Beck w/ MGMT @ United Palace, Wednesday, Oct. 8th
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 the opener of a three-day stand at the Washington Heights venue, and it was hard to tell whether he was tired from touring or simply...
Fleet Foxes @ Webster Hall, Sunday, Oct. 6th
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 10 times? In a culture prone to fanaticism, there should be things that interest the audience member who’s seen the band on every tour for...
8 Pictures, 88 Words, 8 Minutes & 8 Seconds from 88BOADRUM in NYC on 08.08.08
Drummers receive a lot of flak. Wild and tumultuous, bands go through drummers as a Lothario does women. They are compared to animals and stereotyped as stupid. Oh, come great 88BOADRUM, asking us to fall in love with drummers again! Coupled with an electronic composition, singer, guitarist and bassist, 88 drummers thumped into the night...
Wolf Parade @ Terminal 5, Thursday, July 31st
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 as much as Modest Mouse had. Four years later, they’re still impressive: probably moreso than the band that fostered them into the spotlight. Terminal 5...
Billy Joel @ Shea Stadium, Wednesday, July 16th
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 last concert at the New York Mets’ Shea Stadium. And so, the themes of the night were, of course, New York and baseball, and Joel...
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...
Dengue Fever & Rachid Taha @ Central Park SummerStage, Saturday, July 5th
Of the many things that can be said about the performances of Dengue Fever and Rachid Taha at Central Park’s SummerStage, the biggest link between the two is a good performer’s ability to keep the audience entranced when they don’t speak the same language. Dengue Fever are American based, but to complement the group’s Cambodian...
Liz Phair @ Hiro Ballroom, Thursday, June 26th
She might be from Chicago, but when Liz Phair came to New York City’s Hiro Ballroom, she was treated like a hometown girl. In a city where the sex lives of its women have been turned into national entertainment, her fem-rock opus Exile in Guyville is not just embraced, it’s understood. Wearing a vest with...
Death Cab for Cutie at McCarren Park Pool: The Injury-Ridden Aftermath
Image courtesy Sam Rosenblatt Now that my review of Death Cab for Cutie’s concert at Brooklyn’s McCarren Park Pool is up on Bullz-Eye, I can give an account of the upsetting events that happened afterward. You’ll want to read the piece on Bullz-Eye first, so pop on over there and read it. Don’t worry, this...
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...
Mountain Goats @ Webster Hall, Tuesday, March 18th
Much like John Darnielle himself, the Mountain Goats’ audience at Webster Hall on Tuesday night had a tendency to flaunt its wit. Every time someone called out a song request – which was frequently, because in this cultish fan base, everyone has a favorite – someone else had a witty thing to yell in retort....
Enablers @ Knitting Factory, Sunday, March 9th
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 with the music instead of sing-song verse. In a live setting – in this case New York City’s Knitting Factory, at the Tap Bar –...
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