Nothing has expanded the proliferation of year-end Top Ten Lists like the internet.Á‚ Every year critics of every stripe put together their top ten lists for the year, and impossible…
live music
92 Articles
Ben Wiser
1 Min Read
A 2-DVD set and 24-page hardcover book featuring Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann (Grateful Dead), Mike Gordon (Phish), Steve Kimock, Sikiru, and Jen Durkin (Bomb Squad, Deep Banana Blackout). The ultimate…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
Though Kristian Matsson’s stature does not meet the expectations set forth by his stage moniker, Tallest Man on Earth, he was plenty intimidating in presence during his recent show at…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
Left wanting more after seeing one of their many CMJ sets, I was interested to see that Pattern is Movement was coming back to NYC to open for Subtle. As…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
It would go against the trail-blazing spirit of Trent Reznor to use him as any sort of guideline, but it must be said that any arena rock band should turn…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
Anyone who was unsure as to what to expect from the Smashing Pumpkins’ performance at United Palace last Thursday surely had that question answered within the first few minutes. They…
Ben Wiser
1 Min Read
Free Phil! Phil Lesh has just released a free Soundboard recording of the Phil Lesh and Friends concert at the Warfield in San Francisco, May 13th of this year. That…
Ken Shane
2 Min Read
The career of a music writer certainly does have its perks. While it very often lacks in financial reward, it occasionally compensates with rewards of a more soul-satisfying sort. Last…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
There are some bands whose godlike characteristics fade a bit in a live setting. Merely seeing that they’re human is enough. They have arms and legs and eyes and ears…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
In their recordings, the Notwist might give off the impression of being a sleepy little electro-pop band, but don’t let that twist your notions of what their live show is…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
Beck could have been a more engaging performer at Wednesday’s United Palace show, but what he lacked in personality on stage, he made up for in song. The show was…
Ted Asregadoo
1 Min Read
What a difference 30 years makes. Back in 1978, the Talking Heads were playing clubs that barely had functioning toilets and drew small crowds to hear their progressively styled poly…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
It’s easy enough to say that live performance is the true test of a band. But there’s something that goes beyond that. Will a show that’s great once be great…
Ken Shane
2 Min Read
I guess itÁ¢€â„¢s true: absence does make the heart grow fonder. Of course, thereÁ¢€â„¢s always the Á¢€Å“out of sight, out of mindÁ¢€ risk. Fortunately for My Bloody Valentine, the former…
Zack Dennis
1 Min Read
I’ll start with the negative: seeing a Vampire Weekend show made me feel old. And that’s really the only thing I found disappointing about the show.Á‚ I’m not one to…
Michael Fortes
1 Min Read
Standing inside the Knockout in San FranciscoÁ¢€â„¢s Mission district late on a Wednesday night, August 27, 2008, I couldnÁ¢€â„¢t help but feel a sense of dÁƒ©jÁƒ vu. I know IÁ¢€â„¢ve…
Michael Fortes
2 Min Read
While a large chunk of San FranciscoÁ¢€â„¢s concert-going population was crowding Golden Gate Park for that big olÁ¢€â„¢ Outside Lands festival, Saturday night, August 23, 2008, at KimoÁ¢€â„¢s was a…
Zack Dennis
1 Min Read
For the least two years, the area in front of the Staples Center has been the site of a massive construction project, the behemoth “LA Live” complex. Costing approximately $2.5…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
The first time I saw Wolf Parade, they were opening a secret Modest Mouse show at Webster Hall in 2004. I knew nothing about them, but they impressed me just…
Zack Dennis
1 Min Read
A sizable crowd was already waiting outside the Echo when I arrived at 8:30. One can often forecast how good a show’s going to be based on the enthusiasm of…
Ted Asregadoo
1 Min Read
Live music in a small setting is a wonderful thing, especially when the musicians doing the playing have reached such an accomplished level of musicianship that it makes one wonder…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
In New York, baseball is akin to religion. To many New Yorkers, Billy Joel is, too. So it was no surprise when it was announced that Joel would play the…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
When the Fleet Foxes performed at Bowery Ballroom last week, frontman Robin Pecknold had a cold. But unlike a downtrodden, silent Frank Sinatra, the audience might have never known it…
Zack Dennis
1 Min Read
On Tuesday night, clad in a green shirt and gleefully cheering on the Celtics (who I was indoctrinated to support during my childhood in Connecticut) as they humiliated the Lakers,…
Zack Dennis
1 Min Read
IÁ¢€™m still reeling from this show. I had heard of Cloud Cult via KEXP, but they hadnÁ¢€™t made enough of an impression on me that IÁ¢€™d been awaiting this show…
Zack Dennis
1 Min Read
I first learned of Say Hi to Your Mom from a WBAR podcast, when the DJ said: Á¢€Å“The next song is from Say Hi to Your Mom, which is hard…
Zack Dennis
1 Min Read
Long Beach is not an attractive city. Downtown, where a shopping mall is under construction, is filled with thick concrete barriers and overhanging chain-link fences.It feels like a demilitarized zone….
Zack Dennis
1 Min Read
Explosions in the Sky is possibly my favorite band in the world right now. The first song of theirs that I ever heard was Á¢€Å“Your Hand in Mine,Á¢€ which I…
Zack Dennis
1 Min Read
My evening on Saturday seemed to consist mainly of mild swings of fortune. Two years in LA have taught me to lunge at empty parking spaces, so I was feeling…
Taylor Long
1 Min Read
San Francisco’s Enablers are more an amalgam of music and poetry than the average band. This distinction is forged primarily through the use of speech only loosely set in pattern…