X, the pioneering punk band formed in 1977 in Los Angeles, will be starting 2014 out with two special shows this week – one of the 50th Anniversary gigs at the world famous Whiskey A Go Go in their hometown on January 15th and another show at The Casbah in San Diego on January 16th. [Read more…]
“I know I got that Adult Top 40 reputation, but don’t let that fool you… I’m wearing leather pants. And I will put foot on the amp and show you what’s what.” Anna Nalick definitely showed the packed crowd inside Harlow’s in Sacramento last night what was what, and then some. The genre defying singer-songwriter kicked off her mini tour of the West Coast, with shows in Oakland, Grant’s Pass, Spokane, and Seattle to follow through the end of this month. Best known for her triple Platinum hit, “Breathe (2 AM)”, from her debut album Wreck of the Day, she is on a two week break from starring in Scott Caan’s play, 100 Days of Yesterday at Playhouse West. This set of concerts presents a rare opportunity to see a truly gifted musical talent perform her original music as well as a number of new songs she’s crafted since 2011’s Broken Doll & Odds & Ends. I definitely have a lot of thoughts about the show… in short, I can’t recommend enough turning out to catch this special tour if you can. Brilliant, brilliant artist and performance, and a fascinating woman.
Live 105 FM KITS San Francisco is holding their annual, two-night concert event at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California again this year, slated for December 6th and 7th. While Night #1 was announced last week, Night #2 was just announced today. Here is the full line-up for both nights… Friday night, December 6th will feature Kings of Leon, Vampire Weekend, Queens of the Stone Age, AFI, Arctic Monkeys, and Capital Cities. The just announced Saturday night line-up on December 7th will be Arcade Fire, Phoenix, Alt-J, Lorde, Bastille, and The Neighbourhood. [Read more…]
Radio 94.7 in Sacramento will be presenting a special multi-artist concert event in December dubbed, “Electric Christmas”. The line-up includes performances by Cage the Elephant, Alt-J, GroupLove, Capital Cities, The Features and MS MR. The concert event will be held at Sleep Train Arena on December 4th, and tickets are currently on sale at Ticketmaster. [Read more…]
Following a successful run in the UK in September and October, Thomas Dolby is bringing his special theatrical experience to the United States in November. “The Invisible Lighthouse – Film and Live Performance by Thomas Dolby” is a screening of his documentary along with his live “transmedia” performance of the accompanying soundtrack. The film is about the closure of a lighthouse on an island off the East Anglian coast that served as an airfield, testing ground for experimental weapons, and home to the main transmission network for the BBC World Service. [Read more…]
Singer-songwriter Anna Nalick is scheduled to play a handful of concert dates along the West Coast this month. The critically acclaimed artist is best known for her debut album, Wreck of the Day, which featured the hit song “Breathe (2 AM)”, and she has since released a second studio album, Broken Doll & Odds & Ends. [Read more…]
The Scottish synthpop group Chvrches is kicking off a massive world tour this month, beginning with a dozen dates in the United States before hitting the UK, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and Europe. Their debut studio album, The Bones of What You Believe, debuted in September. [Read more…]
KMFDM, the pioneering industrial band with origins going back to the early 80s in Germany, is in the midst of a U.S. tour that kicked off in Boise a few weeks ago and is terminating on the West Coast. The current incarnation of the band is supporting their latest studio album, Kunst, which was released earlier this year. [Read more…]
Grammy Award-winning Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O’Connor will be performing in a series of concerts across the United States, kicking off tonight with three consecutive shows in Chicago. Her most recent album, How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?, was released last year. [Read more…]
It isn’t often that real, genuine rock and roll legends come into my hometown of Sacramento to perform in concert, but after last night’s Fleetwood Mac show at Sleep Train Arena, they’ve set the bar quite high for any act to follow. Have loved this band since I was a kid, but have never seen them live, so this was an eagerly anticipated show for me. I did see Lindsay Buckingham on his own last year, and Stevie Nicks with Dave Grohl’s Sound City Players earlier this year, so have had bursts of greatness, which really fed my desire to see them together as Fleetwood Mac even more. As amazing as those other performances had been, they did not prepare me for the magic of having their best line-up (unfortunately sans Christine McVie) on stage together. I think it cements Lindsay Buckingham as the true rock God of the 70s/80s generation and Stevie Nicks, fittingly, as the rock Goddess. Mick Fleetwood is like Zeus (or maybe a mad pirate), with twin balls hanging (in a dangling/dancing sort of way) from his belt. John McVie is content to leave center stage to the others, throwing down his bassline and keeping everything on the tracks as much as possible. This is a band who know who they are, and haven’t strayed from their identity in sound or fashion. What really hit home is how much they appreciate their fans, which was expressed not just in the performance but in eloquent statements from Nicks and Fleetwood to close out the show, calling us their “Dreamcatchers”, and really articulating the music fan/musician dynamic better than I’ve ever heard before. This date closed out the U.S. leg of their tour, and certainly inspires one to start following them around Europe later this year…