Clothing retailer American Eagle Outfitters has tapped Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis to curate the first New American Music Union festival, to be held Aug. 8-9 at SouthSide Works in Pittsburgh.
Along with 15 college bands from around the country, the new festival will feature performances by Bob Dylan and His Band, the Raconteurs, Gnarls Barkley, the Roots, Spoon, the Black Keys and Black Mountain, the Duke Spirit, NASA and Tiny Masters of Today, among others.
Tickets for the two-day event go on sale tomorrow (May 16) via Live Nation’s Web site. The Los Angeles-based concert promoter is producing the New American Music Union festival in partnership with American Eagle Outfitters. Student tickets will cost $25, with general admission ducats running $49.50. Those who purchase tickets will also receive a free concert T-shirt.
“The thrill of seeing Bob Dylan next to the Raconteurs next to Gnarls Barkley next to the Roots is reason for us all to celebrate,” Kiedis said in a statement. “Music is still the most inspiring creative force that I know of and this seemed like a prime opportunity to let it shine.”
The college bands performing at the festival are: Bears (Kent State University), Flying Machines (The New School), Gospel Gossip (Carleton College), Magic Bullets (College of San Mateo), Math the Band (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth), My Dear Disco (University of Michigan), Nothing Unexpected (Robert Morris University), the Black Fortys (University of Southern Illinois), the Company Kang (Whitman College), the Delicious (Indiana University), the Depreciation Guild (New York University), the Elizabethan Report (Brigham Young University), the French Horn Rebellion (Northwestern University), the Royal Bangs (University of Tennessee) and the Steps (University of Texas Austin).
The college acts will be judged by music industry executives, journalists and other musicians for a change to win a full-day recording session in a Los Angeles studio, along with promotion across American Eagle Outfitters’ Web site and store locations.
Meanwhile, Knoxville, Tenn.-based the Royal Bangs will have the opportunity to play on the same bill as the Black Keys, whose drummer Patrick Carney signed the act to his label, Audio Eagle.
“They’re infuriating, but they’re awesome,” Carney tells Billboard.com. “They remind me of us, kind of. They won’t settle for anything unless they do it themselves, even if they do it wrong.”
Additional reporting by Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
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