The Mae Shi played to an enthusiastic home crowd the other night at Spaceland, their last Los Angeles show before they rocket off across America in support of their fantastic album HLLLYH. The audience was lucky to have drummer & vocalist Brad Breeck in the house (he doesn't usually tour with the band), and the infamous Mae Sheet made a guest appearance. The Mae Shi are legendary for their explosive, interactive live performances; it's almost......

Camper Van Beethoven/Photo by "Friends of Camper Van Beethoven" via their website By Roger Park This June marks the 25th anniversary of one the most unique bands still rocking the sonic cosmos: Camper Van Beethoven. On Thursday, Camper Van Beethoven performed at the House of Blues in Hollywood as part of the Sunset Strip Music Festival (SSMF). On the same bill that night was Soul Asylum and Everclear. Combing elements of rock, Celtic, ska,......

The music venue that is the Knitting Factory has been a mainstay in the resurgence of Hollywood since 2000. As an anchor tenant and early adopter of the area, the New York City based club saw Hollywood change from having the 18th Street Gang territory sit one block away to having tourists flock the area making it a likely candidate for one of the most pedestrian dense areas in the city. Now that the area......

Tickets for 89.9 KCRW's presentation of Sigur Rós on October 2nd at The Greek go on sale Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Lucky for you, LAist running a contest giving you a chance to win a pair of tickets to the show before tickets go on sale. For past contests related to the Greek, we've asked you what to do in Los Feliz and what's so great about Griffith Park. In light of high gas prices......

That's right, because you love The Pixies so much, here's a chance to experience Not Exactly The Pixies. Tomorrow night, local musicians (most of whom have not performed together before practicing for this event) will come together at the Echo, to perform songs from the legendary band, The Pixies. The artists include members of local bands Fishbone, Tribe 8, Shatto, The Larks, EZ Tiger, Romeo Crestwood, Bedroom Walls, The Stranglers, Wild Colonials, and several......

What happens when you put on a party at an Eagle Rock bowling alley with a famous UK band? Huge success. Fans at last Thursday night's Ladytron party at the All Star Lanes brought out the bowling balls and dance shoes for fans, who thought the event was a blast. And Ladytron didn't even go on until 1:20 a.m, reports LAist photographer Tom Andrews. Earlier in the evening, LAist contributors Jimmy Bramlett and Wathana Lim......

Ladytron evokes a cold, ethereal and graceful mood, so how is that I wanted to start a mosh pit all night? It started with Datarock’s set. Seeing the energy they provided on stage and the kids on the floor just bouncing up and down, I just had the urge to push the guy in front of me. You know, for old-time’s sake? But then I realized that I’m pushing 30, overworked, fat and absolutely dead......

From The Roxy's Flickr page The Roxy is leading the way as a club using web 2.0 to promote what it does best -- good times with good music (their use of Twitter has huge genius potential). This above photo is from their Flickr page, a great way for any organization to publicly document what they do. Green Day's side project, the Foxboro Hot Tubs, are playing tonight at The Roxy (tomorrow at Alex's......

Walter Meego is not a dude, it's actually Justin Sconza (vocals, keyboards, guitar) and Colin Yarck (keyboards, computer), a Chicago-bred but LA-living electronic-alt-pop duo. Throw Andrew Bernhardt in the mix (or on the mix, hmmm?) and you've got one hell of a kick-ass live band. They hit the El Rey earlier this week as the openers on The Presets' tour, playing to a sold out crowd.......

Last night at Lightning in a Bottle Festival | Photo by Scott Kampmeyer There are lots of festivals to attend to this holiday weekend in addition to the Jazz Reggae Festival and Lightning in a Bottle. Check out this morning's guide that includes the Creole Music Festival and Fiesta Hermosa. Tonight Topanga Days @ Topanga, CA Foals @ Troubadour MSI @ The Wiltern War @ Greek Theatre Felix Da Housecat @ Avalon Margot &......

"I was sitting in Starbucks studying when all of a sudden these dudes started playing music outside the window and all these people started mobbing around them," explained UCLA student and LAist contributor Henry David. "I was like zoits 'it's the Kooks!'" And so it began: The Kooks invaded Westwood after an unannounced stop in Venice. About 150 people packed out in front of the Village Theatre as the famous band pulled up like rockstars......

The 2008 installment of KROQ's Annual Weenie Roast Y Fiesta was decidedly nostalgic this year with sets from punk legends Bad Religion, Orange County rockers the Offspring and the biggest force in metal in its history, Metallica. It was a return to force for the latter band as they finally broke out of a touring holding pattern and "escaped" from the studio to show why they are one of the loudest and most commanding bands......

It just wasn't my night for taking pictures, so, here's photo of AM at ASCAP's Music Cafe- Sundance '08 via MySpace The heat was somehow trapped inside the darkened depths of the Hotel Cafe this Thursday night. Those fortunate enough to nab some of the few seats fell into two camps: The cautiously unmoving and the intent on revelry. Those left to stand shifted back and forth with an undeniable restlessness. The heat is......

Laura Veirs is one of a great many thoughtful singer/songwriters working today, but she has distinguished herself with a crystalline, albeit nasally singing voice and light, ethereal melodies. Her albums, the most recent being 2007's Saltbreakers, offer up songs rich in natural imagery all wrapped up in a swirly, elegant production. Unfortunately, stripped of instrumentation, the songs reveal their irksome qualities. Playing a solo acoustic set at the Echo, Veirs sang beautifully and proved herself......

Country diva and Palm Springs native Shelby Lynne treated the folks in the audience for her show last night at Indio's Stagecoach Festival to an earful. But she wasn't serving up just the sweet sounds of her songs--she had an awful lot to say about how unhappy she was with the venue and the attendance."I love singing to empty seats," Lynne sarcastically said as she opened her set, remarking about the vacant chairs in the......

Mike Doughty attracts a particular crowd. They are the kind of people who know how to use the term "irony" correctly. They will dance like your crazy hippie friend did in high school and everyone pointed and laughed but you knew they didn't care because, dammit, they were feeling it and having a good time. They will play vigorous air drums with syncopated head bobs. They cannot get enough of a good thing. Mike......

Finally, after all the hubub and debate of the quality of this year's Coachella lineup, the festival got underway Friday afternoon. Featuring Jack Johnson at the top of the bill, the day featured outstanding performances from the Raconteurs who proved that they aren't just Jack White's side project but rather a band that is developing their own sound and identity. The Verve, playing for the first time in nearly a decade sounded like they hadn't......

Just announced by the Hollywood Bowl, Beck is now confirmed to play the Bowl on September 20. This will be his debut appearance as a headliner at the venue. MGMT opens the show and Spoon completes the bill. Tickets ($20 -$75) go onsale May 10. Beck is currently working on a new record (produced by Danger Mouse) planned for release this summer. Photo of Beck via his MySpace page......

It's Earth Day. And as mentioned yesterday, there are plenty of events today and in the upcoming weeks to celebrate it. For the record, one event left out of yesterday's listings for today is Metro's noontime concert at Union Station featuring Latin singer/songwriter Carina Ricco who replaces Canon (the lead singer is sick). As for the event that will close Wilshire Blvd. all day, buses are being rerouted to 8th Street between Western and Vermont.......

It won’t be apparent when she takes the stage tonight at the Troubadour, but the last time Tift Merritt was on the road, a rigorous year supporting her vibrant 2004 album, Tambourine, it left her so worn out that she fled to Paris to get lost. With no intentions of working but simply to take in the solitude of being a stranger in a country not her own, she nonetheless found herself plucking away melodies......

It was a homecoming of sorts for Alison Sudol, AKA A Fine Frenzy, as she returned to the place where she played one of her first shows, the Roxy on Sunset. The ever-adorable Sudol charmed the packed house with her piano driven melodies and effervescent voice.......

Photo by Michell Zappa via Flickr As predicted and wished for here on LAist back on February 7th, Radiohead has confirmed their summer tour dates, four of which include Southern California including two Hollywood Bowl performances. Rawk! After a show in San Francisco, here's the deal: August Sun 24: Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles, CA) August Mon 25: Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles, CA) August Wed 27: Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre (Chula Vista, CA) August Thu 28......

There is a song called "The March" in Astra Heights' infectious debut album, Good Problems, that is so insanely catchy that you can't help but wonder why radio stations don't play songs like it any more, and you would also think that a record company would have no problem hawking the song. But I suppose it speaks volumes of the current woeful state of the record business that Astra Heights was dropped by its......

It's hard to compete with St. Patrick's Day, something Jason Collett can testify to as he played to a thin crowd numbering in the few dozen at the Troubadour. It seemed the allure of corned beef and Guinness was just too much. What the revelers missed was a charming, laid-back set from Collett, a sometime member of the Canadian collective, Broken Social Scene. Collett's sound is a throwback to the old California rock sound by......

If you haven't heard their infectious single "That's Not My Name" burning up LA radio stations, you will soon enough. The Ting Tings, the latest UK import, brought their carefree blend of electro/dance/pop duo to Echo Park's Rec Center Studio in what was their first (and most likely of many) "proper" show in Los Angeles Tuesday night. The Rec Center was packed to see the Tings, a band that at this point really only......

Herbie Hancock is, hands down, one of the best Jazz musicians of time. After all, he won two Grammy Awards this year including Album of the Year for 'River: The Joni Letters'. And because Los Angeles is so cool like that with all the filming and stuff that goes on here, a week from this Thursday, you can be see him live, for free, in an intimate setting (as intimate as 400 people gets). Yahoo!......

We caught up with Jonathan Coulton after he participated in a live taping of the Heather Gold show, an experience he blogged as well, without noting the more relevant details -- he sang a duet of Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta" with Gold reading the lyrics from an iPhone and then sang Billy Joel's "Don't Ask Me Why" with Harvey Danger's Sean Nelson. We had a couple minutes (before running out of hard drive space)......

Yeah, this is how I feel. / Photo "Supervisor Zirves" by db via LAist's flickr pool. This morning was a rough start for everyone and we still got a little sleepies in us, but we'll definitely be awake for these events tonight. After another latte. CLASSICAL* The LA premiere of "The Axe Manual" happens tonight at Zipper Concert Hall as part of the Monday Evening Concert series. The program includes important recent works by......

When you read something you like on LAist, we love it when you hit the "recommend" button, and we love it even more if you put your two cents' worth in the comments. Getting a dialog going with our readers and making sure we're giving you content you can use are top priorities for us. So here's this week's top posts, as endorsed by you via the recommend feature, or as indicated by the level......

"This is our Homecoming show," an always energetic Dave Grohl yelled at a stopping point in the Foo Fighters two+ hour long set Wednesday night, as expected the sold-out Forum crowd lit up with cheers and screams of approval. With good reason too as the Foos have become the torch-bearers for this generations version of bold and bombastic, arena rock.(with Muse hot on their heels) There are very few bands touring today that can......