We all know the traditional music video is dead — MTV took care of that a long time ago. But there’s always room for innovation. And so it appears with The Black Keys’ latest video for the song, “Howlin’ For You.” Could this be the next evolution of the music video?
The video (below) plays out like a movie trailer — interesting enough — but with the song itself providing just background music. The video is a full narrative and there’s even a full cast; including Corbin Bernsen, former Playboy model Tricia Helfer and “Sir” Todd Bridges of Diff’rent Strokes. The Black Keys’ stuffed dinosaur even makes an appearance.
This is the first time I’ve seen a music video that actually puts the music in the background, instead focusing much more on the narrative. But it’s not the first time The Keys have experimented with video. The aforementioned dinosaur starred in “Next Girl” and an early music video release of “Tighten Up,” both of which took a decidedly less-than-traditional approach to the music video.
It’s an interesting concept and, really, it makes sense. Thanks to YouTube and the Flip handheld video camera, fans can watch countless hours of live footage of their favorite bands. And that’s great. But it also means that the standard music video needs to offer more than just stylized re-creations of a performance (I’m looking at you, Pearl Jam). They need to tell a story. Well, mission accomplished with “Howlin’ For You.”
So, while the music video is no longer a factor on television, it could be that we are entering the next golden era of the music video … online. Are The Black Keys onto something here?
Watch the video, and you tell me.
Pearl Jam has been tagging along on music festival tours for parts of three decades. I guess they figured it was time to get their own. Announced by Pearl Jam manager Kelly Curtis, Pearl Jam will host their own music festival “somewhere in the middle of the U.S.” But don’t expect it too soon — Eddie Vedder is set to embark on a solo tour in March, 2011.
As for possible locations, Chicago is in the middle of the U.S. and the boyhood home of one Eddie Vedder (Evanston, more accurately). But with Lollapalooza in the mix, it seems unlikely. Denver is sort of in the middle of the U.S., and a small festival at Red Rocks would be interesting. But, Denver also has Mile High Music Festival. New Orleans is centrally located, albeit the southern portion of the States. Pearl Jam does, however, have a history with the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Texas already has Austin City Limits and South by Southwest. Milwaukee has Summerfest. Memphis has Memphis in May, the CMA Music Festival and Bonnaroo. That leaves Minneapolis, maybe? St. Louis? Detroit?
I guess we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, you can venture a guess by leaving a comment. And follow Pearl Jam on Twitter, or us, Sound Citizen.
SPIN magazine rolled out a couple of new iPhone apps – and they’re delivering music reviews, live video, news and more.
Like all other magazines in the digital age, SPIN has struggled to keep its print audience. Wisely, they have rushed full-force into the online arena and they’re doing it quite well. Not only do they offer a website loaded with great information and multimedia, but also a flip-book online magazine that can be delivered via email. More recently, they have released an updated version of their iPhone app and a brand new app, SPINearth.
First, the standard app offers an easy, quick way to see what’s new with SPIN. The app gives a one-button link to album reviews, news and photos. The reviews are up-to-date with the SPIN website and provide a quick link to iTunes where you can preview and purchase songs and albums. The news section gives quick, easy-to-read versions of the online content. And the photos are presented nicely, featuring snapshots from recent concerts and the like – turn your iPhone sideways to get a landscape view, flick the screen to see the next photo and click a button to get captions.
SPIN’s new iPhone app, SPINearth, has serious potential. Through a team of dozens of international and local correspondents, SPINearth offers live video of concerts from around the world. For example, I just finished watching a video of Pearl Jam and Chris Cornell perform “Hunger Strike” from their Temple of the Dog days at a recent concert at Gibson Amphitheater. The video itself was jumpy as hell – to be expected from user-generated videos, I guess. There are also updates from the correspondents as they travel and other interesting features.
Now the bad news. The SPINearth app crashes, and videos don’t always load. Also it’s a hog on the already-feeble iPhone battery. This app is a work in progress, so some bugs are to be expected. That said, it’s a great start.
Nice work, SPIN. Your move, Rolling Stone.
Welcome home, Eddie. Chicago loves Pearl Jam. There are few tours that come through town with the level of anticipation as the Seattle band and Chicago’s hometown hero. Whether it be Lollapalooza, Eddie Vedder on a solo tour or even just Eddie singing the seventh inning stretch at a Cubs game, Chicago buzzes when the Pearl Jam bus rolls into town. And that’s no exaggeration – out of about 22,000 seats sold at the United Center for each show this week, the Pearl Jam fan club accounted for about half of those seats. But fans weren’t just sitting there – they were ready.
Just as Eddie Vedder has the capacity to send chills up and down one’s spine, you imagine he and the band feel the same way when 22,000 voices sing every word to every song. Never is that more evident than “Better Man,” where Vedder handed over singing duties to the fans for the first half of the song. He relished in the moment then offered a sort of apology, explaining, “it’s fun for me.” The truth is, Vedder didn’t have to sing a word and you still would have heard every lyric, even the cover songs. But then you wouldn’t experience the power of one of the greatest rock bands of all time. At times, it’s like getting punched square in the nose – you’re dazed and awestruck and your senses are twisted and heightened all at once. You feel alive (pun very much intended) and you get the experience of hearing huge arena rock music that feels it was meant just for your ears. (‘Alive’ was epic, by the way.)
Remember the video for “Evenflow,” when Eddie was climbing all over the stage and all over the theater, into the crowds? Maybe they’re older and a little more tempered, but the energy is still there. So is the attitude. Eddie described how guitarist Mike McCready got really angry when he didn’t get to play “Evenflow,” that he wanted to kill somebody. Eddie pointed to the crowd and noted that McCready could start “with this guy.” Turns out, the guy was wearing a shirt that said No Evenflow. “Sir, we take requests, not orders,” said Vedder. “You should know better than that.”
I made it to the Monday performance, August 24. And it was awesome. The setlist was killer too, you can find it here. Some personal favorites during the set were “Corduroy,” “Not for You,” “Do the Evolution,” “Yellow Ledbetter,” “Black,” and of course “Alive” and “Better Man.” But honestly, there wasn’t a single song that didn’t leave me wanting another.
Below is a video we shot for “Black.” It was one of the best performances of that song I’ve ever heard. And below that is “Nothingman.” If you want to see more, start searching YouTube – videos are popping up every hour. Passionate fans, I tell you.
See Eddie Vedder write a quick song after the seventh inning stretch at Wrigley Field.
Have some favorites from the show? Please share with a comment after the post!
Lastly, remaining Pearl Jam tour dates are listed below the video.
BLACK
NOTHINGMAN (via YouTube and edvedhead)
| Aug 28 2009 | 8:00P | Outside Lands Festival | San Francisco, California |
| Sep 21 2009 | 8:00P | Key Arena | Seattle, Washington |
| Sep 22 2009 | 8:00P | Key Arena | Seattle, Washington |
| Sep 25 2009 | 8:00P | GM Place | Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Sep 26 2009 | 8:00P | Clark County Ampitheater | Portland, Oregon |
| Sep 28 2009 | 8:00P | E Center | Salt Lake City, Utah |
| Sep 30 2009 | 8:00P | Gibson Ampitheater | Universal City, California |
| Oct 1 2009 | 8:00P | Gibson Ampitheater | Universal City, California |
| Oct 4 2009 | 8:00P | Austin City Limits | Austin, Texas |
| Oct 6 2009 | 8:00P | Gibson Ampitheater | Universal City, California |
| Oct 7 2009 | 8:00P | Gibson Ampitheater | Universal City, California |
| Oct 9 2009 | 8:00P | Viejas Arena | San Diego, California |
| Oct 27 2009 | 8:00P | Spectrum | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Oct 28 2009 | 8:00P | Spectrum | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Oct 30 2009 | 8:00P | Spectrum | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Oct 31 2009 | 8:00P | Spectrum | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
