Samuel Dietz, Getty Images There were no strobe lights, no smoke machines, no confetti guns or fans donning St. Nick hats, and there certainly wasn't a giant hamster ball (Wayne Coyne's favorite mode of concert transportation): all the things that made a Flaming Lips show a Flaming Lips show were absent. In the end, Coyne had just an acoustic ...

Lloyd Bishop, NBC If you've watched 'Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,' you've almost certainly asked yourself the question. Getting tickets to sit in the audience is one thing, but what about those other seats – the ones where fans get to be onstage behind their favorite bands as they perform on national television? Every late-night ...

Polyvinyl It's difficult to experience the entire effect of a band heavily influenced by the shoegaze genre without going to see them live. Saturday's Asobi Seksu show at the Santos Party House in New York City was a perfect example. The harsh feedback and distortion from the guitars, the echoed drums and crashing cymbals, the trembling bass ...

Ben Trivett, AOL New York City's Mercury Lounge has the feel of an unfinished basement, complete with brick walls, low lighting and concrete floors. Bands on the lineup are often forced to leave their gear piled up on the wall next to the crowd due to the venue's close quarters. All in all, it's a place that's known for hosting up-and-coming ...

Brandon Lee Screaming for song requests at concerts is nothing new -- sometimes bands play into them and sometimes they don't. At Tuesday night's Miniature Tigers show at Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg, 'Lolita,' 'Japanese Woman Living in My Closet' and 'Goldskull' -- all of which are off the group's latest album, 'Fortress' -- were among ...

Roger Kisby, Getty Images When a band first enters the realm of public exposure, it's natural that people classify and categorize them into a particular genre and compare them to other groups. But what happens when a band's sound seems unclassifiable, like Brooklyn duo Sleigh Bells? Since popping up on music blogs in 2009, reviews and profiles ...

Jordan Strauss, WireImage Replicating any recorded music to the live setting, particularly tracks that includes complex sounds and effects, can have band members playing the role of both musician and mad scientist. Neon Indian are a perfect example of this. Lead singer Alan Palomo -- who is known for his elaborate table setup of synthesizers and ...