OK, so we don’t know for sure that they stole those traffic cones, but it’s not like there’s a Traffic Cone Supply Shop at every corner. Either way, the folks at EFGH came up with this pavilion which can be constructed from the ground up in less than six hours using only a very small team, a bunch of traffic cones and a metal frame. We don’t really know how great the acoustics are, but who cares about that when they can hold a concert under a giant, neon orange hedgehog? [YouTube via Core77]

Every Friday night in September, starting on September 4, there will be a live performance from Aussie rock Gods. On September 4, Hoodoo Gurus take the stage; September 18 sees Mental as Anything take the stage and September 25 will be Jimmy Barnes, Ian Moss and Diesel playing together in one mind-blowing classic rock show. Well, it will be if they do Khe Sanh…

There’ll also be a show on September 11, but at the moment the artist is still to be announced.

The best part about the whole thing is that the shows are completely free. They’re also on a “first in, first served” basis, which means you’ll want to get there well before the 9pm start time.

[Apple Sydney Retail Store]

Based on a Hoberman Sphere, the criss-crossed network of aluminium, 25km of cables, and 888 LED screens is comprised of more than 1 million different pieces and 500,00 pixels. When fully expanded, the seven-story shape swallows up the band with more than 3,800 square feet of space. It is assembled in a mere eight hours, and will be on tour with the band for 18 months.

The real kudos goes to the design team however, which consists of Willie Williams, Mark Fisher, Frederic Opsomer, and Chuck Hoberman (concept); and the folks at Innovative Design, Barco and Hoberman Associates.

Those large pylons in the larger pic are part of “the Claw,” which holds the structure up during the performance. Larger still, and only partially seen in the image, is Bono’s ego, whose size is as-of-yet immeasurable. [Live Design via Lucept]

Chiptune musicians mod archaic game systems from Atari, Commodore, and Nintendo, among others, to be used as musical instruments. The music sounds a lot more varied than I would have expected, from hard-pumping dance electro to atmospheric pieces, not to mention the workshops, screenings, and presentations that are included in the Festival.

The documentary Reformat the Planet, which debuted earlier this year at South by Southwest, will be shown at the festival, and the trailer here does more than I could to describe how cool this is. The Blip Festival’s tickets are $US15 a night, and held at the Bell House (149 7th Street, Brooklyn).

[New York Times, photograph by Richard Gin]

This could technically be considered 64-channel surround sound, and in that spirit Lead Sound, staging Sympho Canvas this week at the Kanagawa Science Park in Kawasaki, Japan, placed seats all throughout the speaker array for people to experience immersion from many vantage points. Besides the 50 speakers assigned to strings, percussions, brass, woodwinds and voice, six subwoofers drop the bass, and eight additional speakers—four on the ceiling and four more on side walls—create “reverberant sounds.”

I know you’re wondering, Where do all the discrete sounds come from? If you’re thinking it would take a lot of money, headphones and soundproof glass cubicles to make a decent recording of 46 distinct instruments with no bleed, you’re right. Which is why Lead Sound took the easy way out, and scored sheet music by computer instead. Well, not totally easy—once the basic tones are generated, they need to be processed extensively to get the harmonic characteristics of each distinct instrument. (The voices are from actual humans.)

The more I learn about this, the more freaked out I get. I don’t know what it is, but all I can imagine is some Dr. Who episode where humans are endangered, but classical music concerts are given every night, with unwavering virtuosity. [TechOn]

I was tired, exhausted, and about to fall sleep standing up (there were no seats at the pit). The week had been hell, and I was physically and emotionally destroyed. But then, the band and the Boss took the stage and Night blasted everything away. In a few seconds, as the adrenalin kicked in, the exhaustion disappeared. Then Radio Nowhere came. And Lonesome Day. And the Promised Land. From there, he and his band made every single one of the 60,000 souls in the stadium fly.

Three hours of pure rock, with the Boss giving it all until the end, when he sung a ten-minute version of Twist And Shout, mixed with–get this–La Bamba. Not a single pause. Just music, heart and soul. I just couldn’t believe this guy is almost as old as my dad. Forget Mick Jagger. Forget bloody Bono. He is the greatest rock musician alive, a true force of nature. And I’m not even–or was not, until this day–a fan.

During the whole concert, the entire stadium was under his command, jumping, singing, waving, screaming, completely in ecstasy, electricfied, everyone sweating under the hot spanish summer night. He and the band were enjoying the whole thing to no end. You could see them laughing, looking at us with real surprise in their faces, as if they weren’t believing that this huge stadium just couldn’t stop singing and jumping through every single one of the songs they played.

They were giving all their life away right there, and the public was returning it right back. With interest. Each of us. Mass hysteria. Crowd orgasm. Total love and dedication from Bruce, the band, and the public.

At one point–one of many in which he came to sing even closer to us–the Boss walked to the central platform and took a girl up on the stage. I knew she was the daughter of one of the spanish fans–who had been following him through the whole tour–because I met her before the concert started. She danced with him for a minute, smiling while the band played. It was just one of the many “I can’t believe this is happening” moments of the night.

Right there, in the very first row, in the corner of the central platform, I could see all these moments perfectly, like I’m seeing the screen of my computer right now. We were able to actually shake his hand, as well as the hands of the band–who at the end all came to the centre platform. I shouted at him at one point (”Yes! Take us up there!”) and he replied looking straight into my eyes, with the biggest smile, pointing at me and saying “Yes, I’m going to take you there!” just before the band exploded with sound.

Another time, I could see him turning to Max Weinberg–at the end of Seven Nights to Rock–and whisper: “Born to Run!” And (boom!) Born to Run started to play a second later. At any time, I could turn around and see the 60,000 people in the Santiago Bernabéu–the name of the Real Madrid football stadium–singing, clapping, taken way by his power. Yes, it was absolutely breathtaking. All of it. From the very beginning I thought: “I have to share this with the people I love. I can’t do this justice with my description. I have to take photos.”

There was when I started hating the iPhone’s camera.

Nothing, I wasn’t able to take any of this magic with clarity. I’m not even talking about recording video (don’t get me started on that). I’m just talking about making a decent photo with one of the most advanced pieces of technology ever developed. Only one single photo that didn’t appear to be taken with a broken Lomo. By a drunk guy. Without a decent sleep in the last three days (ok, forget about the part about the drunk guy.)

Sure there was some clear pics here and there, but whatever was ok’ish, it was also completely crazy and badly framed. Some of them look nice–as you can see here, in the gallery of untouched images–but most of them need cropping and heavy Photoshop treatment.

I know most mobile phone cameras are exactly the same. They behave poorly under low light conditions, they are slow, and have bad interfaces. And yes, I have to admit I like the iPhone’s camera blurriness and unwanted “special effects” sometimes. I even try to get similar effects with my DSLR. But that’s optional. This time I only wanted one thing: to be able to frame a good photo. Without having to hold the iPhone in a weird position. Without trying to find the stupid software interface button and not miss the shot (which I did, plenty of times).

That’s what I want. I don’t want more resolution, and I don’t want a stupid zoom. I would be happy (HAPPY) with good lenses and a better, speedier, more luminous sensor. And of course, the physical button. In fact, scrap the rest. Just give me the physical button. As much as I love virtual interfaces–because they open the door to multi-functional devices at a low cost, with great power and flexibility–I’m afraid that there are still times when the only way to go is a physical button. So give me just that in the iPhone 3G 2.0 and I will be happy, Señor Jobs.

And since we are at it, here’s a note for the Nokias, Sony Ericssons, Samsungs, and LGs of this world: stop doing the silly marketdrone race towards more megapixels and bigger optical zooms. Educate the users. Don’t dazzle them with higher numbers. Give us all more quality, more light, and more speed. That’s what really counts to catch the special, truly ephemeral moments you want to save forever.

Because when I think about it, even while I will always keep this concert in my–blurry as the iPhone’s camera–memory, there would never be another one like it.

AU: Totally disagree with Jesus here. If he thinks he’ll ever get good nighttime photography from a phone at a concert, he’s vastly mistaken – taking photos at a concert with a dedicated snapper is hard enough – It’s naturally dark, the lights on stage are bright and everybody’s moving quickly. It’s a difficult situation for even an experienced photographer. But if he’d thought it through, he would have snuck a compact camera into his pocket for the show.

Still, sometimes it just feels good to rant.

They are also pretty pricey to rent at a whopping £120 or $240 per person. That’s right, I said “rent.” Once the concert is through, the Myhab is dismantled and set up for the next customer. Man, we have come a long way from Woodstock where you had sex in the mud, did your drugs out in the open and loved every minute of it. No word on whether Myhab plans on expanding outside of the UK anytime soon. [Myhab via Hippyshopper via Core77]