Lineup after Lineup after Lineup

This week there were huge festival announcements. The Hangout Fest in Gulf shores, Alabama and Firefly in Dover, Delaware announced their lineups on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.  Seeing that both festivals are owned by the same company called Golden Voice, this is not surprising. They are stacked with incredible artists and causing a hype since these lineup releases have come out before Coachella, which never happens. Coachella has always been the first to announce their lineups because they are the first to start the ' festival season' and start the excitement with people guessing which of the artists performing there will be at a fest they're attending.  Not only did these lineups get announced, but the second wave of artists for the inaugural Okeechobee Music Fest were also announced this week too.

 What is surprising is how early they dropped the lineups. Was this a sales strategy? Or was this a competitive strategy? I see it as more of a competition strategy. With so many different festivals in the U.S. that deliver the same artist experience, the earlier the announcement, the earlier the sales, the more likely the public will buy the tickets on impulse. I'm definitely guilty of impulse buying and this strategy does work.

Based on lineup, I would absolutely LOVE to go to Firefly. There are way more artists I've never seen, on top of some of my favorites. Location wise, The Hangout is your dream spot, right on the beach of Gulf Shores. Nothing like sitting in the sand with a tall boy listening to Leon Bridges, or Grimes.

Can I just go ahead and have my dream job so I can start my goal of hitting up all the fests?

Above & Beyond Announce New Tour and Album

The popular trance trio, Above & Beyond, are excited to announce their second acoustic album, along with an acoustic global tour in the Spring at legendary venues like the Sydney Opera House, Royal Albert Hall, and the Chicago Theater. The trio were inspired by their successful sold out two-night acoustic performance at the LA Greek Theater, following their release of the 2013 album.

This album will contain acoustic versions of their hit electronic album "We Are All We Need," along with some previous hit songs not featured on the first acoustic album. The orchestra will include 15 musicians and will feature vocals by Zoe Johnston, Annie Drury, and Alex Vega.





As for me, I'm trying to look at my budget to catch this show in Chicago. Seeing an electronic artist be able to make their music with an orchestra is an incredible talent that I would love to see. Above & Beyond is already a fantastic group, it would be incredible to see them stripped.

What I've Learned

I have a deep passion for music and live music. Once I was heavily involved, I stumbled upon Festival Snob. This blog has been the number one source of festival news for me over the past two years. This blogger has always been kind of a secret guy when revealing his identity and what he does as a profession, but I was excited when he got back in contact with me and voluntarily shared this info. His name is Nick L. and he is from Nashville, Tennessee. He is 30 years old and his profession is computer forensics. His interest in music festivals started from his first time attending Bonnaroo in 2011. Nick experienced the magic of a music festival and couldn’t wait to share his experience with everyone. He then started spending a lot of his time discussing music festivals on online forums and message boards, and still occasionally does in his spare time.  After a while, he started sharing his information he had learned on social media sites. Nick then decided to stop bugging his friends who weren’t as interested as him and start a WordPress blog. A year after that, he resorted to creating social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter and it took off quickly from there. His page updates followers on any festival news, rumors, and information. Because of his increase in popularity, Nick and his partners are able to get Media passes to festivals which means they get the front row, uncrowded view of the stage and even backstage sometimes.

 Once accumulating a decent following, he made an Instagram account to post photos of the festivals he attended and then made a snapchat account so you could follow him wherever festival he attends. At first, this blog did not receive any money; but after January of this year, he started to make a little income by adding Google Sense Ads and was able to add more partners to expand the festivals attended. Now the amount of money made doesn’t earn enough income for the festival expenses of Nick or any of the other partners, but he expects that to change.  

What makes this blog more unique than the rest is how many different social media sites he’s on. Not only is there the site and twitter, but you can follow along with him at whatever festival, which is different than the rest. Now that he has expanded, he’s added more professional photographers and uploads great shots of the bands played at the festivals, as well as the festival goers. Nick is quick to respond to tweets and emails and does a great job on updates.  And now that he has added partners, Festival Snobs is able to show live coverage of more festivals.

Some strengths of this blog is what I keep saying, the live coverage. Being able to follow the blogger on SnapChat makes a huge difference. The only problem is sometimes two of the Festival Snobs partners will be at two different festivals in the same weekend, so unless you pay attention to the environment around the stages, you can’t tell which festival is which. Nick is good at putting a caption on who he is saying, but I’ve noticed other partners fail to put the artist that they’re seeing which is frustrating. The site, Festivalsnobs.com, is very well organized. It has everything you can possible find about music festivals on one page. One downfall is that there is so much info and so many music fests that all the thumbnails can be a little overwhelming. But, with the increase in the number of North American music fests, it’s understandable how many thumbnails there are to choose from.

            The advice I got from Nick was “Don't force it. I see a lot of other festival/music blogs trying to be something they aren't yet. Example: Throwing "#1 Source For Etc" on your blog, when you're only updating a handful of times a month. Let your followers come natural. Identify who your target audience is and start interacting with them on social media. From there you can identify what exact type of information your followers crave and put your focus there.”

What I learned from this interview was to be noticed, but don’t force it. I found his advice kind of ironic when he said don’t force it, only because the way I discovered him was from Nick mass following people tweeting about music festivals so we would follow him back and just to have him unfollow us. Still, I found his information useful, interesting, and exciting because of how secretive he makes himself out to be.

Festival Fashion Needs to End

Yesterday I went shopping at Charlotte Russe where I saw a line of accessories called the Coachella line. Because of Coachella, festivals have lately started becoming a fashion statement and it needs to end. Stars like Kendall and Kylie Jenner get paid $40,000 by a brand to be seen at Coachella for just an hour, and celeb fashion sitings like this is what has caused this ridiculous statement.

When you're at a festival, especially a camping one, why be fashionable when you can be comfortable? I see girls all the time with a full face of makeup, some sort of uncomfortable shoes, and a fringe top. Ladies, it is 90 degrees outside and you're standing in the hot humid sun for hours, nobody gives a damn how your makeup looks or how you're rockin' those short heels. Not to mention, any type of fringe is a nightmare when you're making a trip to the port-o-potty. I get it, you want to look cute, but I'm sorry to tell you that many people care to that extent. If you want to get noticed, where something bright and colorful or wear something with a popular image on it or a funny saying. But more importantly, wear something that will keep you comfortable for hours and hours in the hot sun.

So please, let's end this madness and enjoy the festivals for what they're supposed to be, THE MUSIC!!

Wait.. How Much?!

Earlier, I made a post about how much I spend on average at a music festival and saying I could buy a car with how much I have spent. Well, I decided to just add up the ticket prices and see how much I've spent on the most important part. With Decadence coming up, I realized that this will be my 20th attended festival and was finally curious as to how much I've spent over the past four years. I averaged the ticket prices at $275 each since my first two years of attending fests were my cheaper years and it's only been this year that I've spent well over $300 a ticket.

My average total: $5,500

Lesson of this: Don't add up the ticket prices for your own amusement and make sure you absolutely love doing this before you decide to add up the price.

Luckily for me, I view this as a cheap and awesome bunch of mini vacations.

Too Many Options!!

The one problem about wanting to go to a music festival for New Year's Eve is that there is a new lineup being dropped about every other week with a new festival in a different city. With all these great lineups, there's just too many options! The past two weeks, my friend group has been jumping back and forth between 3 different New Year's Eve options.

Lights All Night just released their lineup with DJ's I've yet to see, like Jauz and Yellow Claw, which is almost unheard of now. Dallas is so much closer and the cheapest option, but the people and the vibes that are there are not ideal. I've had awesome times at this fest, but I've also ran into a lot of rude people that have killed the positive frequency I was running on. I had a friend of a friend get punched in the stomach for no reason here. People can be ridiculous and rowdy at this fest.

Reaction released their full lineup and it's stacked with not only great DJ's, but some amazing bands, like CHVRCHES and Cherub, and rappers too, like Run the Jewels and Chance the Rapper. The problem with this one is it's in Chicago. We're getting to the point where it's hard to f
ind a car to get us to these places so far away and plane tickets are just too expensive. Luckily we have free places to stay in Chicago, but the car situation is what ultimately is keeping us from this fest.

And of course Decadence, what I blogged about earlier. Granted, my friends and I already have our tickets to this one, but I would be lying if I said we were at one point going to try to sell them for other options. Decadence has the lineup, a great location, but geez is it expensive. My ticket for this two-day fest is now the same amount as my Austin City Limits ticket. This festival is more than likely going to be our final option, but it's going to be the most expensive.


The list could go on and on with how many New Year's shows I've seen and thought about going to instead. I like the fact that there are options because you know the event won't be so heavily populated with thousands of people flooding to other arenas and convention centers for different shows; but, I hate it as well. If you give me too many options, I panic and buy a festival ticket on a knee jerk reaction without thinking my options through, and then have my friends get irritated with me. I can't handle all these options! I need to just start letting my friends decide for me.

Another Weekend at Austin City Limits

Even with the high 90 degree weather, crowded stages, and the red sunburn on my back, ACL weekend 2 was one of my favorite years I've attended. Starting with the Thursday night pre-partying on 6th Street, to a fantastic ending with fireworks, ACL had it all. I got to see some shows I've never seen, and see some shows that I've already seen and was blown away by. Met so many new friends and created amazing experiences, I was not ready to go back to the real world today. So I thought the easiest way to talk about my time would be to break it down to my top 3 favorite acts, and my top 3 least favorite.

Best Acts

Disclosure

My favorite dynamic duo did not disappoint. This was one act I was most looking forward to and they delivered the BEST performance of the weekend. Their lights and visuals were amazing and looked great along their music. They played a good combination of their first album along with their newest and I would call you crazy if you didn't fall in love with it. They brought out Lion Babe and performed their latest single "Hourglass" which was beautifully put on. I could and did go on and on about this show all weekend, one of the best shows I've ever seen at ACL.

The Weeknd

The Weeknd came and he delivered an awesome performance. Even though his headlining spot only was an hour long, he gave an incredible performance and had the crowd singing along with every song, myself included. He played all his hit radio singles as well as his new album music and songs from the popular Trilogy album. He was better than I would have ever expected and would even go to say he's probably the next Michael Jackson, without the dancing and way more vulgar lyrics. I'm not a big R&B fan, but I'm definitely a fan-girl for The Weeknd.

Run The Jewels

Run The Jewels has been an act that I've been dying to see. They've been mentioned in many blogs and music news articles as a must-see performance and one of the best acts at festivals; and let me tell you, they were not wrong. Never have I been to a rap show that could hype up a crowd of the masses quite like EL-P and Killer Mike. They really got the crowd going and made me wish that I was deep in the crowd ( I'm a back of the show kind of girl, I hate standing next to sweaty people in 94 degrees). Out of all the rap acts I've seen, not many can top Run The Jewels. Even in their solid black attire, with the sun setting right on them, they put on one of the greatest performances. Props to them, I could barely dance the entire time without dying of a heat stroke.

Worst Acts

Drake

Man... I was so disappointed by this one. I love Drake and was so excited to finally see him. I had warnings from other friends who had seen him at Weekend 1 or Coachella that he was boring, of course I didn't listen because I like to form my own opinions. Unfortunately, they were right. He opened with some weaker songs and anytime he played a hit, it was never the full song. I was not having fun and was actually getting frustrated. We left to go see Deadmau5 where I saw the same set he put on at Bonnaroo, and still had a better time than at Drake. After Deadmau5 ended, we went back to Drake to see that he had brought out J.Cole, still wasn't impressed. Finally, he started playing his heavier hitting songs, but by that point we left because we were so over it. Overall, really upset about his show. Lesson learned, I'm going to listen to my peers experiences.

Leon Bridges

I love Leon Bridges, he brings that old school 50's R&B sound and he's got a smooth voice and is one talented guy. Too bad his stage performance was boring. Due to the sound of his music, it's mellow and easy going and hard to enjoy in 94 degree weather. I ended up laying down and falling asleep at his show because it was just so boring. You can have a great voice and great music, but stage presence has a huge impact on getting the crowd to like you and Leon Bridges lost me

Halsey

This was an artist I decided to check out. I've only heard her name but never listened to her music. I have found so many new artists this way and usually am never disappointed, but Halsey was not that great. I don't if it was because the screaming high school girls all around me or Halsey's attitude that she was better than everyone on the stage, but she didn't have me sold. Her opening song was amazing but the rest was pretty mediocre. I honestly blame her fans for my terrible experience at this show.


ACL is a great festival filled with great people of all ages, great music, and priceless memories. I can't wait to go back and see what I get myself into!

-Blaze

How Do I Afford All of This?

Like I've said before, I'm a festival junkee. I can't get enough of them and the minute I hear of one, I have to go to it. It's not a want, it's a need. And with more and more festivals being added to that list, that means more and more money to be spent. Let me break it down  how much I spend at a festival.

Average prices of:

Ticket - $300
Gas - $40-$65
Food- $30-$75
Merch- $30-$60
camping supplies- $30
Alcohol- $50-$100
Misc. - $150-$150
Hotel- $90

Now these prices are not the same with every event I go to, but most of them are in the higher range. Some festivals are cheaper, but those are the ones I have to get a hotel for. The ones I need a hotel for, don't really need camping supplies for that. But on average, the total comes out to be anywhere from $500-$700. I could literally buy a car if I stopped going to all these fests. No joke, last year I attended 7 different music festivals... 7. Insane amount of money and insane amount of good times.

The number one question I get is, " how do you afford to go to all of this?!" My answer; living at home with mom and dad and having a job. Since I live at home, I don't pay for rent, utilities, or groceries so therefore I have all this money from waiting tables to festival hop. Almost my entire budget goes in to my next festival, many think it's ridiculous. You may think it sucks living at home, but I know that the memories and awesome friends I've made from doing this is so much better than having my own place. I'm taking advantage of this time in my life because I know here in a few months after I graduate, it will all have to come to a halt.

Being an adult but not having to be an adult yet is exciting and I'm not ready for this to end. I really am having the best years of my life right now.

-Blaze

Festival Do's and Don'ts

With Austin City Limits weekend 1 coming up this weekend and myself attending weekend 2 next weekend, I thought it would be a good idea to write some tips on how to prepare. Luckily, ACL is a festival where you can go back to a hotel room after a full day of walking and dancing for countless hours, so you don't have to be as prepared than if you had to camp.

Do's:
Always eat a BIG breakfast. And when I say big, I mean until you absolutely can't eat another bite. Breakfast may be your only meal of the day and it'll be your biggest source of energy.

Backpacks are important, preferably a camelbak backpack because those hold water bladders.

With that being said,  DO STAY HYDRATED. I can't stress this enough. Keep drinking water because even if you're not thirsty, you're most like still dehydrated and that makes for a terrible time.

Do bring in little snacks like granola bars. Most festivals allow you to bring in small snacks.

Toilet paper. Especially for us girls. Never assume that the port-o-potties will have TP because by the end of the night, none of them will.

If you're a drinker on a budget ( like myself), smuggle it in. Best way to do that is drink the clear liquor, fill up a water bottle to the brim. You're allowed to bring in an unsealed water bottle, but the security really just checks to see if it's filled all the way.

Do be weather alert. Prepare for heat, or cold, or rain, or whatever mother nature may throw at you that weekend and make the best of it. This is about to be the best weekend of your life, don't be unprepared and have weather ruin it!

Do expect to make new friends! You'll meet the craziest people but also the nicest people and maybe even some forever friends.

Don'ts:
Don't start the party too early, you'll miss the artists you really want to see at night. Trust me.

Don't wander and lose your friends. Always make a meeting point at a certain time if your group separates or you will never find them.

Don't expect to have cell service. There are 80,000 other festival attendees all trying to use their phone at the same time.

Don't be that Guy. What do I mean by that you ask? I mean don't be that asshole that gets mad if someone wants to get closer than you to the stage, because no matter where you stand, someone will want to get closer. Don't be the guy that doesn't help out someone in need, 9/10 someone will help you when you're in need. Pretty much don't be the Debbie downer.

Don't ever underestimate getting sunburned. Just because it's October doesn't mean you can't burn to a crisp anymore. I learned that the hard way.

Don't walk into the port-o-pots barefoot. I feel like this is common sense, but I've seen it and yes you will get looked at. I am a person that loves to walk barefoot around grassy festivals but I always carry flip flops in my backpack just for that.


First time festival goers may need advice on what to pack. Well have no fear because I can give you the most important things you will need.
Packing List:
- Sunglasses/ back up pair
- Sunscreen
- At least $60 ( you may never know what will happen)
- If you don't like being in the crowd, a sheet to sit or lay on
- Small flashlight to help in the port-o-pots at night
- Hand sanitizer
- Baby wipes
-Water Bottle ( reusable)
- Backpack/camelbak
- Hair ties
- Hats ( helps with shade)
- Raincoat/ rain boots 


Austin City Limits is a wonderful weekend filled with amazing people, incredible artists, and will create beautiful memories you will cherish for a lifetime. Do have a fantastic time and happy festing!

-Blaze

Trouble at TomorrowWorld

This was the one festival I was looking forward to attending. Unfortunately, due to financial problems over the summer, I was unable to go. Never in my life have I ever been so grateful to not make it to a festival. TomorrowWorld was a nightmare this year and from it sounds like, it's nobody's fault except the people running the fest.

The festival got an expected couple inches of rain within the first two days of the festival. Because of the rain and the amount of people walking around, it quickly turned to one big mud pit. After the last show of the night, the campers went back to their tents, but the off site festival attendees were not as lucky. Uber cars and shuttle buses were getting stuck in the mud, making the festival call off any types of transportation. This left thousands of people stranded and livid. Not only that, but the staff wouldn't let people leaving refill their water bottles before leaving, which left many people dehydrated as well.

There was no communication to the event staff or the security, so this led to people sleeping on cardboard or plastic bags in the cold and the mud, people walking 8 miles to get to the nearest transportation, and even people sleeping on the side of unlit backroads. Uber even took this chance to screw over the customers and there were reports of people having to pay $200 for their 10 mile drive to their hotels. Apparently there were two girls raped on the unlit roads, as well as people having to be hospitalized due to dehydration. There were even complaints of the staff being high on drugs and not doing what they were supposed to be. TomorrowWorld then decided to close the fest to everyone but the 40,000 attendees who were camping. They did offer refunds to the people unable to attend Sunday, but that understandably didn't make any of them happy.

Running a festival has HUGE responsibilities, one includes insuring the safety of the festival goers. Leaving them stranded and not communicating on how to get them safely back is a big problem. If there is rain in the forecast, you have to have a back up plan or 2 with any problem that could occur, and cars getting stuck is a major one. I've attended many fests where rain causes problems and every time the situation has been dealt with the best possible way. TomorrowWorld had no care in the world to help their attendees. This is the most insane thing I've read about weather problems and the outcome of it and I'm so glad I escaped from that nightmare. Just from hearing news like this, I don't think I'm ever interested in going now.

-Blaze

Decadence Releases Stacked Lineup

This exciting New Year's Eve festival in Denver, Colorado spent the last two days announcing a new artist to the lineup every 30 minutes for 5 hours of the afternoon. Let me tell you, it made for a stressful two days to see each name slowly get released.

They started with a big room house DJ Hardwell. I'm not too excited about this only because of my music preference. When I go to see a DJ, I want to see a lot of original material and not someone who samples other people's music while screaming " 3 2 1 JUMP!" every 15 minutes. Big room house is just not my cup of tea.

Then some smaller name acts got added that I was a little excited for like The Floozies and JackLNDN.

It was when they started announcing the harder hitting names when I was jumping out of my seat with excitement. Names like Figure, Black Tiger Sex Machine, Excision, and Odesza. The headlining act of the first night is one of my favorites as well as hundreds of thousands of more, Bassnectar. And honestly, you can't celebrate the New Year in Colorado without expecting Bassnectar to make an appearance.

Next day, the stress was real because this day was the deciding day on if my friends and I would for sure be spending our New Year's in the city of Denver. They announced Gramatik, who I am always down to see, What So Not, Galantis, and a few other names I was unfamiliar with. At this point, my entire friend group was torn. Decadence was good but not stacked like we were promised and there were other festival opportunities with a better lineup.

Shortly after they announced ticket prices and when they would be going on sale, along with two more BIG announcements to make this lineup better than the rest. My friends and I were throwing names out like Pretty Lights, Above & Beyond, all of our hopeful favorite headliners. I was hoping it was Pretty Lights and Deadmau5 considering it's been years since I've seen Pretty Lights and Deadmau5 is one of my all time favorites.

The first announcement was the Skrillex and Diplo duo, Jack U. No one was thrilled about this. Skrillex is a great producer and a talented artist and him alone or with his other duo, Dogblood with Boys Noize, is fantastic. Unfortunately Diplo is not that great. To me, he's tainted the eletronic music industry and is not that great of a DJ. When it comes to producing his own music, he's great; but, he's cocky and a misogynist and you can see it all over his social media and his performances. So I will be Skipping out on Jack U solely because of Diplo.


Finally the last name was released. I couldn't handle it, I screamed, immediately sent it to all my friends, and then screamed some more because my hopeful guess became true. The last name they released, the producer who will be bringing in the new year is... Deadmau5! Excitement is now in the air in my group of friends and the decision was unanimous that we were not missing out on this festival. Planning has already started and we are only in the month of September.

We have yet to see any other New Year's Eve festival lineup drop to compare to Decadence, but as of now there is now comparing and our minds are set.

I can't wait to be in Denver once again to ring in the new year!

-Blaze

The Brains Behind Bonnaroo Announce New Florida Festival

Music festival junkees will be thrilled to hear that a new Bonnaroo and Coachella like festival is coming to South Florida.

Details were released on Thursday that Okeechobee, Florida will host a new, bigger festival on March 4-6, 2016. This will be the biggest camping festival as it is located on 848 acres of land called Sunshine Grove. To give you an idea on how large that is, Bonnaroo is on 700 acres and holds up to 90,000 attendees.  Now image what opportunities an extra 148 acres can offer.... exciting right?

The new festival will release the lineup later next month and will include 80 different acts including bands, producers, and DJ's from around the world.

This event will include a white-sand lakeside-swimming beach and bar, wooded VIP camping areas, various art installations. Just like Bonnaroo, the festival will be very environmentally conscious and provide recycling bins, serve food on compost plates, and reduce the waste.

I'm hoping to be able to make it to the first year of this festival. Not only is my birthday March 2nd ( hint hint) but its in a new location with new festival attractions I'd love to experience. I can't wait to see what it's first year will look like and see how successful it'll be.

Now a days, the industry of festivals is so heavy saturated that it's hard to start a new one. But with the brains behind Bonnaroo putting this together, I have faith.

Now to wait for the lineup!

- Blaze

 

It Really is a Time to be Alive

Drake and Future surprised fans by dropping a fire mixtape a day after announcing their collaboration.

This came unexpected considering Drake is releasing a new album later this year and Future released his new album July 6th.

Apple's Beats 1 Radio premiered the album on Sunday with Drake explaining how the mixtape came together and basically told listeners that the mixtape was an accident.

He said how he went to visit Atlanta a couple of weeks ago for six days in hopes of collaborating with Future. 

Drake also mentioned how he chose the title for his new, spontaneous album. When he realized his trip to Atlanta would produce a collaborative effort with Future, Drake told writer and friend Ernest Baker about the project. Baker replied, "What a time to be alive," and that's how Drake named it.

The mixtape has 11 tracks and is pretty much a mixtape of Future featuring Drake. The chemistry works as expected and is blowing up on the Itunes charts and making a trend on twitter as #WATTBA.

You can listen to the full album on the Apple Music, but isn't available on popular music streaming sites yet.

So with this new collaboration and having both artists on the lineup for the upcoming fest, Austin City Limits, does this mean we will see the duo perform this mixtape together on stage? I know I can't wait to see.

What a time to be alive indeed.

-Blaze

Queen Bey is Blessing Us Again

Naughty Boy music yesterday tweeted a time countdown and some great news for Beyonce fans. She will be featured on a new track of theirs called " Runnin ( Lose it All)" along side Arrow Benjamin. With the tweet, they shared a snippet of the new song. The track had already been leaked last month, but only featured Arrow Benjamin.

This is new material from Beyonce since her self-titled album back in 2013. The Naughty Boy album will also include collaborations with Bastille, Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran.  Their new song will be debuted September 18th.

-Blaze

Look Out for Scammers!

I just wanted to make this post to make sure people are aware of how easy it is to get scammed when buying tickets to a sold out event, the warning signs you need to see, and the best way to get a decently priced ticket to a sold out event.

I decided to write about this because I was almost scammed into buying two face value Weekend 2 Austin City Limits tickets. Buying from second hand buyers, like StubHub and TicketCity, can be too expensive and I do suggest buying it from private sellers on Craigslist because that is your cheapest option, just be careful.

The biggest warnings I've noticed when buying from private sellers on Craigslist is the scammers don't want to use PayPal. PayPal helps prevent from getting scammed. If they have a different option they want to use, don't fall for it. The guy that almost got me wanted to use Walmart 2 Walmart pay option and that is the fastest way to lose your money.
In a festival situation, you're going to find tickets for sale all over the place, so it'll make you feel uneasy about doing any type of transaction with someone on the other side of the country. Ask the person if they can send you a screen shot of their receipt. It'll have their name and the date that they bought it. That was my last warning sign I got when the scammer never texted back a screen shot of his receipt.

Also talk to the person a little more than just about the transaction. If they put a reason as to why they can't go to the event on the ad, ask them again and see if the story matches.
With my current situation, I ended up finding a seller in the Dallas area and we keep each other updated on money, when the wristbands have been shipped, etc. She agreed on letting me be the only potential buyer since I was the first person to get a hold of her and we haven't made any money transactions yet since she doesn't have the wristbands. With simple communication between you and the seller, you can figure out if you for sure have a ticket.

For those still looking, wait until all the wristbands have been shipped. Having the wristbands in person already helps validate the transaction. Also, the closer to the date of the event, the cheaper and more frantic people are trying to sell their weekend passes.

So if you haven't gotten a pass yet, don't give up!! And be careful of shitty people trying to make a fast buck.

-Blaze
  

New James Bond Theme Produced by Dyanmic Duo

To much speculation, Sam Smith announced earlier in the week that he has recorded the new theme song for Sam Mendes's new Bond movie, Spectre.  Along with the new song announcement, Sam Smith tweeted that the song is produced by his favorite collaborative artists called Disclosure and Jimmy Napes, who has worked on many huge records with Sam Smith and Disclosure.The new song is called "Writing on the Walls" and will be released along side the Disclosure's sophomore album Caracal on September 25th.

Disclosure are one of my all time favorite artists and I think when they collaborate with Sam Smith, they create musical masterpieces. "Latch" became an overnight hit and their new song together "Omen" isn't far from it. I myself can't wait to hear this new James Bond theme and I especially can't wait for their new album.

-Blaze

Backwoods Bash Security Under Investigation for Death of Detained Attendee

Tragedy hits Backwoods Bash as news comes out of a 34 year-old attendee named Patrick Murphy died while being detained by festival security. According to Fox23, the OSBI is now involved in this investigation as more information begins to unfold about that night.

According to a report, Patrick Murphy began exhibiting erratic behavior who was then subdued and handcuffed by security. Shortly after, Murphy stopped breathing and EMT's were called to rush him to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. Backwoods Bash officials made the decision to fire the security company and made a public statement saying :

"We apologize for anyone who had a less than positive experience with security at Backwoods this year. We have taken the necessary steps to fire the company and will not be bringing them back next year. During the event there were several incidents which Backwoods had to relieve some security staff of duty due to inappropriate actions. In our attempt to keep the event safe and secure, we failed our patrons by hiring a company who wasn't able to perform for us. We look forward to improving your experience by finding the right security company for next year."

There were many complaints against the security this year showing inappropriate behavior, not to just the attendees, but the artists as well. One electronic DJ, FYER, ended up cancelling his show due to the security attacking his tour manager with a knife for reasons unknown.

This news is awful to me and makes me keep stressing how it's the job of any type of security to protect the people and keep the peace, whether it be the actual PD or just security at events. These men and women need to be trained PROPERLY and THOROUGHLY to prevent instances like this. Excessive force and use of weapons should never be the way to deal with erratic people and this could have been 100% avoided.

My deepest condolences go out to the friends and family of Patrick Murphy.

-Blaze

Backwoods Bash Exceeds Expectations

This year was the year to be at Backwoods Bash in Stroud, Oklahoma. This was it's 7th year in the little town, but its first year to book some unbelievable and biggest acts yet. Starting the first night with Infected Mushroom headlining and having ODESZA headline the last. Not to mention some other great acts like Porter Robinson who blew everyone away with his ambient tunes, The Floozies, Manic Focus, Lettuce, and The Motet. Backwoods also had some great local acts like Helen Helter Skelter, Diludic, and Ed Crunk.

This festival is definitely on the lower scale of popularity, only because of the names they are able to bring, making it a very uncrowded and awesome. All the festivals that I'm used to attending have no less than 50k festival goers, so experiencing something this small scale was almost like a breath of fresh air.

I would say the downfall of the festival is the time they put it on and how far away the campground was away from the stages. Early September heat in humid Oklahoma is nothing to mess with and it's crucial to stay hydrated and keep that sunscreen on. I was not a fan of the 102 degree days and spent most of the daylight hours in the shade , otherwise it'll make for a very miserable and tiring night for you. Also, I've never been further than a 15 minute walk to stages ever at any camping fest I've ever attended and Backwoods had a very hilly 45 minute walk which I would label almost miserable.

I'm sad that Oklahoma didn't bring back Mystik Sanctuary, which was the same weekend as Backwoods last year, but this year made up for it. Another festival for the books!


-Blaze

Bassheads Unite at a New Location

Bassnectar fans rejoice as the new Bassnecter New Year's Eve 360 location is announced. The original location of the popular New Year's Eve show has been in Nashville, Tennessee and now the sell out show is located in Birmingham, AL.

The show includes exciting diverse opening acts with hard hitting Paper Diamond and the amazing glitch hop trio The Glitch Mob, which is always a guaranteed incredible show. I promise you, you DO NOT want to miss a show like this. A New Year's Eve with Bassnectar is one to remember.

Pre-sale tickets go on sale tomorrow, September 9th at 10 AM. This is a show that sells out so get your tickets fast!




-Blaze

Phases of the Moon Canceled

Earlier in the year, Terrapin Ridge Productions announced a merger with Pipeline Productions along with the announcement that the Phases of the Moon Festival would be relocated to Mulberry Mountain in Ozark, Arkansas, the same location that the festival Wakarusa is held. This festival had booked popular acts like STS9, Beats Antique, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Disco Biscuits, Moe, and many more.

The organizers have made the announcement that they are canceling the fest. In this press release they stated:

Dear Phases of the Moon Community,

It saddens us to inform you that Phases of the Moon Music & Art Festival has to be canceled. We were very excited to have had the opportunity to continue the Phases adventure in Arkansas this year. Unfortunately, due to a significant number of unforeseen obstacles, including the continued closure of the only road leading into the festival site, we were left with no choice but to cancel the event. We apologize sincerely for this inconvenience and hope to see all of you at great live music and events in the near future. A separate notice will be sent to ticket holders concerning refunds.

Thank you for your love and support.

Sincerely,
The Phases Team

With this being said, many festival goers are not happy about this news. Many who bought their tickets had also attended Wakarusa in which they encountered the same obstacle, but continued the fest. I myself did not attend Wakarusa this year but I had several friends attend tell me there was a traffic problem, but nothing worth cancelling a fest.

The community was excited because this was Phases of the Moon's second year, but first year in its new location in Arkansas. The inaugural year was located in Illinois and brought thousands of happy festival goers and campers.

But if you're sad about this news, just remember that there's always a new festival to attend the next month.







-Blaze
 

I Can't Feel My Face When I Listen to You

 The Weeknd has become a popular name this passed year starting with his 50 Shades of Grey hit  " Earned it." In the month of June, all three of his radio hits were on the Billboard Top 100 and he's making a big name for himself. With that said, he dropped his new album " Beauty Behind the Madness" on August 28th. Coming from a big The Weeknd fan, I was a little worried of how this new album would be considering he is now a more popular name which would make his normal 5 minute vulgar ballads into 3 1/2 minute, top of the charts, pop tunes. I can tell you though that I've been listening to this album on replay since it dropped. There are some incredible, unpredictable songs featuring some amazing artists like Lana Del Ray and Kanye West, making this album just as good as Trilogy. Granted, his slow burning ballads are not quite the same, he still stuck to his vulgar sexual lyrics but has evolved in a beautiful way.

Listening to this album has made him on my must-see list as I prepare for his headlining show at Austin City Limits Festival. Not to mention his first ever performance on MTV's The VMA's where he performed his hit " I Can't Feel My Face" and was definitely one of the better acts of the night.  I've seen him before but never like this and it makes me excited for what the future holds for The Weeknd.

I would rate this album at 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. I hope all music fans out there enjoy this album just as much as I am!

- Blaze

My Addiction is Real

People ask me all the time " Why do you go to so many music events? Do you know how much money you're spending going to all of this? You're driving how far for a music festival?! Is there anything else you do besides go to concerts?" and the I answer I always tell them is, it's my passion. The happiness I get whenever I am at a live show is something that is indescribable. When you're at a live show and you're favorite song comes on, you look at the person next to you and you create a moment and share the same feeling, making a memory to last a lifetime. I realize that over the passed 5 years, I could've bought a new car, lived in an apartment, have many different options to spend my money, but my passion is greater than all of that and I might as well do it now while I still live at home, before I go and have to put my big girl pants on and live in the real world. My live music addiction doesn't just come from the music itself, but also the people that I meet. From time to time, you'll share a laugh, a tear, or a swig of some smuggled in booze from a complete stranger and come home with a great story about a person you will never see again. But then you create special connections with people who will be your life long friends.

My first year at Bonnaroo, I made some friends from Chicago and had such a good time with them, one of them opened their home to my friends and me for Lollapalooza that same summer. But my real group of friends I met my third year at Roo. They happened to be camped by us and helped us in a time of need when it was raining and our tent was not holding up too well. From then we noticed our schedule was almost identical and we spent the entire weekend together. This group of people got to witness my best friend getting proposed to under the Bonnaroo arch, they celebrated with us, they danced until sunrise with us, and cried with us as we said our goodbyes. Little did we know that we would meet up with them in Austin at Austin City Limits, go to visit them over spring break, and have them come and attend the wedding that they saw the proposal for. Because of these personal connections, I have friends in Seattle, Chicago, Columbus, Atlanta, Tuscaloosa, Denver, Clemson, and several places in Indiana and Michigan. My festival group started with 4 girls and now almost every event I go to, the group is never smaller than 20. And almost all of these friends keep up on a daily basis.

So you see, it's not just the fact that I've seen diverse legends like Paul McCartney, Robert Plant, The Cure, and Wu Tang Clan, or that I've seen some current big names like Kendrick Lamar, Florence and The Machine, and Deadmau5, It's the overall experience and the memories I make with the people I love the most. I'm passionate about music, live music, and friendships.

So if you ever want to tag along, I guarantee you a great time you'll never forget and a memory that you will forever hold close to you.

-Blaze 

My Favorite Go To

As a music blogger, there are blogs that I religiously follow and get a lot of my news and information from. I follow most of these on every source of social media there is plus the added non music related blog. So for all you music lovers out there, I hope you enjoy these as much as me!

http://consequenceofsound.net/
http://oklahomarock.com/
http://www.youredm.com/
http://pitchfork.com/
http://www.indieshuffle.com/
http://www.edmsauce.com/
http://rapradar.com/
http://www.stereogum.com/
http://drownedinsound.com/
http://www.thelostogle.com/


-Blaze