Bands, Live Reviews
“The Who” Wins the Superbowl?
Johnny Sanford :: Monday, February 8th, 2010 1:00 pm
When the organizers of the Superbowl give you a call, you can’t really say no. Last night, The Who took the stage at Halftime for a medley of their past hits to entertain the masses. It’s fun to see them rockin’ out in their golden years, Daltry can still wail and the windmill still works for Townshend. Fortunately for America, there was no nip-slip this year. Check out their performance after the jump. MORE »
Live Reviews, News
Les Savy Fav Live In Brooklyn
Colm McAuliffe :: Monday, February 1st, 2010 2:00 pm
Les Savy Fav are refreshingly free from the achingly hip angular haircuts and cool indifference so ubiquitous today. With their paunches on display and refusal to conform to any sense of studied cool rock poses, the band put in a blistering performance at BAM as part of this year’s Sounds Like Brooklyn festival – the show itself was sheer celebration, an almost carnivalesque miasma of flamboyancy and ferocious punk rock.
Live Reviews
Beach House: Teen Dream New Album Launch Gig
Colm McAuliffe :: Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 1:55 pm
Beach House’s third album Teen Dream has just been released to great acclaim (if I may say so myself) and the band celebrated this with an album launch at the Bell House in Brooklyn last night. I wondered beforehand how the band would recreate their stunning studio sound on stage and the Baltimore-based duo augmented their line-up with a percussionist, complimenting Victoria Legrand on vocals and organ and Alex Scally on guitar.
Live Reviews
The Main Drag at The Delancey 1/8/10
Colm McAuliffe :: Monday, January 11th, 2010 12:45 pm
If the audience at Delanceys Lounge enjoyed the The Main Drag even half as much as the band appeared to enjoy themselves, the Boston-based collective may be on the way to actual cred. Having already negotiated a pathway to the maintsteam via the use of one of their singles on Rock Band 2, their gigantic choruses and effervescent pop hooks ensured they sounded like a stadium band with a stadium sound albeit playing in a small club.
Initially sporting a green dinosaur fur suit and day-glo glasses, frontman Matt Boch cajoled the crowd into a brief frenzy early on as the cuts from new release “You Are Underwater” were highlights of the set, as the band showcased a grittier sound than on record. However, this proved to be an early peak as Boch’s sensitive indie-boy schtick began to grate and the band seemed at sea without the lush production and instrumentation of their recorded output.
Live Reviews
Dylan live at the United Palace Theater
Daniel Casarella :: Thursday, November 19th, 2009 4:51 pm
Besides the seats being filled with grey domes as far as the eyes could see, the venue looked like a byzantine church. It didn’t matter though. I was going to see Dylan. Strangely, I’d actually grown fond of Dylan’s latest quirky single Must Be Santa. It’s so strange that it’s funny. But O.B.D. would have none of that in his set. Instead he posed through some of his modern career and of course some of his classics. Ballad of a Thin Man really seemed to have struck a chord despite Dylan’s now gravelly intonations. He’s got a bit of a Waits thing going on now. Not so much by design but more like that was part of his path all along.
Dylan’s now a slightly grizzled version of his former self. His becoming however, clashes with all the session musicians and drum fills. Plus his stage backdrop somehow evokes Sublime’s 40oz. to Freedom in a very dadrock way. What Dylan may not realize is that he would come off far better with less. He doesn’t need a fucking 5 piece band behind him dressed like bartenders from a night club in the 90’s.
Lets face it though, Dylan can do whatever he wants and nobody should tell him otherwise. If Dylan should chose to tour for the rest of his life dressed in pajamas and stage backdrops that look like tramp stamps from the Jersey shore, that should be his right. His sound still resonates. Remember at one time not too long ago, the whole world pivoted on this man. Dylan may not play the same, sound the same, or feel the same but that’s fine with me. Unlike some younger contemporaries, I’ve always been a fan of Bob Dylan, and I will respect his right to be an artist till his final curtain call.
Live Reviews
Longwave Rocks Bowery with Unreleased Tunes
Amelia Kreminski :: Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 2:30 pm
I’ve lived in New York City for almost a year, and before last Saturday, I’d never been to a show at the Bowery Ballroom. I also work for a music magazine. I know, I know-it’s terrible. So on Saturday night, I thought I’d check out the indie rock group Longwave and their friends A Million Years.
The show marked the grand finale of a year of heavy touring for Longwave, and in celebration they played what was most likely the longest Longwave show to date, an expansive near two-hour set, with tunes spanning from their first album to their most recent output, Secrets are Sinister. The band also performed many previously unreleased songs and b-side tracks.
But do not fear! If you didn’t make it to the show, you can still hear the songs on their Myspace. From the electro-infused, rollicking indie pop tune “Razor on My Skin” to the mellow acoustic ballad “Everywhere You Turn,” these tracks aren’t something to be missed.
Find out more about Longwave’s upcoming projects, free downloads from their Franz Ferdinand-esque opening band A Million Years, and how to steal The Strokes’ old music gear after the jump. MORE »
Live Reviews
Dan Auerbach/ Justin Townes Earle / Jessica Lea Mayfield - Webster Hall Nov. 11th
Daniel Casarella :: Thursday, November 12th, 2009 4:14 pm
You know how it feels when the warm murmur of the crowd is broken by the first licks of the bass from the band? It’s like getting off for concert goers. It turns out that last night’s show at Webster Hall was all about the foreplay. The night started with the soothing voice of Jessica Lea Mayfield, acoustically hypnotizing us. Justin Townes Earle took stage at about 10 o’clock. His undeniable hanky ramble filled the room as the set paced in and out of his latest record, Midnight at the Movies. It’s easy to forget that Justin is just one dude up there singing his heart out. His Nashville charm pelts the crowd with anecdotes and clean cut appearances but his lyrics, as fast as they come, say all the right things to a crowd who is by that time already holding smoke.
Live Reviews
Noah And The Whale live at Mercury Lounge
Alex Moore :: Thursday, November 5th, 2009 1:20 pm
Noah And The Whale played at Mercury Lounge last night, the last of three shows in New York, and their last stateside for a while.
The band turned in a precise, beautifully-arranged set of songs from their new record, The First Days Of Spring.
The new record is a decidedly dark, emotive departure from their more cheerful debut Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down. It’s the kind of touching, heavy record that can be tricky to pull off live, and the band rose to the occasion.
Noah’s next tour is a string of dates in Europe with Phoenix. Stay tuned at this blog for an exclusive daily tour diary from the band as they make their way across Europe. More photos from the show after the jump.
MORE »
Live Reviews
The Horrors: Music Hall of Williamsburg
Daniel Casarella :: Monday, October 19th, 2009 1:03 pm
I last saw The Horrors when they opened for NIN at Webster Hall and they killed it. So naturally I wanted to see them headline on one of the final nights of their Black Diamond Heavies/Crocodiles tour. As soon as I got to the Music Hall of Williamsburg, I ordered a Jack Daniels and got something that tasted like bitters and scotch. I tried to focus on the music. The ‘Heavies were a vicious compliment to the English quintet. John Wesley Myers’ banging on his Fender Rhodes, distorting a Nick Cave / Tom Waits Punky-Blues was sheer grin inducing. I thought to myself, “This shit doesn’t taste like Evan Williams either”.
The Horrors appeared onstage in their uniform of black & gaunt, and played a tight set based mostly off Primary Colours. It wasn’t until the encore however that the band ignited the crowd with “Count in Fives” and the mosh pit started proper. A little late to raise the dead but even if it didn’t resonate the same way it did in August, I wouldn’t necessarily blame the band for it. Perhaps it was in absence of Trent’s florid light show or perhaps it was the poison I was stubbornly drinking.
Set after the jump.
Live Reviews
Why? At Le Poisson Rouge 9/26
Alex Moore :: Monday, September 28th, 2009 2:36 pm
Yoni Wolf and the WHY? gang recently emerged from their Cincinnati homebase to tour in support of the new Anticon release Eskimo Snow. They destroyed on Saturday night at NYC’s Le Poisson Rouge, going in for the double encore, a move I haven’t seen pulled off so well since Bruce Springsteen at Shea Stadium.
MORE »
Live Reviews
Miike Snow at Mercury Lounge, NYC 9.17.09
Silvana Lagos :: Friday, September 18th, 2009 6:28 pm
Playing in complete darkness, dressed all in black, with ghoul-like white masks, Miike Snow came on stage to an overexcited crowd. ‘Burial’, bounced off the walls, a nostalgic pop revival that is effortless and so fluent.
Pulling off their masks in time for “Animal,” the manic thundering on the MPC made the sounds coming out almost unrecognizable, and that’s the beauty of Miike Snow. Who else can use the sound of clanking chains seem so melodic and appealing? “Silvia” echoed through the crowd, and it was chanted right back at them. Two sold out dates, and a set that finished with “In Search of Main…” Miike Snow, has arrived, call off the search.
Check out more photos after the jump. MORE »
