The initial lineup for the 15th annual Voodoo Music + Arts Festival has been revealed and it will include two iconic rock bands that rose to fame in the '90s in Pearl Jam and Nine Inch Nails.

This year marks Pearl Jam's first appearance at the festival and will be the fourth Voodoo appearance for Nine Inch Nails.

By Robert Spuhler

Special to MSN Music

INDIO, Calif. -- First, it was rumored to be the Rolling Stones. Then, it was supposed to be Daft Punk. After the Coachella lineup was announced and Phoenix took on the mantle of Saturday night headliner, a slot filled in the past by acts like Radiohead, Prince and Depeche Mode … the actual headliner was still rumored to be Daft Punk. On the second night of Coachella, Phoenix took to the main stage as the final act and did everything in their power – including getting help from R. Kelly, of all people – to send concertgoers home happy.

Starting with a strong opening trio of new single “Entertainment,” remix magnet “Lasso” and viral hit “Lisztomania,” Phoenix wasted no time hooking the audience. Despite the homogenous nature of some of the band's songs on their last album, “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix,” the crowd ate up favorites like “1901” and “Armistice.”

By Robert Spuhler

Special to MSN Music

INDIO, Calif. -- When promoter Goldenvoice announced the lineup for the 2013 Coachella Music and Arts Festival in January, there was one major question asked by the festival's younger attendees on Twitter, on message boards and even on a foul-mouthed single-serving Tumblr site: Who are the Stone Roses?

As it turns out, very few of those fans endeavored to find out. Despite a strong performance by the reuniting Madchester scene favorites, concertgoers abandoned the main stage before the supposed headliners took the stage, with fans choosing the indie pop of Tegan and Sara, the beat-heavy DJ set of Bassnectar and the rare spectacle of a live performance by How to Destroy Angels, the project between Trent Reznor and his wife, Mariqueen Maandig.

By Travis Hay
MSN Music

SEATTLE – Good things tend to happen when you place a big band in a small space. That was the case when high-energy California six-piece Fitz and the Tantrums kicked off their tour at the cozy, 300-person capacity Columbia City Theater.

By Bob Douglas

Special to MSN Music

SEATTLE – Michael Nesmith performed Saturday, March 30, at Seattle’s Neptune theater on his first major tour in over 20 years. Tall and impressive in a blazer and white tie locked in by his 12-string guitar, his demeanor was avuncular and slightly professorial. “Papa Gene’s Blues” opened the show, its recurrent “I love you and I know you love me” refrain swiftly establishing the rapport between audience and artist. 

By Adrien Begrand
Special to MSN Music

“You can crowd surf all you want,” Neil Fallon said to the raucous mass of humanity in front of him, “but you might not get caught. If you wind up with your femur sticking out of your leg, it’s on you.”

Maryland foursome Clutch are arguably the grooviest band in heavy rock today, having over the course of 20 years slowly refined their sound from its hardcore roots to a highly refined hybrid of stoner rock, jam band music and blues. They can be plenty loud and aggressive when they want to be, but for the most part a Clutch show is an exercise in languid, extended jams that tinker with funk, the kind of music that usually gets people moving, rather than simply headbanging and fist-pumping like a conventional metal show.

By Phyllis Stark
Special to MSN Music

Aaron Lewis, the Staind frontman turned country music artist, has been tapped to headline this year’s Jägermeister Country Tour, which kicks off May 1. Rick Monroe will be among the support acts on the tour, and will also serve as the emcee for the 24-date, 23-city run.

By Paul Pearson

Special to MSN Music

SEATTLE -- Some new bands have a structured game plan for wide success. Other bands just play what they want, and if they meet with popular acclaim, it’s an unexpected bonus they hopefully feel grateful about.

If you’re of the first scenario, you probably haven’t strategized that riotously experimental collisions between folk, dubstep, hip-hop and medieval music, with lyrics that allude to prescription cold medication, Maurice Sendak, a contemporary French noir movie and a real-life love story between war photographers with a gruesome end, will send you to the top of the pops.