Live Music Reviews and Photographs / NYC, Buffalo, Toronto, Pittsburgh
To cap off my summer/fall of 80s concerts, I went to see Howard Jones at Irving Plaza in October. He does look a bit like a grandpa but his singing was in fine form despite his being a bit sedate on stage. There were a couple of instances where fans jumped on stage to dance. …
Continue reading "Howard Jones parties on at Irving Plaza – Oct 19, 2011"
Wow, this was a fun show! A couple of friends happened to attend the same concert and joined us up front. Frankmusik opened the lively evening at Terminal 5 but it was Andy and Vince we had all come to see. They proved that Erasure is still writing great music and performing with the same …
Continue reading "Erasure has Terminal 5 dancing – Sept 13, 2011"
This show was at BB King's where you can have dinner while being entertained. The tables are first come first served so, being the nutjob that I am, we got a table right up against the stage. While waiting, we could see Pat doing soundcheck. Taking pictures was obviously a no-no because she turned away …
Continue reading "Pat Benatar plays BB King – July 11, 2011"
I'm jumping ahead to 2011... Lipton and Pandora sponsored this show at Chelsea Pier. Most of the crowd was definitely not there to see the bands, Train with Keaton Simons opening. This is the only problem I have with some of these corporate events. You get a lot of people there drinking and talking loudly...very …
Continue reading "Pandora and Lipton present Train – May 20, 2011"
Never heard of Grace Potter before this WRXP sponsored show at the Studio at Webster Hall. The stage was only about a foot high so we were incredibly, almost uncomfortably, close to the band and the sexy Grace Potter. This was an acoustic show so it didn't have the huge power of a regular show …
Continue reading "WXRP Presents Grace Potter & the Nocturnals – Mar 10, 2011"
This was OMD's first US appearance in many years and there were some fans in attendance at Terminal 5 that had followed them from UK. Oh Land opened and were...interesting. But we were all waiting for OMD. Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys sounded EXACTLY the same as they did 25 yrs ago...in fact, if you …
Continue reading "Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark return the 80s to Terminal 5 – Mar 8, 2011"
Another of the concert series sponsored by iHeartRadio at the PC Richards Theater down in Tribeca, this show came right after a huge snowstorm. Getting to the show was difficult, trudging through the snow. Sara was funny yet seemingly subdued compared to her usual self. Videos Cover of Coldplay's Yellow Uncharted Lovesong
This was my introduction to the Neon Trees. Devo was supposed to be the headliner for this Halloween concert at Hammerstein Ballroom but they had to cancel. Elissa and I got to the venue early and Neon Trees was nice enough to let the early comers in for sound check. Then they did a nice …
Continue reading "Neon Trees spooky at Hammerstein – Oct 30, 2010"
Back in 2010, I used to listen to WRXP, the only alternative rock station in the NYC area. They had a number of online contests for free tickets to some shows, one of which was Company of Thieves at the Studio at Webster Hall. The only song I had heard of a little was "Oscar …
Continue reading "WRXP present Company of Thieves – Mar 9, 2010"
It was a regular work day from my home office when I found out that Sick Puppies had space for one more person in their live webcast. Rushing down to the EMI office down in the Flatiron district, I found myself waiting with about 9 others. We were ushered into a smallish room with 3 …
Continue reading "Sick Puppies webcast and private show – Feb 9, 2010"
Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr...what more is there to say, right? But what did I know about them before this show? Only the songs I knew from playing the video game Rock Band! Of course I had heard of these bands but didn't know the music very well. But what the hell...each concert is a brand …
Continue reading "Sonic Youth and why I wish I had ear plugs – Nov 21, 2009"
Amy Lee and Evanescence took a hiatus after their Open Door tour. In October 2009, Evanescence announced that they would hold a one-off concert at the Grand Ballroom (Hammerstein) on November 4th in NYC to get back into the swing of things and before they work on new music. Through the fan club, they were …
Continue reading "Evanescence Returns to pandemonium at Grand Ballroom! – Nov 4, 2009"
Saturday morning, October 11, 2009. Nothing better to do but check out what shows are playing. Turns out Kylie Minogue is in town and it's her first US performance EVER!! I remembered Kylie with "The Loco-Motion" from back in the 80s and that she had dated the late Michael Hutchence from INXS. Didn't hear from …
Continue reading "Kylie Minogue plays first ever US show at Hammerstein – Oct 11, 2009"
Up to this point, I was a concert attendee and occasional photographer. The only exception was my participation with the Sick Puppies World Crew. With the next show, I started filming as well as collecting memorabilia. Since I started to follow concerts more closely, I discovered ways of getting free tickets. In 2009, ticket giveaways …
Continue reading "The Next Stage – Silversun Pickups at iHeartRadio – July 31, 2009"
I saw this show completely by accident. I don't remember why I was walking downtown but I was headed down Broadway when I saw that the police were starting to close down the streets near the Ed Sullivan Theater. I asked an officer why they were shutting the street down and he told me that …
Continue reading "Paul McCartney Plays the marquee at the Ed Sullivan Theater – July 15, 2009"
I indoctrinated my 9 yr old daughter into the wonderful world of concerts in 2007 with two Duran Duran shows. As with all children, they are "forced" to listen to all the music their parents listened to. This included a ton of 80s "new wave". My daughter got a heavy dose of Duran Duran during …
While I attended an REM concert at Jones Beach in 2003 and an Erasure concert at Irving Plaza in 2005, it wasn't until I attended two Robin Hood Foundation shows that I caught the concert bug. The first was a Rolling Stones show at Radio City Music Hall. The B52s opened and the crowd didn't …
I didn't attend many concerts when I was younger. Besides a few one-off concerts back in the 80s and 90s, I didn't start really going to concerts until the mid-2000s. Perhaps it's my mid-life crisis, concerts being my sports car or motorcycle. Either way, the number of concerts have grown from once a year back …