Show Reviews

Indie Rock has been crashing into the “world’s most famous arena” as of late and the blogosphere darlings of last winter – Cold War Kids – decided to weather some predictable internet-backlash in style by opening for the Muse at MSG; an off-beat warm up before crossing the pond for summer festivals and a fall which primarily consists of opening for the White Stripes.

On the surface, St. Louis country-rock artist Rena Summers has a lot of things going her way. She has just released her debut album, It’s All About You, a collection of songs that were mostly written herself. She has a band that knows how to bring her songs to life, capturing simple and pure energy to complement her vocals. And on this special night, she got to show off her tunes and her band off at one of St. Louis’ best venues for intimate, live music: The Sheldon.

Summers and Copeland claim publicly that they've struck that delicate balance between the acceptance of Sting as the undisputed creative force and providing him the freedom to utilize it, warts and all. That fragile equilibrium was in full display on the very same stage where they officially said goodbye. The results were electrifying enough to remind everyone in attendance why they were so big in the first place.

For a musician of his talent and stature, it’s hard to believe that Bela Fleck had not played with his band the Flecktones at Carnegie Hall before their show on June 30th, a part of the New York City version of the JVC Jazz Festival. Long overdue, this performance delivered all the genre-bending mastery for which the Flecktones are known.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been mentally preparing myself to write a bad review of The Police at Madison Square Garden. Every critic and blogger was all over these guys for changing the sound of a few tunes and playing the same songs every night. The first shows of the tour sounded mediocre at best and had me doubting their reunion. But I’m glad to report that last night The Police showed the sold-out crowd why they were once the greatest band in the world.

Coming home is a theme that many novels, plays, and songs often visit. Maybe even the proverbial "Prodigal Child" has to take a break from the road. Then again, maybe all those people's children raised on the road or who escape like Walt Whitman to the open road meet at a place like 10,000 Lakes.

Dressed in a solid, blood-red and standing in front of a plain red stage, with an apple red guitar, Jack White kicked off the White Stripes’ first show at Madison Square Garden in style with the bare-boned power-blues of “Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground”, kicking the fictional brother/sister team off and running and they didn’t stop for the next two hours.

If taking eleven years off helps a band's sound as much as it did for Crowded House, perhaps every band needs to take an extended hiatus. Crowded House returned to New York City for the first time since 1996 on Thursday night for a brilliant performance at the Masonic Lodge. The band played in the stately Grand Lodge, a room better known for housing meetings of the usually secretive Free Masons than as a venue for a rock band.

All realms of Wilco's shape-shifting self were on display recently on a rainy night at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, as Wilco played one of their longest shows of the year; a 26 song monster that even included a Tweedy led rendition of “Happy Birthday” for multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone.

Clarence Greenwood, a.k.a. Citizen Cope, did not seem to mind, or perhaps notice, that the Marquee Theater was only about half full for his June 6 performance in Tempe, AZ. Only the tallest people in the crowd, who could turn around and see the definitive line where the audience stopped and the empty portion of the room began, really had a sense of the sparse attendance

Simply stated, this was the loudest-fucking-concert I have ever been too.

“It’s a rock album,” says guitarist and lead vocalist Sam Prekop of Everybody, the first new release from The Sea and Cake in more than four years. The band’s recent show at Webster Hall in New York was a testament to that statement, as the indie-pop heavyweights demonstrated an active presence with a room-filling sound that listeners may not collect from their studio recordings.

f there’s one thing you can’t knock the Hold Steady for – it’s being sloppy. Booking arguably the “best bar band in America” on a Saturday night in a small rock club, things are bound to get rowdy. The Paste Magazine cover boys were in the midst of the fifth night of their spring/summer tour, having made the six-hour voyage east from San Diego to Phoenix’s sweaty Brickhouse.

Apollo Sunshine once again proved that rock and/or roll is alive and kicking on last night’s Rocks Off boat cruise. Warm weather, blue skies and, well, sunshine offered a perfect environment for a three-hour floating rock show around lower Manhattan, and Apollo Sunshine provided a high-energy blast of power pop, heavy on the power.

A few years ago when The Greencards were asked to spend their summer touring with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan, Kym Warner figured that he would at least get the chance to pick the great American songwriter’s brain for a few minutes. Instead, all he got was a brief moment at the end of the tour when a hurried and mumbling Dylan told the young trio, “You’ll be fine from now on.”

Boston-based Antje Duvekot recently opened a well-attended show headlined by Lucy Kaplansky at Seattle’s Tractor Tavern, and the two put on a wonderful show. The main complaint, particularly as related to Duvekot’s part of the show, was that Duvekot arrived late, having been on a later-than-expected flight, and was able to play only a few songs.

With the theatrical flavor of Pink Floyd and the emotive tendencies of The Cure, The Arcade Fire mesmerized a sold out crowd at Boston’s Orpheum Theater.

Now touring behind their second offering Favourite Worst Nightmare, the Monkeys from a Sheffield England suburb, made their way onto the Hammerstein stage for their cask tight hour and fifteen minute set which begun with pre-recorded violin strings before being replaced by scratching guitars and Yorkshire accents.

Few bands in recent memory have caught the ears of this reviewer like Stars of Track and Field.  This Portland-based trio has sprung into indie musical consciousness, with but one full-length to their credit, creating a repertoire of gorgeous, riff-laden, perfectly-crafted pop songs.

Way down upon the Suwannee River, The Allman Brothers Band's electrifying Third Annual Wanee Festival returned to the scenic Spirit of Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida. The festival featured The Allman Brothers Band's 38th Anniversary as America's most enduring musical road warriors.