Show Reviews

What Festivals Can Learn From the Voodoo Experience It’s nearing the end of festival season, a changing of the guard now so regimented that it’s ushered in via SXSW and dispersed in a bewildered cloud of Rock the Bells and scant, smaller events. Someday that vacillating gap between large-scale live music’s downtime and its uptick […]

Although Halloween has come and gone, many of us are still in “WTF” mode: in awe of the performances delivered by Phish, Umphrey’s McGee, Foo Fighters, Gov’t Mule, moe., Widespread Panic and others. Halloween, running mischief and unique unlike any other night of the year, lets bands don costumes both musically and figuratively. Whether it […]

It wasn’t long into Lettuce’s sold out appearance in Higher Ground’s ballroom on October 25th that the septet fully reaffirmed the impression they left on their last appearance at the Vermont venue in September of 2013. That is, precisely because they’re so versatile as a band and the arrangements of their material so open to […]

It’s Monday morning, “Tela” and “Wilson” are being paged in the Las Vegas airport, and all is well in the universe of Phish. Wrapping up the 2014 fall tour last night with their third consecutive strong show in a row, it is now as clear as can be that something special took place over the […]

The week of CMJ Festival in New York City is one of discovery and excitement, as independent and promising young artists from throughout the world take the stage to put their talents on display. It was thus fitting that Here Lies Love, an off-Broadway musical production by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook) held […]

The post show glow from Halloween had not peeled off any fans faces as they entered the MGM Grand Garden Arena last night. The obvious question was how would Phish follow up one of the most memorable performances of their career on Saturday night in Las Vegas? Would the band come out a little tired […]

On the heels of three solid shows in San Francisco, Phish rolled into Las Vegas last evening and delivered a Halloween masterpiece. Known for dawning musical costumes to celebrate the holiday, Phish broke with tradition last year to offer a set of original music. No one knew for sure what was going to be offered […]

On their first of three sold-out evenings at Port Chester’s Capitol Theatre, Wilco could have opened with virtually anything from their expansive discography. But somehow, “Wilco (The Song)”— a love letter of sorts to fans—seemed appropriate. What followed was a continuation of that nod to Wilco aficionados; a 30 song set that took concertgoers on […]

Oftentimes, and especially in the fall months, sports and music will overlap. For fans of both, this means having to sacrifice the viewing of a baseball playoff or a Monday Night Football game when a good band is in town. Or perhaps it’s the opposite: eating purchased tickets to watch your team play. Fortunately, last […]

Wednesday marked the ninth time Phish has played a sold out show in San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Much to the delight of fans, the band offered three well-played shows over the course of the past few days. Each show showcased diverse moments of brilliance that outshined any lowlights over the course of the […]

The tenth annual Art Outside music festival took place last weekend in Rockdale, TX. The visual and auditory art was more abundant than the majority of festivals across the country can provide, and not just in quantity but, also quality. Throughout the weekend spectators were entertained by DJs, live bands, hybrid livetronica and artists of […]

The English synth pop duo known as Erasure that formed in London in 1985, brought their Electronic Dance roots music to an adulate full house at the Ventura Majestic Theater, on a warm Sunday night, October 26th.  Although the duo had only three hits on the US charts, A Little Respect”, “Chains of Love”, and […]

For a majority of Phish fans, last evening was the clear highlight of the fall tour.  Even though the San Francisco Giants did not win the World Series, the disappointing energy exuded from the lot had no bearing on the show. Or did it? The show was far from perfect, as if there’s such a […]

Before the beloved Drive-By Truckers took the magnificent stage at the Beacon Theatre on Friday, October 17th, Birmingham, Alabama-based band St. Paul and the Broken Bones tore the place up. With their soulful, throwback rock and roll, tinged with dramatic Southern gospel, this seven-member band left jaws on the floor by the end of their […]

Last night, Phish played their seventh ever show at San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Stepping to the stage for show seven in the midst of a twelve-show fall tour, the band rolled into the Bay Area lacking that one heavy hitting highlight evening that fans have been looking forward too for months. Although last […]

Something about Ryan Adams and his music brings out the stranger side in people. When he plays live this goes to the extreme. It’s difficult to pin down exactly why, but the best assumption is that acts like Conor Oberst, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, and Ryan Adams (to name a few) have all written songs […]

You can take Gene Ween out of Ween, but you can’t take the Ween out of Aaron Freeman. This fact was established within the first moments of Aaron Freeman taking the stage at the Parish on Saturday night. With his new band, aptly and perhaps metaphorically named FREEMAN, the former Ween frontman appeared healthy, happy […]

The trajectory of Nika Danilova’s Zola Jesus live shows has directly paralleled the trajectory of her recorded output: in just five years, she’s gone from mostly solo performances of lo-fi, Gothy drones to carefully orchestrated productions in which dark tinges barely disguise slickly-produced pop leanings. This evolution was in full effect Sunday night in Manhattan’s […]

Maybe it was his recent appearances on Portlandia, late night TV appearances or just his excellent new release Tied to a Star on Sub Pop, but whatever the reason J Mascis sold out the Bowery Ballroom Friday night to a wide range of fans. All ages genders and races were in attendance to see the […]

Minus the Bear’s tour in support of their latest release Lost Loves, a collection of unreleased material recorded during sessions for the Planet of Ice, Omni, and Infinity Overhead albums and the ten year anniversary of the They Make Beer Commercials Like This EP, made a stop at Philadelphia’s subterranean music venue aptly named Underground […]