Optimus Alive! went down in Passeio Marítimo de Alges in Portugal over the weekend. Headliners included Coldplay and Jane’s Addiction. The riverside fest had a nice mix of nostalgia (Stooges, Blondie) and fresh electronic sounds (James Blake, Duck Sauce) too, but while Primal Scream got to play Screamadelica front to back, the Pretty Reckless didn’t hit the stage at all due to “structural problems.” Good looking out, Portgual. Check out pics of all the aforementioned bands — plus Fleet Foxes, TV On The Radio, Grinderman, Patrick Wolf, Grouplove, Anna Calvi, Seasick Steve, Kele, Twilight Singers, and more — in the gallery above.

Kings Of Leon released a new single and video this week and dozens (dozens!) of you lurkers stepped up to discuss it. KoL has become an increasingly hot button act on this site as we’ve witnessed the Followills become a parody of themselves (see: the hipster clothing line, drunken interviews, “Sex On Fire”). But while we scoffed at the band’s royal status in the UK, the lackluster Only By The Night quietly went platinum in the States on the back of the Grammy winning “Use Somebody,” a pretty decent sounding pop/rock single the first three to four hundred times I heard it. Late last summer Hayley Williams performed an inspired, stripped-down version that we never posted because you can go to other sites for Haley Williams news. But boy did she open some miserable floodgates. Herewith, for no other reason than page views lists are fun, are fifteen covers of “Use Somebody” by a surprisingly diverse array of professional recording artists (I’m including American Idol finalists in that definition). Et tu, Matisyahu?

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Now that Gwen Stefani’s put out two solo albums and two babies and a clothing line and desktop publishing software (?), she is ready to rock again. Her bandmates are ready to rock, too. They were so desperate to rock they’ve been hanging out with Weiland. ND (that’s what the kids call them) kick off a North American tour with Paramore at the Bamboozle Festival in NJ on 5/3. The itinerary also includes a show at Jones Beach Theater, which is where I saw No Doubt headline with Weezer in high school. After the tour, the band will put out a new album inspired by Japanese street couture. Tour dates this way…

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