Show Reviews

  You wouldn’t believe it if I told you. That in little ol’ Somerville, MA, early in the hours of a Friday night,  I witnessed a musical phenomenon. He performed as if possessed; transfixed, eyes rolling back in his head. When he opened his mouth  a melodic voice boomed with all the force and natural beauty […]

Sturgill Simpson has always come across as an artist who is more comfortable in the studio than onstage. But the reality of the music business now – even when your new album is at the top of the charts – means touring is a necessity. Simpson’s stage presence has always been quiet and down to […]

You have to give it to Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer. Instead of grinding the 90’s nostalgia circuit with their band The Posies, they have figured out a smart way to play shows for the fans that really want to see them. With the upcoming release of their 8th LP Solid States, their first in […]

Touring behind their fourth studio album, A Man Alive, released on March 4th of this year and produced by Merrill Garbus (aka tUnE-yArDs), Thao and the Get Down Stay Down take on the arduous task of performing this rhythmic and robust record with the same power and intensity the listener gets from the recording.  Describing […]

My Morning Jacket are no strangers to Austin City Limits, having played the long-running PBS music program in 2006 and 2008. This does not even include the four times frontman Jim James has guested on the show with his solo band, Monsters of Folk, Bright Eyes and Preservation Hall Jazz Band. So it was only […]

This past Saturday night the John Kadlecik Band brought the absolute heat to the infamous Fox Theatre in Boulder to conclude a three-night Colorado run. The Dark Star Orchestra co- founder and former Furthur guitarist was backed by bass slayer Klyph Black, drummer extraordinaire Nathan Graham, and Waynard Scheller bringing it home on the keys. […]

The band that jams together, stays together. It is hard to call to mind a band since The Decemberists that incorporates so many instruments (all members of Elephant Revival are multi-instrumental) or can weave such grand tales into their repertoire. If astute fans listen close enough to Elephant Revival lyrics, they may discover the equivalent of […]

Northeast progressive rock/dance music band Dopapod rolled into Kingston, NY, on the tail end of their spring tour along with funk/jazz duo Soule Monde. BSP Kingston opened up their larger back theater for the first time of the year for the show. A new modern stage was erected in front of the relic of the […]

Hell no, we won’t go! That was the rally cry for late Saturday afternoon at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. After a cloudy, humid, albeit windy, start to the day, the raindrops started small and turned big; Very big. Midway through Dr John’s main stage set, the rain, wind and lightening finally got […]

Hello Sunshine. Hello Crawfish Monica. Hello sweet refreshing snowball. With nary a raindrop in sight, and not as much mud as you’d think, Friday at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was hot-hot-hot … in more ways than one. And what better way to celebrate than with Bonerama and Glide’s Artist Of The Day, […]

After sunny skies and hot temperatures blessed the grounds of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival during it’s first weekend, it was inevitable that the rain gods would have their turn to play on the second weekend, which kicked off on Thursday. The at-times big, fat raindrops may have pounded down on Fest goers during […]

Monday night rock and roll shows are always unpredictable when it comes to turnout, but Murder By Death can pack a room. And that they did at Rough Trade in Brooklyn on April 18th, selling the place out and filling it with their diverse and dedicated fans. Punk rockers, granola heads, and everyone in between […]

The last time this reviewer covered Bruce Springsteen was when he finished his seven fall stops in the Metropolitan area in 2009 with a complete performance of The River. You easily sense from the review at the time that a big part of what made the night so special was the understanding that this was […]

In a fast-paced urban setting like New York  City, where the landscape is hard and grey and a patch of green grass is a luxury, seeing a band like Banditos from deep down South in Birmingham, Alabama with a sound entirely reflective of the environment from which they come is like breathing a much needed […]

Anyone who thought Grace Potter’s pop rock album Midnight meant that Potter had gone soft was proved wrong on Sunday night at Orlando’s House of Blues. Backed by her new band the Magical Midnight Roadshow, Potter delivered an intense 2-hour set that deftly combined new and older songs from her catalog. Throughout the show, Potter […]

Father John Misty takes the stage in the dark. The room reeks of weed and fans are practically hanging from the rafters, the three floors of the House of Blues Boston are so packed. Without word, Misty and band launch into his gin mill ballad, “Everyman Needs A Companion.” His hips shimmy and his eyes […]

In one of the newer renovated venues in Detroit, the Marble Bar stood firm as Parquet Courts riled up a sold out crowd on Thursday night. Opening the festivities was Soda, whose heavy noise elements and low toned vocals reminded of Bitch Magnet and Pixies intertwined to form some sort of amalgamation of both. The […]

No matter your stance on North Carolina’s infamous House Bill 2, there’s no denying that the troublesome legislation has drastically affected the state’s entertainment industry. Millions of municipal dollars have been lost as a collective result of cancellations by Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr, Cirque du Soleil, Boston, and Bryan Adams, while other artists […]

The final night of Moontower was one for the books. “What’s that?” you say. “An old timey reference?” Yes, indeed internet, the books are where we once recorded everything in order to keep track of small details we might not remember. Think social media, in print form. Podcasts, comedy, music, it’s all part of this […]

Day two of Moontower and everyone is wasted. Like, not in a funny “haha they were wasted” way. No – these folks are getting their money’s worth of entertainment. Jokes not funny? That’s ok, we’ll just take shots! Luckily, the jokes were funny so hopefully the fans of the fest woke up in their own […]