With a main stage leaning to the jazzy, cerebral side, this year's Rock the Bells at Shoreline Amphitheater played a mellower tune, and with a few crowd surfing, fist pumping, "F--- the mainstream" exceptions, rolled along a lot smoother than last year's head banger. Less Rock the Bells, more blow the sax.
With a lineup including Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Mos Def, De La Soul and Rakim and a second stage of up and coming electro acts like Spank Rock, Amanda Blank and The Kids in the Hall, performers provided a heady but fun sonic mixture and the crowd responded in kind. Heavy on the "conscious," back packers types, audience members were more likely to be rocking Barack Obama campaign T's than iced out grills, as one manager from the amphitheater noted early in the day. "We usually don't have hip hop shows here, you know, because of the problems. But these guys are great" he confided. Read more »
Saturday's Rock the Bells at Shoreline Amphitheater was a mostly mellow old school stroll through some classic Hip Hop, with the occasional bout of fist pumping and crowd surfing thrown in for flavor. Old School and New School all gave solid performances, with Nas taking home the King of Rock the Bells crown with the most high energy set of the night. Check the photos for more goodness. Read more »
Just less than a week after a stellar performance at the iconic Glastonbury festival, which silenced critics and the likes of Oasis front-man Noel Gallagher who deemed hip-hop “not right” for the concert, Jay-Z delivered another memorable show as O2 Wireless Festival’s Thursday headliner. With the help of super-producer Mark Ronson, and the British-based electro-pop band Hot Chip, this year’s 02 lamented itself as one of London’s premiere festivals. Read more »
