Live Review: Van Halen Vaults Back Into Spotlight with High-Flying Kicks, Superhuman Stamina
May 13, 2012 – Van Halen’s highly praised new album may be called “A Different Kind of Truth”, but the current tour reveals there’s nothing different about their shock-and-awe approach to the stage. Halfway through their North American leg on a Saturday night in Winnipeg, the band had no trouble re-creating the moments of glory [...]
Live Review: Red Rocks Roars to Life with Styx, REO Speedwagon, Ted Nugent
May 8, 2012 – It’s hard to find a better place on earth than Denver, Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre on opening night of its eternally illustrious concert season. The mood is simply electric in the 9,600 seat bowl carved into the mountainside, and the anticipation of that first note of the summer is palpable. But [...]
Photo Preview: Chickenfoot’s ‘Different Devil’ Tour
May 9, 2012 – Turning downtown Denver’s Fillmore Auditorium into a complete party, Chickenfoot cranked out their new tunes, cracked jokes, and had far too much fun in the process. Full article including photo gallery to follow.
Live Review: The ’70s Rule with Blue Oyster Cult & Foghat at Prairie Knights
May 5, 2012 – They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore. Rock warriors of a time gone by, Blue Oyster Cult and Foghat have survived deaths of multiple band members, dozens of music eras, and even famous Saturday Night Live sketches. Both bands are both well beyond their 40th anniversaries and still carrying on [...]
Live Review: Daryl Hall’s House Pulls into Atlantic City
April 14, 2012 – Daryl Hall has taken his house on the road. Literally, he’s packed up the antique wood floors and walls along with all of the musical instruments from his upstate New York home for a 7-city trek across the United States. Or at least that’s what the stage show at his Saturday [...]
Live Review: Barry Manilow Sends Chills in St. Paul
April 13, 2012 – He doesn’t have to introduce himself at this stage in his career, but there’s a certain charm about the way Barry Manilow starts each show with the line “for those who don’t know me, my name is Barry Manilow.” As for his fans, or “Fanilows”, in Barry’s case, they need no [...]
Live Review: Hall, Oates & Christmas in Atlantic City
December 10, 2011 – It’s been five years since the release of the first and only Christmas effort from rock ‘n’ soulers Daryl Hall and John Oates. “Home for Christmas” was the title of that album. But for this duo, Atlantic City’s Borgata casino is pretty much home. “Oh man, we love this place,” Daryl [...]
Live Review: In Las Vegas, Barry Manilow Exudes Music and Passion
October 9, 2011 – A historic looking theatre. Thousands of red glow sticks are in the air. In the distance, a fan screams out with pure anticipation. A shadowy figure emerges and suddenly his name explodes in white letters behind him. He’s a bona fide music legend who owns the very stage he walks on [...]
Live Review: Journey, Foreigner, and Night Ranger Steal the Spotlight in Vegas
October 8, 2011 – On any given night, there are hundreds of shows to be seen on the expansive and expensive Las Vegas Strip. But this past Saturday night, there was one show that turned heads and left hoards more stammered than jackpot winners. This shock and awe could only mean one thing – Journey, [...]
Live Review: Winnipeg Rock City: a Homecoming Bachman & Turner and a Scorching Paul Rodgers
September 24, 2011 – There’s a new citizenship test required for all Canadian citizens. It’s called the Bachman & Turner test. If you can’t help Randy Bachman finish the famous blue collar verses of “Takin’ Care of Business”, you just aren’t Canadian. (You get up every mornin’….) Answer: “from the alarm clock’s warning, take the [...]
Live Review: Thousands Swoon for Taylor Swift at Verizon Center
August 3, 2011 – Few stars can pack Washington, DC’s 20,000 seat Verizon Center for one night. But Taylor Swift can – for two nights. Her second performance at the filled arena on Wednesday night was not much different from the night before. One could imagine the old rows of fans being rolled away, and [...]
Live Review: Ke$ha Flashes Glitter and Fluorescent Lipstick on ‘Get Sleazy’ Launch
July 26, 2011 – Let’s be honest for just a moment. $ay that Ke$ha is playing a concert in your town on a night you’re free. Whether you’ll admit it or not, you want to go, and it would be foolish to deny it. You want to go and see the girl who has become [...]
Live Review: McDonald and Scaggs Unite Timeless Voices
July 19, 2011 – Imagine the husky, soulful Michael McDonald crooning right next to a clean-as-honey Boz Scaggs. The union of two voices like no other, distinct and captivating. But you could check your imagination at the door at Baltimore’s Pier Six Pavilion on Tuesday night. The two greats joined forces for a night of [...]
Live Review: Ted Nugent Better Than Ever with St. Holmes in Baltimore
July 23, 2011 – “No shit, Balitmore. No shit.” says Ted Nugent as he starts his show with a maniacal guitar solo at the intimate Rams Head Live on Saturday night. He wears a hunting vest and hat, and he’s got that insane twinkle in his eye that we’ve all come to recognize as pure, [...]
Live Review: On a Mission to Rock, Mötley Crüe and Poison Put Feud Aside
July 16, 2011 – Mötley Crüe and Poison are the biggest and baddest bands ever to walk the face of the earth, according to their own descriptions. They were born on the sleazy streets of Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip about five years apart in the early 1980s. They attracted millions of rabid fans around the [...]
Live Review: Quirky and Funny, Todd Rundgren Delights His Fans
June 28, 2011 – Underrated isn’t the right word to describe the multi-talented American music legend Todd Rundgren. To those who’ve listened to his vast collection of albums over a storied career of 40 years, he’s a rock hero like no other. Rather, underexposed is the right way to put it. Never being the “radio [...]
Live Review: Rock ‘N’ Roll Legend Eddie Money Lively As Ever
July 3, 2011 – Inside Eddie Money’s tour bus before his gig at the Heritage Fair in Dundalk, Maryland, he’s warming up for the concert in his own way. He’s been playing shows since 1977. There aren’t any vocal warm-ups anymore, or stage nerves. To get himself primed up, all he has to do is [...]
Live Review: Styx and Yes Launch Summer Tour on 4th of July
July 4, 2011 – There are a few different ways to celebrate America’s birthday. You can watch a fireworks display, attend a reading of the Declaration of Independence, or rock your heart out with two of the greatest progressive rock bands in history. Styx and Yes were on tap for the latter option at 102.9 [...]
Live Review: The Guess Who Tears It Up in Dundalk
July 2, 2011 – If there’s any catalog in rock music that’s impossible to play too much, it’s that of The Guess Who. They were rock innovators, penning songs that have not only withstood the test of time, but grown stronger with time. That’s why seeing the band perform today is such a treat. Original [...]
Live Review: Camden Gets Rattled as Def Leppard and Heart Reclaim Arena Swagger
June 26, 2011 – There was a deceiving calmness in the air at Camden, New Jersey’s Susquehanna Bank Center on a cool Sunday night as fans anxiously waited in their seats for the main attraction. Before the lights went out, all that could be seen was a dormant looking lighting and LCD rig atop a [...]
Live Review: Filling Baltimore’s M&T Stadium, U2 Sends Chills and Embraces Hype
June 22, 2011 – It was a mega-concert nearly two years in the making. But if you asked any of the 75,000 U2 fans at M&T Bank Stadium on Wednesday night, the electrifying and chill-inducing spectacle that the band had to offer was well worth the wait. Their voices formed a deafening wall of sound [...]
Live Review: Monkees Bring Plenty of Laughs and Hits on Reunion Tour
June 19, 2011 – It’s not often that roaring bouts of laughter are heard at a concert. But it’s what the Monkees have come to expect ever since their TV show launched in the 1960s and was subsequently immortalized by reruns. Today Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Tork may not be young anymore, but [...]
Live Review: Smooth as Ever, Hall & Oates Prowl the Borgata
June 17, 2011 – “Oh oh oh oh!” is what Daryl Hall yells to cue the signature bass line of 1982′s classic “Maneater”. Hall & Oates have been opening their concerts with this song for countless years, but it never loses its power, and nor do they. When watching and listening, the fact that Hall [...]
Live Review: Patti LaBelle Doesn’t Need Shoes, or a Microphone
June 14, 2011 – Expectations can make or break a concert. Expect a stellar performance, and you’ll be disappointed by a mediocre one. For a Patti LaBelle concert, one might expect a laid-back but still pleasing rendition of R&B and pop hits from the 67-year-old singer. Shattered were those expectations on Tuesday night at the [...]
