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Live, Music Festivals, Slideshow

Make Music Pasadena Announces Its 2015 Lineup

As it is the case each year, there are bands I am familiar with and new ones I’ll discover. So far I would recommend a few bands I have already seen: How to dress Well, which is Tom Krell’s project and a very personal R&B re-interpretation,… be prepared for a strong Michael Jackson vibe, but the result is more intense and experimental than anything the king of pop has ever put out

Live, Slideshow

Let’s Active: rock nyc Concert Picks Week Of April 6th, 2015

The only time I’ve seen Rhiannon Giddens, either with or without Carolina Chocolate Drops, was at the Town Hall as part of T-Bone’s boring new folk extravaganza and she left little impression, and I wasn’t crazy about her New Basement Tapes album, but her current album Tomorrow Is My Turn is all that Gospel blues soul plus plus plus and so I am back to the Town Hall on Thursday to hear what I missed

Live, Slideshow, Upcoming Tours

Morrissey Announces His 2015 US Tour

We shall breast the tape at Barcelona and Murcia (Spain) in April and May, and then we square up for four nights at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. Good times for a change. Is it illegal to be this happy? Thank you, also, to everyone who has managed to download “Kiss me a lot” from iTunes. We value your interest and encouragement beyond measure.

Live, Slideshow, Tribute

Brian Fest At The Fonda Theater, Monday March 31st 2015

the Beach Boys’ iconic catalog was brushed (in not the right order) by Norah Jones and Gingger Shankar, Heart’s Ann Wilson, The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne and Steve Drozd, Devendra Banhart, Monters of Folk’s M. Ward, Al Jardine, Blondie Chaplin, Boz Scaggs, Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino, Local Natives, Capital Cities’ Sebu Simonian, Wilson Philips, Karen Elson, ex Magnetic Zeros’ Jade Castrinos, Adam Busch and Danny Masterson, Lucius’ Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, Doyle Bramhall II, Punch Brothers, Civil Wars’ Joy Williams, Kesha….

Live, Music Festivals, Slideshow

My Best Of Burgerama 4

The nice people at Burgerama gave me a photo pass so I had access to the photo pit, which is certainly a delight but also a terrible temptation to take as many pictures as possible… This is just what I did, and I ended up with hundreds of photos to sort out today! The pictures reflect the best moments of these two days

Live, Slideshow, Upcoming Concerts

The Rolling Stones Playing Gramercy Theatre: Top Ticket $100K

This includes a meet and greet with Charlie Watts and a portrait by Ron Wood. Unfortunately, Mick and Keef will not be making themselves available though Mick will dedicate a song to you at the performance and you will be considered a “Stones Benefactor”. Also, you will get four free tickets to the show of your choice. Also, the deluxe Sticky Fingers in every available format. After ticketmaster charges , the final price will be $120,000.

Live, Music Festivals

Burgerama 4, Saturday March 28th 2015, Part 2

I thought for a minute I knew all the songs of Weezer, but I realized it was because the band may have played all its greatest hits… From ‘My Name is Jonas’ to ‘Hash Pipe’, ‘El Scorcho’, ‘Go Away’, ‘Island in the Sun’, ‘Beverly Hills’, ‘Say it Ain’t so’, ‘Pork and Beans’, ‘Undone’, ‘Buddy Holly’, yes it was a real crowd pleaser

Live, Music Festivals

Burgerama 4, Saturday March 28th 2015, Part 1

The access between both stages was really a pain, I had a photo access but not an all-access pass, and I got lost a few times backstage trying to find a shortcut to avoid the dense crowd, but was stopped several times by security guards. Getting inside the Observatory through a narrow corridor was more and more ridiculous, and I heard a few photographers complain about it. And by 5 pm, I was getting tired of this maze

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The Best Of 2015: Concerts Through March 31st, 2015

Great Voices In Harlem, The Gloster Project – MIST Harlem – Sunday, March 9th, 2015 – Any afternoon, any time at all, you get to listen to such a great collection of musicians, especially in such an intimate space, is a great afternoon. Or evening. And in aid of such a wonderful project -did I mention Dr. Randy Weston was there?

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Miranda Lambert At Madison Square Garden, March 28th, 2015, Reviewed

The band, four guitars including Miranda’s, were pretty good country-rockers, and Miranda in an “I Love NY” tee shirt looked the part, the 20 song set wasn’t entirely ungenerous though the 80 minute performance was awful skimpy for a major arena performance. She has more material, Miranda didn’t even pull out one of her best songs, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” -a hit that gave her a unique personality she managed to squander on stage.

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Active Viewin’: rock nyc Concert Picks Week Of March 30th, 2015

The one time I saw alt j I thought the UK Radioheads brother in arms were the worst live band I’d ever seen BUT it was crowded, it was a festival, and their pretty good second album hadn’t seen the light of day yet. This is MSG and the new album, with great songs like “Every Other Freckle” waiting to be nailed on stage, well, maybe time for another look. PS: A Monday but at least it’s not T5.

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The Mavericks At The Fonda, Wednesday March 25th 2015

Sure, it’s not really country, but there were obvious Tex-Mex flavors, rockabilly, swing, honky-tonk and Latino-Cuban tempos, bringing memories of Mexican fiesta, retro country romance, with the ghosts of Jerry Lee Lewis or Roy Orbison. Orbison? Yes! Malo’s tenor voice has effectively this kind of force and effectiveness, an operatic howl

Lists, Live, Slideshow

The Who Opened Their Hits 50! Final Tour In London Wednesday… Here Is The Setlist

My problem with the Who in 2015 (well, 2013) is they are too bombastic, I love the psychedelic pop group Who vastly more than the heavy duty hard rock band. Much better “I’m A Boy” than “Behind Blue Eyes”. Still, this is a great setlist, it is a careerist setlist. I can’t wait to see em at Barclay Center. “I Can See For Miles” was the fourth song I ever learnt to play…

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Mini Mansions At Amoeba, Tuesday March 24th 2015

Mini Mansion is a side project of Queens of the Stone Age’s bassist Michael Shuman, but I should not call them a side project, it seems so reductive, and? Oh I could go on and on with them! Keyboardist Tyler Parkford releases music under his solo moniker Mister Goodnite, and Zach Dawes has played bass on the recent all-star Dylan collection ‘Lost On the River: The New Basement Tapes

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The Bloodhounds At Origami Vinyl, Saturday March 21st 2015

The Bloodhounds, which are Aaron “Little Rock” Piedraita on rhythm guitar, Johnny Santana on bass, Branden Santos on lead guitar and Mark Schafler on drums and percussion, are releasing their debut album ‘Let Loose’ via Alive Naturalsound, and since the Origami crowd didn’t want to let them go and were asking for encores, they must have played most of the album.

Lists, Live, Slideshow

Muse Live Setlist 2015

This setlist might have problems selling Arenas in the US (forget stadiums). Where is “Madness” for one obvious question? And while there best live moment is here “Stockholm Syndrome”, it assumes too much on the audience. What is “Agitated” doing here?

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D’Angelo AT Best Buy Theatre, Wednesday, March 11th, 2015, Reviewed

D’Angelo has taken us from large funk band Prince, Funkadelic, Sly, etc, 1970s sounds through intricate experimental dance vibes all the way to the most intimate sharing. But it is more than that. he keeps on the one for 150 minutes, whether dressing down syncopated rhythms or destroying his rhythm section with mind blowing precision, any complaints have to be seen through this paradigm of world class dance music.

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Susanna Hoffs At High Fidelity, Sunday March 8th 2015

They did a very funny and playful version of ‘Manic Monday’ with strings and many detours, and I could tell they were having fun with the catchy song. Her voice is still incredibly youthful, high pitched, she beautifully harmonized with Petra and the other members of the band’s voices during Bob Dylan’s ‘I’ll Keep It With Mine’ and they gave us a very Ronstadt-esque version of ‘It Doesn’t Matter Any More’,

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Let’s Active: rock nyc Concert Picks week Of March 9th, 2015

It’s not every day I see a top top show, an “A+” show. Since rock nyc has been around, in 2009 there was Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks” gig (the second one, at the Beacon), in 2012 Aretha Franklin at Radio City Music Hall, Bobby Womack at City Winery in 2013 and this January D’Angelo at the Apollo and that’s about it. So I don’t expect D’Angelo to best it at all, I don’t expect him to match it. I still expect him to be great..

Live, Slideshow

Dengue Fever At Amoeba, Sunday March 1st 2015

They are a grand ensemble, playing music with a lush and ample orchestration, using a lot of instruments, saxophone, small trumpet, keyboard and flute beside the usual guitar-drums-bass classic rock combination, and they could be one of the most diverse rock bands I have ever seen, on the human as well as on the sonic levels

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How To Dress Well, Swimm At Sayers Club, Wednesday February 25th 2015

Krell showed wearing a very sportive outfit (a white tank and two long shorts), and he seemed much more ready to play tennis than sing his poignant music, but somehow the whole thing seemed to fit his original and lovable persona. If the music often culminated to some insane emotional apotheosis, he constantly cracked jokes between songs and abundantly chatted with the crowd all night long.

Best Of 2015, Live, Slideshow

The Best Of 2015: Concerts Through February 28th, 2015

On Friday, February 12th, 2012, I witnessed Aretha Franklin honor her recently deceased Goddaughter Whitney Houston at Radio City Music Hall, part pop manifesto, part revival meeting, the queen of soul sublimated her pain in song and worship. It was the best show I’ve seen this century. And D’Angelo at the Apollo was the second best show I’ve seen this century.

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