Reviews

A West Coast run for any band would not be complete without a stop in Sin City, and that is precisely what the self-described indie jam rock artist Goose did on October 1, 2023 at the Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas. This band grew too quickly to play the famed Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, NY, making this venue special for the Northeastern fans in attendance. Venue owner and jam rock enthusiast Peter Shapiro was on hand for the exciting occasion.

Returning to Sacramento, Calif., a year after his last visit, the affable and quick finger-picking Billy Strings and his band reinforced their unique brilliant mastery of a performance package that straddles the lines between traditional bluegrass material and psychedelic-tinged improvisational jamming. A truly epic concert, the show included 35 songs.

A palpable aura of nostalgic reverence enveloped The Parker Theater in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday night, as the venerable rock-blues trio Hot Tuna took to the stage, embarking on the Fort Lauderdale leg of their "Going Fishing 2023 Tour." Jorma Kaukonen (guitar/vocals), Jack Casady (bass), and Justin Guip (drums) didn’t just play a concert. They orchestrated a journey, intertwining over 50 years of music history into a night of emotional, electrifying performances.

Al Stewart, accompanied by The Empty Pockets, recently illuminated the stage of the venerable Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, California, elegantly flanked by esteemed special guests, Peter White and Laurence Juber.

The self-described indie jam rock quintet Goose took their show to the Golden State for an incredible, almost week-long run. Stops included Oakland, Los Angeles, Dana Point, and of course, Santa Barbara on September 29, 2023, at the Santa Barbara Bowl. This show was nothing short of inspiring, as the band and crowd were both collectively feeling the California magic.

On the beautiful early fall night of Wednesday, September 27th, under a nearly full moon, Ian Anderson brought seven decades of Jethro Tull’s classical rock to a packed house at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. The Nederlander concert featured two well-produced sets of beautiful music.

The Wreckless Strangers describe their sound as a blend of blues, R&B, Americana, and good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll. On Orange Sky Dream, the sextet's latest EP, that blend is heavily laced with late-70's / early-80's FM radio rock. The EP's six songs on this release evoke an era of cassette tapes and Cameros, and a generation of older Americans still shy of Social Security eligibility are going to feel like they're listening to songs they might have sung along to in high school.  

The last time that any member of the original Humble Pie set foot on Ludlow Avenue in Cincinnati was in November 1969, when that then-fledgling British hard-blues-rock band was touring the U.S. for the first time. And when the band played that year at the famed but short-lived Cincinnati ‘underground’ music venue, The Ludlow Garage, they did a two-night stand as one of two opening bands for The Kinks.

Denver's premier cosmic celebration, Danceportation, triumphantly returned to Convergence Station on September 23rd. Under the guidance of the renowned Canadian electronic indie-music label, Monstercat, the event transcended its earthly boundaries. What emerged was an otherworldly fusion of immersive art and pulsating music that felt truly extraterrestrial.

In an unforeseen rendezvous of legends, the inimitable Bob Dylan ambushed the atmosphere at this year’s Farm Aid, held at the pulsating Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana, on a Saturday night that now glimmers as a golden note in music's ever-evolving tapestry.