Show Reviews

It’s a damn shame that the people of Brooklyn couldn’t get it together enough on September 9th to come out and support the incredible Barrence Whitfield and the Savages as they teared up the Bell House, but ultimately, it’s their loss. A paltry, but enthusiastic crowd gathered extra early in the three-act show to catch […]

Inclement weather has rarely plagued the Grand Point North Festival, but the precipitation that fell Sunday September 13 made it all the more fortunate that the bill contained some of the more arresting and varied artists on the roster. Mist was in the air from about 4pm on Saturday and the foreboding skies across Lake […]

Ah the joy of the festival experience. The wealth of great music. The kinship that comes with being in the midst of your fellow participants. The sunny vibes enjoyed by all. The twirlers. The tie dye. And all that goes with it. The endless traffic. The mud. The crush of humanity. This year’s Lockn’ festival […]

Its seeds originally sown within the annual Lake Champlain Maritime Festival, Vermont’s own chanteuse of rock Grace Potter and her Grand Point North festival, now in its fifth year, has turned into one of the bonafide highlights of the city of Burlington’s vibrant music scene, so much so that it rivals in prominence its early […]

Love is Not Extinct” was the motto of the day when the Amourasaurus festival made its debut August 30th at the beautiful Look Park in Florence, Massachusetts. Curated by the jazzy pop band, Lake Street Dive( who chose the name based on a fictional character they created) in conjunction with their record label, Signature Sounds […]

On August 29th, Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers graced the stage of World Cafe Live in Philadelphia and were supported by Nashville Americana group, Andrew Combs. Mr. Combs, on acoustic guitar & vocals, along with his backing band, warmed up the crowd with an upbeat opening set, that included a number of tunes from their latest […]

If music festivals were gauged strictly on the quality of the community they create and the attention to creating an ideal experience for all, UTOPiAfest would be the most successful by a longshot. Plenty of festivals claim to focus on giving attendees a truly special experience when in fact they are using the event as […]

In Nikki Sixx’s 2011 half-memoir/half-photography book, This Is Gonna Hurt, he writes: “If you obey every time someone says you can’t do this or you must do that, you will become the person you never wanted to be.” It is a mantra I say to myself every day and it is certainly a perfect way […]

When Los Lobos last appeared in Vermont in 2014, they were wielding acoustic guitars at the Flynn Theatre in Burlington in support of their Disconnected in New York album. In this two-hour plus performance in the cozy confines of The Rusty Nail in Stowe, on the threshold of the Labor Day weekend, this little ol’ […]

It wouldn’t be a Phish show if it was predictable. The many layers of what makes this band so unique is exactly what happened on Sunday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, CO. Capping off a sold out three-night stand, their fifth Labor Day visit to a most random venue in the […]

On a Friday night in Portland fans were treated to a fine opening set by Israel Nash followed by the Americana rock of White Buffalo. Not very often will you see a house packed in time for the opener, but that’s what happened for Israel Nash and his band, and by the time White Buffalo […]

On Friday night (9/4/15) Phish returned to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado for their fifth three-show Labor Day run in as many years. The band is hot after their most celebrated tour in years, and in the true spirit of what’s become a ubiquitous Colorado venue for Phish fans, there were some […]

Photo via @acllive Over the nearly twenty years that Belle and Sebastian have been making music much has changed, and yet, much remains the same. Their sound has progressed through the years but the fun and excellence of their live shows continues to impress. Though in recent years a Belle and Sebastian tour has become […]

It was pretty obvious from the turnout and the diversity of the audience, that the people of Cambridge, Massachussetts are officially Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers fans; and the feeling seemed to be mutual, as Nicki hailed the Sinclair in Harvard Square as one of her favorite venues to play on tour. After a brief […]

Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and the inevitable legions of other airbrushed manufactured pop stars continually pump the music industry full of sanitized hot air that leaves a rift between the listener’s reality and their superficial image. The only veritable counterbalance to these unattainable expectations and departure from reality comes in the unabashed and unapologetic music […]

The annual MusicFestNW in downtown Portland has transformed over the years from a multi-venue festival reminiscent of South by Southwest into a weekend affair in the park with 20 bands.  The setting at Tom McCall Waterfront Park makes the festival easy to attend and enjoy, but this year there were many drawbacks. The corporate presence […]

The all-female rock trio known as Baby In Vain wrapped up a very successful U.S. tour at The Echo in the Silverlake district of Los Angeles, Tuesday night August 11th. The tour included opening dates for The Kills as well as a slot at the prestigious Outside Lands festival in San Francisco. Their headline performance […]

What looked like what was to be a dark and stormy night, weather-wise for the fans of Old Crow Medicine Show on Boston Harbor – soon became a glorious and rollicking hoedown for the ages. The weather was wonderful, as the Nashville-based quintet, led by the energetic and engaging Ketch Secor – tore through their […]

When Gary Clark Jr. first played the esteemed Austin City Limits show back in 2012, he had something to prove. His major label debut, Blak and Blu, had been released not long before the appearance and he was playing in front of a hometown crowd on the same show that had exposed the world to […]

Given the hypothetical question of, “Rock or bust?” – AC/DC didn’t give themselves or their audience a second to choose. It was rock, full on – and it was spectacular. After a few choice cuts from the Rolling Stones’ catalog played out through the house PA, the music stopped abruptly and the lights from inside […]