The Decemberists will play, for the first time, the entirety of their new record, The Hazards of Love, at the NPR showcase at Stubb’s during this year’s South by Southwest Music Festival. This all goes down on March 18th, the first night of the fest.
The band is challenging fans to design a poster for the showcase. Check out http://www.imeem.com/thedecemberistsfans for more information on the contest. Per the band, “Extra points are awarded to poster designers who are most imperceptibly able to incorporate a portrait of Ladybird Johnson in their design. Just kidding. Sort of.”
Tap into your inner artist and get those poster submissions in!
Wanna catch Longwave, Oppenheimer and OK Go perform at Philadelphia’s TLA on March 6th? In these hard economic times, Popwreckoning would like to help you save your $16.00 ($19.00 day of show) by helping give away a pair of tickets! Yeah, we’re the sweetest.
All you need to do is sign up for Longwave’s mailing list through the neat little widget below.
A winner will be picked at random on Tuesday, March 3rd. Not only do you get a chance to win a pair of tickets, you get to be kept up-to-date on all that is Longwave! It’s win-win.
Country rocker Ben Kweller had an impressive start kicking off his tour in support of new album Changing Horses at the Slowdown in Omaha, NE.
Kweller played to a packed crowd and his awing performance challenged many assumptions I had going into this show.
Assumption 1: Often, I have found that catching an artist on the first night of the tour can be a bit of a let down. Bands can often be rusty and look to the first night as a warm-up before getting serious for the rest of the tour. Kweller instead seemed at ease behind the microphone and flawlessly played a mix of older songs and cuts from his new album, Changing Horses. Skipping to the piano, he was genuinely excited to be playing this show. No warm-up necessary, Kweller comes ready to rock.
Assumption 2: Somewhere, I heard a rumor that Kweller plays short sets. This was not the case. Not only did he have a well-fleshed out set list, but Kweller even played a country version of “Happy Birthday” to a girl named Jenn, decided to add “In Other Words” at last moment to the set, and he even took a crowd request for “Hospital Beds”. I’m glad he took this request because it ended up being my favorite song of the night and the crowd went crazy for it. With rocking numbers like “Sawdust Man”, slower solo ballads and even goofing around on a song like “Happy Birthday”, I got to hear everything I wanted and more. Everybody was well satiated by this set.
Assumption 3: Country music can’t rock as hard as other genres. Kweller proved this was definitely not the case and I regret that I ever thought that country guys were wimps strumming a guitar and singing laments about how they were out of Budweiser. Kweller rocks. It’s that simple. The guy covered every square inch of that stage as he jumped around and raised his guitar high in the air. At one point during “Pennies on a Train Track” he even broke one of his guitar strings–and it was one of those nice, thick, lower strings, too. It didn’t phase him, nor did it mess up the song. This guy can handle anything.
Kweller is the epitome of fun. He’s charismatic and a talented musician and his backing band has the chops to live up to his energetic performance. Kweller must be experienced live.
Set List: Walk Run Rules Tree Hurtin Things Wantin Hat Sawdust Life Homeward Thirteen Way (solo) Rose Own War Hospital Beds (Not on set list) Sundress In Other Words (Not on set list) // Fight Falling Penny
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