. The resulting song was intimate and a beautiful conclusion to a great show allowing the audience to go home and "sleep good and hold tight".

The Lone Star State product had played Atlanta two times over the past year and a half, but we were unable to attend. We were not denied this time and are looking forward to catching them again at Bonnaroo and FireFly!

Wild Child Setlist

1. The Escape

2. Victim To Charm

3. Runaround

4. Silly Things

5. Cocaine Hurricane

6. Bridges Burning

7. Crazy Bird

8. This Place

9. NEW SONG

10. Stitches

11. Living Tree

12 NEW SONG (three days old)

13. Left Behind

14. Tale of You & Me

ENCORE

15. Pillow Talk (in the crowd)

Tour Schedule

June 5   Wakarusa   Ozark, AR

June 6   Wichita River Fest   Wichita, KS

June 12   Bonnaroo   Manchester, TN

June 17   Pour House   Charleston, SC

June 18   Local 506 Charlottesville, VA

June 20   FireFly   Dover, DE

June 22   Thunderbird Cafe   Pittsburgh, PA

June 23   The Basement   Columbus, OH

June 25   Bowery Ballroom   New York, NY

July 25   Hillside Festival   Guelph, Can

August 1   Parc Jean Drapeau  Montreal, Can 

FESTIVAL SPOTLIGHT ::: CounterPoint 2014 (Kingston, Georgia)

     First of all, with Coachella and CounterPoint now behind us, we here at You Ought to Hear This would like to wish all of you a Happy Festival Season!

     Every music festival is different and is known for different things, and CounterPoint 2014 certainly was no exception to that rule. This year's version was filled with what I'll just describe as an "eclectic" mix of ravers, wompers, wookies, hipsters, and, of course, ATLiens. This year's edition of CounterPoint took place at a new location (the old location was taken over by TomorrowWorld) in Kingston, Georgia (a small town in between Rome and Cartersville) at the location of the Atlanta Steeplechase (an annual horse racing event). The first thing you notice when driving in and getting to the campgrounds is that the area is much smaller than other festival locations such as Indio, California (Coachella) or The Farm in Manchester, Tennessee (Bonnaroo). The area is very beautiful and is bordered by a creek that many festival goers started to utilize as the temperatures were in the mid-80's for the better part of all 3 days of the festival. At night, however, the temperatures dropped into the low 50's, which certainly made for some chilly sleeping conditions, although sleep usually isn't the first (or second, or third) thing on people's minds at these fests.          


The picture to the left was taken from the top of the ferris wheel at the festival, and basically shows the entirety of the car campground area. For those of you that have been to Bonnaroo, you'll realize that this is much, much smaller than Bonnaroo's campground, and unfortunately, CounterPoint underestimated the amount of space they would need for car campers. It wasn't too big of a deal, as they just parked the remaining car campers outside of the fence that blocked off the car camping area, so only a minor inconvenience for those who arrived later on Friday. This post will cover the festival, other than the performances by Foster the People and Outkast, which will be reviewed in forthcoming posts.

Hit the jump for all of the reviews of the shows that I saw (other than Foster the People and Outkast) 

The Return of OUTKAST

Twenty years ago yesterday the duo know as Outkast put Atlanta on the map with their debut LP Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. Atlanta and rap were never the same and today (weather permitting) Three Stacks and Antwan make their glorious return (hopefully one of many) to God's country, Georgia at CounterPoint. After making their return at Coachella week one in front of one of the worst crowds in all of music history, Kast blew a much better crowd away in week two. 

It's insane that at the 1995 Source Awards, OutKast won in the "Best Newcomer" category, but were booed upon taking the stage and delivering their acceptance speech; Big Boi managed to deliver his shout outs, while André 3000 was nervous and only said, "The South got somethin' to say." This came at a time where hip hop was all west coast vs. east coast and Outkast was completely different than both and better than most. 

Dream Outkast Setlist (based on a two hour show)

1. B.O.B.

2. Gasoline Dreams

3. Xplosion

4. ATLiens

5. Skew it on the Bar-B

6. Rosa Parks

7. Da Art of Storytellin' (Part 1)

8. Da Art of Storytellin' (Part 2)

9. Watch for the Hook (Cool Breeze cover)

10. Aquemini

11. Millennium 

12. Chonkyfire

13. SpottieOttieDopaliscious

14. Ms. Jackson

15. GhettoMusick

16. Kryptonite (I'm On It)

17. The Way You Move

18. The Rooster

19. She Lives In My Lap (Vibrate Intro)

20. Prototype

21. Spread

22. Hey Ya!

23. Hootie Hoo

24. In da Wind (Trick Daddy cover)

25. Crumblin Erb

26. Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik

27. Player's Ball

28. Elevators (You & Me)

29. Roses

30. Neck of da Woods (Mystikal cover)

30. So Fresh, So Clean

31. The Whole World

32. B.O.B.

Weekly Musical Spotlight ::: Late Night Television

Set those DVRs to catch a great week in music on tv! From late night talk shows, to Saturday Night Live, to Palladia don't miss your favorite or future favorite musical acts!
Conan ::: TBS ::: 11p
The Tonight Show w. Jimmy Fallon ::: NBC ::: 11:30p
Jimmy Kimmel Live ::: ABC ::: 11:30p
Late Show w. David Letterman ::: CBS ::: 11:30a
Late Night w. Seth Meyers ::: NBC ::: 12:30a
Last Call w. Carson Daly ::: NBC ::: 1:30a 

Monday 04/28/2014 
Conan ::: Cristela Alonzo (Comedian)
Fallon ::: Keith Urban
Kimmel :::  Sleepy Man Banjo Boys
Letterman ::: Aloe Blacc
Meyers ::: Twenty One Pilots [Firefly 2014 Artist]
Daly ::: You Won't

Tuesday 04/29/2014 
Conan ::: Hurray for the Riff Raff
Fallon ::: David Byrne
Kimmel :::  No Musical Guest
Letterman ::: Ziggy Marley
Meyers ::: No Musical Guest
Daly ::: Washed Out [Bonnaroo 2014 Artist][Firefly 2014 Artist]

Wednesday 04/30/2014 
Conan ::: O.A.R.
Fallon ::: The Both
Kimmel :::  Franz Ferdinand
Letterman ::: Benjamin Booker
Meyers ::: Parquet Courts
Daly ::: The Colourist [Firefly 2014 Artist]

Thursday 05/01/2014 
Conan ::: Kelis
Fallon ::: CHVRCHES [Bonnaroo 2014 Artist]
Kimmel :::  Boy George
Letterman ::: Performance from Broadway's "Rocky"
Meyers ::: Richard Ayoade (Comedian)
Daly ::: OFF!

Friday 05/02/2014 
Fallon ::: Lewis Black (Comedian)
Kimmel :::  Cut Copy [Bonnaroo2014 Artist]
Letterman ::: The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger
Meyers ::: Jason Derulo
Daly ::: The Blank Tapes

Saturday 05/03/2014
Saturday Night Live ::: Host Andrew Garfield with Musical Guest Coldplay 

PALLADIA HIGHLIGHTS

Tuesday 04/29/2014

3p: World Stage - Gorillaz (2010) The Gorillaz perform at the Roundhouse in London.

4p: Two Door Cinema Club - Live (2011) TDCC perform live at Isle of Wight Festival in England.

4:30 London Live! - Jake Bugg (2013) 2014 Bonnaroo artist performs live.

5p: Live from the Artist Den - Imagine Dragons (2013) 2014 Firefly artist performs live in LA.

Wednesday 04/30/2014

6:30p: The Live Room - Gary Clark Jr. (2014) Blues-rock guitarist performs live. 

Thursday 05/01/2014

9a: Pearl Jam Twenty (2011) Documentary explores the 20-year history of the Music Midtown alums

11:30a: The Smashing Pumpkins - The Oceania 

1p: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Live (2011) Music Midtown, Bonnaroo, FireFly alum RHCP perform selections from 'I'm With You'

New Music Premier :: Can't Kids - "You Don't Plan"

You Ought to Hear This is excited to premier new music from Can't Kids off Fork & Spoon Records in Columbia, SC.  "You Don't Plan" is the debut single from Can't Kids second full length album Ennui Go.


Can't Kids sound is self described as "chamber(y)-pop/Indie-rock in the vein of Modest Mouse/Cursive/Pavement/Bright Eyes." "You Don't Plan" begins with Of Monsters and Men[esque] plucking before unleashing a torrent of emotion current indie rock fans will find reminiscent of Grouplove. "You Don't Plan" shows an incredible maturation from Can't Kids debut LP and a refinement in production.

"You Don't Plan" is a beautiful, emotion riddled track that lays out a great foundation for the up coming LP. Led by Adam Cullum's (guitar) haunting voice joined by the sweet harmonizing vocals of Jessica Oliver (drums). The former duo known as Dawn Shredder is rounded out with hypnotizing instrumentals from Hank Thomas (bass) and Amy Cuthbertson (cello).

Ennui Go will be available on May 6th. (Preorder here from Fork & Spoon Records).  Join them in Columbia, SC on May 10th for a release show booked at New Brookland Tavern.