Depeche Mode’s fourteenth studio album, Spirit, is due out on March 17th, and today the band announced the dates and venues for their “Global Spirit Fall 2017 North American Tour”. The dates announced thus far run from late August through late October. The North American dates follow there European stadium tour kicking off in early May. [Read more…]
Book of Love at DNA Lounge | San Francisco, California | 2/19/2017 (Concert Review + Photos)
“I guess we just wanna reinforce our message of hope and new beginnings; because anything can happen, hopefully…” Susan Ottaviano speaking on behalf of her and her bandmates and a full reunion of Book of Love as preface to “Happy Day”, one of the bright and shiny songs off of their self-titled 1986 debut album. Their music is in stark contrast to a lot of the self-perpetuating negativity permeating our culture today. The band seemed to have more of an attitude about shaping the future by painting a picture of what they wanted it to be, rather than engaging in conflict. Maybe they were onto something that might come around again someday? Optimism is powerful. And San Francisco turned out for a healthy dose of it Sunday night at a sold out show at the DNA Lounge… to be part of this special concert engagement in which all four members of Book of Love performed together, with not just the original hits but new music too, in celebration of their 30th anniversary last year. [Read more…]
Book of Love Special “Reunion Shows” Coming to San Francisco and Houston in February
Book of Love continue to celebrate their 30th anniversary with two upcoming special concert dates in San Francisco and Houston this month featuring all four members: Ted Ottaviano, Susan Ottaviano, Jade Lee and Lauren Roselli. The two “reunion shows” will be held at Numbers in Houston on February 18th and at DNA Lounge in San Francisco on February 19th. [Read more…]
Ted Ottaviano, Book of Love: “Rock Talk” Podcast Audio Interview
This article features the latest in an ongoing series of “Rock Talk” podcast audio interviews for the Rock Subculture Journal. Today’s guest is Ted Ottaviano with Book Of Love. The synth pop New Wave group continue to celebrate their 30th anniversary with the release of new music as part of 2016’s “MMXVI: The 30th Anniversary Collection (Remastered)” hits album, an upcoming 2017 EP with remixes as well as live tracks from this month’s concert dates in San Francisco and Houston.
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The Rock Subculture Journal 2016 Year In Review (Top 10 Live Music Concerts, Top 5 Albums, Top 50 Songs, and more…)
As with my 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 Year in Review features, this article looks back on a year of music with a summary of the highlights. This year, I attended about 35 shows, with hundreds of different sets of incredible talent and music to make sense of, not to mention trying to keep up with all of the studio releases from artists, new and old. This is my attempt to (subjectively) share my favorites of the year, from live shows to new songs and albums. You can also check out my Top 100 Concert Photos of 2016 in that separate article.
Jason DeBord’s Top 100 Concert Photos of the Year: The Rock Subculture Journal 2016 Year In Review
This is the first of my 2016 “Year In Review” articles. As with my articles in 2012, 2013, and 2014 and 2015, I reviewed a sampling of my concert photos from 2016 and compiled some of my favorites and stopped when I hit 100 photos in total. Please also check out my companion 2016 Year in Review article, which covers my Top 5 Albums, Top 50 Songs, Top 10 Concerts and more. [Read more…]
Adam Ant Kicks Off 2017 With North American Tour; 35th Anniversary of “Kings Of The Wild Frontier”
80s music icon Adam Ant is celebrating the 35th anniversary of his landmark album Kings of the Wild Frontier with a newly remastered box set release, as well as a North American tour kicking off next month in Washington DC. With this new tour, Adam Ant will play the album in its entirety and in sequence. [Read more…]
Morrissey at Grand Theatre at Grand Sierra Resort & Casino | Reno, Nevada | 11/11/2016 (Concert Review + Photos)
“Tonight’s secret code is: Trump shifters of the world unite…” Morrissey, opening his appearance at Grand Theatre at Grand Sierra Resort & Casino in Reno by giving preface to a slightly modified rendition of The Smiths’ classic “Shoplifters of The World Unite”. On the heels of the recent presidential election in the United States, it wasn’t too surprising for some kind of comment or commentary, in that when I saw him live in concert around this time last year, his band was wearing “Morrissey for President” t-shirts. Always one to bring a theme to each show, on Friday night the band wore shirts with “Don’t Eat My Peeps; Go Veg” emblazoned across the front over cartoon graphics of baby chickens. While the night was peppered with some political content, the concert included a variety of songs spanning Morrissey’s career, from 1985’s Meat Is Murder through to his latest solo album, 2014’s World Peace Is None of Your Business. As always, Morrissey and his band put on a stellar show, and he seemed to be in a great mood and as comfortable on stage as ever. [Read more…]
Peter Hook & The Light Performing New Order’s “Substance” at The Fillmore | San Francisco, California | 11/5/2016 (Concert Review + Photos)
“The hangman looks round as he waits, the cord stretches tight, then it breaks…” Peter Hook & The Light opened their sold out concert at The Fillmore in San Francisco on Saturday night with the dark and prescient “In A Lonely Place”. Kind of an appropriate song to begin with for a few reasons… of course, it is from New Order’s Substance, which they played in it’s entirety, in it’s original track order (with three bonus songs on the front and one at the end). But it was also a song that the original members of New Order wrote as Joy Division with front man Ian Curtis from that original band. So it really doesn’t sound anything like a New Order song at all; it is distinctly Joy Division (dark, analog, and sans any pop sensibility). Having covered Peter Hook & The Light’s previous “album” tours in the past few years, I expected them to come out and do the Joy Division set first and the New Order set second, but they flipped the script. But that first song, is at once a Joy Division song and a New Order song… at the time a bridge from the past to the future. They led out with New Order’s Substance and closed the night performing the Joy Division compilation album of the same name. So how was it? Well, I saw the full original band perform in live in concert almost a quarter of a century ago. In recent years, I’ve seen Peter Hook as Peter Hook & The Light several times. I’ve also seen the rest of New Order (sans Peter Hook) touring separately several times as well. I have to say that, hands down, this show was the best “New Order” performance I’ve ever experienced. In my opinion, New Order’s Substance – their most seminal work – this is the best it’s ever been done live on stage. It truly exceeded my own hopeful and lofty expectations. At the center of it all is the fact that Peter Hook somehow continues to keep the “flame” of both Joy Division and New Order ignited and authentic to what it was and always will be to those who find power and meaning in the works of both bands. Brilliant show. [Read more…]
Pixies at Ace of Spades | Sacramento, California | 10/26/2016 (Concert Review + Photos)
“I try to think about tomorrow, but I always think about the past… about the things that didn’t last… if I could go to the beginning, then for sure I would be another way… make it better for today…” Pixies (the “loud quiet loud” band) are a quiet band on stage in-between the generally quick songs, so we are left with the music, and the lyrics within, to try to figure out what is going on with them. It was less than one month ago that they released their sixth studio album – their second without founding bass player and vocalist Kim Deal – and their first with new full-time member Paz Lenchantin. The new album serves as fuel for this tour, with just four rare dates in Calif0rnia this month as prelude to many shows across Europe, England, Australia and New Zealand, keeping them busy until early next year. So it was interesting seeing them and hearing some of their new music performed at Ace of Spades in Sacramento on Wednesday night. The Pixies in Sacramento. A rare thing indeed. One of my all-time favorite bands playing in the city where I was born, and where I first saw the band way back in 1990, about a quarter of a century ago. A different time. So much has changed, but so much about the band remains the same. I’ve taken the new album, Head Carrier, for a spin and those lyrics above stuck with me. Interestingly, the vocals on that particular song are delivered by Paz, who is no Kim soundalike (on vocals or bass), though obviously the message in those lyrics is for Kim. So the Pixies in 2016 is older, mature, different… and the band is at once both old and new; looking backwards and forwards. The album sounds quite different from everything that came before (even 2014’s Indie Cindy). And I think that the sentiments expressed in that song, “All I Think About Now”, kind of sums up this new iteration of the Pixies. With this live show, the old and the new were mixed together to create a different sort of Pixies show, giving something fresh to both new and old fans alike. But there are still those songs that carry on and remain classic to those who were with it at the time, in the band’s short-lived first incarnation in the late 80s and early 90s. The concert was a tribute to that as well.
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