Concert Fan Site

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!

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.

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.

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!

Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift came together to the Grammys last night. This isn’t so surprising, as they are pretty close friends and since they’re about the same age. It’s kind of the equivalent of what we used to call “going stag”, even when it was girls talking. Anyway, E! decided to compare their dresses to see whose was better and why. It’s nothing really special. Their performance together seems that it was designed to be the cute performance of the night. Swift was apparently quite nervous beforehand, during the pre-Grammy parties. But they performed quite nice. They are clearly very talented, so good for them!

Paul McCartney is still touring! He used to be with the Beatles a long time ago and he’s been singing his songs ever since. Last week he appeared on the Colbert Report on Comedy Central, and he played along quite well. It’s not only true that he’s playing dates all over the place, but also that he’s still writing music. He’s no John Lennon, but he is very impressive in his own rite and has grown lots over the years. He’s also known for helping with various charitable causes and helping the poor in whatever way he can. His performances are always really exciting, everything from the Super Bowl Halftime Show to regular dates at arenas all over the place. He’s a great musician though!

Adele has started performing concerts again and she’s in good form. According to Variety, she is showcasing her individualism very well and performs really well. That is to say, her music is good, but her transitions aren’t. She seems flummoxed by the audience everytime, a little embarrassed to be there. She giggles and chats a bit too much. But her R&B is well performed and people seem to like her. Where did she come from? It didn’t seem like she was getting very far until she appeared on Saturday Night Live. She happened to be on there on the same show as Sarah Palin, so it was a wider audience than usual, and her album became more well known. Read the full review here.

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.

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.

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.