Show Reviews

One of the all-time classic rock and roll albums got a special treatment on Saturday Night September 9th as Pete Townshend and a huge host of friends brought Classic Quadrophenia to the New York Metropolitan Opera House. Aging rockers and young fans alike were dressed to the nines (or maybe broke out ragged concert t-shirts) […]

The modern-day music marketplace has shifted people to a mindset of only buying “Greatest Hits”. Those who still appreciate the artistic intent behind a concept album project would agree that cherry-picking only popular songs will ultimately rob you from fully experiencing the band’s intended message and musical flow. That’s why on must love the idea […]

There are nights when you realize that the universe has aligned an event in such a way that it would be a fallacy to miss out on. When two beloved local bands, Night Drive and Ghostland Observatory, can be found playing together on a Friday night – the pangs of FOMO for anybody living in […]

Most people have a ritual that signals the end of summer. For many roots music fans that rite is the Rhythm and Roots Music and Dance Festival held over Labor Day weekend at Ninigret State Park in Charlestown, Rhode Island. This year marked the 20th anniversary of the festival which blends a steady diet of Cajun/Zydeco […]

At first thought, the idea of mixing hip-hop and bluegrass and country music seems fairly ludicrous. Even though the hitmakers in Nashville have been doing this kind of thing in appalling fashion in recent years as part of their effort to pander to the mainstream, a true mix that does all genres proper justice seems […]

Phish played their 19th show at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce, Colorado last night to a sold out crowd. Would the looseness, confidence, and flow we saw at the Baker’s Dozen surface at Dick’s, after Phish had the chance to rest for the last three weeks? We all wondered, as the run of 13 […]

Former Iron Maiden singer Blaze Bayley took the stage at Come and Take It Live in Austin on Thursday, August 31st to a small, beer soaked, leather and denim clad crowd, but he might as well have been rocking a stadium of thousands. Though Bayley’s tenure with the almighty metal gods was short, he clearly […]

Across the country, on any given day, there are countless bands covering the timeless music of the Grateful Dead. But a cover band selling out the famed Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado? The iconic venue is just shy of holding 10,000 people. What is it about Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (JRAD) that draws such […]

Portland, Oregon is a mecca for craft beer and prides itself on its dedication to all things local. Both of these facts make it, at first glance, an odd choice for a festival thrown by massive beer company known for a profoundly tasteless lager. Then again, Portland is also a hipster haven and few of […]

YES certainly isn’t the first band to continue on without all their original members. Name any group formed prior to 1990, and aside from U2, there’s very few that still remain. But with a song catalog as vastly underrated and cherished as the one YES has built over the course of 40 plus years, their […]

Green Day’s performance at the Venue Formerly Known As Great Woods (Xfinity Center) on August 28th was so powerful Billie Joe Armstrong’s stage presence would make Dave Grohl look like Burt Bacharach by comparison. Their set before a capacity crowd in Mansfield, Mass was in support of their latest release, Revolution Radio, but the material […]

Austin City Limits tapings are some of the best shows you can experience in the music capital of Texas. There is no opening act, the use of cell phones is prohibited, and more often than not, the artist makes the performance special in some way. For his ACL debut, Josh Tillman, better known by his […]

Does anyone still care about the power of a good song? Matthew Sweet does. In fact, it’s fair to say that when it comes to writing catchy and melodic rock and roll songs Sweet has always been a vastly underrated musical force. He recently released his album Tomorrow Forever (REVIEW), which is one of his […]

The wave of bands on the metalcore wagon back in 2004 was staggering, and most of them failed to make much of an impact outside of diehard scenesters. For every band with an impeccable fan base and legacy like Underoath or Alexisonfire, there were a million imitators that find themselves in bargain bins collecting dust […]

Grizzly Bear’s new album Painted Ruins was just released last Friday (8/18) and is their first new LP in five years. In support, the band booked four northeast dates before a full tour takes them through Europe and the United States beginning in October. Two of the four shows took place at BSP Kingston, which […]

If you’re into independent country music, you may have noticed a lot of recent Internet chatter about Tyler Childers. The 27-year-old Kentuckian recently released his first full studio effort, Purgatory, and it did remarkably well in the charts for a release by an independent artist. It hit #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Album chart, #17 […]

On Wednesday, August 16th Sylvan Esso played a nearly sold out show at the Crystal Ballroom in downtown Portland. The North Carolina-based indie pop duo are known for their catchy lyrics and fun danceable beats. Their music is for indie fans that also like electronic music but want a bit more substance. In recent years […]

It’s sometimes astounding the things that come out of people’s idle hands. Since Mike Patton’s Faith No More has largely been on hiatus since their last world tour and Dave Lombardo left Slayer over contract disputes, Dead Cross was born. This is what happens when two guys like that, plus members of the Locust and […]

Steve Earle & The Dukes rolled through Portland, Oregon on Monday, August 14th, delivering a long set that featured music spanning Earle’s storied career, to an attentive and appreciative audience at Revolution Hall. Husband and wife duo The Mastersons opened the show. Chris Masterson, armed with an acoustic guitar, and Eleanor Whitmore, with a fiddle, […]

“Let the Music Do the Talking”, written by Joe Perry, would have been an appropriate song for the house PA to blast as Joe Bonamassa’s fans strolled out of the bank of Blue Hills Pavilion on August 12th. Why? Because, that’s exactly what Bonamassa and his band did for over two hours straight. Only uttering […]