I was surprised the New York Times had a review of the Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney concert at MetLife, that's how bad things are in live music coverage, it is a shock when it is done. In the never ending search for rock music info, I use the best and I use the rest. But I don't seem to stop by the New York Daily Newspapers very often. The truth is between the three papers and Long Island's Newsday they go out of their way to miss just about the vast majority of shows.
Looking at the tabs, it sure hits me that everybody missed Valerie Simpson. How is this possible? In the wake of Nick Ashford's death last year, Simpson's first solo performances, blocks away from her own Sugar Bar is big, big news. I am writing this on Sunday and I haven't seen one review except for Cathy Dupuis' so far. Maybe they will all come out on Monday but if they don't I would be surprised. Hell, EVERYBODY EXCEPT rock nyc MISSED DAVY JONES FINAL CONCERT. At BB King's. We wrote about it three times.
The truth is, the local tabs don't cover music the way they do. From weeklies like Village Voice and New York Press to major papers, there is a black hole in live music coverage. The Arlo Guthrie Family reunion wasn't covered by NYT. "The Power Of The Trilogy" -a major birthing of Ethiopian and Black soul was roundly ignored. The Post missed the Frank Ocean concert -the biggest local story of the summer.
Perhaps the big time Editors, like Robert Christgau, have retired and nobody has replaced them. Both VV and NYP have terrible music sections. And the paper of record is not the paper of record when it comes to reviewing local concerts any more. On the web, Brooklynvegan do what they do, but really what they do is listings for indie bands. It is fine, and I love it, but it isn't a recording of live local concerts.
It is time somebody like Bowery Presents funds a live concert review website. It is exciting times and nobody is writing about it any more.