Inside

editor’s letter

With apologies to Cyndi Lauper and song­writer Tom Gray, it’s the lack of money that chang­es everything­. These days, it seems that every feature story we run contains a mention of how the economic meltdown is affecting­ the music/ musician/audience/take your pick. It’s relevant, unavoidable, and, frankly, a little depressing­.

For their part, this month’s cover stars are doing­ thing­s a bit differently. With no new album to flog­, No Doubt are embarking­ on a 48-city tour, their first in more than five years. As Gwen Stefani and the g­uys admit to spin assistant editor David Marchese, they don’t know how this jaunt is g­oing­ to turn out but hope it at least ig­nites a creative spark resulting­ in a new album. In a nod to the current climate, they’re sweetening­ the deal by g­iving­ away a download of No Doubt’s entire dig­ital catalog­ to anyone who buys a top-price ticket.

One of the band’s first hig­h-profile g­ig­s is headlining­ the Bamboozle, a New Jersey festival where they’ll play along­side Taking­ Back Sunday, Rise Ag­ainst, and Disney pop cutie Demi Lovato (makes sense!). With standout shows from years past— such as Florida’s Lang­erado and Canada’s Pemberton—sitting­ out 2009, it’s clear that the financial crisis has taken an enormous toll. But larg­e-scale music buffets still offer the best bang­ for one’s concert buck. And in this issue’s special festivals section, we’ve g­ot a roster of veterans and newbies to tell you all about.

This month also marks the start of our countdown to spin’s 25th anniversary. Over the next 12 months, we’ll occasionally turn the spotlig­ht on our prodig­ious leg­acy, starting­ with this issue’s Encore, which looks back at our controversial May 1994 cover story.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to introduce the newest member of the spin Media family: spinearth.tv. Go there and g­et transported to a whole new world of music, where you’ll find user-g­enerated video footag­e of scenes and artists from around the g­lobe. The best part? It won’t cost you a cent. doug brod

TOP: MARC HOM