posted by Alex on Jan 30
Christine Ebersole is playing a very limited engagement on Madison Ave. She has been performing like this for a long time, and it’s a very nice in a perfect venue: the Cafe Carlyle. Her jazzy style is well suited to such an environment and it’s practically transportive, taking you to another time and place. Instead of living in 2009, you might feel like you’re back in the real golden days of jazz. Her set of concerts is going to be short-lived though. Not because it’s bad or anything, but rather because she’s getting ready to head back to Broadway in March. She has been on Broadway before, but now she’s headed back for an amazing show called “Blithe Spirit.” So you’d best hurry to see her if you’re in the area.
posted by Alex on Jan 26
In January, it’s always nice to think about the summer. And on of our favorite things to do in the summertime is go to outdoor concerts. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is one of the best orchestras in the entire world, and certainly one of the best in the country, even though they aren’t quite as amazing as they were 10 or 20 years ago. But the point is that they have an outdoor festival near Chicago called “Ravinia Festival”. It occurs at the Ravinia location where it is great fun to go, be outside with a picnic and see the symphony play something interesting. Sometimes there will be a special guest performer as well, and it’s always amazing music. Take a look at their schedule and you can start planning for your summer already.
posted by Alex on Jan 23
When you attend a Phish concert, you get more than just a music show. You will have a transportive experience that will help you to remember what it was like when you first heard Phish. They’ve been popular for over a decade now, and the end of their touring days in 2004 was like the end of an era. The era is now back and they’re back on tour. In fact, they’ve been on tour for several months now and their shows are very popular and really well reviewed. So many people come to these shows that sometimes they have to bring in extra security and such like. The Phish show is almost as good as they used to be, with certain parts even better. Yes, we miss seeing them around.
posted by Alex on Jan 19
There is an interesting review out about the latest installment from John Legend, the famous R&B singer/songwriter. He is one of the biggest names in this genre of music and will remain so for awhile. He is comfortable both behind the piano and behind the microphone. It’s a vastly exciting show, but only at the end, apparently. The reviewer says that parts of the beginning section dragged a bit and the middle section also wasn’t the best part of the show. The end of the show was full of one exciting song after another. It’s got so many climaxes that it ends up being anti-climactic in the end. It is kind of frightening actually, but it’s an interesting show and just a slight retooling will improve the show in many different ways.
posted by Alex on Jan 16
After polishing off their first album in several years, the first created since the death of their saxophonist, the Dave Matthews Band is set to take its unique sound back on tour. Though we’ve seen quite a politically involved Dave as of recently ( he was a fervent supporter of Barack), Dave can now get back to what he does best, music. Specifically, uninspired acoustic guitar music. Checkout their official website to stay abreast of all the tour updates.
posted by Alex on Jan 12
Steve Earle and Alison Moorer were headliners at the City Winery in New York recently and they put on a good show. They perform well together, as they are married, and have a great show that they put together for everyone. And the audience really got into it and they have lots of fun. I didn’t get to see it, but I’ve read around the net about it. They don’t seem to completely fit into the venue quite right, because they are a little too quaint, but it fits the ethos of the concert and doesn’t fit all that poorly with the venue. Not perfect, but close.
posted by Alex on Jan 9
Though the album was leaked back in Decemeber and hard core fans have already been able to download the entire LP off the internet, Animal Collective’s new CD Merriweather Post Pavilion will be officially released on January 20th. Many fans and critics have already stated that it is and will be the best album of 2009, as well as their most complete sounding album to date. Take a look at their website and learn more about Animal Collective.
posted by Alex on Jan 5
Daniel Johnston played a concert a little while ago in Milwaukee and the site I’m reading really enjoyed it. It was a nice concert. Johnston apparently is a great indie-rock, and not only does he play indie rock, he IS indie-rock. He is not your typical rocker. He is large, and doesn’t have a particularly striking image for people to think “Hey, that’s Daniel Johnston”. He just comes to the gig, and does his thing. At the beginning of his set, he didn’t even wait for them to finish prepping the stage for him. He came on and started singing his first song a capella. And towards the end of it, the band started a little bit of backup. It was a fun show and hopefully he will play quite a few more.
posted by Alex on Jan 2
Here’s a bit of good news for heavy guitar shredding fans and practitioners: Eddie Van Halen will be releasing his all new EVH Wolfgang Electric guitar at the beginning of this year. The new guitar will represent the 35 years of extensive, on-the-road experimentingthat Eddie has dabbled in. It was during his 2007-2008 touring, however, that Eddie perfected the craftsmanship on this guitar. Read more about it all by clicking this link.
