It’s surprising, and quite rare indeed, when a performer is younger than the average age of the audience in attendance; however, 22 year-old Niki Roza Danilova, better known as Zola Jesus, drew such a crowd to her performance at the historic Great American Music Hall in San Francisco last night.
Shawn Colvin has an acute awareness of where her music comes from—whether from the artists who have inspired her or the personal experiences that have demanded expression—and she declares them all with a masterful poetry that leaves audiences in little doubt that they have seen one of the modern day's great troubadours.
As much of a pleasure as it is to be able to witness such brilliance in a warm intimate setting, any of the attendees (whose number never topped 50) might wish it was pure choice, as a respite from larger venues and bigger crowds, rather than necessity on the part of the artists: a hat was passed in lieu of admission charge. Be that as it may, the purity of the music was right in tune with the air of the clear starry night outside, an unofficial soundtrack for the winter season if there ever was one.
On their second trip to the Phoenix area in one month, having just opened for Wilco in Tempe, White Denim, played a short one hour set to cap their road-work in support of 2011’s D. And since D is only 37 minutes long, it was welcoming that the Crescent Ballroom performance was an hour in length. Also it was a good night out on Valentine’s Day, seeing a no-fluff guitar rock band always keeps it real for those of us don’t buy into the Hallmark holiday.
The Tiny Universe can encompass a lot these days, including one of the greatest rock albums known to man, Sticky Fingers. This group has been performing the album live across the country with the help of their special guest Anders Osborne on guitar, but before the 70’s swagger was broken out both outfits did a bit of their own playing.
Michelle Blades first appeared in Phoenix seemingly out of dry air at an open mic and proceeded to blow everyone's minds by improvising a melodious song with simple strums on her uke. Since then, she has played at countless local venues, toured Europe and recorded three albums under the River Jones label. We all can consider ourselves lucky to witness the evolution of such an amazing musician into a tremendous performer, without losing a ounce of sincerity and modesty.
There was a sense of the band preaching to the already converted but still I admired the fact that they performed with aplomb and a generous sense of humor about themselves.
Chock full of rockers that got the heart pounding as well as the fists, 38 Special appeared to be having fun. Vocalist Donnie Van Zant roamed the stage with a noticeable hitch in his giddy-up, playing around with Chauncey and flashing a million watt smile. Barnes was more the calm-cool-and-collected guy, unlike his 1980’s persona, but his playing was not cold by any means. For his spotlight solo that kicked into “Trooper With An Attitude”, he led the audience on a finger-tapping scatfest. “Oh man, I love this job”, he said midway through.
The Kills played Washington, DC’s legendary 9:30 Club on their North American tour, gearing up to a tenth anniversary concert in New York City this past week. The band has
Armed with an album’s worth of new material for the first time in nearly a decade, Acoustic Syndicate returned to Carrboro, NC’s Cat’s Cradle for a Saturday night show that turned out to be a showcase for new songs instead of the usual barrage of crowd favorites. The McMurry clan (Steve, Bryon, and Fitz), along with bassist Jay Sanders and Billy Cardine on dobro, are newly committed to making music again, and it’s invigorating for the band and their fans to hear freshly minted songs emanating from the stage.
