The Cruel World Festival brought nearly 100,000 fans of 80’s New Wave, Punk, early EDM, and experimental music to the Brookside Golf course at the Pasadena Rose Bowl on May 14th and 15th. Although the lineup was identical for both days of the festival, many hard-core fans attended both days to try and catch most of the 26 bands performing on three stages. Goldenvoice, the gatekeeper of the most successful music festival globally, Coachella, has created a template for niche festivals at the Rose Bowl site.

Craft Recordings is pleased to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Violent Femmes’ Why Do Birds Sing? with a reissue of the bestselling album from the folk-punk pioneers. Due out October 8th and available for pre-order beginning today, the deluxe 2-CD and digital formats will feature newly remastered audio, a trove of previously unreleased material (including alternative takes and outtakes), and a complete concert from 1991 (captured at The Boathouse in Norfolk, VA).

Illustrious musicians from the vanguard to the nostalgic, some of who began plying their craft in the ‘60s, and others who are poised for big recognition in the 2020s, all shared a distinctive Southern California seaside aesthetic at the inaugural BeachLife Festival May 3 to 5. BeachLife, the biggest fest ever to blast its jukebox along the Santa Monica Bay at Redondo Beach, combined sun, sounds, sand, and surf and passed its acid test with flying colors.

Ben Folds and Violent Femmes have announced a very special summer co-headline tour, set to begin Sunday, July 28 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT, and continue through the first half of August.

KAABOO is pleased to announce its 2019 music and comedy lineups for KAABOO Texas taking place May 10-12, 2019. The multi-stage and full sensory event will happen at the state-of-the-art AT&T Stadium and take place both inside and outdoors allowing guests to move freely throughout the property.

It seems like the Violent Femmes have been around forever.  That's because the Milwaukee, Wisconsin band have been playing with several different lineups since 1980, and their eponymous debut album, released in 1983, contains most of their best-known songs.  That album was one of the few albums ever to go gold and platinum without appearing in the Billboard top 200 album chart, although Violent Femmes did eventually appear in the top 200 after the album was certified platinum.

It was a spectacular early summer day in Southern California as day 2 of the Arroyo Seco Weekend unfolded on June 24th. Temperatures in the low 80’s and soft breezes created a perfect environment for the giant picnic attended by 25,000 concertgoers. Many music fans arrived early to lounge about the sprawling meadow encompassing the three musical stages.