Archive for the 'Concert Reviews' Category
Todd Rundgren Turns Atlantic City Borgata Into His Personal Hard Rock Arena
Author: Jeff Boule
Hello again, good Prexites, we have a surprise for you this week. Normally, we are in the middle of reviewing the Utopia Box set Last Of The New Wave Riders. But why settle for a box set when you can see the real thing? Well almost the real thing. Imagine my surprise when the opportunity to see Todd Rundgren live presented itself! Upon learning of the gig through his premiere fan site The TRConnection, I learned that this was a pre-release promotional tour for his upcoming album Arena, featuring songs written in a hard-rock context. What I was not expecting from this show was the ENTRIRE song list from the Arena album. I was able to fall in love with the songs before I plunk out the cash for the download or CD (in my rabid fan state, I will buy both!).
read comments (0)Woods [Family Creeps]
Author: Steven
I recently went to see a show in Brooklyn. Typical. What was not so typical, however, were the band who graced my ears upon arrival at the Silent Barn. Read the rest of this entry »
Wordless Music Series [Metropolis Ensemble/Deerhoof]
Author: Steven
This past Saturday marked another great concert in the Wordless Music Series that has been going on full-force this season. This event featured the Metropolis Ensemble under the direction of Andrew Cyr and the ever-entertaining band from San Francisco, Deerhoof.
[Monotonix/Crystal Antlers/]Cut Off Your Hands/Bear Hands
Author: Steven
Money is hard to come by when you’re a college student (and your parents aren’t sending you “allowances” for “spending money” because you make “necessary purchases” every week that require hundreds). So whenever I save up the requisite $22.50 to get a round trip to NYC, it’s a BIG DEAL (for me). Phones ring, Brooklyn floors are cleared for my crashing, and plans are made.
Well, don’t know if you’ve ever heard of this Todd P fella, but his shows are, seriously, a dream-come-true for kids (or adults) on a budget. I don’t think I’ve ever paid more than $7 for a show, and the bills are always about 3-4 bands. And it’s an all-ages deal…which is amazing so that kids under 18 can actually get to see live interesting stuff instead of sitting at home and watching MTV. This last Saturday had a 4-band bill…unfortunately, I was only able to see 2. And a half. Or something.
St Vincent at Clinton Castle, NYC - Jul 10, 2008
Author: Andy Sosnowski
I did not start out to write a series of reviews of women with musical muscles but it’s turned out that way. Here is the latest in the series about Alpha Females who make music with abandon.
St Vincent, fronted by Annie Clark, brought a 6 piece band including electric violin, flute, and French Horn. They made dynamic high-contrast music to go with their Black and White outfits. In this concert the live music sounded as good to me as the recordings; the songs were varied in style and mood. At times she wielded her electric guitar as mentioned before with abandon and force. She ends her songs unexpectedly and interestingly. Read the rest of this entry »
Utopia’s Last Of The New Wave Riders Hurtles Towards Oblivion
Author: Jeff Boule
As we recover from the Holiday weekend, we need to take it easy. With this in mind, we will be doing an abbreviated review (read: not a two-parter this week). During our lull in concerts this month, we are continuing with our examination of the Utopia box set, Last Of The New Wave Riders. A set of live performance CDs spanning from early in Utopia’s career up to almost the end. This particular show, the Oblivion Tour, is a single disc. Additionally, since the last entry about Devo generated some interest I need to address some comments that were left.
Read the rest of this entry »
Montreal Jazz Festival - part two
Author: Andy Sosnowski
In this post I wanted to include a link to still more reviews from the Montreal Gazette of concerts I was unable to attend:
http://communities.canada.com/MONTREALGAZETTE/blogs/wordsandmusic/default.aspx
Also there are 2 local noteworthy bands that we saw:Gadji-Gadjo who play East European tunes. I endured the first blazing sun of the festival to watch them and they played a long set of stirring music to celebrate the sun. Read the rest of this entry »
Beautiful Mutants Were Heard In The Distance: Devo at Penn’s Landing
Author: Jeff Boule
When you think of Devo, certain things just don’t come to mind. Power chords, heavy, loud styles of music and guitars. Well at Penn’s landing on June 28th, Devo was all that and more! Performing their “stadium/festival” set; these are tracks that they can perform without the assistance of midi, sequencers or anything of that ilk. As if stripped down to their possible beginnings, Devo provided tones to enrage and engorge the attendees. Read the rest of this entry »
Montreal Jazz Festival- part 1 - Jun 28-Jul 1
Author: Andy Sosnowski
Certainly one of the huge attractions of the festival so far has been the city as well as the music.
But lets start with the music;. The whole festival spans 11 days of which I will see 7 days worth. There are impressive names that come for reasonably priced concerts such as Gilberto Gil, McCoy Tyner, Taj Mahal and Keb Mo, Abbey Lincoln, Orchestra Baobab, Betty Levette, Brad Mehldau, Ladytron, Aretha Franklin, Richard Thompson, Steve Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra, Martin Sexton and Blind Boys of Alabama. Read the rest of this entry »
Camden - Susquehanna Center - June 19 2008
Author: Carl Homrighausen
We arrived to the wonderful stench of Camden, which is always an awe-inspiring thing. Truth be told, there’s nothing in Camden except a battleship, and aquarium, and an amphitheatre that I can honestly view as a second home. Thank you, Susquehanna Center, for making Camden worth existence.