Show Reviews

Lyle Lovett has made a career out of enchanting people with his voice but if you strip all of his usual big band support: what you get is a heartfelt presentation of voice and song. Add longtime buddy Vince Gill to the mix for a song by song trade off on their huge catalogs and you […]

Looking out from the balcony of New York City’s Bowery Ballroom this past Wednesday evening, one couldn’t help but notice the constant stream of long gray and white hair below as the nearly capacity crowd of old school rockers, ex-hippies, and rad dads filed in for three hours of blue collar rock n’ roll from […]

The Los Angeles based ska/funk/freak-outfit Fishbone have been touring the last few years with various line-ups and to various sized crowds. For their most recent trek around the country the group has brought back some of their original members and decided to forgo classic numbers by digging dug deep into their catalog. The band never […]

Portland, Oregon’s Crystal Ballroom came alive Friday night as Yonder Mountain String Band brought their progressive bluegrass party to town. Nearly 20 years into the band’s existence, they continues to play dynamic shows, and bring a little something extra to each performance to keep fans on their toes. First up was The Lil’ Smokies, an […]

Big Ears Day Three once again featured artists sharing a passion for innovation. Few wind up creating a new form, but each demonstrated the wide variety that musical innovation can take. Joan Shelley, a Louisville-based singer and songwriter, works in the traditional genre of acoustic, Appalachian-style folk, expressed simply but beautifully through her resonant voice […]

Touring in support of their newest record, Polar Similar, metalcore veterans Norma Jean rocked Grizzly Hall Friday night with a set that embraced the power of change and the transition into modernity. Norma Jean have been a band now for 20 years, but front man Cory Brandan Putman is the longest standing member at this point, […]

Jazz composer and pianist Carla Bley acknowledged a standing ovation following a stirring performance of her composition Anthem, as one of the opening shows at this year’s Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee. Bley’s piece, supported by the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, provided multiple metaphors for America past and present as snippets from patriotic songs emerged, […]

Holly Bowling was utterly captivating in her first headlining appearance at Higher Ground’s Showcase Lounge on March 19th. During the course of roughly two and a half hours divided between two sets, she not only reaffirmed her concept of ‘re-imagining’ the music of Phish and the Grateful Dead, she placed the grand idea in a […]

ALO’s 11th annual Tour d’Amour made its final stop at Portland, Oregon’s Wonder Ballroom on Saturday night. After a winter that was exceptionally cloudy and wet, including the wettest February on record, the good people of Portland have been impatiently awaiting a return of the light. Occurring just two days before spring, the ALO show […]

The final official day of SXSW often has one reflecting on the past week and the event as a whole with the few brain cells left. Before getting into any of the music (there was plenty), here are some thoughts about this year’s SXSW. For starters, compared to the previous few years, 2017 found smaller […]

By the fourth day of SXSW you’re usually moving at a slow crawl. Your feet and legs hurt, and your mind is fried from hangovers, lack of sleep, and overstimulation. But yet you continue, because SXSW is a marathon and dropping out at this point is simply not an option. Plus, there are bands to see! […]

At times SXSW can feel like a beautiful mess, a dance of chaos that is inevitable when the cultural universe convenes on one city. All of this is good, of course, but if you’re tackling the whole week, there are times when it’s good to step back from the madness and relax. Taking place on […]

With hundreds of bands to choose from, some people have a hard time picking the best place to spend the day. Jumping around is an option and can lead to new discoveries, but so can committing to just a couple parties and showcases that happen to showcase music you love. The latter was the case […]

The music portion SXSW festival hadn’t officially started on Monday night but that didn’t stop hungry musicians and fans from congregating across Austin, Texas to partake in the festivities of the 31st edition of the annual industry shindig. And if Monday was any indication, we are off to a fantastic start. The evening included a […]

Even though it wasn’t technically part of South by Southwest, deathcore heavyweights Emmure and After the Burial essentially kicked off the music portion of the festival Sunday night for many with rip roaring sets at Grizzly Hall. After a cadre of opening sets from up and comers like Fit for a King, Emmure took the […]

Almost three decades have passed since Green Day first began channeling their teen angst through rock n roll. The band’s latest album Revolution Radio reflects their infectious joy for life while addressing social awareness.  On Friday night (3/10), just outside the capital city of Atlanta, Green Day brought their politically charged party to the Infinite […]

“Never doubt that fucking rainbow,” frontman Wayne Coyne told his Boston audience following a spaced out jam under an inflatable prism. Coyne and his Heady Fwends brought The Flaming Lips through Boston’s House of Blues in support of their recent release, Oczy Mlody, for a set that showcased new material but focused on fan favorites […]

At this point, New York City (and particularly the fantastic Brooklyn Bowl) is a second home to the New Orleans-based Soul Rebels Brass Band. The group came into town last weekend and sold out three nights in a row, bringing the Southern hot funk to the freezing North with style while also paying homage to […]

Nikki Lane can set fire to a stage, and she did just that on March 2nd at Music Hall of Williamsburg as part of Highway Queen tour. On the tails of her new record, also titled Highway Queen, Lane and her band has been maintaining a rigorous show schedule. But nevertheless, the energy was high […]

The McDowell Mountain Music Festival has come a long way in its 14 years. What was primarily a roots and jam festival early on has now blossomed into a mini Bonnaroo of sorts with three days showcasing a variety of genres with quirky modern rock, EDM and jam taking top billing. This year M3F brought […]