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Monday, May 12, 2014
Music / Live Reviews Live review: LEAF, Black Mountain, N.C. (5/8-5/11/2014)
Posted By Michael Walsh on Mon, May 12, 2014 at 2:17 PM
LEAF Top Five
Black Mountain/Lake Eden, NC
May 8-11, 2014
"Are you ready for some funk music?" Bedecked in silvery, multi-hued top hat and tails, star-shaped bass slung low on his hips, Bootsy Collins whipped the crowd into a delirious frenzy at LEAF's Lakeside Stage on Saturday night. Lakeside's big top setting fit Bootsy's cosmic mothership mind-warp, partly due to the circus atmosphere spinning out from the master funkster and his merry band, but also because a "big tent" perfectly encapsulated the multi-cultural world funk theme of Lake Eden's 38th LEAF Festival.
Twice a year, Camp Rockmont's bucolic alpine valley hosts the multifaceted Fest. From May 8 through 11, LEAF sold out to 6,500 capacity crowds each day, with a further 1,000 attendees on Saturday as part of the non-profit's educational Schools and Streets outreach program. Amid a kaleidoscope of impassioned poetry slams, late night techno DJs, stilt walking faerie processions and kids zip-lining overhead, focus remained on transcendent live music. Here's a look at who brought the funk:
Friday, May 9, 2014
Music / Live Reviews Live review: Ledisi, Robert Glasper Experiment at The Fillmore (5/8/2014)
Posted By Boris 'Bluz' Rogers on Fri, May 9, 2014 at 2:22 PM
Ledisi
The Fillmore
May 8, 2014
Take a night of Grammy-winning soul and tie it to one of the most under-rated voices in music today and you have one of the best shows touring the country in the past five years.
Ledisi's "The Truth" tour, featuring the Robert Glasper Experiment, found its way to The Fillmore on May 8, 2014, and did not disappoint. Glasper, a Grammy winner for his album Black Radio, fuses hip-hop, jazz, soul and progressive styles to reshape the musical landscape with original work, as well as reimagined covers of classic hits.
He started the night with the Sade classic "Cherish" and moved the crowd into a head nodding groove. He also delivered songs from the his Black Radio 2 album. "Let it Ride" (which is sung by Norah Jones on the album) and "Calls" (which is sung by Jill Scott on the album) were crowd pleasers, but his cover of Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" was the highlight.
Glasper's ability to capture the essence of a song and add a hip hop soulful twist is the definition of inspired talent. His sound on the album was true to form and perhaps even better live.
During the changing of the band you start seeing that The Fillmore is a chameleon of a venue - constantly changing, setting the mood and tone without physically changing its structure and set up.
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Music / Live Reviews Live photos, setlist: Gaslight Anthem, The Fillmore (5/7/2014)
Posted By Justin Driscoll on Thu, May 8, 2014 at 1:55 PM
Gaslight Anthem
The Fillmore
May 7, 2014
Setlist
The '59 Sound
Blue Dahlia
Biloxi Parish
Howl
Stay Lucky
Film Noir
Too Much Blood
High Lonesome
45
The Queen of Lower Chelsea
The Navesink Banks
Señor and the Queen
Wooderson
Drive
American Slang
Encore
National Anthem
Handwritten
Great Expectations
The House of the Rising Sun
Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts
The Backseat
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Music / Live Reviews Live review: 2014 Carolina Rebellion, Charlotte Motor Speedway (5/3, 5/4)
Posted By Jeff Hahne on Wed, May 7, 2014 at 11:07 AM
Carolina Rebellion
Charlotte Motor Speedway
May 3-4, 2014
More than 60,000 people celebrated the fourth year of Carolina Rebellion on May 3 and 4, 2014, at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Headlined by Kid Rock and Avenged Sevenfold, the event brought plenty of heavy rock acts to two main stages. While rain shut down much of the second day last year, the weather this time around was perfect - high 70s and low 80s with plenty of sunshine.
With so many performers spread out over two days, I thought it would be best to hand out a variety of "awards" to spotlight some of the weekend's best, interesting and odd moments. Scroll down for a gallery of some the crazy crowdsurfers seen over the weekend, too.
Music / Live Reviews Live review: Mogwai, Amos' Southend (5/6/2014)
Posted By Patrick Wall on Wed, May 7, 2014 at 10:10 AM
Mogwai
Amos' Southend
May 6, 2014
Yeah, it got loud.
- Steve Gullick
- Mogwai
Mogwai may fear Satan, but the Scottish post-rock quintet certainly doesn't fear tinnitus. That is, and ever shall be, the Mogwai way - build frameworks of spare single-note guitar lines, then explode them into monolithic walls of fuzz and noise. Though its no less loud, live, Rave Tapes, Mogwai's eighth full-length, is indelibly influenced by the band's recent (and great) soundtrack work for Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait and Lex Revenants, "defined by ambient level-headedness and creeping digital textures rather than blissfully cranked instro-rock," as Corbie Hill put it in his CL review. Mogwai, not used to being so, is now a subtle band, if an especially loud one.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Music / Live Reviews Live review: Spottiswoode & His Enemies, Evening Muse (5/3/2014)
Posted By Michael Walsh on Mon, May 5, 2014 at 1:01 PM
Spottiswoode & His Enemies
Evening Muse
May 3, 2014
"Is everybody miserable tonight?" Jonathan Spottiswoode asked with a glint of malign mischief. "Can everyone handle the notion of infinite depression?"
Tousle-haired, scruffy bearded and rumpled suited, the half-English songwriter and carnival ringleader, whom the New York Times proclaims a genius, cut a commanding-yet-approachable figure onstage. Despite his leading query, Spottiswoode's lyric, witty and compassionate songs, as interpreted by his Enemies' telepathic interplay through two exhilarating sets, were anything but depressing - though a skein of everyday angst was woven through Spottiswoode's lyric tapestry.
Set opener "Beautiful Monday" was a case in point. Spottiswoode's acoustic guitar, soft as pastel mist, spun the pastoral folk rocker which saluted the pluck of ordinary people soldiering through their daily grind. Yet fueled by trumpeter Kevin Cordt's insistent, heroic riff, the tune transformed into a glorious paean to the workaday world. Careening from satire to childlike wonder, Spottiswoode and his crack crew punched home a message of triumph tinged with the fantastic, yet grounded in reality.
Greeting Charlotte friends in the audience, chatting with off-kilter charm, Spottiswoode was every bit the eccentric English gentleman. Yet the decisive edge of a Celtic warrior and the brimstone of a Presbyterian preacher bubbled under the surface, bursting out in moments of grandly sweeping drama.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Music / Live Reviews Live review: Sleigh Bells, The Fillmore (4/29/2014)
Posted By Jeff Hahne on Wed, Apr 30, 2014 at 3:36 PM
Sleigh Bells
The Fillmore
April 29, 2014
- Photo by Jeff Hahne
- Sleigh Bells
In a flash as quick as one of the many strobe lights, Sleigh Bells hit the Fillmore stage on Tuesday night, tore through a 45-minute, 12-song set before returning for a four-song encore and leaving the crowd in a pile of sweat. Given the band's volume, intensity and raw energy, I'm not sure fans could ask for much more - aside from a return visit.
The noise-rock duo, which tours as a quartet, started the night with "Minnie" as singer Alexis Krauss danced and guitarist Derek E. Miller leapt, jumped and spun his way around the stage while shredding riffs. A quartet of Marshall amplifiers were stacked on either side of the drummer as the band's sonic assault hit the audience with thunderous might.
Monday, April 21, 2014
Music / Live Reviews Live review: Rising Appalachia, Visulite Theatre (4/19/2014)
Posted By Michael Walsh on Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 9:36 AM
Rising Appalachia
Visulite Theatre
April 19, 2014
"Y'all are a small but mighty fierce crowd," Rising Appalachia's Leah Smith told the exuberant audience in the half-packed hall, the crowd's enthusiasm undimmed by a dismal rainy Saturday night. "You're five times louder than our last few crowds who were five times bigger."
With that, Leah and younger sister Chloe, backed by guitarist/bassist David Brown and pan-cultural percussionist Biko Casini, launched into a funky, swaying and syncopated take on the proto-folk-and-blues nugget "St. James Infirmary." With Brown's rubbery upright walking bass and Casini's late-night jazz djembre,there was a lot going on onstage, including an artist seated stage right painting a sprawling canvas.
With two brief opening acts including a fiery dread-locked poet and Kevin "Kalimba Man" Smith's virtuoso turn on amplified African thumb piano, Rising Appalachia's arts-and-poetry-inclusive stage show resembled an alt-carnival crossed with a slice of Asheville street performance. (The Smith sisters are former Asheville residents who currently dwell in New Orleans.)
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Music / Arts / Live Reviews Live review: Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour, Time Warner Cable Arena (4/8/2014)
Posted By Alison Angel on Wed, Apr 9, 2014 at 12:28 PM
Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour by Cirque du Soleil
Time Warner Cable Arena
April 8, 2014
After Michael Jackson's sudden death in 2009, just as he was about to perform a final series of shows at the O2 Arena in London, Cirque du Soleil put together a tribute to the King of Pop and incorporated elements of what would have been in his final curtain call. Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour was conceived in 2011 as a way to get fans "as close as you can get to a rock concert," Cirque CEO Daniel Lamarre stated when the show first premiered. It's all in an effort to, according to Lamarre, make people feel like "Michael Jackson is alive."
Nothing and no one can perform like Jackson could, so it had a lot to live up to as Jackson fans shuffled into Time Warner Cable Arena on Tuesday night. The show touts 3D and holographic video technology that will amaze and make it feel like Jackson is in the room. So, as the lights go down, anticipation builds.
The Immortal World Tour starts out with Michael, as expected - sort of. Five Jacksons appear on the stage. They are "super fans" who start the show by having a dance off with their best MJ moves before going on a spray-painting rampage via a giant LED screen cityscape. "Working Day and Night" gets the show going, and it grinds to a heart stopping halt as the five Jackson's on stage produce an iconic image of Michael. It's hard to have a Michael Jackson show without the man himself, but stunts like this (along with some carefully selected video clips) could maybe fool you. But just maybe.
It's clear from the start though that this isn't a rock concert. With elements of Cirque, there's just no way. But where Cirque can veer dangerously, at times, toward becoming a circus act, Immortal actually avoids that pitfall by toning down all of the usual flipping in favor of focusing on the man and, of course, his dance moves.
Friday, April 4, 2014
Music / Live Reviews Live review: Combichrist, Tremont Music Hall (4/3/2014)
Posted By Jeff Hahne on Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 11:18 AM
Combichrist w/ William Control, New Year's Day
Tremont Music Hall
April 3, 2014
- Photo by Jeff Hahne
- Combichrist
Wearing a glowing red-LED mask, Combichrist singer Andy LaPlegua took the stage en route to a brutal 16-song set, which combined industrial, electronic dance and metal elements into a swirling mass of music that took over Tremont Music Hall on April 3, 2014.
Kicking off its U.S. tour in support of the band's seventh album, We Love You, Combichrist opened with the album's first track "We Were Made to Love You" and its "Hate disorder love destroy" chorus before cruising through a mix of fan favorites and new songs.
While some fans crammed up front to get closer to the charismatic Norwegian frontman, others found plenty of room in the back to dance their asses off. Combichrist's NIN-meets-Marilyn-Manson-meets-Ministry approach wins over an eclectic fan base that splits its time jumping up and down, swirling in a mosh pit and breaking down into up-tempo dance moves.
