Neil Young, Foo Fighters, Others to Play Free Central Park Concert; New Songs by Mumford & Sons & More

It's new songs galore this week, and you'll find a few of them (or links to them) below. And there's news on a blockbuster free concert in Central Park (see details on how to view the live webcast below).

Find out how to get free tickets to the latest blockbuster Central Park concert.

Neil Young, Foo Fighters, the Black Keys, & more to play FREE Central Park concert: 
Yep, those big-name acts, as well as K'Naan and Band of Horses, will play a big FREE Central Park charity concert on Sept. 29th. Called Global Festival, the show, which also features is meant to focus on ending extreme poverty. To enter the drawing for free tickets, you'll need to register at GlobalCitizen.org and earn a few "points" by signing petitions, tweeting, etc. You can also buy tickets outright for the concert (for about $190), which will be held on the Great Lawn. (via Village Voice)
[UPDATE: You can watch the Global Festival concert via live webcast here; just click on "View Live Stream." There will be three showings for different parts of the world.]

Listen to new songs from Stars, the xx, Mumford & Sons, and Thee Oh Sees:
 As for the new songs, one of them is from Mumford and Sons, who played to 15,000-plus fans last week on Hoboken's Pier A park. The band played a number of new tunes there, attendees said, and the one may well have been one of them. (The group also played a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer.")

* "Backlines" by Stars, from their forthcoming album "North," due Sept. 4th (via NPR Music)


* "I Will Wait" by Mumford and Sons, from their forthcoming album "Babel," due Sept. 24th


* "Chained" by The xx, from their new album "Coexist" (via Consequence of Sound)

* "Flood's New Light" by Thee Oh Sees, from their new album "Putrifiers II," due Sept. 11th (via Consequence of Sound)

* "Ireland" by Jess Klein (free download), part of her project to re-record some of her fans' favorite songs in new acoustic versions

Mumford & Sons Play Hoboken Tonight: What to Know if You Go

Hoboken's Pier A park becomes a concert venue once again tonight when Mumford & Sons kicks off its summer 2012 tour in the Mile Square City. Below is some information on the event, which is sold out.

Doors opened at 5 p.m. for the show. The concert is set to begin at 6:30 p.m., with Aaron Embry and Dawes opening for Mumford & Sons. The show will end at about 10 o'clock with three minutes of fireworks to be shot off from a barge in the Hudson River.

From the City of Hoboken website:
"Starting on Wednesday, sections of Sinatra Drive between Newark Street and 4th Street will be closed to vehicular traffic. Warrington Plaza adjacent to Hoboken Terminal will also be closed by NJ Transit.

Visitors are strongly encouraged to take public transit. Additional PATH trains will operate between 9pm and 11pm on Wednesday. NJ Transit will also be providing additional service. Municipal parking garages are expected to reach capacity.

 Doors will open at 5:00pm with two bands opening prior to Mumford & Sons. The event will take place rain or shine. Chairs, blankets, umbrellas, and outside food and drink are prohibited and will be confiscated at the door."

From the Bowery Presents event page:
 * the concert will take place rain or shine
* "Prohibited Items: Weapons of any kind * Illegal Substances * Framed or Large Backpacks * Outside Food & Beverage, including Alcohol * Glass containers of ANY kind * Bicycles, Skateboards, Scooters or personal motorized vehicles * Fireworks and Explosives * Laser Pointers * Instruments * Blankets * Chairs or Lawn Furniture of any kind * Beach/Golf Umbrellas * Coolers or Picnic Baskets * Pets (except service dogs) * Video equipment - no video recording will be allowed * Professional still camera equipment (no detachable lenses, tripods, big zooms, or commercial use rigs) * Audio recording equipment * No illegal vending is permitted - no unauthorized/unlicensed vendors allowed"

Yeah, that's a pretty long list of prohibited items. But it's hope that things will go smoothly. Have fun if you're going tonight, and I hope the weather holds out.

Music Notes: Download New Corin Tucker Song, Muse Goes for Gold, Free Williamsburg Concerts, & More

Here's a roundup of news from around the music world: new songs, free concerts, & various other things.

* Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney has a new song out, "Groundhog Day," and you can download it here, (via Consequence of Sound and Pitchfork). It's the lead-off track from the group's forthcoming second album, "Kill My Blues" (cover below) which will come out on Sept. 18th on Kill Rock Stars.

Album cover of the second full-length from the Corin Tucker Band.

* Muse has also released a new song, "Survival," which has been tapped as the official song of the 2012 London Olympics (listen below). You're going to be hearing it everywhere; get used to it now.



* The schedule for free concerts at the Williamsburg waterfront have been released, and there are three solid shows:
July 19th: Pretty Good Friends with Eugene Mirman and special musical guest OK Go
August 18th: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings with Antibalas
Sept. 7th: Bob Mould (performing Sugar's "Copper Blue" as well as songs from his new album, "Silver Age," as well as tunes from Husker Du, Sugar, and his solo career).

The shows take place at Williamsburg Park at N. 12th St. and Kent Ave. See Free Williamsburg for more information on free and ticketed concerts and links to buying tickets.

* Mumford & Sons announced summer tour dates, and they're coming to Hoboken on August 1st. They'll be playing at Pier A park, and tickets are $55 (but have no additional fees). For that price, I'll wait to see if there's a good opening act on the bill. Tickets go on sale here on Friday the 29th (presale is the 28th).

See here for tickets for all other summer Mumford shows.

Coachella Ends, But the Videos Live On

The Coachella Festival in California ended in the wee hours of Monday morning Eastern time, and I admit I was up quite late watching some of the closing sets. I caught PJ Harvey's entire set and part of Kanye West's, and even saw a song or two by Duran Duran (a group that seemed a very odd choice for Coachella).

Sadly, the festival is over for another year, but whether you caught any of the live webcasts or not you can watch the four dozen or so videos that are on the Coachella YouTube site (above, Broken Social Scene ending its set with "Meet Me in the Basement"). Among the other videos you can watch are more from BSS as well as tunes by Mumford and Sons, Two-Door Cinema Club, Chromeo (below), Health, and Jack's Mannequin (and yes, even Duran Duran if you like).