posted by Alex on May 18
David Byrne is turning the Roundhouse in London into a huge instrument. It is a lot of fun to look at the way that they are making the concert hall look impressive while remaining utilitarian. There will be various different sound-making objects placed around the room and it appears that the audience members will be asked to make sounds themselves. Maybe it will be crafted in some way by Byrne himself while still allowing the audience to be creative and have a lot of fun. It’ll be an impressive show right there in the Roundhouse!
posted by Alex on Apr 24
For the second year in a row, the Mayhem Festival will be making the rounds of many major cities in the country. This is one of those great festivals that you wont want to miss, so get your Mayhem Festival tickets today. This started last year in the late summer and they decided to do it again this year. They have already announced the lineup for this year, which includes Marilyn Manson. Other stars that will be on the main stage will be Slayer, Killswitch Engage, and Bullet for My Valentine. There will be two other stages at the event, so it will be a very entertaining couple of days. This is a great fest for fans of hard rock and metal music. In fact, the winners of the Jägermeister Battle of the Bands will also be performing at many of these cities. This may be the best Mayhem Festival yet!
posted by Alex on Apr 14
It was a reunion of sorts: the two surviving Beatles performed together for the first time in nearly 10 years, playing for the cause of transcendental meditation. Paul and Ringo had a great personal fit together, while their musical pairing isn’t nearly as good as it once was. They have simply moved into separate spheres. But it was a fun event. The earlier performers were not nearly as good as McCartney was, though he kept the crowd up on their feet and had a great time! Obviously, you probably missed it, because it was a one-time event, but if you were there, you know that the lineup was fun and there were some great speeches to convince people of the cause.
posted by Alex on Mar 6
No Doubt is one of the most famous Ska bands in the world right now. The group is on the way to touring again, finally reunited. Gwen Stefani was unable to work on their upcoming album with them the whole time, because she was pregnant and then was going to have a kid. So she took some time off. A few years ago, the whole group decided to disband to follow their own solo careers, but now they are back and better than ever. It’s going to be a fun tour for you to see, because I assume you are fans of this team. We really want to hear what they will sound like now. The new album will probably be out next year, but you can see them this year. I found my No Doubt tickets on this site. They’re touring with Paramore, so you really don’t want to miss it.
posted by Alex on Mar 2
The Jonas Brothers came in second in the movies this weekend. They were expected to gross as much as $30million in the first weekend, but it’s unfortunately not enough for them. This makes it disappointing, despite the fact that they ended up with $12.7 million, despite this new economic climate. Why did they expect to make that much in the first place. The economy isn’t a big surprise anymore. It is in part an issue of Hannah Montana, whose movie came out last year about this time. But that was before the economy. They also don’t have a show, and their demographic, while similar, is not exactly the same: girls aren’t looking up to them the way they look up to Miley. Good try though.
posted by Alex on Feb 27
When you think of opera, you probably think of screaming people. Many people do, and it can be hard to keep in mind that these are very accomplished people, doing what they have been trained to do. Carmen is playing in London and in some ways it is one of the shows that will give opera that impression. It’s not a bad show, but it’s kind of a bust in some ways. They did well in designing the sound to fit the hall much better than most pieces do. But the reviewer I was reading had some real beefs with the production of this show. The chorus was weak, and the actors were uninteresting. That’s what you need and must have to keep a show like this going: it has to be actually compelling!
posted by Alex on Feb 23
The Bach Cantata Series at the Royal Academy of Music in England is going to last for almost a decade. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy each and every moment of it. The first of the series is one of the best that the reviewers have seen. The reviewer tells us that Bach didn’t write these pieces for the concert hall, but instead for the large cathedral scene. But that Bach would have enjoyed that students are the big performers. A Bach cantata is not for everyone, but there are a lot of people who would like it even if they’ve never tried it before. The performers did it really well and gave their best efforts to Bach, and it showed!
posted by Alex on Feb 20
In New York, Paul Simon has begun performing again. He’s always been a good performer, despite his almost removed quality. He seems very introverted, but he plays and sings just great. In his concerts right now, he seems to be trying to give people a good taste of what he’s working on now. Of course, he plays his typical songs from his 70s and 80s career. The highlight for the reviewer in Variety seems to have been at the end, when Art Garfunkel came out and they sang The Boxer, Sounds of Silence, and Old Friends/Bookends together, just like they used to. Paul Simon was around for a long time, and has also recently released a book of lyrics, and this is another way for him to promote it.
posted by Alex on Feb 16
CurT@!n$ (pronounced ‘curtains’) is one of the most interesting new Hip-Hop performers at the moment. While many of these kinds of musicians are exactly like the others, this one is really different from the others. You might think that you’re listening to one guy, but in fact you’re listening to someone completely different. It’s hard to enjoy it sometimes, because if you don’t like one thing, you probably wont like any of it. But with someone like CurT@!n$ can really inject some much needed life into the industry and will help us to finally hear something new, some new themes and different styles within the genre.
posted by Alex on Feb 13
Yannick Nézet-Séguin just made his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra recently, and he has been very well received. The French-Canadian is like nothing that the London orchestra has seen in a long time. He is young, dynamic and sees the music is a bigger way than most other people do. In the first part of the performance, he was accompanied by a Norwegian Cellist on the Haydn Concerto in C major that was very light and fluid the way it was supposed to. The second part, a Bruckner symphony, was one of the best performances that the reviewer has ever seen. The new conductor shows the musical phrases with his body and each one is new, and easier to feel than the reviewer could remember. We’re happy to hear of this up-and-coming fellow in the field!
