Students who love indie-alternative bands missed out on Coachella and are in complete music festival withdrawal need to get tickets to Vans Warped Tour and The Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival as soon as possible.
Warped Tour is a huge music festival that has been hosted by Vans Shoes for almost 20 years. The festival, known for showcasing many big name bands and uprising musicians and songwriters, will be at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View on June 22.
Tickets can be purchased at vanswarpedtour.com for $25-$36.
The most well-known bands performing this year are Sleeping With Sirens, Blessthefall, 3OH!3, All Star Weekend, Bowling for Soup, Bring Me The Horizon, Falling In Reverse, Never Shout Never, Relient K, The Used, We Came as Romans, and Woe is Me.
“The band I’m most looking forward to is probably Sleeping with Sirens,” said sophomore Brooke Slanec, who recently discovered the band and has come to really love them.
“The lead singer Kellin Quinn is really beautiful,” she said.
Sleeping With Sirens formed in 2009 and consists of lead singer Quinn, bassist Justin Hills, drummer Gabe Barham, guitarist Jack Fowler, and rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist Jesse Lawson. The band released their first album, “With Ears to See and Eyes to Hear,” in 2010, and the album reached No. 7 on Billboard’s Heatseeker’s Chart.
Their acoustic album, “If You Were a Movie, This Would Be Your Soundtrack,” which was released in 2012, is one to definitely check out because of Quinn’s unique sound. The band also released an album titled “Feel” in 2013, which features their newest single, “Low.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing Blessthefall,” said sophomore Jenna Beadle.
Blessthefall formed in 2003 and consists of lead singer Beau Bokan, rhythm guitarist Elliott Gruenberg, bassist and backup vocalist Jared Warth, drummer Matt Traynor and guitarist and backup vocalist Eric Lambert.
Blessthefall has released three albums, including their latest, “Awakening,” which was released in 2011.
Another highly anticipated band is The Story So Far, formed in 2007. The band consists of Bay Area natives singer Parker Cannon, vocalist and guitarist Kevin Geyer, guitarist William Levy, bassist Kelen Capener and drummer Ryan Torf.
“(They are) one of my favorite bands of the genre,” said junior Jake Jernigan.
Warped Tour 2013 is raising expectations, as many unknown artists and bands are going to perform this year.
“I’m excited to discover new bands because there aren’t many popular ones this year,” said Slanec.
Another huge music festival that music fans can’t miss is The Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival.
Much like the music festival Coachella, Outside Lands features the hottest musical acts all playing together in one place. The only major difference is that Coachella takes place in Indio near San Diego, while Outside Lands is held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
Outside Lands runs from August 9-11, lasts from noon to 10 p.m. each day and contains five stages. Basically, it’s heaven to any music geek out there.
“Outside Lands is a good opportunity for people in the Bay Area to catch a music festival with tons of amazing bands instead of driving down to (Indio) for Coachella,” said senior Kara Avenceña.
Outside Lands began in August 2008 and has since included bands such as Radiohead, The Black Keys, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Pearl Jam, The Dave Matthews Band, The Black Eyed Peas, Muse, Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters, and Metallica.
As if the festival couldn’t get any better, it also encourages participants to “go green” by promoting carpooling and mass transit, having a stage completely powered by solar energy, offering valet for bike riders, using biodegradable utensils, plates and cups, and offering worm composting workshops at the Garden for the Environment booth during the festivities.
This year’s lineup for the eco-friendly festival includes Paul McCartney, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails, Kaskade, Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, Atlas Genius, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and many more.
Those who are planning on attending Outside Lands but can’t decide which acts to see, be sure to catch McCartney, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phoenix and Vampire Weekend. These bands are definitely the biggest names that will be playing at the festival.
Former Beatle McCartney is sure to attract many fans because, well, he’s a Beatle. McCartney has also released several solo albums including his latest, “Kisses on the Bottom,” which was released in Feb. 2012.
McCartney also reissued on May 28 “Wings Over America,” the 1976 live album from Wings, his band after The Beatles that included his late first wife, Linda.
“I really love The Beatles because I grew up with them,” said math teacher Gary Triebwasser. “I think that Paul McCartney would put on a great show, and I expect that he would play some of the more famous songs he wrote. But it would be interesting to hear his new material live.”
After McCartney, Red Hot Chili Peppers is the next band to see. The punk-rock band formed in 1983 and consists of lead vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Michael “Flea” Balzary, drummer Chad Smith and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. The band has released 10 albums and won seven Grammys. Their most recent work, “I’m With You,” was released in 2011 and won a Grammy for the Best Rock Album category in 2012.
“I would be most excited to see Red Hot Chili Peppers at Outside Lands,” said senior Tyler Piehl. “I have listened to them for a long time, and I’m sure that they would put on a really good show.”
Phoenix, an alternative French band formed in 1995,consists of vocalist Thomas Mars, bassist Deck d’Arcy, guitarist Laurent Brancowitz and drummer Christian Mazzalai. The band has released five albums, including their most recent, titled “Bankrupt!” which was released in April.
“Phoenix is a feel-good band, and I play their music to put myself in a good mood,” said Avenceña, who saw the band perform at UC Davis in April. “They were fantastic live. The lead singer crowd-surfed and even sang part of a song while in the crowd.”
Vampire Weekend is an indie-rock band from New York. The band formed in 2006 and has since released three albums.
Their most recent album, “Modern Vampires of the City,” was released on May 14. The band consists of vocalist Ezra Koenig, vocalist, keyboardist and guitarist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chris Tomson and bassist Chris Baio.
“I love Vampire Weekend because they have such a unique sound,” said sophomore Zara Minwalla. “I watched them live on YouTube, and they definitely had a great stage presence. They have a band aura that is just awesome.”
Three day regular and VIP tickets are on sale for $249.50 and $545.00 respectively, at www.sfoutsidelands.com/tickets.
