Langerado Lives!!

South Florida's beloved and beleaguered music festival, Langerado, is back.

Two years after the popular festival closed up shop, promoters announced that Langerado will re-appear this fall as a two-day festival.  The October 8th & 9th musical festival will return to the location of its best days at Markham Park in Sunrise, Florida.

Promoters are promising a "diverse collection of artists from indie rock to electronica to modern roots" encompassing 22 acts.  The first line-up announcement is set for June 1st.  Special "on faith" tickets are $75 for two-days of undetermined music.  After the acts are announced, the advanced tickets go up to a throat-clearing $150 for the two-day festival.  This will be the first autumn dates for the festival, which usually ran during the March spring breaks.

The festival left Markham Park after the 2007 event when Broward County received numerous complaints about lax drug law enforcement at the show.  The 2008 event was moved to the remote Seminole Big Cypress Indian Reservation in the Everglades. The 2009 festival was planned for downtown Miami, but was quickly cancelled due to poor ticket sales.

After Hours HQ is cautiously optimistic and thinking about getting new concert chairs.

Langerado Cancelled; Ominous Sign for 2009

Langerado, the South Florida music festival that could, can no longer.  

Today, the festival cancelled its 2009 festival due to poor ticket sales. After six years of steadily growing and adding more adventurous lineups, Langerado had planned for a better and larger show at downtown Miami's Bicentennial Park.  

The lineup was to include Death Cab for Cutie, Snoop Dogg, Public Enemy, Modest Mouse, Broken Social Scene, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Girl Talk, Tortoise, Bad Brains, the Pogues, George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic, Tokyo Police Club, the Faint, Tricky, King Khan and the Shrines, Cloud Cult, Ra Ra Riot, DeVotchKa, Against Me!, Black Kids, the Gaslight Anthem, Cold War Kids, and Thievery Corporation. 

It was a hell of a lineup.  The local promoters cited poor ticket sales combined with relocating to a new and larger venue as reasons for the cancellation. The loss of Langerado puts a ominous chill on the 2009 concert and festival season.  Although tour receipts were up 7 percent last year over 2007, this year is looking brutal.  

Hopefully, the more-established festivals like Bonnaroo and Coachella do not suffer the same economic freefall as the up-and-coming Langerado.  Bonnaroo has recently announced that Bruce Springsteen and the reunited Phish will headline the June 11-14 festival. Coachella is featuring Paul McCartney, The Cure and Amy Winehouse at its April 17-19 festival in southern California.

Here's hoping for better economic news for these festivals.  If not, it will be a very long and not very fun year.

“The Sound of Settling (Acoustic)” by Death Cab for Cutie (mp3)(iTunes)(Amazon)

Langerado 2009 Moves Downtown

Langerado 2009 is moving downtown in all senses of the word.

Along with the festival's physical and mental relocation to downtown Miami's Bicentennial Park (sorry campers), Langerado has continued its slow walk away from its jam-band origns. Today, festival organizers announced the most diverse line-up yet for the March 6, 7 and 8th.

Death Cab for Cutie, Ryan Adams and Snoop Dogg head up the still-evolving lineup which will play at the downtown park.  The festival's location will be a different as possible from last year's foray into the Florida Everglades.  Also, long-haired hippie kids, I would like to introduce you to the club kids and the rockers.  It should be a very interesting mix.

With a quick glance of the scene, the older acts of The Pogues, Public Enemy and Bad Brains jump out at me. The Gaslight Anthem, King Khan and the Shrines, Cloud Cult and After Hours favorite Budos Band have also peaked my interest.  For the South Beach denizens, Girl Talk will be the talk of the scene.

It will take a few days to digest it all.  But it looks like the making of a wild and weird weekend. Tickets go on sale Friday.

Here is the lineup so far:

Death Cab For Cutie • Snoop Dogg • Thievery Corporation (Live) • Slightly Stoopid • Ryan Adams and the Cardinals • Dashboard Confessional • The Pogues • Matisyahu • Flogging Molly • Michael Franti & Spearhead • Broken Social Scene • Cafe Tacuba • Umphrey's McGee • The Disco Biscuits • Robert Randolph & The Family Band • Pepper • The Faint • Cold War Kids • Steel Pulse • Public Enemy • Gym Class Heroes • Tricky • Girl Talk • Chromeo • Mute Math • Bad Brains • Ozomatli • Against Me! • George Clinton & Parliament / Funkadelic • Tortoise • DeVotchKa • Black Kids • Grupo Fantasma • Holy F*ck • Budos Band • Tokyo Police Club • Lotus • The Virgins • The Gaslight Anthem • King Khan and the Shrines • Lucero • Murs • Ra Ra Riot • Tortured Soul • Rebelution • K'Naan • The Egg • Zac Brown Band • Tigercity • The Aggrolites • Cloud Cult • Spam Allstars • Rachel Goodrich • Blue King Brown • The Heavy Pets • Awesome New Republic • The Postmarks • Suenalo Sound System

Download: Halloween Head by Ryan Adams (mp3)(iTunes)(Amazon)

Download: (How Can I Keep You) Outta Harms Way by King Kahn and The Shrines (mp3)(iTunes)(Amazon)