March 2011

Review: Furthur @ Best Buy Theater

Furthur @ Best Buy Theater, March 13

Phil Lesh and Bob Weir’s current group, Furthur, continued a run of shows at the Best Buy Theater in Times Square last night and offered quite a contrast between the band’s two sets. While the first set was song oriented to fault, the second stanza was filled with dynamic improvisation thanks in part to the contributions of special guest Warren Haynes.


With the passing of Owsley “Bear” Stanley, a patriarch of the Grateful Dead scene, earlier in the day, many attendees were discussing how Furthur would tip its proverbial hat towards Bear. Bassist Phil Lesh wasted no time as he started the show by saying a few kind words about his old friend and told the crowd he did something he hadn’t done in nearly 20 years – ate a steak – as a tribute to Stanley who famously subsisted on an all-meat diet. With that, the band launched into a Samson and Delilah opener propelled by drummer Joe Russo’s meaty beat.

There wasn’t much improvisation during the a first set that was at times a bit too mellow for its own good. Queen Jane seemed to go on forever, West L.A. Fadeaway lacked the punch and grit that many Grateful Dead versions contained and They Love Each Other was performed at a drowsy pace. John Kadlecik provided one of the highlights of the set with his ferocious guitar work in After Midnight. Because, the eighth track off of The Beatles’ Abbey Road, closed the set in fine fashion as the difficult composition was nailed by the ensemble. In fact, the vocal harmonies on Because were so good, you’d almost think they were prerecorded.

READ ON for more on last night’s Furthur show in NYC…

Read More

Pullin’ ‘Tubes: The Music Never Stopped

While the Sundance Film Festival is traditionally known as the place where indie filmmakers go to “break” their movies, get financing and find distribution for a wider audience, it also

Read More

Video: Booker T. & The Roots – Everything Is Everything

As we’ve previously reported, on May 10 the legendary Booker T. Jones will release the follow up to his 2009 Grammy winning album Potato Hole, with The Road From Memphis. This time around Jones has recruited the hardest working band in show business – The Roots – to serve as his backing band as well as an impressive roster of talent to make guest spots on the record (Sharon Jones, Lou Reed, Jim James, Matt Berninger).

READ ON to check out the video for Booker T. and The Roots’ instrumental cover of Lauryn Hill’s Everything Is Everything…

Read More

Televised Tune: On the Tube This Week

The MSG Network airs its first-ever live concert broadcast this evening at 8PM, when the Allman Brothers Band takes the stage at the Beacon. Monday, March 14 [All times ET]

Read More

Band of Heathens: Top Hat Crown & The Clapmaster

There is a collaborative, one for all spirit on Top Hat and if you like the new wave of Americana acts like Deer Tick and Dawes you will have a soft spot for Band of Heathens. Its not a perfect album, there are lulls in the generic country rock of opener “Medicine Man” and the blues bounce of “Enough” but it is abundantly clear this is a group of focused songwriters and tour hounds, a unit to be reckoned with. “Gris Gris Satchel” ends the album solemnly with each vocalist taking a turn on the slow cooking chorus.  Feel this.  

Read More

Chromeo: Fox Theater, Oakland, CA 2/18/11

For a DJ act, the Fox was a massive venue for Chromeo to play, and they succeeded in turning the regal, palace-like confines of the venue into a freaky, throwback dance party.  The lack of dynamics which the pre-recorded tracks afforded didn't bother the crowd one bit, which was clearly there to get down long and hard.

Read More

Stone Temple Pilots: Hard Rock Live, Biloxi, MS, 2/20/11

When notorious front man Scott Weiland sang, “Pleased to meet you, nice to know me. What’s the message? Will ya show me?” near the end of their set in Biloxi, Mississippi, you knew you had just been eaten alive by a band that had been dead only a few years back

Read More

John Lennon Remasters

Despite the erratic nature of his solo output, John Lennon garnered almost as much respect and reverence on his own as he did as a Beatle. It’s arguable that his extra-musical activities, such as the peace advocacy that raised the ire of the establishment, had as much or more to do with the admiration accorded Lennon, but that doesn’t deny the force of the best work he did once the iconic band dissolved in 1970

Read More

View posts by year