King’s X – Three Sides of One 2023 Tour, With Sound & Shape and Dressed in Electric, The King of Clubs, Columbus, OH, September 9, 2023 Saturday night’s sold-out club show with King’s X, the Texas-based rock power trio now in their 43rd year, proved a shining example of the unique chemistry and versatility that … Read more
Guided By Voices – 40th Anniversary Celebration; Dayton Masonic Center; Dayton, Ohio; September 1 & 2, 2023. With Special Guests: Dinosaur Jr., Built To Spill, Heartless Bastards, Wednesday, and Kiwi Jr. Night One It’s worth acknowledging right at the top, that the very existence of the band Guided By Voices – now 40 years into … Read more
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raise The Roof Tour; Rose Music Center at the Heights; Dayton, Ohio; May 3, 2023 Almost as incongruous as the coming together of Robert Plant, the now-74 year old former-lead singer of the prototype hard rock/metal band Led Zeppelin, and Alison Krauss, twenty years younger, with an award-winning career … Read more
Mountain Stage with Larry Grace Featuring Wilco, Peter Case, Garrison Starr & more: Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium on the campus of Ohio University; Athens, OH; Sunday, April 30, 2023 To be honest, when we purchased the tickets for the Mountain Stage performance over in Athens, OH, we were just looking forward to seeing Wilco again, … Read more
The Killers With The Lemon Twigs; Imploding The Mirage Tour: Schottenstein Center; Columbus, OH; Tuesday, March 21, 2023 Early in The Killers’ set on Tuesday night, the second official day of Spring, the band’s lead singer and front man, Brandon Flowers announced that when the band has played here in the past, it was always … Read more
Interpol | Spoon w/ Seratones; Lights, Camera, Factions Tour: KEMBA Live!; Columbus, OH; Tuesday, August 30, 2022 Tuesday evening’s outdoor concert was not only a great way to end the summer concert season, but it was a case study in two very different approaches to live music performance from two very different bands. The co-headline bill … Read more
Elvis Costello & The Imposters w/ Nicole Atkins; The Boy Named If & Other Favorites Tour: Rose Music Center; Dayton, OH; Saturday, August 6, 2022 Elvis Costello has been a singer and songwriter of note for going on 45 years, but as we were reminded at his concert on Saturday night at the Rose Music Center, … Read more
Andrew Bird / Iron & Wine Outside Problems Tour w/ Meshell Ndegeocello: PNC Pavilion; Cincinnati, OH; Thursday, August 4, 2022 The sky was dark with storm clouds on Thursday evening as fans began to gather in the PNC Pavilion, the smaller venue at the Riverbend/Coney Island park, and while there was a loud crack of thunder … Read more
Tedeschi Trucks Band w/ Los Lobos & Gabe Dixon: Rose Music Center; Dayton, OH; Sunday, July 24, 2022 Generally speaking, journalistic practice requires one to start a concert review with the focus on the established headliner, the artist at the top of the ticket, the reason most fans paid hard-earned money to attend a specific show. … Read more
Drive-By Truckers w/ Lydia Loveless: Dayton Masonic Center; Dayton, OH; Saturday, July 23, 2022 As Drive-By Truckers suggest in a couple of their album titles, they are an “American Band” paying tribute to the ongoing “Southern Rock Opera” taking place all around them over the course of 26 years, and 14 studio albums. Rooted in the … Read more
The Psychedelic Furs w/ X: Made Of Rain 2022 Tour; Rose Music Center; Dayton, OH; Wednesday, July 6, 2022 As if special ordered for the day of The Psychedelic Furs “Made of Rain” tour’s arrival in Dayton, Wednesday was a dreary, rainy day at mid-afternoon, but by the time the opening act, legendary L.A. punk band … Read more
Manchester Orchestra w/ Foxing & The Michiganders: KEMBA Live; Columbus, OH; Friday, February 11, 2022 Friday night’s sold-out Manchester Orchestra concert at KEMBA Live! was a solid rock show from start to finish, emphasizing the band’s 2021 release, The Million Masks of God, but playing enough choice selections from their older albums to satisfy die-hard fans … Read more
The War On Drugs: KEMBA Live; Columbus, OH; Friday, February 4, 2022 Fans of the band The War On Drugs’ albums, might be curious how an artist as meticulous as singer/guitarist/songwriter Adam Granduciel is reported to be in preparing his recordings for release, since he’s often described as notoriously precise about, well… everything on his band’s … Read more
Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit w/ Adia Victoria: Palace Theatre; Columbus, OH; Thursday, January 27, 2022 For live music fans, one of the biggest challenges of the on-going pandemic has been the shut-down of concerts, but Jason Isbell repeatedly told the two-thirds full crowd in Columbus’ Palace Theatre Thursday night that he and his band, … Read more
Gary Clark Jr.: Express LIVE; Columbus, OH; Tuesday, November 9, 2021 Before the lights went down and Gary Clark Jr. led his band to the stage of Express LIVE in Columbus on Tuesday night, it became clear as the roadies were setting tuned guitars into stands, turning on the guitar amps, checking levels on drums, etc., … Read more
Son Volt: Ludlow Garage; Cincinnati, OH; Saturday, September 18, 2021 As someone who lived in St. Louis from late ’83 thru the middle of ’08 and wrote semi-professionally about music for many of those years – contributing to the two largest publications that followed the music scene, The Riverfront Times and Post-Dispatch, as well as a … Read more
Alanis Morissette, “Jagged Little Pill 25th Anniversary Tour”, w/ Garbage, and Cat Power: Riverbend Music Center; Cincinnati, OH; Wednesday September 15, 2021 When Alanis Morissette finally hit the stage on Wednesday night you would have a hard time remembering that 26 years had passed since the release of her “Jagged Little Pill” as she paced … Read more
St. Vincent: Daddy’s Home World Tour w/ Ali Macofsky: ICON Music Center; Cincinnati, OH – Tuesday, September 7, 2021 With the return of live music events, one of the concerts on my must-see list was St. Vincent, following the release of Daddy’s Home earlier this year, and year’s of hearing stellar reports about her artful … Read more
King Crimson w/ The Zappa Band: Rose Music Center; Dayton, OH – Thursday, September 2, 2021 It needs to be said right from the start, that King Crimson is a unique anomaly among progressive rock bands from the earliest era of rock music history. How early? Crimson released their fourth studio album 50 years ago, … Read more
WonderBus Music And Arts Festival (Day 2): Columbus, OH – Sunday, August 29, 2021 Despite a forecast that threatened rainstorms, the second day of the WonderBus music festival in Columbus on the lawn of the Chemical Abstracts Service came off without a hitch, with the two final bands of the evening delayed only a half … Read more
Emmylou Harris & Los Lobos: Rose Music Center; Dayton, OH – Saturday, August 7, 2021 Emmylou Harris was singing alternative country before it was cool, long before it was called Americana. With 14 Grammys and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Harris’ early start singing harmony vocals for the likes of Gram Parsons (The Byrds, Flying … Read more
James Taylor & His All-Star Band w/ Jackson Browne: Wright State Nutter Center; Dayton, OH – Wednesday, August 4, 2021 Given the boyish grin on 73-year-old James Taylor’s face throughout his 90 minute set in front of the mostly full Nutter Center arena on Wednesday night, it would be hard to say who was the … Read more
Todd Rundgren: Clearly Human Live Virtual Tour; Cleveland, OH (via Chicago, IL) – Monday, February 22, 2021 Anyone who’s paid attention to the technology of live concert touring, would not be surprised to learn that long-time early adapter, rocker, and producer Todd Rundgren would be one of the first people to reimagine live music experiences … Read more
Elvis Costello & The Imposters: “Just Trust” Tour; Taft Theatre; Cincinnati, OH – Tuesday, November 19, 2019 It’s strangely comforting that the once famously “angry young man,” Elvis Costello can still surprise and challenge an audience at the age of 65, 42 years after his debut album. The very artist who got banned from “Saturday … Read more
Wilco Ode to Joy Tour w/ Special Guest Deep Sea Diver; Taft Theatre, Cincinnati, OH – Saturday, November 9, 2019 “Cincinnati, I’ve got to say, you are really bringing it,” stated Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy about 2/3rds of the way through their performance at the Taft Theatre on Saturday night. Tweedy is not one of … Read more