Live Nation moved one step closer to an imminent showdown with Ticketmaster by forging a partnership with CTS Eventim, a global ticketing technology platform. The artist formerly known as Clear Channel Entertainment poses the first real threat to Ticketmaster’s reign of terror since the long lost days of Ticketron.
We’re sick of paying $2.50 for the honor of printing our own tickets, so we welcome any relief competition gives to the consumer. Then again, Live Nation isn’t quite the Ralph Nader of the entertainment biz, so maybe we will just have two companies sucking us dry. Yeah, that’s the more likely option. I sense we’re gonna get the fingercuffs from both ends on this one.
So let’s get the Friday before Christmas started with a hearty batch of links:
And the long-awaited 11th episode of Yacht Rock debuts at the Knitting Factory on December 27. What soft rock all-stars are they gonna skewer this time?
You know Saturday Night Live’s fallen on tough times when the only compliment you can give is: “Hey, the humor may be completely missing, but at least they still continue to book great bands.” The show continues to induce blank stares, with this weekend’s episode representing a new low for the current cast. But a brutal evening of comedy provided a splendid night of music, and Feist’s renditions of 1234 and I Feel It All were truly gorgeous, very Joni Mitchellesque.
Spreaking of shows that book great acts Zappa Plays Zappa rocked Late Night with Conan O’Brien last week. But enough of the videos, it’s linkage time:
And read on after the jump for a comprehensive list of all the setlists from the weekend, including but not limited to Ryan Adams sitting in with Phil Lesh and Mike Gordon playing with RatDog, Van Halen in New Jersey, Jason Isbell and They Might Be Giants. Some torrents from the weekend are also available for download…
Andy Samberg’s Digital Shorts are about the only consistently funny parts of the otherwise lifeless Saturday Night Live program these days. And this past week’s I Ran So Far Away short that stood out among the season opener dreck was set to achieve the same viral video success as predecessors Dick In A Box and Lazy Sunday. But NBC suddenly pulled the video. How come? It turns out the SNL team lifted the melody for I Ran from an obscure Aphex Twin song, and Hitchaser does a nice job of getting into the nitty gritty of why NBC had to bag the short.
While we wait to see what Andy steals this week, let’s check out some links:
And, lastly, The Daily Swarm alerts us that Maryland may not have money to bail out failing hospitals, but they have plenty of money for new music halls.
NBC tonight will be showing a special called Live From New York: The First 5 Years of Saturday Night Live at 8 pm. While we’re sure there will be plenty of hilarious clips from the likes of John Belushi and Bill Murray, we’re far more excited for the musical performances they’ll be dredging up.
SNL was one of the first shows on television that gave artists an opportunity to play without a net on live television. Not only that, the bookers at SNL were always willing to feature bands that weren’t exactly in line with the mainstream. Who else at the time would have let Frank Zappa borrow Don Pardo to perform an edgy satirical song like I Am The Slime?
Many of the best musical performances in SNL’s history occurred during the first five years of the show’s run. Featured on tonight’s special will be clips of The Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello and George Harrison accompanying Paul Simon. If you can’t catch tonight’s show, check out the YouTube’z below:
