Yeasayer @ Bowery Ballroom, Monday, February 8th, & @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, Tuesday, February 9th
Alternately titled: How I got in to Two Sold Out Yeasayer Shows in New York City, A Tale of Happiness & Triumph One of the biggest challenges a music writer can face is writing about a band you adore. Sometimes you like something so much that the task of describing it is an overwhelming pressure....
Akron/Family @ Bowery Ballroom, Wednesday, May 6th
After seeing jam-freak-avant-folksters Akron/Family put on an incredible show at Brooklyn’s Union Pool in March, there was only one thing left to do: Go home, go online, buy tickets to see them again. After seeing Akron/Family put on an incredible show at Manhattan’s Bowery Ballroom last night, there’s only one conclusion that can be made:...
Fleet Foxes @ Bowery Ballroom, Wednesday, July 9th
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 if no one had told us (either the Dutchess or the Duke – the openers – mentioned it in their stage banter, as did Pecknold...
Destroyer @ Bowery Ballroom, Wednesday, April 23rd
Image courtesy flickr user forklift The New Pornographers put on one of the worst concerts of recent memory at the Bowery Ballroom last August. It was so unbearable that writing a review would have been like rubbing alcohol on an open wound. A.C. Newman was acting like a real prick in-between songs, talking for longer...
The Dirty Projectors @ Bowery Ballroom, Tuesday, Dec. 4th
Dirty Projectors are the kind of band that music writers drool over. Describing a band like the Dirty Projectors is a kind of challenge we’re all too eager to accept, encouraged by the unique quality of the music and our own egos, itching to be the one who “wrote it best.” It brings out hyperbolic...
St. Vincent @ Bowery Ballroom, July 17th
St. Vincent’s promotions team must have a grin on their faces a mile wide. In April, the wide-eyed, brunette songstress also known as Annie Clark was opening shows for long established act John Vanderslice in small to medium-sized venues. Fast-forward three months and she’s headlining them all on her own. Not as part of the...
Jesus & Mary Chain, Bowerbirds, Bright Eyes
Part of the reason that it takes so long to get concert reviews up here is because I admittedly let myself run a little wild and, quite possibly, get a little too extravagant. So, for tonight we’re going to try something new – short reviews! If only because I saw three shows recently that I’d...
Patti Smith @ Bowery Ballroom, Thursday, Apr. 24th
The line for the 10:30 Patti Smith Bowery Session (the last of three) was enormous. It curved around the corner and went around halfway around the next block. I was easily the youngest person in line. At some point, the couple ahead of me (probably also in their 20s, but definitely older than me) had...
Amy Winehouse & The Pipettes @ Bowery Ballroom, Tuesday, March 13th
In late November, early December, one of my co-workers started playing a song over and over again that had the catchiest hook of “they tried to make me go to rehab / I said ‘no, no, no.'” It was sung by a woman with a deep, exotic voice that was accompanied by a dance-rhythmed brass...
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