As much as an entertainer Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter is, it’s more so his skill as a businessman and entrepreneur that gave him the accessibility to curate the Budweiser Made In America celebration in Philadelphia this past Labor Day weekend.
There was some polite banter, with Perry asking the crowd about their sex lives, but otherwise the guys kept it tight, moving from one classic JA song to the next. For true fans, this was a career-spanning, fan-based set, as heir energy was substantial, but they didn’t take any real risks either. Considering where they are in their career, this is understandable, if not expected: you’re not going find the pure adventurous spirit of a 1980s Jane’s or that of the early Pearl Jam, with the lead singer scaling scaffolding and leaping into the crowd
Suddenly there is the sound of a cracking whip guitar, slicing through the bright sunlight and out run a bunch of young bucks with flying hair and British accents. This is not KISS and this is not Motley Crue. This is The Treatment, a band causing humongous ripples everywhere they play opening THE TOUR.
In a live setting, Van Etten rocks louder than listening to her albums alone would imply, while still maintaining a strong sense of intimacy with the audience. Several of her songs are dramatic builds to powerful moments that are captured in the studio recordings, but appear much bigger and louder on stage.
On an unusually pleasant August night, Perpetual Groove returned to Raleigh's Lincoln Theater for their second visit of 2012. With school not yet in session, the show was somewhat sparsely attended, but about 100 spirited fans still soaked up the band's dependable jam-rock sounds and blazing light show.
One the key figures in those revolutionary times was Ray Davies, the chief songwriter and front-man for the Kinks, and on July 21st, he could be found onstage at the Wiltern in Los Angeles, playing a set that consisted mostly of songs by his former band. Davies tackled select gems from his vast songbook over the course of an hour and forty minutes, opening the show with a handful of barebones acoustic numbers and wrapping things up with an electric band.
There were threats of major summer thunderstorms this Friday night on the Brooklyn Waterfront; perhaps that is why one of the vital late 80’s/early 90’s rock and roll acts could only fill about half of the outdoor venue. Whatever the reason Jane’s Addiction didn’t seem to mind as they played with an energy that proved they still have fire in their veins.
It is a well-known fact that Tyler Connolly was not a happy camper when he wrote the band’s latest record The Truth Is, but what happened in the process was that a popish, devil having fun, part rock/part rockabilly hornet’s nest of a symposium was created instead of something more sinister. And it worked. The singles have been hits, the shows have been sell-outs, and Connolly just may finally be a happy man once again.
Is there a more fitting show location for Indiana's Murder by Death ("MBD") than the Arizona Desert? MBD acclimates perfectly amongst the hot, dry, dusty landscape because their music sounds like an amalgamation of ghost towns, drunks, and the devil…when he went down to Georgia. Phoenix's young venue, Crescent Ballroom was bathed in red and black as MBD ripped through an hour and a half set filled with songs from all five (soon to be six) albums.
Cynics might see the Strangefolk reunion show at Waterfront Park August 11 as nothing more than an indulgence in nostalgia, something akin to the classic rock shows that tour the sheds each summer. But the rain-delayed event was more like the get-together of old friends in a genuine reconnection of their relationship, all parties just as interested in how they had changed as in how much they had stayed the same.
