TicketNetwork Blog

Last year was one of firsts at Coachella^®. It was the first time it brought a holographic singer to the stage. More than that, it was also the first time it spread to two weekends. Although the first first is not likely to come back, at least for now (one of companies involved folded shortly after), the second was apparently successful enough for other festivals to adopt it. This year the Ultra Music Festival did it in March, and the Austin City Limits Festival^® will do it in October.

Although it's the in thing right now, this practice actually originated much earlier than last year. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival^TM, for example, has run two weekends since 1976. So there was some precedent for this before 2012 — it just took a while for other festivals to catch up.

Waiting for The Beach Boys

A couple weekends ago, I took a few days off from work to head down to Manchester, TN, for my first Bonnaroo. In fact, it was my first ever music festival, so I kind of dived into things head first. I went because Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Beach Boys, and Mogwai were going to be there, but I also used it as an opportunity to discover bands I hadn't heard of before, so that I might expand my playlist.

Coming from a first-timer's perspective, I must say that this Bonnaroo was run extremely well. The band selection was excellent, the venue was (mostly) clean, and everybody was really friendly. Not having been to a festival before, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but now that I've been there, I'm sorry it had to end.

Fenway Park, by walknboston at Flickr.

Fenway Park in Boston is continuing its annual summer concert series this year with two classic artists. On Friday, Bruce Springsteen announced that he is heading to Fenway on August 14 as part of his Wrecking Ball Tour. Roger Waters, currently on his The Wall Live Tour, also has a scheduled a concert at the park on July 1.

Springsteen's announcement brings things full circle, as he was the first artist scheduled to play a show at the park when it began hosting concerts on September 6, 2003, but he wasn't actually the first to appear at the park. Here's a quick look at the highlights:

1999 - Limp Bizkit

That's right, Limp Bizkit was actually the first band to perform at the park, albeit without permission. On Sunday, June 13, 1999, the band climbed atop the roof of the Fenway parking garage and proceeded to play a 5-song set before the unauthorized concert was discovered by police. By the time authorities got to the park, 1,500 fans had flocked to see the band play, creating a traffic jam.

You probably heard the ruckus over Steven Tyler's rendition of the national anthem at the AFC Championship game on Sunday. He drew a lot of criticism and speculation that his performance may have been the worst in Star Spangled Banner history. So we decided to compile a list of memorable anthem performances, roughly in order from worst to best. Enjoy!

On Monday it was announced that Madonna will be headlining the halftime show for this year's (well, 2012's) Super Bowl. As reactions and predictions started rolling in, I started thinking about the most memorable halftime shows in Super Bowl history.

Here are my top picks, in chronological order: