Shawn Donohue

The Who : Madison Square Garden, NY, NY 9/18/2006

New and old (well, except for the crowd who were just old), the two Who’s rocked the worlds most famous arena with a collection of “oldies,” but primarily relied on the rather younger songs. After putting out a “mini-opera” back in July, Townshend and Daltrey have begun to march forward, with plans to release a new album in the next month, offering the bands first serious output since 1982.

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Bob Dylan: Modern Times

Welcome to Bob Dylan’s Modern Times, which sounds about as “modern” as a Model T Ford. The legend's new album has become his first #1 record since 1976’s Desire, to which Modern Times is a kindred spirit; both follow career defining albums which critics hailed as “The Re-birth of Dylan.”

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Dinosaur Jr. : Warsaw, Brooklyn, NY 8/29/2006

Any night is a good night to dig into Dinosaur Jr. but the Warsaw show may have been a really special one, because it turns out the group got a bunch of their equipment stolen after the show. Here’s hoping though that they get it back and their signature sound returns with them for many more bingo hall concerts to come.

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Sonic Youth / Yeah Yeah Yeahs : McCarren Pool, Brooklyn NY 8/12/2006

It is amazing that a band playing together since 1981 can still manage to play with such grace and fire, fresh songs alongside classics, with everything working out so seamlessly. Hopefully the Yeah Yeah Yeahs can reach that point someday. But if they needed any guidance, all they had to do was open their ears to one of the best bands of the last quarter century playing beside them.

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I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness: Fear Is On Our Side

Isolation is the central theme here, from the band’s name to the sound found on Fear Is On Our Side; it seeps through the casket cracks like rain water. A remote gasping vocal delivery of lines like “Reaching/For the end/Never make a sound.” place you squarely back in 1986 at a Cure/Depeche Mode double bill, while the music behind those lines manages to raise the stakes.

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The Whipsaws: Ten Day Bender

These Alaskan country-fried players sure have some depressing Ten Day Benders; they also have enough good ‘ole boy in them to pump a shotgun and pick a fiddle simultaneously.

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