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- Written by: Bluebird
"If you want to know my secret.
Don't come running after me.
"For I am just a painter. Passing through in history."
From, "A Painter Passing Through," Gordon Lightfoot.
Wearing a blue satin vest, pressed white shirt and gentleman's boots, Gordon Lightfoot delivered a rich and elegant performance at the Calvin Theatre on July 13, 2014. The Canadian singer-songwriter legend, honored the Northampton full house, receiving multiple standing ovations throughout the night. With long set list of deep cut classics from his expansive catalog, his warm textured voice continued to deliver the same intensity and drive as it has since his first Toronto recordings in 1962.
When the band walked out and Gordon followed, cheers, whistles and applause filled the room. The band had equal command of the audience. The material played, which changes throughout the tour, was delivered with timeless impact that a group can only master from experience. They brought their history of folk, rock, country, and even a little jazz sound, to multi-generational crowd. For many people who grew up with the 70's singer-songwriter comfort of radio and early folk, the songs were heard through our souls.
Read more: Gordon Lightfoot at the Calvin Theatre, The Carefree Highway Tour
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- Written by: Matthew Joel Phillips
Boston w/ Cheap Trick
Darling's Waterfront Pavilion
Bangor, ME USA
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
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Written by: Matthew Joel Phillips
Photography by: Chris Joles
Summer's only begun, but school was back in at Darling's Waterfront Pavilion in Bangor, ME as classic rock legends Boston (on tour with Cheap Trick) showed every live band how to put on a show, rainy weather be damned.
Bringing their "A" game on Wednesday, July 2nd, the Boston mother ship landed just as skies darkened and our first taste of special effects came not from the stage but from overhead, and the original pyrotechnic wizard: Mother Nature.
Boston is of course led by Tom Scholz: guitarist, singer, inventor, producer, principal songwriter and graduate of MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and he proudly wears a gray shirt with the school's logo during the concert. (And his instrumental "Last Day of School", from their latest album, was one of my many early highlights of the show).
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- Written by: Lee Hebert
Rich Robinson Rocks the Paradise
June 6th, 2014, Boston
The tour bus was parked out on the street as the line of concert goers stood waiting for the doors of the Paradise Rock Club to open. A Boston original, the 'Dise" sits on Commonwealth Avenue at the edge of the Boston University campus. The Paradise holds just over 900 people and opened its doors in 1977. In 1981, U2 played their very first show on American soil here. Many Bands coming through Boston make this Rock Club one of their stops.
Rich Robinson and his band did exactly that on June 6th, a beautiful warm Friday night in Boston. Robinson, a founding member of The Black Crowes, is touring in support of his critically acclaimed album The Ceaseless Sight. Ceaseless Sight is his third solo album and was released just three days before this show.
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- Written by: Lee Hebert
Ray Lamontagne began his summer tour on May 27th, a rainy Tuesday evening in Portland, Maine. Listen to the the title track to his newest release, in summer fresh colors and sounds - SUPERNOVA:
Former Drive By Truckers alumni, Jason Isbell, opened the show for Lamontagne. Isbell is from Alabama and has been on a worldwide tour since the release of his 4th Studio album Southeastern in 2013.
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- Written by: Bluebird
The Iron Horse Tribute to Lou Reed, Jan 9, 2014.
"Oh ye of little faith ..." (Lou Reed, "Busload of Faith," New York).
How do we say good-bye to a person who influenced the world for generations in music, writing, performing, poetry, art and consciousness?
We don't.
We don't say good-bye. (I've decided).
In getting ready to attend the Lou Reed tribute at the Iron Horse Music Hall, I was torn about going, because it would make Reed's passing all the more real. Yet, I did not want to miss the opportunity to be in the same room with fellow fans and bands who also love Lou Reed. The last time I saw Reed was 2008 at the Calvin Theatre . It was a satisfying performance, validating who Reed is, yet filled with surprises, humor, depth and poetics, that let us get to know him even better. The gathering of artists tonight, in their elegant presentation of Velvet Underground songs and Lou Reed classics, accomplished a similar feeling. A tribute to hold these songs and memories for the rest of our times here, allowed Lou Reed's influence to continue to be celebrated.
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- Written by: Bluebird
Do you JuJu?
Full circles often happen in the natural evolution of living things, but the exact space and time that it takes to complete this curve cannot always be known. The given distance from the locus of a point, must be constant in order to support the return of its boundary. The seeker. Robert Plant, is true to the art of not only music, but discovery. Music fans should not be surprised that Plant's latest tour with the Sensational Space Shifters incorporated world music influences. Plant created an atmosphere of warmth, exploration and adventure
~ And he did this through ritual.
Read more: Boston Tea with Robert Plant, JuJu and Messing with The Blues
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- Written by: Matthew Joel Phillips
KISS
w/ Shinedown
Harbour Station
Saint John, NB CANADA
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
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Explosions, special effects, piercing screams and black giants towering over a crazed mob: it's either a summer blockbuster movie or the latest KISS tour is in town.
Celebrating 40 years, and touring for their 20th studio album, "Monster" – which debuted at #3 on the Billboard "Top 200" last fall – KISS will make 19 coast-to-coast stops in Canada, from the shores of Victoria to St. John's, Newfoundland.
They'll play some of Canada's largest cities and biggest venues (like the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto) and some smaller Canadian cities like Lethbridge, Alberta and – closer to my home base – Saint John, New Brunswick.
The KISS monster has been relatively unseen in these parts, like a Sasquatch stomping through the trees that you're never close enough to get a full view of, before it vanishes.
Read more: KISS with Shinedown at Harbour Station, Saint John, NB, Canada.
