rock nyc looks to the New Year with a mix of joy and dread. Now 2012 is done with, it wasn;t that bad but it wasn't that great either. All the folks we've been writing about for the past four years came back and all of them were a little older and not quite as good. From Lady Gaga to Titus Andronicus to Rihanna, there was a yeah it's good but it used to be better.
In 2013 expect Avril Lavigne to Kanye West to lead a pack of rock stars not as much fun as they used to. That's the problem with years that end with the number three, they are all a settling in year, long enough into a decade where the sense of enhanced possibilities have kinda gone and we are settled into the calm of it all.
The standard bearer should be Vampire Weekend. It is now three years and counting between albums for VW (try not going to work for that long on your job), the band is stuck with extremely high expectations and the question is, how the hell can they make a third album as good as their next. And if they wait another three years for a fourth, guess what? Their college days will be way over and their 30s will be in too deep.
On the distribution front, streaming will be the same only worse and the biggest bands will be holding their albums well off the subscription sites. A week, a month, longer. It will leave me for one forced to buy albums I don't want to buy.
Or perhaps Helen can start getting us on the majors press lists and I can get them for free.
I certainly wouldn't mind getting concert tickets for free for sure, as the prices spiral out of control and $150 is average for a mid-level Arena tix, expect a less astounding year than 2012 though the return of Eminem, AC/DC and the Stones should make for some expensive fun.
And there are some cool new releases in the wings. Pissed Jeans heads the list, but the Knowles sisters will both be around, and Beyonce has The-Dream on just about every track so you gotta figure? Katy Perry's back, so is Lady Gaga and Pearl Jam.
As for rock nyc, we have a couple of exciting things on the horizon. An idea I had back in 2009 seems one step closer to happening. More on that when and if the idea progresses.