2009

Pavement Confirmed for Sasquatch

Following early sellouts and rave reviews the past several years, and hailed by SPIN as “a pick-your-poison selection for your party at the edge of the earth,” the Sasquatch! Festival

Read More

Megadeth – Interview with James LoMenzo

James LoMenzo is not just a man with an impressive resumè (he’s written and performed with the likes of Ozzy, Slash and Zakk Wylde, White Lion, just to name a few,) he’s also a man with impressive enough chops to make Mustaine himself lament during the tryout which LoMenzo nailed right out of the gate “I should have hired you sooner!”

Read More

The Week That Was: We Love Halloween

It’s been another banner week ’round these parts as we fought off the post-Festival 8 blues by staying busy. Our main focus this week was Halloween coverage. Between Chad’s Mule-O-Ween

Read More

Review: Springsteen & the E Street Band Give Fans Something to Remember @ MSG

I’ve never really understood the Bruce Springsteen hardcore fans who catch The Boss all over the world as often as they can. I mean, how many times can you see the E Street Band play Born To Run?

Bruce & The E Street Band w/ Elvis Costello – Higher & Higher


Last night, as I approached Madison Square Garden, I noticed a massive single file line stretching from the sign in front of the venue to the box office and was told this was the “drop line” filled with Bruce fans hoping for a last minute ticket release for the group’s first of two MSG shows. As a diehard fan of a different band I appreciated the zealousness of the Boss fanbase. By the end of the first song I also appreciated the zealousness of The Boss himself – a performer who does anything and everything to make the crowd happy.

Scoring tickets to a Springsteen show in the New York City area is always tough but finding ducats for this two-show run was near impossible. Besides the drop line there were hundreds of people circling the arena trying to find tickets. A couple of factors led to the unusual demand for the two MSG shows. With only eight shows left to go before the band’s upcoming indefinite hiatus, fans fear this tour may be the last for the E Street Band which would make this their last shows in NYC. Also, a few days ago Springsteen announced he would be performing all of 1973’s The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle [WIESS] at Saturday night’s show to the delight of fans that have been chasing the multiple rarities from that album. Everything was setup for a classic which is just what we got.

READ ON for more from Scotty on Bruce Springsteen @ MSG…

Read More

Leftovers: C’mon AC/DC – Bust It Out

Jam fans are pretty lucky in that their favorite bands change up the setlist from night to night. AC/DC fans aren’t so lucky. The Australian natives’ Black Ice tour has

Read More

Picture Show: Blues Traveler Comes Home

On an evening when the attention of an entire city – and most of the Northeast – was turned to a small baseball game in the Bronx, jamband veterans Blues Traveler returned home to The Filmore New York at Irving Plaza for the first time in over a year. For over two hours, the band treated the packed house to classic covers, special guests, and their own hit singles.

dsc_8977

Mixing Sublime’s, What I’ve Got and Cheap Trick’s, I Want You to Want Me, with Hook, The Mountains Win Again, and of course everyone’s favorite, Run-Around, John Popper invited old friends Jamie McLean to the stage for Mulling It Over (just weeks after his sit in at Sullivan Hall with former Spin Doctors lead Chris Barron) and the lovely Falu to join in on The Path.

With the evening winding down and news of the World Series victory spreading through the crowd, John and bassist Tad Kinchla (in an appropriately attired in a Yankee cap) began the encore with a Led Zepplin tease into a “Let’s Go Yankees” chant, before finishing up with Forever Owed and But Anyway and releasing the delirious crowd into the crisp night.

Set: How You Remember It> What’s For Breakfast, Girl Inside My Head> Slow Change, What I Got> Mulling It Over*, You, Me & Everything> NY Prophesies, The Mountains Win Again, The Beacons> I Want You To Want Me, Carolina Blues, Look Around, The Path**, Just For Me, Nail> Hook, Dropping Some NYC> Crash Burn> Dropping Some NYC, Run-Around

Encore: Forever Owed, But Anyway

* with Jamie McLean on guitar
** with Falu on vocals

READ ON for more of Jeremy’s Traveler photos…

Read More

Through The Fog: Loggins/Messina

Being the live music junkie that I am, I have been subjected to some surprises over the years. Some were more than welcomed surprises, like this one time back in ’77 or ’78. I had to meet some guy named Boris (don’t ask) at a bar in Manhattan called Traxx. There was a trio playing on a small stage, killer rockabilly. Skinny, no shirts, a guitar bigger than the player. Upright bass and standup drummer playing a pretty austere kit. The Stray Cats were playing that night. Lucky Break.

zkenny-logginsss

Another time I won tickets to see The Tubes from a local radio station. The show was in a small club in downtown Portland. About halfway through the first song I noticed that it was not Fee Waybill behind the oversized shades, but a Waybill-wanna-be. Bad surprise. Glad I didn’t spend money for those seats.

There was another time the surprise just made me a tad less than comfortable. Sitting in the third row for the Mark Farner Band I was all set for a night of Grand Funk Classics, of which there were plenty. But, after opening with a few early ’70s gems, Farner said he wanted to show us where he had been for the last few years. What followed was about an hour of Christian church songs with a boogie beat, I mean Onward Christian Soldier kind of stuff. Well played, good music and all, plus I got my Grand Funk fix before the night was through, but just not how I expected it. I suppose the Mark Farner Ministries t-shirts I saw in the front row should have been a dead giveaway.

Those surprises came years ago, before the internet really, which dates them back far enough. Nowadays with the sweep of a mouse you can find out everything you want about a touring act in a matter of minutes. When I heard that Loggins & Messina were coming to town I did a little research before shelling out the ducats. I found a lot of raves about their 2005 Sittin’ In Again tour, but very little about their current outing. Just like with movies sometimes, no previews may be a bad sign.

READ ON for more from AJ on Loggins and Messina…

Read More

View posts by year