Show Reviews

Toubab Krewe truly breakdown all genre barriers and have created their own sound, as they call it, “Afro-Cowboy-Ninja-Surf-Music”. When you catch them live you will call it a blast.

Morningwood is a little wild and still gelling as a band, but certainly ready to bust out of their jeans.

The countdown started for me when the “Welcome Back Carter” theme came waltzing out of the PA system. It was noticeably louder than the stream of music lost in the pre-show chatter and buzz inside the auditorium, and I knew the show was about to begin. That, for me, was a more palpable countdown than another tick of the clock turning over another year like an invisible odometer. moe. entered the stage with cartoonish wigs in seventies big fro style and assembled for what I found out upon arriving, was to be an opening acoustic set. Well that solidified it, I thought, I had chosen wisely when I decided to make this show my New Year’s Eve destination.

The Assembly of Dust has evolved from being a group of friends coming together to back lead singer Reid Genauer as he embarked on a solo career after his departure from the seminal jam-band Strangefolk in August of 2000, to developing into a tight cohesive unit with their own distinct style and sound.

As far the Mule Year's Eve run went, this opening night was the meat-and-potatoes end of it: unglamorous and not entirely surprising in setlist, guest list and general delivery.

With a recent Boston Phoenix nod as "Best New Band" and the Boston Herald placing them on their “5 Things To Change The Face Of Boston Arts and Entertainment” list, Apollo Sunshine was more of a co-bill than a true opener for fellow New Englanders, The Slip.

Breakestra’s got the formula down when it comes to funky ass live performances.

For the past few years (since 2000, really), they

This trio of musicians has gotten to know each other well quite well the past year and isn’t afraid to jump into uncharted waters at any time.

The latest SKB incarnation seems to be rolling into shape just in time for the upcoming four-night run at the Great American Music Hall for New Year

The Steve Kimock Band took stage at Portland Oregon

Warren Haynes is Santa Claus, at least as far as I am concerned. Not only does he throw the best Christmas Party I have ever attended, but the eight hour-plus music event is for a great cause, Habitat for Humanity.

On December 10, 2005, Low performed a Christmas concert in the Sacred Heart Music Center in Duluth, Minnesota, for a church full of appreciative music go-ers, to benefit the Maasai School Project in Kenya. Out of a perfectly satisfying seventeen song set, Low performed only one up-tempo song, “It Was Just Like Christmas.”

The band

The warm ambiance provided by Mississippi Studios, which acts like an elegant living room rather than a theater, is the perfect setting for a Charlotte Martin performance. The stunningly beautiful Martin, in her second Portland performance seemed excited, if not slightly overanxious, to make the eager audience feel as at home as the venue does. Martin, an up-and-coming pop singer with a well-disguised dark side, managed to do just that on this Sunday night as she turned in a rather talkative–Storytellers-esque

On a typically cold November evening, a diverse crowd formed outside the legendary Cleveland Odeon and eagerly stepped inside the spiritual cipher for a night of sermon. By boldly beatboxing off the beaten path, Matisyahu has emerged as a new voice of his generation.

Dinosaur Jr,’s performance was one big pile driver leaving the audience with ears ringing and hearts singing. More then one person was looking for any extras to Saturday

Playing a stand alone club date, a benefit for the Red Cross, the Machines aired some new material and a few old favorites to a receptive, if tame, crowd. The Secret Machines have been steadily gaining respect with their form of vibrant musicianship and mind blowing live shows.

San Francisco

Doubleheaders and good ole Blues Rock have seemed to go the way of cassette tapes and fondue, hard to find, outdated, and sorely missed. On an unseasonably warm night, psychedelic blues rockers The North Mississippi All-Stars brought their brand of homegrown Hill Country Blues to Baltimore and took baseball legend Ernie Banks