Sitting in the bar of the Southbank Centre, my boyfriend looked at me and said “He's doing this show with a cellist. I think this might be... weird.
Multi-talented cult legends BLITZEN TRAPPER have added a genre to their mixed bag of tricks: musical theatre.
The supergroup of the century proving the 90s hardcore classics are utterly timeless.
“So this is where the Dodgers ended up,” Joel mused as he first addressed the crowd with a quick anecdote of his childhood in Brooklyn. He opened the night with “Movin’ Out”. Then went into a rocking rendition of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” to intro “My Life” before addressing the audience. A few quips later he was doing his impersonation of Elton John while covering his “Your Song” for a verse. Then giving the audience a choice to hear “Just the Way You Are” or “Vienna” the crowd wanted “Vienna” and they got it.
Not that she was ever really gone, but LeAnn Rimes is back on the music scene with her soon to be released Remnants album and played a preview this weekend at the El Rey in Los Angeles. She took the stage with the lights focusing on her and sang solo “Long Live Love” from her new album before her band kicked in. If anything in the twenty years since her voice exploded onto the country scene at age 13, she has just gotten better. It was apparent from the get-go that her pipes separate her from the pack. You didn’t even want to sing along.
Old Dominion played a stellar performance in Los Angeles last weekend at the Nova by Microsoft. Goldenvoice is getting everyone excited for the recently announced Stagecoach 2017 and brought in an act that played last years festival. This was my third time seeing the band and the first time as a headliner, but its also their first tour as a headliner, so I’ll go with first time seeing them without sunglasses, who knew they had eyes?
Nineties heavy hitters Bush came to the Wiltern in LA last weekend and it was like a time machine back to 1995. Twenty years ago seemed like now. It felt like everyone in attendance had reached back in their closet for their favorite long-forgotten flannel and tied it around their waist. And the band sounded fantastic, just like you wanted them to sound when you first heard “Glycerine” on MTV.
Dolly Parton played two nights at the Hollywood Bowl, and if there is one thing you’ll realize, when you see her perform, it’s that she is timeless. At 70 she still has the vigor of a teen, the mental wit of a recent college graduate and all the endearing charm of a grandmother. I don’t know how she does it. There are two aspects to a Dolly Parton concert; one is obviously the music, the other is her storytelling. Maybe it’s a long gone art of performance, since the only other artist I’ve seen use this technique so successfully was B.B.
The people from Best Fest came to LA to perform what’s become an annual tradition: Petty Fest. A tribute to Tom Petty featuring the Cabin Down Below Band as the house band and bringing up guest musicians to play hits and deep cuts of the top-notch songwriter Tom Petty.
Bandette puts the (wrist)band in band for their album release party. Their self-titled debut album was released digitally and as a USB slap bracelet. That’s right a band named Bandette released their album digitally on a USB drive that was also a wristband. Its like the English language has finally been validated.
