Tortuga Music Fest

On April 13th & 14th, Fort Lauderdale Beach will host Rock the Ocean’s inaugural Tortuga Music Festival. The beach will be transformed into an oceanfront music experience, featuring top country and rock artists and local culinary delights on the shores of the Florida coast.

Together with Rock The Ocean, Tortuga will pair music with meaning by raising awareness about marine conservation and issues affecting the world’s oceans.

Who's showin' up?

    Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite
    DangerMuffin
    Donavon Frankenreiter
    Eli Young Band
    Eric Church
    G Love & Special Sauce
    Gary Allan

    Gary Clark Jr.
    Gloriana
    Grace Potter
    Jake Owen
    Kenny Chesney
    Kip Moore
    Lynyrd Skynyrd

    Mac McAnally
    Michael Franti & Spearhead
    Rayland Baxter
    Sister Hazel
    The Avett Brothers
    The Bright Light Social Hour
    The Wailers

Just Announced: Mile High Line-Up

The full line-up for the Mile High Music Festival, coming to the Colorado mountains July 18 and 19 a few miles outside of Denver in Commerce City, has just been released.

Five stages will host 50 bands during the two-day festival, with music beginning at 11:15 am each day and going until 2 am on Saturday and 12:30 am on Sunday.

The awesome line-up for the Festival is currently as follows (not in order of appearance):

Saturday, July 18

TOOL
Widespread Panic
Incubus
Ben Harper & Relentless7
G. Love and Special Sauce
Big Head Todd & The Monsters
The Black Keys
Ani DiFranco
Matt Nathanson
Galactic
Paolo Nutini
Gomez
The Greyboy Allstars
Railroad Earth
India.Arie
Lyrics Born
Rocco DeLuca and The Burden
The Duke Spirit
needtobreathe
The Band of Heathens
Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam
The Northern Way (formerly Set Forth)
Lukas Nelson & the Promise of the Real
Rob Drabkin
Early Pearl

Sunday, July 19

Widespread Panic
The Fray
Thievery Corporation
3OH!3
Gov’t Mule
Gogol Bordello
John Butler
DeVotchka
Buddy Guy
Robert Randolph & the Family Band
Pepper
Jet
The Wailers
Matisayhu
Jack’s Mannequin
Guster
Mat Kearney
Dead Confederate
Jerry Joseph & The Jackmormons
Erin McCarley
Paper Bird
Honeyhoney
Joe Pug
Strange Condition
Electric Touch

MHMF always makes the Top Ten List for summer fun. You could see it all from backstage. If you're not already a BPD member, sign-up today.

Ben Harper and the Relentless 7

Hot on the heels of his killer performance at the "Change Begins Within" benefit in NYC with Paul and Ringo, Ben Harper has plugged his guitar back in and cranked up the amp for his new album White Lies For Dark Times. It's an 11-song set soaked with hard rock and the deep Delta blues. “It’s a sound I’ve been looking for and reaching for in my mind.”...................which means the album is more Cream than Jack Johnson, more “Faded” than “Steal My Kisses.”

But while there's more fuzz in the riffs and thunder in the beats, the lyrics are still quintessential Harper, singing, "It takes a hundred miles of love to heal a mile of pain" on "Shimmer and Shine."

In addition to being his heaviest offering, the album is also his first with the Relentless7 — guitarist Jason Mozersky, drummer Jordan Richardson and bassist Jesse Ingalls — the trio of Austin-based musicians previously worked on Harper's 2006 album Both Sides of the Gun. Harper said that he first heard Mozersky when a particularly insistent van driver blared a demo while carrying Harper to an Austin gig.

The release date for the album is May 5; the tour kicks off a few days before on the 2nd. Here are the dates and venues for May:

05/02/09 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse

05/04/09 Washington, DC 9:30 Club

05/05/09 New York, NY Webster Hall

05/08/09 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall Of Williamsburg

05/09/09 Philadelphia, PA Theatre Of The Living Arts

05/10/09 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club

05/15/09 Detroit, MI St. Andrews Hall

05/16/09 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre

05/25/09 Quincy, WA Gorge Amphitheatre

05/27/09 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore

05/28/09 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern

Backstage passes is what we do; nobody does it better. Become a member today at BackstagePassDirect.