This summer’s concert season has seen a bevy of attractive deals, as more and more acts and venues react to the struggling economy with lower ticket prices and reduced service charges. But the best deal of all is the Creed tour.
Hello Dave has gone from playing dorm rooms to overseas tours. When it formed about 15 years ago, the band's early shows included frat parties with less-than-attentive audiences. Now, they enjoy attentive and enthusiastic audiences -- including the troops they've played for all over the world.
It is a hilarious understatement to suggest that the wily lads in Umphrey’s McGee like to mix things up. The Chicago jamband, which has one of the scene’s most cultishly devoted fan followings, has a reputation for shows that twist wildly, turn on a dime, and even in as short a passage as two or three songs, explore acid-jazz, prog rock, gnarly blues, rippling funk and even classical, most of the time without losing musical coherence or devolving into a clinic.
Rumors are flying regarding the much-talked about Janis Joplin biopic - and if it will ever get off the ground. The idea has been in the works for more than a decade, but so far nothing.
Reviews of the latest from The Brian Setzer Orchestra, The Gaslight Anthem and The Henry Clay People.
Counting Crows has always been the kind of rock band that loves surprising its audience with unlikely covers. That’s why, even if it’s been two years since the last album, “Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings,” their current tour promises to include plenty of music not heard before.
To these ears, 2010 has been a superb year for new music, with the release of a slew of highly recommendable albums. Here’s another batch of recent CDs (and a concert DVD), each worth checking out.
When you listen to The Flaming Lips songs like “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)” or “The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat),” it might be hard to picture a band that had its songs featured on “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Beavis and Butt-Head” or commercials for Dell computers or Kraft salad dressing.
It took a long time for bass player Stu Cook to find his musical direction. Before he was in the Blue Velvets and the Golliwogs, and way before those two bands morphed into Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cook was a trumpet player, then a pianist, then a guitarist. He and Creedence drummer Doug "Cosmo" Clifford and their bandmates, who make up Creedence Clearwater Revisited, are touring all over the country this summer.
When Sheryl Crow first began a solo music career, she was leaving Las Vegas. Now, if her GPS is right, she is about 100 miles from Memphis.
The country quartet Little Big Town did not have a straight shot to stardom. It took years of touring, scraping and working side jobs to get to the place they are now. Where they are now is headlining fairs and festivals with opening act Julianne Hough.
There it was, Woodstock. On the screen behind the drum kit, Carlos Santana and his new band were making their Earth-shattering debut at Woodstock, blasting through “Woodstock Chant/Soul Sacrifice.” And just below the screen, 41 years later, Santana was firing away on those same chords.
If you are fans of Huey Lewis, the news was rather grim after his performance at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs on Friday night.
In a world where the presentation of musical acts may trump their musicality, Derek Trucks is focusing on what matters to him the most — the music.
‘The new music is not all roses and daffodils, cold beer and senoritas,” said Roger Clyne from a Cleveland tour stop. “Sonically, it is consistent with what we’ve done in the past, but lyrically I lead with my heart.” Clyne is the singer/songwriter and guitarist for Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, or RCPM.
Neil Finn hails from New Zealand but makes his living as the lead singer of the Australian band Crowded House. The new Crowded House album, “Intriguer,” isn’t technically the group’s reunion record; that was “Time On Earth,” which came out in 2007.
Don’t let Marianne Keith’s youthful appearance on the cover of her latest album “Cathartic” fool you. For the songs inside feature a mature songwriter who is adept at embracing different genres and making them her own.
Huey Lewis and the News kicked off their summer tour last week. At 60, Lewis says he has the “funnest” job in the world. “I tell everyone before we go onstage, ‘Have a good time or fake it,’” he said. Lewis took time out for a phone conversation before the tour.
The Moody Blues — part of the British Invasion of rock 'n' roll in the late 1960s — soared back into glory Saturday night with a strong set high on classic hits and psychedelic rock.
Even for people who don’t immediately recognize Modern English, it’s a fair bet at least half of them can identify the band’s most famous song. The soaring strains of “I Melt With You” – still heard everywhere from car stereos and hipster cover bands to weddings and TV commercials – are tough to mistake.
