Recaps
The Best, the Mess and the Rest: Ohana Fest
Ohana Fest has become a staple on the Southern California concert calendar. Taking place on the beach at Doheny State Park in Dana Point, the festival is the unofficial end of summer and the Southland festival season. Last year, Eddie Vedder’s festival returned with not one, but two weekends of music. Vedder and Pearl Jam headlined (Kings of Leon were supposed to as well, but canceled following the death of their mother) and this year, he was joined by Stevie Nicks and P!nk at the top of the bill. The rest of the lineup featured artists like St. Vincent, Jack White, Billy Strings and more. We took in the sounds under the sun. Here’s everything that happened at Ohana Fest over the weekend. The Best: Eddie Vedder with Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers (Credit: Michael Ryan Kravetsky for Oha...
Roxy Music Wrap Up 50th Anniversary Tour With a Look Back at Their Underrated Influence
The often enigmatic and consistently stylish British band Roxy Music closed out their U.S. tour at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. The tour marked the band’s 50th anniversary, and the string of dates was the first time the band performed on stage since 2011. Roxy Music was never fully embraced by the wider record-buying public, as their music did not slot easily into any single genre. Nonetheless, the band was held fervently close by a sufficiently sized fan base. The band’s first album was a solid progenitor of art rock. But Roxy Music would likely prefer not to be stuck with any label. They may be most responsible for launching glam rock in the 1970s and they certainly presaged the dapper New Romantics by a decade. Roxy Music were one of the first bands to maintain a certain look across th...
Rammstein’s Blunt Trauma Triumph
Rammstein is a band committed to blunt force. You could hear it and feel it on the final night of the German act’s long-delayed U.S. stadium tour, erupting at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday night with the heaviest guitars and industrial beats, abrasive electronics, and literal fireballs. Rammstein meant to leave a mark and they did, with thousands of fans pummeled into noisy ecstasy and a sky tinged with smoke and fire. The concert unfolded on a stage built into a towering dystopian cityscape right out of Fritz Lang’s silent classic Metropolis, which blended easily with the old Olympic stadium’s nearly 100-year-old structure. It was all suited to a band with a weakness for big gestures, as Rammstein delivered more than two hours of music and noise from the Neue Deutsche...
The Always Sunny Podcast Throws a Rock’N’Roll Party at First Live Tapings
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia principals Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, and Charlie Day have worked with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, so they are at least generally familiar with how some fans react in the presence of celebrity. Even so, they were hardly expecting the over-the-top audience response from the first live performances of their The Always Sunny Podcast over the past few days. Last Saturday at the Louisville festival Bourbon & Beyond, McElhenney, Howerton and Day were received as nothing less than rock gods by 3,000 fans crammed into a tent normally used for bluegrass performances. Underwear was thrown on stage, along with a random assortment of other clothing (“The problem with woke culture is we ask for underwear and bras and we get sports jackets,” McElhen...
Pearl Jam Honors 9/11 Anniversary at Heartfelt Madison Square Garden Show
Pearl Jam brought gravitas and catharsis to the Madison Square Garden stage last night (Sept. 11) on the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with frontman Eddie Vedder speaking at length throughout the show in tribute to the numerous first responders who were in attendance. Vedder said one, a man named Mike, told him that he traditionally leaves the city on 9/11 as a way of not having to relive the trauma, but this time, “thought it would be a good idea to be here tonight with you.” Paraphrasing another first responder, Vedder recalled how the United States unified in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, in stark contrast to how bitterly divided the country is today. “There was a time we supported each other,” he said. “That’s the part we cannot forget. Let those lessons be ...
Pearl Jam Go Heavy on Gigaton at Apollo Theater Show
Pearl Jam were supposed to play Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater in March 2020, but COVID had other plans. It took until last night (Sept. 10) for the band to make up the gig, which was broadcast live on the band’s SiriusXM channel Pearl Jam Radio. It was open only to contest winners. As has been the case on the first four shows on this leg of the band’s current tour, the show started with band members seated and playing more down-tempo material. “Footsteps” as opened and was followed by the infrequently performed “Pendulum,” “Sleight of Hand” and “Parachutes.” Something wasn’t working quite right with the PA, however, and the band stopped while the system was reset. Vedder killed time with a solo rendition of Warren Zevon’s “Keep Me in Your Heart,” and within a few minutes, the other mem...
Aerosmith Play With Time at 50th Anniversary Show in Boston
In Dazed and Confused, a movie that came out 29 years ago and takes place 17 years earlier, in 1976, someone declares that getting Aerosmith tickets is “the top priority of the summer.” On Thursday, as summer 2022 drew to a close, Aerosmith was again the hottest ticket around, celebrating their 50th anniversary with great panache before a hometown audience in Boston’s Fenway Park, a few blocks from where they started out. Has time collapsed? How does Steven Tyler, 74, still look and sound as good as he does, hitting the notes and making every lick of stage patter sound like a dirty joke? “Let’s pull one from our back pocket,” he asided to fellow Toxic Twin Joe Perry before a blistering “Mama Kin.” Later he yelled: “Give it up for our 50th annifuckingversary!” This is technically Aerosmith’...
Øya Fest Returns to Oslo
After a two-year hiatus, Oslo hosted the 21st year of Øya Festival last weekend. Headliners included Gorillaz, Florence and the Machine, and Nick Cave—making it feel like a more laid-back version of say, Coachella or Governor’s Ball. (Why wouldn’t you want to attend a music festival where you have the option of taking a morning swim in the postcard-worthy fjords?) However, the lineup was also full of home team acts like Sondre Lerche, Jenny Hval, and AURORA. The deep bench of talent also extended to acts that have yet to venture stateside, making Øya the best place to find a new favorite. Check out our gallery to see snaps of some of our favorite Norwegian acts. (All photos by Laura Studarus) Sondre Lerche (Credit: Laura Studarus) Myra (Credit: Laura Studarus) Brenn (Credit: Laura Studarus...
Primus and Ween Toast South Park in Wild 25th Anniversary Concert
The only thing anyone seemed to know going into last night’s epic South Park birthday bash at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater was that it was going to be wild and weird. In honor of the show’s 25th anniversary, the show’s creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone brought funk-metal band Primus and Ween together for two sold-out nights of comedy, mayhem, and singalongs. They led a rousing “Uncle F**ka,” backed by both bands. The stage was adorned with cutouts of snowy South Park trees, instruments, a few lawn chairs, and a cooler. Even Les Claypool seemed amused. “What the hell is goin’ on here, man” the Primus bassist asked at some point later on. That was the vibe of the night. Throughout the show, Primus and Ween, plus Parker and Stone, traded performing and sitting onstage to watch their ol...
The Best, the Mess and the Rest: Lollapalooza 2022
It’s been 17 years since the current version of Lollapalooza made its home in Chicago’s Grant Park. Though there are lovers and haters of the festival for a variety of reasons, the 2022 version went off mostly without any issues and definitely without the cloud that hung over it last year. On a bright note, it didn’t feel as jam-packed as years past — there was ample room to navigate through the crowd to the different stages — even if nothing at this year’s Lollapalooza changed. Here’s everything that we saw this weekend, which, unlike other fests this year, was actually quite great with few gripes. The Best: The weather: In a very unscientific poll conducted on the grounds, all 11 people agreed that the weather at this year’s fest was the best in its history. Warm but not hot, humid ...
Swedish House Mafia Kickoff Paradise Again Tour With a Rave in a Sold-Out Arena
Can you turn an arena concert into a rave? That’s the goal Swedish House Mafia set for their years-in-the-making return to the touring stage (Coachella and other one-off festival headlining slots withstanding), and the reunited EDM supertrio picked the ideal city to find out. In the Swedish House Mafia universe, Miami has always been the place of beginnings and ends. This is where the group made their debut at Ultra Music Festival in 2008, and where they played their final concert at that same festival in 2013. Five years later, that’s where the trio surprised fans with a reunion set in 2018, and last night, it was at Miami’s FTX Arena where Sebastian Ingrosso, Steve Angello and Axwell returned for a sold-out return that dared to ask: Can you turn an arena concert into a rave? To be honest...
The Best, The Mess & The Rest: Solid Sound Festival
Solid Sound Festival returned to the Berkshires for the biennial festival which saw fans literally of all ages making a trek to MASS MoCA to see Jeff Tweedy and company celebrate the release of their latest release, Cruel Country. We enlisted a Berkshires resident to document the show and his back still hurts from standing for seven hours straight each day and he now understands why so many people brought camping chairs to the main stage. Live and learn. The Best Wilco – Wilco kicked of their Friday night set with Jeff Tweedy warning, “We aren’t going to talk a lot tonight” and added that this would probably be the only time they would be playing these songs together in reference to the band’s nearly flawless rendition of their brand new 21-track double album, Cruel Country. While the...
