I’ve been excited about today at Riot Fest for weeks. Big Freedia is playing an early set and I know it’s going to set the bar high for the day. I thought correctly! Bringing that sweet New Orleans bounce to Chicago, Big Freedia has the crowd twerking for the entire set, even bringing a handful […]
4:55 PM: Another perfect Pitchfork sunset. “I feel so held by you guys. Thank you so much,” Caroline Polachek says in between songs, her big smile radiating. 5:33 PM: Thundercat is so damn avant garde he just burped into the mic. His fingers move so rapidly and precisely across his bass, it’s as if they’re […]
It’s officially day one of Riot Fest 2021. One pandemic, two vaccine doses, and numerous lineup changes has led us to this day. The park is packed, the sun is shining, and the drinks are flowing. Living Colour takes the stage and jokes around that their stylist is going to hate them for not following […]
2:54 PM: There are many reasons to love Pitchfork Music Festival, but one area they excel at compared to other fests is performer diversity. You will not see only male musicians or only white bands headlining Pitchfork. In fact, this year’s headliners are all females—and powerhouses, I might add. It brings me immense joy to […]
It’s been 732 days since Riot Fest last took place at Douglass Park in Chicago, Illinois, and man, it is still weird to see a large gathering of people. Riot Fest added a special preview party on the Thursday before the festival, with limited acts performing on two of the five stages set up throughout […]
1:15 PM: Aaaaand Pitchfork Music Festival ’21 is officially underway! If there’s a festival worthy of early arrival, it’s Pitchfork. There is always at least one musical act that surprises you, and in this case, it’s the first set of the weekend. NYC Hip hop duo Armand Hammer (Elucid and Billy Woods, who requested no […]
Americana kingpin Jason Isbell is always a gracious frontman and performer. But he had to stop his show with his band The 400 Unit a couple of times Tuesday at Wolf Trap in Virginia to take in what he was seeing: a nearly full outdoor amphitheater packed with fans who had been waiting as long […]
Simply put, 2021’s BeachLife Festival was quite possibly one of the finest multi-day musical events I have ever been to. Allen Sanford and his amazing partners put on a clinic on HOW to run a festival: an amazing lineup, incredible culinary options, and most importantly a noticeable care and concern for all festival attendees. This […]
The Sisters of Mercy returned to the Roundhouse to up the ante on their two sold-out shows back in 2017—and add a third. The Sisters are a national treasure here in the UK, and their shows remain bleeding edge with mastermind Andrew Eldritch firmly at the helm. These shows are so fucking cool because they […]
Dead & Company kicked off the midwest portion of their summer tour on a perfect night at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio with a rousing rendition of Sam Cooke’s “Good Times.” It was then that I knew we were in for a special night. But when it comes to the Grateful Dead, it’s […]
“Absolutely fucking magical,” is what I heard over and over again as the crowd left the Mew show at the Royal Festival Hall in London. After being rescheduled several times due to the ongoing pandemic, Mew took to the stage to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the landmark album And the Glass Handed Kites. In […]
The Metal Tour of the Year featuring Megadeth, Lamb of God, Trivium, and Hatebreed was one of the most incredible shows I have been to in the past five years (and I’ve been to plenty). The lineup was a ferocious blend of new and old metal that left nothing to the imagination at a sold […]
Live music has returned to the UK with a mad rush of festivals doing their best to salvage what has been a brutal summer for music lovers. I had my sights set on something a bit different outside of the masses heading to Leeds and Reading. Taking the train from London a few hours north […]
Willie Nile’s pent up energy for getting back on the road was fairly palpable in his show Saturday at the Hamilton in DC. Originally scheduled for April 2020, it had been postponed by the pandemic to summer that year, then to April this year, to finally this late summer date 16 months later. In the […]
An open-air triple header featuring Rise Against, the Descendents, and The Menzingers took Southern California by storm under a star filled night in Irvine, CA. This trio of punk rock heavyweights brought their A-game to a nearly sold-out show at Five Point Amphitheatre for what was for many their first night of live music in […]
