Show Reviews

The east coast half of the two-date, bi-coastal festival presented an eclectic lineup of acts from every neck of the musical woods. Featuring artists like Jurassic 5 and the Wailers, all the way to rap/rockers like 311, and Boston’s hometown heroes the Dropkick Murphy’s; the abundance of represented genres was endless.

As sad as it is that CBGB’s is closing its doors at the end of the month, there couldn’t have been a better way to say goodbye to the Home of the Underground than with Pete Yorn. With his latest, Nightcrawler, just released, Yorn delivered some riveting new songs along with a repertoire of classics from his extensive catalogue.

Apollo Sunshine kicked off a tour-closing set in Northampton’s Iron Horse Music Hall to a crowd of starry eyed teens whose presence at a gig that started past 11:30 had to have broken a few curfews. The Iron Horse has long been known as the groups “home-base,” so to speak, and seeing as this was the last set the group would be playing before going on a lengthy hiatus, they made sure to put the extra effort into the set for their hometown-fans.

It’s not a stretch to say that Over the Rhine is at their creative peak. The last few years have produced the art rock Films for Radio, the addicting double album Ohio, and the intimate and personal Drunkard’s Prayer, not to mention a few internet-only live albums that have been sold to dedicated fans along the way. Granted, they haven’t caught national attention like Wilco or The Flaming Lips, but nonetheless, it’s been a great time to follow their lead and watch them evolve.

Over the years, Warren has evolved from a serious sideman to a mature bandleader who has endured the loss of band mates, shuffling of Jamband franchiseslike the Allmans & 'The Dead' to finally come out of his own Deep End into the rebirth of the Mule.

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.

Arguably the best festival of the summer, almost 20,000 people descended on the small Minnesota town of Detroit Lakes, for 10,000 Lakes Festival on July 19-22, 2006. The fourth year of this festival featured more of a jamband scene than previously, and included many top favorite acts and many regional artists, on the permanent fairground facilities that hosts the very large country music festival, We Fest.

To attend Bumbershoot, Seattle’s annual Labor Day orgy of the arts, is to understand all that is good about the Seattle music and cultural scene: the vivacity and seemingly boundless creative energy, the true breadth of artistic offerings, and the wide-ranging musical tastes of the audiences that support this incredible scene.

Ben Harper gave his heart and soul to a sold out crowd at Boston’s Bank of America Pavilion, with a set-list full of established fan favorites, and newer material that is gradually working its way into the former category.

Following an opening stint for Radiohead on the American leg of their summer tour, along with the past week’s release of Magic Potion, their debut on Nonesuch Records, the Black Keys have grown up from from their blue collar Akron roots.

At Bumbershoot, as is the case with all the good festivals, many dilemmas arise when it comes to choosing which bands to see and which bands to skip. With no fewer than nine stages to see music (and another two for comedy and still a few other platforms for poets and performance artists), naturally one must make choices, such as between the upbeat rhymes of megastar Kanye West and the swampy New Orleans funk of Ivan Neville

Once again the folks at Terrapin Presents have upped the ante on keeping the spirit of the Grateful Dead alive by providing genre bending music that keeps the adventure of improvisation and collaboration alive.

The generation gap was apparent, yet irrelevant, as Roger Waters rocked through two sets of premier Pink Floyd material to a sold out crowd at the Tweeter Center. In case the name doesn’t speak for itself, Waters most recent "Dark Side of the Moon” tour has incorporated the complete performance of the landmark 1973 album in its entirety, in addition to an entire set of other Floyd classics, while incorporating a few recent Waters originals into the mix.

All Good 2006 was truly an event worth waiting ten years for. If you had attended All Good since the beginning, you felt extremely validated joining the festival this summer.

Tempe, Arizona’s Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers made the two hour ride way up Route 17 to play a “fiesta” for their loyal fans at Pine Mountain. With bumper stickers that reference certain songs, along with fans fully equipped with cowboy hats and party attire, Clyne has laid the ground-work in terms of building a true grass-roots following.

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.

With the release of their new album, Zoysia, it appears that much has changed for The Bottle Rockets. For starters, Brian Henneman is no longer a drinker and not from Festus, Missouri anymore.

The Leeds festival has often, in the past, been renowned for its

There are few bands that can throw a full-on arena spectacle, charge a days paycheck amount for a ticket and leave their fans begging for more. Count U2, Green Day, Radiohead, The Beastie Boys and The Rolling Stones amongst those heavyweights. The Red Hot Chili Peppers who tour once every three or four years, have the big budget to throw a hockey shed spectacle amongst the best of the pre-mentioned acts. Their show during early stages of the Stadium Arcadium at the Glendale Arena, proved this Southern California four piece have continually expaned their sound from their young cock sock days.

Hearing the news that the String Cheese Incident