James Blake will probably be brooding behind a bank of synths for 90 minutes on Thursday BUT his songs are so remarkable who cares? It is the price of doing business with the young electronic whiz kid you’ll have to suck it up to hear his excellent sophomore effort Retrograde on stage. Plus it is T5 so you weren’t going to see much any way. Request “A Case Of You” quietly.
Monday – The Breeders – Webster Hall – Still no Tonya Donelly and sold out, but once you’ve said that you’ve run out of excuses for not paying homage to the alt rock greats.
Tuesday – Rihanna – Barclay Center – Here is something I’ve never, grade a show before I’ve seen it. My problem is the ice queen is too unyielding. Grade: B
Wednesday – Molly Ringwald – Apparently performing the standards standardly. Sure she is gonna suck but you owe her one for “Sixteen Candles”.
Friday – Todd Rundgren – Gramercy Theater – A lot of that downtown festival going on but they made it too confusing and too late for me (though if you can figure out where Black Hippy is playing, be my guest) so I’ll go with a Wizard, a true star, the Nazz himself. Except it’s sold out.
Saturday – Babyface – One of the great and most underrated soul singer songwriters of the 1990s live on stage.
Sunday – Mudhoney – MHOW – If MHOW was closer it would be my fave SRO in the city as for Mudoney, read Alyson Camus’ review and make your own mind up