Now two-years old in the states, the UK-based Virgin Festival (V Fest) was expanded to a two-day event featuring The Police, Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys and Velvet Revolver.
Indie Rock has been crashing into the “world’s most famous arena” as of late and the blogosphere darlings of last winter – Cold War Kids – decided to weather some predictable internet-backlash in style by opening for the Muse at MSG; an off-beat warm up before crossing the pond for summer festivals and a fall which primarily consists of opening for the White Stripes.
Summers and Copeland claim publicly that they've struck that delicate balance between the acceptance of Sting as the undisputed creative force and providing him the freedom to utilize it, warts and all. That fragile equilibrium was in full display on the very same stage where they officially said goodbye. The results were electrifying enough to remind everyone in attendance why they were so big in the first place.
On the surface, St. Louis country-rock artist Rena Summers has a lot of things going her way. She has just released her debut album, It’s All About You, a collection of songs that were mostly written herself. She has a band that knows how to bring her songs to life, capturing simple and pure energy to complement her vocals. And on this special night, she got to show off her tunes and her band off at one of St. Louis’ best venues for intimate, live music: The Sheldon.
For a musician of his talent and stature, it’s hard to believe that Bela Fleck had not played with his band the Flecktones at Carnegie Hall before their show on June 30th, a part of the New York City version of the JVC Jazz Festival. Long overdue, this performance delivered all the genre-bending mastery for which the Flecktones are known.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been mentally preparing myself to write a bad review of The Police at Madison Square Garden. Every critic and blogger was all over these guys for changing the sound of a few tunes and playing the same songs every night. The first shows of the tour sounded mediocre at best and had me doubting their reunion. But I’m glad to report that last night The Police showed the sold-out crowd why they were once the greatest band in the world.
Dressed in a solid, blood-red and standing in front of a plain red stage, with an apple red guitar, Jack White kicked off the White Stripes’ first show at Madison Square Garden in style with the bare-boned power-blues of “Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground”, kicking the fictional brother/sister team off and running and they didn’t stop for the next two hours.
Coming home is a theme that many novels, plays, and songs often visit. Maybe even the proverbial "Prodigal Child" has to take a break from the road. Then again, maybe all those people's children raised on the road or who escape like Walt Whitman to the open road meet at a place like 10,000 Lakes.
If taking eleven years off helps a band's sound as much as it did for Crowded House, perhaps every band needs to take an extended hiatus. Crowded House returned to New York City for the first time since 1996 on Thursday night for a brilliant performance at the Masonic Lodge. The band played in the stately Grand Lodge, a room better known for housing meetings of the usually secretive Free Masons than as a venue for a rock band.
All realms of Wilco's shape-shifting self were on display recently on a rainy night at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, as Wilco played one of their longest shows of the year; a 26 song monster that even included a Tweedy led rendition of “Happy Birthday” for multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone.
