Show Reviews

The Pink Floyd Experience: Hard Rock Live, Biloxi, MS, 2/12/11

It is not easy being Pink Floyd. David Gilmour is a guitarist of unequaled expertise and trying to duplicate intricate machinations with the fingers is not to be taken lightly. You have to feel the music to be the music. And the Pink Floyd Experience has done a spritely job of weaving you into its British hallucinogenic lair … for a few hours, at least.

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Apex Manor: Noise Pop Festival Cafe du Nord San Francisco CA 2/24/11

pex Manor performed a solid set for the Noise Pop Festival. Their sound is unfussy and sincere, and Flournoy’s singing is candid, heartfelt and mature. He’s a captivating frontman with an impressive grasp of crowd dynamics, knowing how to play to their energy and still lead them to want more. If Apex Manor keeps up this momentum, they will definitely be a must-see act on their subsequent tours.  

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Wanda Jackson feat. Jack White and the Third Man House Band : El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles, CA 1/27/11

While it’s great that people have come around to acknowledge Jackson’s past achievements, Wanda Jackson's January 23rd show at Los Angeles’ El Rey Theatre confirmed that she is still breaking new ground and making a big sound, with a little help from her friends. For 75 minutes, the Queen of Rockabilly and company captured the spirit of early rock n’ roll, but added elements of gospel, western swing, blues and as you’d expect from any band that features Jack White on guitar, a heaviness and bite that could take music of yesterday’s past and make it feel like anything but oldies.

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Galactic / Trombone Shorty: Terminal 5, NYC, NY 2.26.11

Cases of Abita and Pat O’Brien’s Hurricane mixed were shipped in to turn the sold out Westside club into the closest approximation of a French Quarter haunt as two New Orleans acts (and friends) brought the jambalaya flavor north.  The night was ‘hosted’ by “The Rent Is 2 Damn High” guy himself, Jimmy McMillian who launched into his catch phrase multiple times to the delight of the fans in attendance.

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Cake: The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA 2/16/11

It appears that the market for Cake's finely-crafted music is as strong as ever, as the band quite unexpectedly sold out four nights in a row at the Fillmore.  Not bad for a band that just released their first album in seven years.

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George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic: House of Blues, Boston, MA 2/18/11

George Clinton and his P-Funk crew have gone through countless changes since their heyday in the 70s and 80s. Along the way, their catalog became the reservoir for rap beats, with Dr. Dre and others liberally sampling their unique grooves. Clinton’s musical and biological family grew, and he now shares the stage with his rapping grandchildren and other young disciples. Key members such as Bootsy Collins parted ways with Clinton and company, and just months ago, the band lost Garry “Diaper Man” Shider.

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Conspirator: Peter’s Room at the Roseland Theatre, Portland, OR 2/9/11

For only the second time in ten years members of the Disco Biscuits stepped onto the fertile ground of the Pacific Northwest. The sane ones of us here in Portland, Oregon and the Northwest at large have long given up hope of Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner’s titanic livetronica innovators returning to our beautiful corner of the country but for one night at Peter’s Room inside the Roseland Theater we were fortunate to have another chance to dance with their side project Conspirator.

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Little Dragon: The Independent, San Francisco, CA 2/4/11

How to describe the music that Swedish-based band Little Dragon creates?  The genre-defying sounds  pulsing off the stage on this sold-out night in San Francisco defied classification in any simple sense.  Using 80's electro-R&B as their core sound, these four Swedes brought the packed, hyped-up crowd at the Independent into their unique world of synth-washed outer space beats and minimalist, mid-tempo pop.

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Less Than Jake: The Granada, Lawrence, KS 2/12/11

If ska is dead, then consider Less Than Jake Jesus, rising from the grave and rocking so hard that even hipster-laden Lawrence, Kansas was moving. For almost two decades, Less Than Jake has toured fervently delivering its unmistakable ska-pop-punk sound  to fans across the globe. Saturday night in Lawrence was no exception.

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