Thousands of hip hop fans showed up to Shoreline Amphitheatre for two days of Rock the Bells music festival, headlined by Wu-Tang Clan and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony performing alongside holograms of deceased rappers Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Eazy-E, respectively.

A$AP Mob, KRS One, Kid Cudi, Rakim, Common and Kendrick Lamar were among other highlights at the festival. Metro photographer Orrian Willis was there to capture the action.

Rock the Bells Festival revives two of hip hop’s most iconic rappers this weekend with virtual performances by the late Eazy E with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Ol’ Dirty Bastard with Wu-Tang Clan.

Play Gig-It, one of the companys behind the technology for the virtual performances, is hooking one luck winner up with a pair of tickets to the festival September 14-15 at Shoreline Amphitheatre.

Other performers on the bill this year include Kid Cudi, A$AP Mob, E-40 & Too Short, Common, Black Hippy with Kendrick Lamar, Girl Talk, Juice J, Deltron 3030 and more.

Leave a comment with your all-time-favorite rap song and we will pick a winner at random on Thursday, September 12.

More details at RockTheBells.net.

ALSO: Read the Rock the Bells feature from Metro Newspaper this week with interviews from the team behind the virtual performances.

In Just 10 years, Rock the Bells has grown into hip-hop’s answer to Coachella, complete with a two-day lineup and virtual performances from iconic rappers Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Eazy E this weekend at Shoreline Amphitheatre.

Not unlike some of the most successful emcees to ever put 16 bars over a beat, the festival’s story is littered with big risks, perfect timing and a little luck.

It starts on a hot summer day in San Bernardino in 2004. A few thousand frustrated Wu-Tang fans were on the brink of rioting after waiting hours for the group to take the stage for the first time in nearly 10 years. The Problem: Ol’ Dirty Bastard, in the thrall of a cocaine habit that would take his life a few months later, wouldn’t leave his hotel room to perform.

Somewhat miraculously considering his condition, ODB was coaxed to the stage with help from a stern phone call by Wu-Tang mastermind the RZA for what would be his last show with the group before his death.

Barely dodging disaster, festival founder Chang Weisberg’s vision worked and the buzz surrounding the reunion helped plant the seed for a festival that would grow into an international tour before rightsizing into its current four-city format.

GIVEAWAY: Enter to win two tickets to Rock The Bells

Rock the Bells is now a bellwether for hip-hop with a community built around the seemingly simple formula that was too risky for most concert promoters to to try back in 2004: Provide a platform for the genre’s most iconic performers and groom emerging talent for the under card.

In addition to Wu-Tang, past Rock the Bells performers include some of the biggest names in the genre, including Public Enemy, Rakim, Nas, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube and A Tribe Called Quest.

Meanwhile, emerging stars, such as Wale, B.o.B and Tyga (all just from the class of ’08), proved their worth on side stages. A particularly potent year, the 2007 edition featured Rage Against the Machine headlining in front of 40,000 people in the AT&T Park parking lot.

A Virtual Reality

“It’s much bigger than hip-hop what we are doing here with these virtual performances,” Weisberg says during a phone interview from Southern California. “The families are involved and there’s DNA in the performances through the avatars. It’s taken on a much bigger persona for the show.”

Inspired by the surprise “Hologram Tupac” that went viral at Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s closing performance at Coachella 2012, the technology for the virtual performances at Rock the Bells uses a digital re-creation of the rappers projected onto a high-tech screen on stage. It’s a visual trick that has been in use since the 1800s but high-definition projectors and graphic tools have only recently made virtual performances at music festivals a reality.

“After diving all the way in after the Tupac performance to understand the technology and techniques that comprise these virtual performances, I was sold,” Weisberg says. “The technique itself is centuries old and something magicians have used for many years but add 2013 technology and you can have something really special happening.”

Improving on Coachella’s “Hologram Tupac” model, the production crew is working with the children of Eazy E and Ol’ Dirty Bastard to create a lifelike projection of the rappers.

Eric Wright Jr. (Lil Eazy E) lent his body for his father’s avatar, Derrick Wright (Baby Eazy E) lent his voice and facial recognition software was used with Eazy E’s daughter, Erin Bria Wright, to create the rapper’s virtual identity. Barson Unique Jones (Young Dirty Bastard) contributed dance moves and influenced the overall persona of virtual ODB, according to Weisberg.

“This is the most positive thing that has gone on since the passing of these two legendary icons,” he says. “To watch a widow, a son and a daughter working on their late father’s virtual performance has been a complete mind-blowing experience for me.”

Virtual Eazy E will join his former protégés Bone Thugs-N-Harmony on Saturday and ODB will perform with the living members of Wu-Tang Clan on Sunday.

“I still believe it’s entirely better with live musicians interacting with this technology, but I think eventually it will get to the point where people might pay it to see it without the supplement of other artists,” Weisberg says.

Project manager Chris “Broadway” Romero, vice president of animation at Play Gig-It, says the project is a continuum of technology being put to use to improve the legacy of recording artists. The performances also utilize technology from AV Concepts, one half of the team behind the Tupac performance at Coachella.

“The concept we are creating is part of that concept of full digital remastering,” Romero says. “There is going to be more visuals attached to it and interaction. It’s all going to feel more natural and it won’t be weird.”

After the virtual performances debuted in San Bernardino last weekend, initial reaction was in fact a little weird, with a frustrated Method Man lashing out mid-set and leaving the stage after technical difficulties and reports of an “uncomfortably zombie-ish” virtual performance from Eazy-E by L.A. Times pop critic Gerrick D. Kennedy. Play Gig-It representatives say the problem during the Wu-Tang set was a technical issue with the group’s soundman, and had nothing to do with the virtual performance.

What happens next at Shoreline could influence the technology’s role in the festival setting for years to come.

“I think how it plays out and Rock the Bells, will help shape people’s perspective and opinions,” Weisberg says.

Rock the Bells features two different lineups on September 14 and September 15 at Shoreline Amphitheatre. In addition to virtual performances from Eazy E and ODB, headliners this year including Kid Cudi, A$AP Mob, E-40 & Too Short, Black Hippy with Kendrick Lamar, Juicy J and Deltron 3030. More info.

Play GIG-IT: Rock the Bells Holographic Performance by Eazy E from Play GIG-IT on Vimeo.

The concert schedule this fall is full of annual favorites, a few new surprises and Silicon Valley’s first large-scale mult-day technology conference and music festival.

VivaFest!
Aug 31 to Sep 28, Downtown San Jose; prices vary.
The 22nd annual celebration of mariachis and Mexican culture wraps up Sept. 28 with an evening of Latin alternative music from both sides of the border. Headliners Kinky leaped into international fame with their self-titled 2002 debut that jumbled funky electronica with guitar rock and traditional sounds from their native Monterrey, Mexico. Four albums later, they remain true to their name, joyously throwing kinks into the pop music machine. Filling out the bill is Carla Morrison, whose latest release, “DŽjenme Llorar (Let Me Cry),” was nominated for four Latin Grammys. Her dreamy and spare sonic landscapes that recall Mazzy Star and the Cowboy Junkies will seem immediately familiar to any indie fan. The L.A.-based sextet La Santa Cecilia spans traditional forms of Latin music—cumbia, bossa nova, tango—to produce music that is at turns haunting and rousing, and the Mexican-American collaborative Sistema Bomb gives a hip-hop remix to the traditional music of Veracruz. The month-long ÁVivaFest! will also present music and dance workshops, a film series, free outdoor music and other cultural events throughout downtown San Jose. (Richard Faulk)

Uproar Festival
Sep 11, Shoreline Amphitheatre; tickets start at $20.
Grunge veterans Alice in Chains and Lollapalooza founders Jane’s Addiction—can it really be 25 years since Nothing’s Shocking dropped?—headline the main stage at Uproar, which also features two other stages loaded with hard rock bands. Elsewhere, Toronto rocker Darko Jones channels David Lee Roth’s inner clown while serving up an eclectic set that cites everything from ’70s power pop to Scandinavian death metal. On the indie side of the genre, Beware of Darkness blasts Stooges-like freakouts, while traditionalists will enjoy the way Dead Daisies delivers straightforward, feel good rock & roll. But the true rock cognoscenti won’t want to miss second stage headliners Walking Papers. With ties both to grunge grandfathers Screaming Trees and Pearl Jam as well as Guns ‘N’ Roses, this Seattle outfit combines the swagger of Aerosmith with the brooding sounds and stories of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. (RF)

Rock The Bells
Sep 14-15, Shoreline Amphitheatre; tickets start at $65.50.
Hip-hop’s answer to Coachella celebrates its 10th anniversary at Shoreline Amphitheatre this year with two different lineups over two days and the festival’s most controversial move to date—virtual performances from deceased rappers Eazy E (N.W.A.) and Ol’ Dirty Bastard (Wu-Tang Clan) performing with their former crews. Other highlights include Too Short and E-40’s first Shoreline performance since 2004 (they were reportedly banned from the venue after a KMEL Summer Jam went sideways that year), A$AP Mob, Kid Cudi, Girl Talk, Juicy J, Deltron 3030, Trinidad James and many more. Check back for more details and interviews with the team behind the virtual performances in the Sep 11 issue of Metro. (Matt Crawford)

Swingin’ Utters
Sep 20, the Blank Club, $13.
San Francisco punk rockers the Swingin’ Utters are finally back with a new album. The band hits the road with the Dropkick Murphys this fall in support of Poorly Formed, finishing Sep 20 with a headlining gig at the Blank Club without the Murphys. The new album ventures into post-punk and garage rock territory, though the usual Swinging Utters’ punk sound with Irish-folk subtleties remains intact. (Stephen Layton)

Bassnectar
Sep 21, Event Center at San Jose State University, $35
Fans of the DJ and producer dub themselves “Bassheads” and it’ll come as no surprise that they like bass. Lorin Ashton, the San Jose native behind Bassnectar, is more than happy to provide. He’s grown from working local parties and Burning Man to become a leader in America’s still-growing EDM scene. Side one of his most recent Immersive Music mixtape contains a remix of Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good,” alongside a remix of obscure Portland prog/folk/metal band Agalloch. His original material blends genres as well, with anything from dubstep and glitch to Ashton’s first love, heavy metal. Side Two of Immersive Music is set to drop in mid-September right before the tour starts, but fans can always expect a trickle of tracks from the prolific producer. (SL)

C2SV Festival
Sep 26-29, downtown San Jose; tickets start at $55
With new venues and restaurants already starting a renaissance for nightlife offerings in downtown San Jose, the C2SV Festival continues forward momentum with four nights of music at 12 venues during one long weekend. Topped by a headlining performance from Iggy and the Stooges at St. James Park, the lineup features San Francisco fuzz rock favorites Thee Oh Sees, modern funk producer and Stones Throw affiliate Dam-Funk, Silicon Valley electro-rockers the Limousines, revolutionary hip-hop from the Coup, LA hardcore vets Off!, alt-rock pioneers the Lemonheads and more than 50 other acts. A tech conference accompanies the festival, with dozens of Silicon Valley CEOs and business leaders at San Jose McEnery Convention Center and a keynote speech from Stooges guitarists James Williamson. (Metro is a sponsor of C2SV)

Conor Oberst
Oct 3, Mountain Winery, $37.50-$47.50
It’s been difficult to keep track of former Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst this summer. In between touring with his newly reunited punk band the Desaparecidos and a couple of shows with his Mystic Valley band, Oberst will be playing some solo shows in California and Nevada, including San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. For his solo appearance at the Mountain Winery in October, the warbly singer will play material from Bright Eyes, Mystic Valley Band and the folk supergroup Monsters of Folk. Oberst’s Saddle Creek label reissued six out-of-print Bright Eyes records last year, and I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning was recently certified gold. Maybe a Bright Eyes reunion should be added to his burgeoning docket as well. (SL)

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Oct 4-6, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco; Free
The final lineup announcement is still pending, but lineup leaks from Hardly Strictly Bluegrass organizers look promising this year with Santa Cruz trio the Devil Makes Three, Allah-Las, Conor Oberst, Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers among the younger acts on the bill, with HSB vets Boz Scaggs, Chris Isaak, Robert Earl Keen, Bonnie Raitt, Patty Griffin and Natalie Maines rounding out the lineup. With six stages over three days, this free festival in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park draws more than 500,000 people. (MC)

Paramore
Oct 18, SAP Center, $39.50-$49.50
Paramore will headline the newly renamed SAP Center on Oct 18, supported by Hellogoodbye and Metric. The alt-rock band released its first full-length album in four years in April, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. It is the first album recorded without co-founding members Josh and Zac Farro, guitarist and drummer respectively, who left the band at the end of 2010 with a scathing blog post accusing Paramore of being a “manufactured product of a major label.” Maybe after seven years someone finally decided to break it to them. Paramore has also recently announced a four day cruise/music festival slated to set sail next March, after completion of their international “Self-Titled” tour. The band will be performing on the high seas alongside dozens of other acts including Tegan & Sara. (SL)

Treasure Island Music Festival
Oct 19-20, Treasure Island, $85 and up
An armada of bands, 26 strong, rallies in the middle of San Francisco Bay for this weekend-long festival. Setting the tenor for day one is the twitchy, cerebral, but irresistibly danceable Atoms for Peace. This unlikely super-group pairing of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea is supported by trip-hop pioneer Tricky, whose recent release False Idols is a return to his ’90s peak. Relative youngsters Phantogram fit right in with their menacing and seductive beats, while Little Dragon deliver New Wave neo-soul by way of Sweden. L.A.’s Poolside brings a welcome burst of sunshine with their signature “daytime disco” sounds while Diplo’s Major Lazer plugs in his dancehall sound system. Original loser Beck ushers in day two, featuring the many faces of indie pop, from the trickstery Animal Collective to the smooth rusticity of Lord Huron and the plangent garage rock of Palm Violets. James Blake’s dubstep infused singer-songwriter ballads may be the perfect recipe to soothe a Sunday morning hangover. (RF)

The organizers behind the annual Rock the Bells Festival at Shoreline Amphitheatre are making big moves for their 10-year anniversary with the announcement that Eazy E and Ol’ Dirty Bastard will perform in hologram form this year.

The announcement, made last night during a press conference at House of Blues on Sunset Strip, arrives just over a year after Hologram Tupac stunned fans with a surprise appearance at Coachella 2012 during Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s headlining set.

At the festival, September 14-15 at Shoreline, Eazy E’s hologram will join Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and the Ol’ Dirty Bastard hologram will appear during Wu Tang Clan’s set.

The Complete Lineup:
Big Krit
Black Hippy
Bodega Bamz
Brother Ali
Chase & Status
Common
Currensy
Danny Brown
Dilated Peoples
Dizzy Wright
Dom Kennedy
E-40 & Too Short
Earl Sweatshirt
Flatbush Zombies
Hit-Boy
Hpsin
Immortal Technique
Jhene Aiko
Juicy J
Kid Cudi
Lecrae
Mimosa
Prof
Rakim
Snow The Product
Supernatural
Talib Kweli
Tech N9ne
Tyler the Creator

Last week we wrote about the fact that several homegrown Bay Area rappers, including E-40 and Too Short, were oddly absent from the Rock the Bells lineup at Shoreline over the weekend, despite the fact that they performed at the festival’s San Bernadino show a week earlier. It appeared to be a simple scheduling issue, but E-40 thinks it’s more of a conspiracy—as in, an attempt by the City of Mountain View to keep him out of the Rock the Bells lineup—and presumably any show at Shoreline—for the last few years.

“For some reason, the city of Mountain View won’t let E-40 and Too Short perform. They can’t even give us an excuse or nothin’, they can’t say nothin’,” E-40 told Fuse TV in an interview. “They don’t even know why they won’t let us perform…They don’t want us performing on our own soil, man.”

Mountain View city officials said in a statement they have no control over who plays Rock the Bells, and that scheduling decisions are made entirely by festival organizers. Organizers from Guerilla Union and Live Nation, who jointly produced last weekend’s event, confirmed in an email that all scheduling for the show was done on the basis of availability.

The question then, of course, is why E-40 thought he was available when everyone else thought that he wasn’t—and where his notion that Mountain View had deep-sixed him from the Shoreline show came from in the first place. E-40’s publicist initially said he would look into the matter, but did not return a request for comment.

The Vallejo rapper and Mountain View may still make nice in the near future—RTB organizers have left open the possibility that he’ll perform at Shoreline next year.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Rock the Bells, the biggest hip-hop party of the summer, took over Shoreline Amphitheatre for two days with performances from new acts like A$SAP Rocky and old-school rappers like Big Daddy Kane and Salt-n-Pepa.

Photos by Metro photographer Jennifer Anderson.

RZA

For five years running now, Rock the Bells has been the South Bay’s biggest rap show. It’s also the strangest megatour of the 21st century; since its debut in 2004, it’s reinvented itself almost every year, and this one is no exception.

With the return of headliner Nas (making his sixth RTB appearance), Common, Curren$y, Immortal Technique, Murs and other festival favorites, there’s a string of continuity, but the addition of acts like J. Cole and 2Chainz, and a whole new set-up for the tour, has led to some controversy, or just plain confusion. Here are answers to some key questions about the ever-evolving hip-hop festival as it returns to Shoreline this weekend.

Is Rock the Bells getting bigger or smaller?

Both, sort of. Rock the Bells has a convoluted history of shapeshifting: after starting out as two SoCal festival dates (summer and fall) in 2004, it went to a single day in 2005, then blew up into a hybrid festival and multi-city club tour in 2006. The next year had three festivals, 15 single-stage shows and 5 two-stage shows across the country. In 2008, organizers took Rock the Bells international in what was probably its biggest year, with 16 festival dates. The next year, it contracted a little, and 2010 saw only 4 dates. Last year had three, and this year also boasts three shows, but all three are two-day festivals. So a much smaller number of cities will be seeing Rock the Bells than in its heyday, but those select cities will have their bells rocked for twice as long. So it all depends on if you’re lucky enough to be near one or not, which brings us to…

Why Mountain View?

The festival started in San Bernadino, so it’s no surprise that Rock the Bells launched there this year. A second date, in New Jersey, was clearly meant to shore up that East Coast presence the festival established five years ago with its much-hyped storming of New York City (the reunion of Rage Against the Machine as headliners didn’t hurt). Mountain View’s Shoreline may seem like a strange third choice for a festival that established itself in Chicago, Detroit and Boston. But in fact, NorCal has been a huge part of the festival’s success since 2006—first in Concord, then SF, and, since 2008, at Shoreline. Organizers from Guerilla Union and Live Nation, who co-produced the festival this year, indicated the tour will have a home in this area in the future, as well. “The Bay Area music scene has always had a thriving and diverse hip hop community. Be it music from The Team to Souls of Mischief or Del The Funky Homosapien to 2 Pac and Keak Da Sneak, various sub-genres of hip hop are represented well in this market,” they wrote in response to my inquiry. “This is evident in the success that Rock The Bells has had in the past and what we see doing in the future now that we are holding this event as a two-day festival.”

Summer means big music festivals, and this year the South Bay has more than ever. Here are six covering genres from rock to hip-hop, metal, blues and more (go here for a rundown of this summer’s jazz events).

I Love This City
Fri-Sat, May 25-26; Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View
Things got a bit confusing when the I Love This City festival moved from AT&T Park in San Francisco to Shoreline in Mountain View. Aside from the now unclear question of what city is getting the love from this new EDM festival, there was some lineup shuffling as well. It worked out well for ravers, especially on Friday, where Dutch DJ Afrojack and Swedish House Mafia head Sebastian Ingrosso were added to the lineup when the festival moved. Friday also features James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, as well as Duck Sauce, Steve Aoki, Datsik, the Crystal Method, Cut Chemist, Dirtyphonics, Holy Ghost!, AraabMuzik, Borgore, Cookie Monsta and more. Saturday’s bill is topped by Tiesto, David Guetta and Laidback Luke. Doctor P., Excision, Feed Me, Apparat, Kill the Noise, Felix Cartal, Jaguar Skills, Miles the DJ and others will also perform. Festival hours have been extended until 11:30pm each night thanks to the move. There will be three stages, and the festival is now open to ages 16 and over. Anyone who bought a ticket for the festival while it was still at AT&T will receive a special wristband that gets them into reserved seating, and buses will carry earlier ticketholders in SF from The Lot at AT&T to Shoreline and back both days.

BFD
June 2; Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View
Whoever the headliners are from year to year, most of BFD’s coolest offerings are to be found in the Subsonic Tent. This year, Oakland’s Wallpaper play there, as well as San Francisco’s budding girl rap star K. Flay, who killed last year on the local stage. Subsonic Tent mainstays the Limousines of San Jose will do something slightly different this summer, spinning a DJ set. Other tent acts include Knife Party, Dragonette, and AmpLive of the Oakland duo Zion I performing with Eligh. The headliners this year are mostly ’90s soldiers like Jane’s Addiction, Garbage and Cake. However, there is also the Naked and the Famous, who formed in 2008. Sounding eerily like Passion Pit’s long-lost twin band, they made the alt-radio Top 10 in 2010 with “Young Blood.” Fellow indie rockers Silversun Pickups will release their new album, Neck of the Woods, next month. On the Soundcheck Local Band Stage this year are two South Bay bands, the Holdup and Young Science.