Music Notes: Blur play sold-out Hyde Park gig, Jackson's rehearsal footage released

- Blur played the first of two gigs at London's Hyde Park tonight, performing for a sold-out crowd of 55,000 fans. The band will play Hyde Park again tomorrow night. While fans can order copies of the gigs, they can also catch a broadcast of the show on Absolute Radio 5 p.m. London time this Sunday. (Hint to fellow non-UK residents, just open up iTunes and look under "Pop" in the radio subsection). [Metro.co.uk]

- Footage of Michael Jackson during rehearsals for his planned tour has been released to CNN. Watch below: [CNN]



- Michael Jackson's public memorial will be held 10 a.m., July 7 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. AEG Live President Randy Phillips said the details of the event are currently in preliminary stages. If the stadium's 20,000-seat capacity is reached, the rest of the crowd will be able to watch the memorial on large screens at Nokia Palace, which is in the center's vicinity. [Access Hollywood via Yahoo!]

- Dave Grohl, Queen of the Stone Age's Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones are working together. On what? No one really knows... [NME]

- Q-Tip will finally release his album, Kamaal the Abstract, on Sept. 15 after an eight-year delay. The delay was caused by conflicts with Q-Tip's former record label Arista Records. He will now release the album through Battery Records. [Paste Magazine]

- Fun new Franz Ferdinand video here. [Stereogum]

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Franz Ferdinand at Roseland Ballroom, NYC: 5/7/09

Franz Ferdinand first came on the scene five years ago, with a self-titled debut that is arguably still their most popular album to this day. But the band is still alive and kicking, and currently touring in support of their latest album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand.

I finally got a chance to see them live at New York City's Roseland Ballroom this past Thursday, and I'm glad to say that they truly lived up to their reputation as a fantastic live act. The band members seemed genuinely excited to perform in the packed venue, and their constant energy was infectious, causing attendees to dance and sing along throughout the show.
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Frontman Alex Kapranos oozed confidence, swaggering and pouting in true rock star fashion, while jumping around and throwing in some high kicks. It was impressive to see how well he could still play while performing these antics. He also threw in a bit of humor, poking fun at guitarist/keyboardist Nick McCarthy, who injured his foot during this tour. Kapranos referred to McCarthy as the man with "one and a half feet," and the good-natured McCarthy grinned and made it a point to wave his crutches around every time he hobbled on and off stage.

As far as the set was concerned, the band did a good job of mixing things up by including well-loved songs from their debut, as well as their previous album You Could Have It So Much Better. The band fiddled with the tempo on songs like "Walk Away," and there were times when Kapranos just skipped the singing altogether to let the audience fill in the words. Songs like " 40' " (much "trippier" live) became major highlights during the show.

The concert wound down with a high-energy encore, starting with "Ulysses" and continuing with "Lucid Dreams," which was the epitome of organized chaos. Opening act Born Ruffians joined Franz Ferdinand for the latter, pounding away at a drum kit during the song's synthesizer-fueled ending. Franz Ferdinand then brought down the house with their final song of the night, "This Fire," nearly causing a riot near the front of the stage where attendees danced and jumped around in a fervor that caused the floor to shake. "We're gonna burn this city," indeed.

Watch an excerpt of Franz performing "The Fallen" (the opener from You Could Have It So Much Better) during Thursday night's concert, and then check out the full setlist below:


Setlist: Bite Hard, Dark of the Matinee, No You Girls, Tell Her Tonight, The Fallen, Michael, Turn it On, Walk Away, Twilight Omens, Do You Want To, Take Me Out, What She Came For, 40', Outsiders

Encore: Ulysses, Lucid Dreams, This Fire

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Music Notes: Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs to open for Green Day, new Regina Spektor track

- Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs will take their turns opening for Green Day in North America this summer. Neat! [Pitchfork]

- Stream "Laughing With," a new track by Regina Spektor on her MySpace. The track will be featured on her upcoming album Far, due out on June 23. [Regina Spektor MySpace]

- Graham Coxon will release limited-edition art prints to coincide with the release of his new single "Sorrow's Army" on May 18. The prints, designed by Coxon, will be available at Transgressiverecords.co.uk and select indie record stores. Each print will come with a code allowing fans to download the single. [NME]

- The White Stripes are recording songs for a new album, which they could release as early as sometime next year. [SPIN]

- Coldplay drummer Will Champion has defended the band against Yusuf's (Cat Stevens) claim that the band's "Viva La Vida" plagiarizes his work. [Rolling Stone]

- The Stone Roses' 1989 self-titled debut album will be reissued on August 11 in three different packages. [Pitchfork]

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