According to Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam hasn’t played Florida very often. This made the fact that he was ending his 2012 solo tour with 8 shows in the state all the more special.
Fans who found their way to Raleigh's Lincoln Theater for Acoustic Syndicate's unofficially annual Thanksgiving show may have been surprised at what they heard – that depends on their recent history seeing the band. Acoustic Syndicate continues to move forward with alarming insistence, not exactly shunning their previous existence but at least regarding it from afar. They drew a nice crowd of holiday weekenders and longtime fans together for a traditional gathering on one of the coldest nights of the season, but the show was far from nostalgic.
The small Webster Bank Arena usually hears the roar from its Sound Tigers (whatever the hell one of those are) but on this night the thundering came from an old rumbling Crazy Horse. Riding on the back of the outfit’s newest offering Psychedelic Pill, the band was pulling this successful tour to a close on this night in Connecticut.
What is quickly becoming a Thanksgiving tradition Robert Randolph and the Family Band has found a warm hospitable venue to stretch out pre and post turkey stuffing’s around the holiday. Brooklyn Bowl plays host to multiple nights of feel good performances as the venue seems to mesh perfectly with the artists on stage. Now in its second year, the shows are chock full of long improvisations, guest stars and a palpable sense of familial joy.
Forget Disneyland. Wherever Jens Lekman is playing is the happiest place on earth, even when he’s saying something incredibly sad. In fact, Jens Lekman has a knack for breaking bad in such a way that you forget how sad it truly is, and you quickly come around to accepting it all as part of the cycle of life. Add this skill to a crooner who wears his heart on the sleeve of his Swedish sweater and we have a hardcore non-apologetic romantic. A romantic with a clear Scandinavian pop sensibility that is particularly sweet and catchy.
This is not your old school GNR. Those days are gone and need to be put aside so that you can enjoy what this band has to offer. If you live in the past too headstrongly, you will miss the finer points of the musicians that Rose has assembled and what individual nuances they bring to such songs as “Sweet Child” and “November Rain.” They are not automaton players set up on stage to reenact the classics note for note, although they do try to keep the originality and integrity of said songs. I
It was an anomalous cloudy evening on Thursday and Phoenix downtowners were excited by both the cooling weather and the sold out Crescent Ballroom Grouplove show. Making their second appearance at the one year old venue (opening back in April for the Givers) and now headlining, the LA based band is still touring in support of their successful Never Trust a Happy Song album, released in September 2011.
Dylan and band seemed to be enjoying their only NYC appearance, making the crowd thankful they are still producing such exciting live versions of Dylan’s excellent catalog of music.
You made a big mistake, Seattle. Well – not all of you. There were 27 hearty folks, including this reviewer, who made the trip out to the beautifully remodeled Columbia City Theater to see Wintersleep last Thursday. It was a wonderful, if beguiling, treat for the lucky ones who got to see this band (2008 Juno Award winners,)play their hearts out after openers Elliott Brood.
As the Grammy-winning Deftones ("Best Metal Performance 2001") have illustrated over the past 20 years, there's plenty of room for progression in aggressive music. Whether you effuse admiration for the band or haven't really developed a taste for their art, there's no question that they bring a diverse crayon box to school, often coloring outside the lines of popular music theory. As a result, other bands have copied their homework but haven't been able to back it up with a proper oral report.
