concerts
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Google search now shows upcoming concerts, helps you find the next gig
Google may stir controversy from time to time, but you can't deny it's one of the better provider of virtual tools that help make your life a bit easier. In this case, the Big G's bringing along some concert listings to its world renowned search engine. All you've got to do on your end is show up, pop a simple hunt query for your favorite band / artist (Kanye, Swift or whatever you're into) and within milliseconds you'll know where and when the next gig's taking place. That is, if that certain musician you're looking for is on tour or has some booked shows coming up (no, it won't get Daft Punk to come play at your house). The fresh tidbit's available now for those G-searching in English, though the plan's to "expand the feature to more countries in the future." You can also make your boy band's next gig show up in results by dropping a rich snippets markup on your site -- hit up the source link below for the full deets.
NPR Music iPad app puts Tiny Desk Concerts a few swipes away
Feel like peeping a live performance from The Decemberists during your coffee shop work session? You can do just that via the new NPR Music app for your iPad. Once you download the free software onto your Apple slate, you're a few screen taps away from live performances, advance album listens and live streaming radio content. The app also enables offline listening through its visual playlist feature. If you're a fan of The Shins, an exclusive in-app concert streams live on March 7th. Itching to snag the app for your tablet? Hit the iTunes source link below.
What's next for Spotify? Apps, apparently
We may have to wait until noon ET today to get the official word on "what's next" from Spotify, but The Wall Street Journal has kindly given us an early peak into what we can expect a few hours from now -- namely, apps. The Swedish music streaming service is apparently getting ready to go all Facebook on us, offering up apps galore. When it launches today, the service's "app finder" will include magazine reviews, concert listings, lyrics and the like, so you'll never have to guess at what Tom Waits is saying again.
London Philharmonic Orchestra goes cover band with tribute to video game themes
If you've ever caught yourself humming the Angry Birds theme song, then perhaps you should check out tonight's London Philharmonic Orchestra's video game tribute concert. The group will play more than 20 songs made famous by games like Tetris, Zelda, Call of Duty and of course, Mario Bros., as part of London's annual music festival. When asked to create the ultimate gaming remix, composer and arranger Andrew Skeet vowed to keep it old school, while giving folks the best bits of music. It's not the first time someone's paid tribute to these hits, and we're hoping it's not the last. Check out the full setlist and video after the break.
Video Games Live announces packed Los Angeles show
You're probably getting excited about E3 (and who can blame you?) but it's a bit more difficult for us who've come to view the yearly event as "The One Week We Actually Have to Work Pretty Hard." But whether you're a jaded misanthrope like our staffers or a rational human who hasn't had their heart replaced with a heart-sized stone, there's a new can't-miss event at the conference: The 200th Video Games Live show, set for 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 8 at the Nokia Theater. The slate of guests and material is large enough that you'll have to read the full list on the VGL site, but just for starters, the all-new show includes the live premiere of music from Red Dead Redemption, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and Resident Evil 5. Also look for performances of Portal hit "Still Alive" and Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross themes, with composer Yasunori Mitsuda in attendance. What is this feeling in our chest rocks? Is it ... excitement?
Apple announces dates for iTunes Festival London 2011
Apple has announced dates for this year's iTunes Festival London. Like last year, the festival will run every night in July. Sixty artists will be performing over thirty-one days at Camden's Roundhouse in London. Three of the confirmed bands are Linkin Park, Duran Duran and Rumer. As in years past, tickets to the shows are only available for free via competitions. Apple will be giving away a limited number of tickets for each showing. The entry form for the competition can be found here. Participants may apply for as many of the gigs as they'd like but are limited to the three confirmed bands for now. Those who can't make the festival should still be able to watch highlights, read the latest news and see behind-the-scenes photos on the event's Facebook and Twitter pages as they did in years past. Apple has also set up an official Ping page for the concert this year. All performances will also be recorded and sold on the iTunes Music Store worldwide.
Live Nation releases free app
Ticket seller Live Nation has released its very own iOS app on the App Store -- you can download it for free there right now. Not only can you browse upcoming events and buy tickets to shows directly from within the app (as well as get news about presales and upcoming deals on tickets), but once you go to a show in person, you can pick up setlist information, see photos and videos and check-in with friends through social networks. Personally, I have kind of an issue with Live Nation, given its rocky past with Clear Channel Communications and Ticketmaster, so I can't really recommend the app just to buy tickets with. The company's never really been generous to customers, to say the least, taking advantage of high ticket fees and the artists that it works with. If there's an alternative way to buy your tickets, either from the venue itself or from the artists involved, it'll probably be cheaper than Live Nation, and better for the industry at large. But they are a huge company with a lot of partnerships going, and quite a few shows nowadays (if not all of the big venue shows) are sold through Live Nation. So if you're planning to buy tickets with them anyway -- and sometimes you don't have a choice -- using the app will give you some nice bonuses.
TUAW Giveaway: Win a subscription to Slacker Radio Plus for Austin City Limits Music Festival
The Austin City Limits Music Festival is going on next week in Austin, TX (as is GDC Online, which I'll be covering for TUAW). The festival has teamed up with Slacker Internet Radio and Seed Labs to spread the word and share some of the music from the artists performing there. They've produced a free app to check out the lineup of artists at the show, as well as make your own schedule, see a map of the event, post your own pictures and stories directly from the show, and even use a virtual lighter if a performance moves you to do so. You're on your own trying to get them to play "Freebird," though. Slacker Radio is also tied in to the app -- you can listen to an Internet radio station called Austin City Limits Radio, playing tunes and providing insight exclusively from the artists at the festival. To celebrate, Slacker has offered TUAW readers some free subscriptions to the Slacker Radio Plus service, which is used in conjunction with the original Slacker Radio app. That app is also free, but a Slacker Radio Plus subscription allows you to get song lyrics, get rid of the ads, skip songs whenever you want, and listen to your favorite stations offline. We've got four one-year subscriptions (usually US$47.99 each) and three three-month subscriptions (usually $14.99) to give away to seven lucky TUAW readers. Hit the "Read More" link below to find out how to win your own, and if you're interested in the Austin City Limits festival, be sure to check out the free app on the App Store now.
U2 360° Tour Blu-ray actually makes compelling use of BD-Live
Normally, if asked to choose between living with or without gimmicky BD-Live enabled bonus features, we'd pick the latter. Musical preferences aside though, U2's use of the technology on their 360 Tour Blu-ray to share select performances from their 2011 tour is just the kind of cool use case we've been looking for. According to the disc's production company, it was also cheap to implement -- think less than a pair of Bono's sunglasses. That happens to fly directly in the face of arguments made by other studios who cite BD-Live's costs as the main reason for its limited integrations to date. So while we never thought the day would come, it looks like the same minds behind the special edition iPod have set a new precedent -- mainly that studios shouldn't get away with all that they leave behind. That's right you heard us movie companies, we want more free future content on discs -- and while you're up get us some Goobers too.
Found Footage: Flight of the Bumblebee in concert on an iPad
Chinese pianist Lang Lang headlined a concert at San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall on April 19th. For the first of three encores, he played The Flight of the Bumblebee on an iPad. To accomplish this, he used the Magic Piano iPad app. This is just one example of how amazing apps can allow people to do amazing things, and the party has just started. [To clarify, the Magic Piano app does do a lot of the work in playing a piece like that; it drops down indicators for the correct notes, so the pianist has to get 'pretty close' and have the rhythm correct. Still impressive. –Ed.] [via 9to5Mac]
Apple launches Music Movies on iTunes
In an attempt to increase movie sales, Apple is pushing out more alternative content on the iTunes Store. Today, they've spruced up their "Music Movies" library and added a landing page to promote upcoming releases. Music Movies are music-themed movies, concerts and documentaries that generally feature exclusive content and behind-the-scenes footage. While the selection is currently limited, Apple does offer a few movies that are not available anywhere else, such as an exclusive Kings of Leon concert DVD among other selections such as U2's "Rattle and Hum" and "John Lennon Imagine". In addition to the added content, a prominent landing page has been created that is dedicated to this genre of film. Apple also plans to negotiate early access to music-themed movies and is trying to make the content available for download long before it is available in stores.
Ask Engadget: What's the best small camera for getting into venues?
Any avid concert goer will confess -- security can be a royal pain in the arse when trying to sneak your point-and-shoot in for a few Facebook-bound memories. 'Tis a shame a few morons who can't deactivate their flash has to ruin it for everyone else, but rather than ramble on, we'll let Latrell take it from here: "I'm tired of security confiscating my point-and-shoot at concerts. I'm just looking to snap a few good shots without the flash, but it seems they always find my camera on the way in. What's the slimmest, most discrete camera out there that can still muster decent images. I'm not looking to buy a new cellphone with a robust camera, either. Help a man a need, please." We can say from personal experience that we feel this guy's pain, and after you've done your part to make a viable suggestion, you can send in a question of your own to ask at engadget dawt com.
Cinemassively: Virtual Tribute Band - Depeche Mode
What do you do when your favorite band isn't touring fast enough? You create a virtual tribute band and mimic their show! Nimrodax filmed this Machinima concert of virtual Depeche Mode in Second Life.The show has all the elements of real life. There's the cheesy outfits, the lights, the musical instruments, and the silly dance moves. I'm not sure why they credit Depeche Mode, though, when they used a Marilyn Manson cover of the song.
Zygote: the interactive party ball
Sure, you've played "keep it up" with big rubber ball or half-helium balloon at a rave or concert before, but you've probably never had the pleasure of smacking around a one-and-a-half-meter sphere that responds to your whacks with multi-colored blinks. Enter the Zygote: the "interactive" party ball. Yes, now you and your New Rave posse can really get into the "groove" by violently tossing a gigantic orb of light into the air, and then watch as fellow hedonistic revelers join in the fray. Created by designer Alex Beim of the interactive collective Tangible, the Zygote consists of a cube of touch-sensitive, colored LEDs, surrounded by a helium filled globe; when the ball is hit, squeezed, or tapped it emits a variety of colors. The Zygote doesn't serve any technical purpose, though critics have noted that the glowing sphere helps keep "bad vibes" from "harshing" their "mellow." Check the video after the break to see the magic in action.[Via Fresh Creation]
di[rec] could tempt labels with post concert live recording drives
If you thought picking up a full-length studio album on a USB stick was hot stuff, di[rec] is out to make such an idea seem second rate. Founded by two ex-Sony BMG colleagues, the company is looking to round up support from their former employer, Warner Music, and various independent labels as it records live performances, mixes and masters on-site, and offers up the show on a USB drive or "download voucher" as folks are filing out of the exits. Sadly, there's no word yet on how much the outfit plans on charging gullible concert goers for the privilege of reliving their deafening experiences over and over, but it has already given the system a go at Nova Rock in Austria last month. So, for those of you at the festival just weeks ago, how about clue the rest of us in on the quality and value of di[rec]'s offerings?[Thanks, Lars G.]
iConcertCal updates with iCal exporting, better listings and more
This must have slipped under our radar back in March, but iConcertCal, the both clever and useful iTunes plug-in that scans your artists to find local concert dates, has updated to v1.2. In addition to "greatly improved" concert listings in both the US and UK, iConcertCal can now export calendars to an iCal format (note: this isn't exactly 'iCal syncing.' Hopefully that's on its way). For those shows that might still slip through iConcertCal's fingers, the plug-in allows you to edit its calendar and add shows you just gotta keep track of.Also on the list of changes is the ability to chose which iTunes library to monitor for artists and show dates, an "easy way" to list shows from artists that aren't in your library and city + date venue info now placed in the header information. Amazingly, iConcertCal is still free and available for both Mac OS X and Windows.
iTunes to partner with the Palms
Playlist magazine reports that iTunes and the Palms Casino will team up to sell recordings of live concert events from the Palms' new $80 million concert theater, the Pearl. The concert series will be sold exclusively through iTunes. The series, which is to be called "Live from Las Vegas", will premiere tomorrow, March 17th, with a performance by Evanescence. If you were to go to the live Evanescence event, you'd have to lay out $49.50 per ticket. The iTunes recording will presumably cost you only a fraction of that price.
"Bridge School" concerts on iTunes
Founded over 20 years ago, the Bridge School Concerts are to be released as digital downloads for the first time. The concerts, which consist of 80 tracks, will be released in 6 volumes. Highlights include "Thom Yorke performing a solo rendition of Radiohead's Street Spirit (Fade Out) and a cover of Neil Young's After The Goldrush...Neil Young teams up with Bruce Springsteen for a version of Helpless and also with the Dave Matthews Band for Cortez the Killer. Pearl Jam perform Corduroy whilst their lead singer Eddie Vedder does a solo version of Better Man. Other highlights include Ryan Adams (Oh My Sweet Carolina), Lou Reed (Perfect Day), Metallica (Fade To Black), Red Hot Chili Peppers (Californication) and REM (Losing My Religion)." Profits will benefit the Bridge School, so in addition to fueling one's passion for musical rarities, you can go away feeling happy about contributing to a good cause.
Widget Watch: OnTour - know when your favorite iTunes artists are in town
OnTour is a Dashboard widget that scans your iTunes library and offers concert notifications when the artists you actually listen to are coming to a venue near you. The widget uses OnTour.net to collaborate all this information, and links are provided to buy tickets, as well as to the iTS in case you need to brush up on your choruses. To top things off, the OnTour.net site itself provides even more links to discographies and Google maps for directions. Nice.[via Lifehacker]
