I've been to a few shows in my day, and experiencing good music live can be a million times better than listening on the best sound systems, especially when it's music from your favorite video games and geeky movies. Check out these live concert series that will take your geekiness to a new level. It's nothing to be ashamed of, really.
Disney Junior's dad band, the Imagination Movers are wowing crowds on television and on tour. I recently caught up with the guys (Rich Collins, Scott Durbin, Dave Poche, and Scott "Smitty" Smith) before they zipped into their signature blue jumpsuits to take the stage at the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA.
LilSugar: You film your show in New Orleans to create jobs for locals. Is Louisiana still your home base?
Smitty: We've done three complete seasons of Imagination Movers so that's a decent amount of work for a lot of local people. We also started our tour there. Anytime we can bring the business home, that's what we do.
Scott: Likewise, we filmed a concert special in New Orleans that will be airing on March 6.
LilSugar: Do your kids (the Movers have a combined nine) mind sharing you with the masses now that you are Disney celebrities?
Rich: It's very hard to leave. I get texts and pictures throughout the day when we're on the road. The balance in working is that we have to go a lot, but we also get a good chunk of time where we get to be Mr. Mom between the end of production and the beginning of the tour.
Dave: Now with the technology —Skype, Facetime — being able to send pictures back and forth, it makes it a bit easier. My wife scans homework and sends it to me. Then, I get on Skype with my son and go over his homework with him when I'm on the bus or at the hotel. That makes it a lot more bearable and keeps me in what's going on in the house even though I'm not there physically. I get to participate and parent on the road.
Scott: It helps when they are in school because then they have their routine. If we were touring during the Summer, it would be more felt. We're blessed that we have wonderful wives and a network of friends that help us out when we aren't there.
LilSugar: In terms of revenue, you have the show, merchandise, and the tour. Is anything else on the horizon?
Rich: We're not going to stop until we make the Imagination Movers feature film.
LilSugar: Are you in talks or negotiations with Disney on that?
Rich: We're in the very early stages.
Scott: To be able to create an intelligent G-rated movie for kids is kind of like the Holy Grail because there's so much out there that is just insufficient.
LilSugar: Would you go 3D like everyone is doing now?
Rich: (laughs) We're going to go 4D, maybe 5D — we're thinking big!
Keep on rocking it baby! After listening to music in the womb, kids love a toe-tapping beat. For many children, music classes are their first foray into an organized group activity, while others spend a portion of their day bopping to the tunes coming out of their mama's iPod.
An outing to a concert by a "real" artist is a milestone that few people forget. While rock star offspring like Kingston and Zuma Rossdale, Apple Martin and Bronx Wentz began their concert-going experience at an early age, others may have to wait until they are bit older. We recently saw Cara and Mady Gosselin attend a Jonas Brothers concert, while Ava and Deacon Phillippe rocked out to Billy Joel and Elton John with their mom.
Tens of thousands of prepubescent girls and their mamas waited up to a day and a half in the rain to see Miley Cyrus perform on the Today Show last week.
How old were your kids when they attended their first concert?
Summer is a great time to hear live music — outdoors, if possible. Here in San Francisco, I'm eagerly looking forward to the inaugural Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival at the end of the month, where Iron and Wine, M. Ward, and Radiohead, among others, will be taking the stage.
I know some of you headed to Lollapalooza, and there have been tons of other major festivals already, from the Pitchfork Music Festival to Bonnaroo to All Points West. Tons of great artists play local clubs and big stadiums on solo tours, too: Ticket seller StubHub released its list of top-selling concert tours recently, and Billy Joel, Dave Matthews Band, and Kenny Chesney were among the big winners. So I'm wondering: If you've been seeing music this Summer, what's the best concert you've seen?
After Kanye West took to his computer keyboard to blame the organizers of the Bonnaroo Music Festival for his extremely tardy appearance (4:25 a.m. — dang!), I got to thinking about other bad concert situations. While the folks who paid good money to see Kanye at that festival clearly were not thrilled with the major delays, diva behavior isn't the only situation that can irritate a concert-goer.
For example, I went to a festival once where the organizers refused to publish a schedule so there was no way to plan the weekend around the acts I most wanted to see. Another peeve: when really tall people have zero perception of their tendency to block the stage from vertically challenged folks (like me!). I'm also often sad when a band won't perform an encore even when the crowd cheers and chants for what seems like an eternity.
Now it's your turn to rant. What are some of your biggest pet peeves at concerts?
The full lineup for this summer's Lollapalooza festival in Chicago won't come out till Monday, but according to the Chicago Sun-Times, the major acts are biggies: Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine, the Raconteurs, Wilco, and Kanye West will headline the main stages. Other acts the Sun-Times confirmed include Gnarls Barkley, Broken Social Scene, Cat Power, and Grizzly Bear.
Though the list of artists has been kept under wraps, tickets have already been on sale for a while — with the current round of three-day passes priced at $190. That's a pile of money, but i's nothing compared to the whopping $269 it'll cost ya for three days at Coachella this month — or even the $225 fee for three days at this year's inaugural Outside Lands festival here in San Francisco.
Sure, you can see a lot of big-time bands for that money, and given the cost of individual concert tickets these days, maybe it's not so bad. But once you factor in travel and lodging, going to a music festival takes a lot of coin. Is it worth it?
Since FitSugar readers care so much about the Earth, I wanted to let you know that on this Saturday, on 7.7.07, you can take part in Live Earth. It's a 24-hour, 7 continent concert series that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.
Live Earth marks the beginning of a multi-year campaign led by the Alliance for Climate Protection, The Climate Group and other international organizations to drive individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve global warming. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is the Chair of the Alliance and Partner of Live Earth.
There are some simple things we all can do to help combat global warming: turn off lights when you leave a room, unplug appliances that are not in use, take shorter showers (heating the water takes energy), walk or ride your bike more and drive your car less (if that's not possible, carpool or take public transportation), plant a tree, keep windows covered on a hot day so you don't have to use the AC as much, and dry washed clothes outside instead of in a dryer.
You can also check out the Live Earth concerts. If you want to find out where they'll be and some of the artists, then read more
The Earth is getting warmer, but Al Gore just keeps getting cooler, and winning an Oscar certainly didn't hurt. Now, the former vice president is recruiting his cool new friends — including Ludacris, Alicia Keys, Dave Matthews, and The Police — for an earth-shaking concert that will span 24 hours and seven continents called Live Earth.
Yesterday, the organizers revealed a list of performers lined up for the U.S. show, which will be held on July 7 (that's 7-7-07) at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Tickets go on sale next Monday, April 16, at 10 a.m. EDT. Over in London, a separate show will feature equally impressive names, including Madonna and the Beastie Boys. For a list of artists confirmed for the U.S. and U.K. shows, read more
You know a musical festival is good if it inspires thousands of hipsters to camp out for three days in the desert of Southern California, and such is the powerful pull of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. Though the event — held April 27 to 29 in Indio, Calif. — is still months away, I am already pretty hyper about the lineup, and tickets go on sale this Saturday, Jan. 27.
For 2007, Coachella is promising two big reunions — Rage Against the Machine and Jesus and Mary Chain — as well as a dizzying array of other awesome artists, including Bjork, the Arcade Fire, Willie Nelson, The Good, the Bad and the Queen, Lily Allen .... and the list just goes on and on. To see the full lineup and for ticket info, read more
