Concert Review: Fear Factory at the Webster Theater in Hartford, CT

Fear Factory, Hate Eternal 
& Kobra and the Lotus
May 1, 2013
Webster Theater
Hartford, CT
Reviewed by: Brian Cross

The war between man and machine is inevitable. Luckily, we have Fear Factory standing between us and extinction. Their World Industrialist Tour hit the Webster Theater with some very talented supporting bands, and the legendary mechanized metallers were ready for action despite the surprisingly sparse crowd. Read more

Concert Review: Ivan & Alyosha/The Lone Bellow at Brighton Music Hall in Allston, MA

Ivan & Alyosha
The Lone Bellow
April 20, 2013
Brighton Music Hall
Allston, MA
Reviewed by: Dorise Gruber

It was an emotional night to see a show in Boston on Saturday.  With the Marathon bombing on Monday, a lockdown the day before and the cancellation of all shows in the area, it was questionable as to whether or not this concert would even take place.  Lone Bellow female vocalist Kanene Doheney Pipkin even commented on the extreme energy of the crowd, “did somebody just let you all out of your houses?”  The bands were sweet to us and present with the high-running emotions of the night’s audience.  Opener Twin Forks even began the night with a short Augustana cover of “I Think I’ll Go To Boston” to pay respect to the crazy week we’d all just endured. Read more

Concert Review: Jamie Lidell at Brighton Music Hall in Allston, MA

Jamie Lidell
April 11, 2013
Brighton Music Hall
Allston, MA
Reviewed by: Dorise Gruber

Jamie Lidell’s 2013 S/T album Jamie Lidell combines the Motown soul of early albums Jim/Multiply and the technologic fanciness of Compass, though a little dancier than the former and a little less aggressive than the last.  In either case, I was expecting a somewhat more mellowed album would likely mean that his performance may have mellowed over time, too.  Sorely mistaken but solidly thrilled, Lidell prevailed as a true neofunk mogul at Brighton Music Hall, rocking a floor-length raincoat and drenching it from the inside with the hot-blooded steam of vitality. Read more

Concert Review: Kishi Bashi at the Sinclair in Cambridge, MA

Kishi Bashi
March 26, 2013
The Sinclair
Cambridge, MA
Reviewed by: Dorise Gruber

In the same way that I’m a sucker for a man with a beard, every music lover has a trigger that makes them far more likely to fall for a song.  For some people it’s handclaps, for some it’s beachy oohs and aahs, for some it’s a heavy-dropped bass, take your pick.  For me, though – it’s looping.  If a musician knows how to live-loop a song with skill, it’s the umami of the concert-going experience.  For those who aren’t familiar with the concept, a performer will break songs into segments, and will utilize fancy shmancy gear (this is a technical term) to record these parceled phrases one piece at a time.  Ideally without breaking flow of the song, the performer will play back the piece they’ve just recorded and harmonize with it, add in bass/drums/other instruments, and continually forge together each sector of the song until it hits its saturation point.  It adds an entirely separate sense of construction and dynamism to the songs at hand, and transforms otherwise pleasant songs into an extraordinary art form. Read more

Show Review: Raiding the Rock Vault in Las Vegas, NV

Raiding the Rock Vault
Las Vegas Hotel & Casino
Las Vegas, NV
Reviewed by: Jessica Messina

Several years ago, a musician friend of mine once told me “Music is like smell. Sometimes it takes you right back”. There’s also a saying that if you remember the sixties (or 70s or 80s) then chances are good that you weren’t actually there. Whichever of those lines applies to you, the newest Vegas show, Raiding the Rock Vault, can accommodate it! Starring what could be the newest supergroup to end all supergroups, comprised of John Payne (Asia), Robin McAuley (MSG, Survivor), Paul Shortino (Quiet Riot, Rough Cutt), Howard Leese (Heart, Bad Company), Jay Schellen (Hurricane, Badfinger), Tracii Guns (LA Guns), Michael T. Ross (Lita Ford band), and Andrew Freeman (Offspring, Lynch Mob), and several guests throughout the year, beginning with Bobby Kimball from Toto, followed by Joe Lynn Turner from Rainbow, it is a show suitable for anyone over the age of four years old who wants to take a two-hour long journey through modern history with pop culture references sprinkled throughout via actors or the giant video screens on either side and the back of the stage. (Random six degrees fact: “All Right Now” by Free was cowritten by Paul Rodgers, who went on to join Bad Company, a band which RTRV guitarist Howard Leese can claim on his resume! BAM! You’ve just been Kevin Baconed!)    Read more

Concert Review + Photo Gallery: Soilwork, Jeff Loomis + More at the Webster Theater in Hartford, CT

Soilwork, Jeff Loomis, Blackguard, Bonded by Blood & Hatchet
March 16, 2013
Webster Theater – Hartford, CT

Reviewed by: Brian Cross
Photos by: Diana Guay

With the recent release of their double album The Living Infinite, melodic death titans Soilwork embarked a long tour to promote the new record and bring metal to the masses. Read more

Concert Review: Caveman at The Sinclair in Cambridge, MA

Caveman
February 27, 2013
The Sinclair
Cambridge, MA
Reviewed by: Dorise Gruber

Concert Review: Gojira & Devin Townsend Project at the Palladium in Worcester, MA

Gojira, Devin Townsend Project
& The Atlas Moth
February 15, 2013
The Palladium
Worcester, MA
Reviewed by: Brian Cross
Photos by: Diana Guay

Perhaps the heaters were malfunctioning at the Palladium, but a cold night was soon warmed a bit by a trio of heavy bands. Like a river of sludge, opening act The Atlas Moth’s set flowed from one song into the next. The slow shoegaze/metal sound of the band seemed an odd mix when compared to the bands that followed them on the bill, but stranger things have happened. Read more

The 25th Annual Boston Music Awards – Show in Review

The 25th Annual Boston Music Awards

The scene was rife with sequins and faux leather at the 25th annual Boston Music Awards, held festival-style in the Liberty Hotel, all proceeds from the show benefitting the non-profit local organization MusicDrivesUs.Org.  While trying to navigate to the different concert rooms in this prison-turned-hotel sometimes felt like weaving through an Escher painting, the acts ran the gamut and made the foot traffic well-worth enduring.
Read more

Concert Review: Now, Now at the Paradise in Boston, MA

Now, Now
November 9, 2012
The Paradise – Boston, MA
Reviewed by: Dorise Gruber

When I comb the lists of bands coming to town, I scour not only for headliners, but always try to peep the openers, just in case.  An all-ages Motion City Soundtrack show would not normally be the first thing to catch my eye, but when I scoped Now, Now tucked away on the bill, I immediately jumped at the chance to see these Minnesota wunderkinds. Read more

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