May 2008 starts the tour of one of gFly’s favorite bands, Dave Matthews Band. Although, not everyone here on Beatswamp will agree with me, I find them to be an oldie but a goody. Honestly, every concert that I’ve attended by them have been some of the best concert experiences of my life. Because not only do I have a deep connection to years of great music by them, but the talent that emerges on stage in a live venue is remarkable. And so, here I am remarking on it. If you’re interested in experiencing raw talent by people who obviously love what they do, I suggest you check them out when they come to a city near you.

For you hardcore fans, according to The Warehouse, you’ll be able to get a sneak peak of their debut album while on tour. They’re currently in the studio with Rob Cavallo, who has worked with other big names such as Green Day, Alanis Morissette and My Chemical Romance (are you listening, Madrock?). The album is yet to be named but will also include the musical stylings of Tim Reynolds who hasn’t played on an album since 1998’s Before These Crowded Streets.

Intrigued?? Check out these dates…

2008 SUMMER TOUR DATES

with State Radio
Fri / May 30 / Post-Gazette Pavilion / Burgettstown, PA
Sat / May 31 / Post-Gazette Pavilion / Burgettstown, PA
Tue / Jun 3 / Susquehanna Bank Center / Camden, NJ
Wed / Jun 4 / Susquehanna Bank Center / Camden, NJ

with Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Fri / Jun 6 / Toyota Park / Bridgeview, IL (VIP Packages Available)

with The Black Crowes
Sat / Jun 7 / Busch Stadium / St. Louis, MO (VIP Packages Available)

with Paolo Nutini
Mon / Jun 9 / DTE Energy Music Theatre / Clarkston, MI
Tue / Jun 10 / Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain / Scranton, PA
Fri / Jun 13 / New England Dodge Music Center / Hartford, CT
Sat / Jun 14 / New England Dodge Music Center / Hartford, CT

with Paolo Nutini
Tue / Jun 17 / Six Flags Darien Lake - Performing Arts Center / Darien Center, NY
Wed / Jun 18 / Molson Amphitheatre / Toronto, Ontario

with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Fri / Jun 20 / Saratoga Performing Arts Center / Saratoga Springs, NY
Sat / Jun 21 / Saratoga Performing Arts Center / Saratoga Springs, NY
Tue / Jun 24 / Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts / Mansfield, MA

With Michael Franti and Spearhead
Wed / Jun 25 / Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts / Mansfield, MA

with Black Crowes
Fri / Jun 27 / Hersheypark Stadium / Hershey, PA

with Michael Franti and Spearhead
Sat / Jun 28 / Nissan Pavilion at Stoneridge / Bristow, VA

with Michael Franti and Spearhead
Tue / Jul 1 / Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre / Charlotte, NC
Wed / Jul 2 / Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek/ Raleigh, NC

with Old Crow Medicine Show
Fri / Jul 4 / Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park / Charleston, SC

with Gomez
Mon / Jul 7 / Lakewood Amphitheatre / Atlanta, GA
Wed / Jul 9 / Ford Amphitheatre / Tampa, FL
Fri / Jul 11 / Cruzan Amphitheatre / West Palm Beach, FL
Sat / Jul 12 / Cruzan Amphitheatre / West Palm Beach, FL

with Ingrid Michaelson
Tue / Jul 22 / Qwest Center / Omaha, NE
Fri / Jul 25 / Verizon Wireless Music Center / Noblesville, IN
Sat / Jul 26 / Verizon Wireless Music Center / Noblesville, IN
Tue / Jul 29 / Crew Stadium / Columbus, OH (VIP Packages Available)
Wed / Jul 30 / Blossom Music Center / Cuyahoga Falls, OH

with Willie Nelson
Fri / Aug 1 / Louisville Slugger Field / Louisville, KY
Sat / Aug 2 / AutoZone Park / Memphis, TN

with TR3
Tue / Aug 5 / Riverbend Music Center / Cincinnati, OH
Thu / Aug 7 / Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater / Virginia Beach, VA

with The Black Crowes
Sat / Aug 9 / Alpine Valley Music Theatre / East Troy, WI
Sun / Aug 10 / Alpine Valley Music Theatre / East Troy, WI

with Eli Young Band
Wed / Aug 13 / AT&T Bricktown Ballpark / Oklahoma City, OK
Fri / Aug 15 / The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion / The Woodlands, TX
Sat / Aug 16 / Superpages.com Center / Dallas, TX

with TBD
Tue / Aug 19 / Staples Center / Los Angeles, CA
Wed / Aug 20 / Staples Center / Los Angeles, CA

with Robert Earl Keen
Fri / Aug 22 / Coors Amphitheatre / Chula Vista, CA
Sat / Aug 23 / Cricket Wireless Pavilion / Phoenix, AZ
Mon / Aug 25 / Raley Field / West Sacramento, CA
Wed / Aug 27 / USANA Amphitheatre / West Valley City, UT

with O.A.R.
Fri / Aug 29 / Gorge Amphitheatre / George, WA
Sat / Aug 30 / Gorge Amphitheatre / George, WA
Sun / Aug 31 / Gorge Amphitheatre / George, WA

with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
Fri / Sep 5 / University of CA, Berkeley Greek Theatre / Berkeley, CA
Sat / Sep 6 / University of CA, Berkeley Greek Theatre / Berkeley, CA
Sun / Sep 7 University of CA, Berkeley Greek Theatre / Berkeley, CA

Also, since it’s another summer tour, you’re nearly guaranteed a sweat covered Dave! And believe you me, that man can SWEAT.

The SXSW festival will be held in Austin from March 12th through 16th, featuring FAR too many acts to list here. It’s an excellent venue to discover new artists from a large array of genres or to catch your favorite bands before they get huge, sell out and you bitch about how you liked them before everyone else liked them.

If you’re like most of us, though - you won’t be able to make it. Fear not, for the SXSW event has posted hundreds of tracks for your aural pleasure - 765, to be exact. In previous years these tracks have been available as a Torrent download. For unknown reasons there was no torrent this year, rather they posted links to all files individually. However, some enterprising chap has done the dirty work of compiling all of them into a torrent which weighs in at a hefty 3.4 gigs.

So clear some space on your hard drive and grab the mother lode. As the styles range from straight up rock to world sound, country to reggaeton, you’re bound to come across tracks you don’t like and some you’ll love. And if for some reason that’s not enough, the linked page also has past years’ torrents posted as well.

Keep in mind - as many of these folks are new on the scene and trying to ‘make it’, supporting them is important.

I snagged this from a dude named Agent51 over @ the Mysterious Universe forums.

The story:

“I just found out that creed used pre-recorded sounds when playing live, just like Milli Vanilli did! One of their roadies came forward and exposed them by recording them live through their equipment when they didnt know it. Well, Creed you’re busted! “

lol

While ‘quasi-Hair Bands’ may go beyond the purview of The Beat Swamp, I feel this is worth sharing. If you haven’t heard, Journey recently got back together, sans lead singer Steve Perry. In their search for a replacement front man, they discovered an amazing cover artist on The YouTubes. A Filipino musician, Arnel Pineda, had gone through a number of local bands but was also famous for covering songs from the likes of Journey, Survivor, and Aerosmith. Pineda was flown to San Francisco, and after a two day audition was announced as the new lead singer for Journey. Below is the first appearance of Pineda with the band at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival in Chile, on February 21, 2008.

Journey will be performing 2 March concerts in Las Vegas. They begin their world tour in Europe, May through June, hitting US shores in July and touring through September.

This is a triumph!

I’m making a note here…huge success.

We here at The Beatswamp absolutely friggin’ adore the video game Rock Band. So much so, in fact, that this past weekend was the first instance in a collection of back-to-back (to back!) fortnights that we haven’t spent at Gilbert C Gator’s house engaging in blissful congregation around his television, murdering various songs as we do so. No game since Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo has attracted the near-totality of our friends in the same gaming endeavor…I’d bet dollars to donuts that some of you out there have a congruent experience with the game. A few weeks back I was trying to convince Monkey On A Keyboard to come play it with us, and I used the term “Epic Moment Engine”, and I still believe that to be the case. Without getting too deeply into the Harmonix downloadable content business model, let’s get to the reason for my exhuberance:

GLaDOS - Portal - Still Alive.mp3

Portal is also a great game, maybe Valve’s best in my opinion…though I’d probably receive some contention on that point. Regardless, the marriage of these two properties makes my inner-giblets jiggle with a heretofore unparalleled fierceness. It’s only gonna be 0.99 cents! I can’t wait until it becomes available!

I found this over at Joystiq…there’s a video there of Jonathan Coulton (the song’s original writer) and some prominent people from the tech community playing the song in front of a large crowd at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. Good times.

Ah, look at me still talking when there’s Science to do. I need to get ready for work.

Purchase this album on iTunes!