Show Reviews

Before each Memorial Day weekend in the Appalachian foothills of western Maryland, a unique phenomenon occurs. Tens of thousands of like-minded bluegrass-obsessed musical adventure seekers migrate to the welcoming confines of the Allegany County Fairgrounds in Cumberland, Maryland, for a four-day experience that stands as the epitome of what a music festival should be: DelFest.  […]

Boston Calling ignited the Harvard Athletic Complex this past Memorial Day Weekend, May 23-25, as always with an eclectic and electrifying lineup. Headliners included country sensation Luke Combs, pop-punk giants Fall Out Boy, and rock stalwarts Dave Matthews Band. This year’s festival promised and delivered a diverse musical journey, featuring punk-pop princess Avril Lavigne and […]

BottleRock Napa, the prestigious music festival in the idyllic wine region, was a resounding success, featuring established stars, emerging talent, and the usual array of indulgences. The three-day event celebrated its 12th year from May 23 to 25, coinciding with Memorial Day weekend. The festival sold out, drawing approximately 40,000 fans each day. Popular artists, […]

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have likely followed the epic touring schedule of Jack White over the past year. Since the release of his album No Name in 2024, the former White Stripes frontman and soon to be Rock and Roll Hall Of Famer has been on an epic barnstorming mission starting […]

The pair behind Underworld has been making music since Ronald Reagan was president, or Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, and the band itself coalesced in those years. And yet, at Seattle’s Showbox Sodo on May 20th, the duo of Karl Hyde and Rick Smith blew the roof off with an unrelenting, two-part set that drove […]

There can be artistry in constructing an evening of music, similar to how a band might approach building a setlist, where the structure of the night functions as a conductor directing an orchestra. This premise underlies Dual Pathways, a Philly festival that held its second annual iteration on Saturday, May 17th. It touted more than […]

If you’ve followed Jason Isbell’s career for roughly the past two decades, you’ve by now likely realized that there are two sides to the gifted songwriter and guitarist. On the one side, there is the prodigal Alabama son who put in his years of hard living and harder rocking with the Drive-by Truckers while amassing […]

The semi-annual Exit Zero Jazz Festival, its twenty-fourth edition, was held May 16-18, 2025 in the nation’s oldest ocean resort, Cape May, NJ, featuring many of the top performers in jazz, emerging stars and veterans alike with a sun-splattered, ocean-facing deck that hosted both interviews and youth performances. The main venue, Convention Hall, was practically sold out on […]

Portland, Oregon music fans who made their way to Revolution Hall on Friday, May 16th, left not just satisfied, but somewhat stunned by the quality of the soul shakedown party they were presented with by this Neal Francis Return To Zero tour stop. Francis and his band, along with opening act Color Green, both commanded […]

On an overcast, breezy Thursday evening at South Street Seaport, Amyl and the Sniffers brought their Cartoon Darkness world tour onto the glorious rooftop at Pier 17 in New York City on May 15th. With the best backdrop of any NYC outdoor venue, the stage was set for a rollicking night of punk-infused rock and […]

On May 12th, Boston welcomed Larkin Poe, comprised of The Lovell Sisters, for another round of Georgia-blues influenced rock and roll at the historic Wilbur Theatre. Touring in support of their latest sonic tapestry ‘Bloom’, Rebecca and Megan stepped onto the stage, bathed in a warm, inviting glow, ready to unfurl their unique brand of […]

It had been nearly six years since thrash-metal titans Power Trip last graced the stage of Metro Chicago. The band, of course, had good reason for their extended hiatus from The Windy City and touring at large, given the fact that their original lead singer, Riley Gale, tragically died in 2020 at the all too […]

When Geordie Greep suddenly announced the end of Black Midi last year, the math rock outfit he had founded in his teens and co-fronted, it was met with shock. After all, the band was on the up and up as they released albums that increasingly appealed to broader audiences. Greep’s next move made it clear […]

On May 6th, indie band Momma hit Crescent Ballroom with an electric performance. Momma is fronted by singers Allegra Weingarten and Etta Friedman, who both hold a euphoric, yet familiar, charm that only the lead singer of an indie-sleaze revival band can have. They started with “I Want You (Fever)”, a hit that is also their […]

Considering the worldwide influence that the late Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat music has had on everyone from the Talking Heads to Arcade Fire and modern-day funk and hip-hop, it’s perplexing that the small handful of acts waving the torch for the real thing sometimes fall below the radar. This music is energetic and full of life, […]

“How much difference does it make,” Eddie Vedder sang during the show-opening “Indifference,” a song usually reserved for a closing slot in a Pearl Jam set, but not tonight. A few moments later Vedder admitted he “made a mistake in the set list” before launching into “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town.” […]

Last fall, we were gifted with a somewhat unexpected release from a new “supergroup” of sorts called The Hard Quartet. Featuring Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus along with venerable go-to talents Matt Sweeney, Jim White, and Emmett Kelly, the group’s album dabbled in a sort of worship of old Britpop and psych, freak-folk, and garage rock, albeit […]

Washington D.C. – based surf-sludge-punk garage rockers Teen Mortgage are taking the American rock club scene by storm, with a slew of sold-out shows across the nation. Fueled by the April 11 release of their first LP, Devil Ultrasonic Dream (Roadrunner Records), the duo, consisting of James Guile on guitar and vocals and Edward Barakauskas […]

On May 1st, Sharon Van Etten and her band, The Attachment Theory took over Boston’s Roadrunner for a night of indie rock glory. As the house music and lights faded and the atmosphere crackled with anticipation as the lights dimmed, signaling the arrival of Sharon Van Etten and her band, The Attachment Theory. The stage, […]

Singer-songwriter Amos Lee hit Orlando’s Plaza Theatre on May 1st on the last stop of the 2025 tour for a night of jams and sing-alongs. Half of the Washington duo Sway Wild opened the night. With Dave McGraw at home recovering from kidney stones, Mandy Fer played the set as a solo act. “Dave says […]