Attention: free music. For me. And then some for you.
By Melissa Presti (Book Publisher)
Have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy entering random contests? I like free stuff. I just happen to not have a great track record at winning. That's why it's important to enter the ones with the least amount of entries. Recently, Interscope Records decided to give away 50 tickets to the Imagine Dragons show at Irving Plaza, and the only requirement was to follow their playlist on Spotify.
7 layers of editing later and I'm pretty much a professional photographer.
At the time of my entry, there was maybe 48 hours left in the contest and only 120 or so people following them on Spotify. Easy win. Not easy? Finding someone to go with me. Apparently a lot of you just aren't up to speed on new jams (I found a friend to join me, I don't go to concerts alone! As if.)
Imagine Dragons dropped their debut album Night Visions last week on September 4, and I'm so blown away. Track to track is a whirlwind of emotion, intricately conveyed through a variety of musical influences. I was ready to write them off as mainstream alternative rock, extremely comparable to The Killers, but electronic and synth sounds appear on several tracks and lift the vocals to a grittier, edgier place.
"Radioactive" is simultaneously post-apocolyptic grunge and an anthem to wake-up and rise-up.
My favorite track of the moment is "Hear Me" which has purportedly encrypted my current turmoil into Dan Reynolds' simple yet effective lyrics. And this is my actual video that I learned to upload to YouTube! Big things are happening for me.
Irving Plaza was the perfect space to host such an up-and-coming band with relentless following that continues to build, despite the band's apparent shock that their album remains at #1 on the iTunes chart after a week of on sale. Their live show is beyond even my abilities to illustrate their talent that was overflowing with energy. Even at capacity, the crowd felt intimate and filled in quickly for the opening act - Ghost Beach.
I view opening acts as an opportunity to discover a new band, not a reason to show up fashionably late in time for the headliner. Ghost Beach has an amazing EDM-pop balance which equals a non-stop dance party. Check out their site and scroll through the home page - they offer about 8 free downloads for you to play at your next dance party. Your friends will be like, who is this?? And you can say "uhh Ghost Beach, you don't know them? They're a local NYC band and like, totally under the radar and are going to be huge" so you're welcome!
Lastly, if you need more tunes to get through the work week, the iTunes Festival has been up and running since September 1st and goes through the end of the month. 30 days, 60 artists live-streaming concerts to bridge the gap between your home and the UK. Download the free app to your iPhone or iPad because trying to stream through your iTunes has been a massive fail for me on several computers.
You can even go back and watch the gigs you've missed so far - including my British favourites that I will keep plugging until you get sick of hearing me say it - Bastille.
Happy Free Concerts September! Not a bad way to kick off the fall at all.
MELISSA PRESTI
works in book publishing at Penguin Group (USA). www.us.penguingroup.com
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