Richter Entertainment Group’s Summer Concert Season at Ironstone Amphitheatre in Murphys will be happening in June, July, August and September this year. Artists include Toby Keith, Boston, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, John Mellencamp, The Moody Blues, Jason Mraz, Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie, matchbox twenty, Counting Crows, Steve Miller Band, Peter Frampton, Willie Nelson, Kenny G, George Benson, and more!
Australian rock band Midnight Oil are in the early stages of their sell out “The Great Circle 2017 World Tour”, and adding more dates as they go along. Hugely popular in the 80s, the interest and demand in seeing them perform live in concert is tremendous. New shows have been added at Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, Terminal 5 in New York, House of Blues in Cleveland, and First Avenue in Minneapolis. [Read more…]
“Are you ready?” Paul Stanley of KISS getting the audience prepped to sing along with “Say Yeah”, a song off of their 2009 album Sonic Boom. 24 studio albums (including their four solo albums), live albums and countless other impressions on pop culture at large going back to 1974, KISS have been a rock and roll phenomenon going strong for over four decades. I am not personally a KISS “fan”, so this is written from the review of someone who has been alive as long as they’ve been together, but never before attended a KISS concert. They are one of the biggest bands of all time and real icons in rock, so I finally took an opportunity to see what they’ve always been best known for – live concerts. And now having experienced it, I can say that their reputation for putting on an amazing show is well deserved. High energy, high production, and filled with many of the innovative elements that other artists have since copied over and over, it was really something to see and hear and feel. I really could not have been more impressed and I really have a lot of respect for the band and their crew that help put it all together. If you are a member of the KISS Army, you know all of this; if you are more like me and had never seen the band before, I give my highest recommendations to go and check it out. And I am glad I was able to take in my first KISS show at Grand Sierra Resort & Casino’s Grand Theatre as it is one of the best concert venues for this type of show. Everything was top notch.
Australian singer-songwriter and musician Betty Who is currently touring North America with VÉRITÉ. Betty Who (Jessica Anne Newham) released her second album, The Valley, last month, while Somewhere in Between – the debut album from VÉRITÉ (Kelsey Byrne) is due out from Kobalt on June 23rd. [Read more…]
Rock legends KISS will be performing at Grand Sierra Resort & Casino’s Grand Theatre in Reno on Friday, April 21st. Along with a show at Laughlin Event Center, they are the last two U.S. dates before an extensive tour abroad as part of their “Freedom To Rock” tour, which circles back to North America again in July. The iconic band have sold over 100 million records worldwide since forming in 1973, and are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The current line-up consists of Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer, and Eric Singer. [Read more…]
“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…]
“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…]
Peter Hook & The Light bring a second leg of “Substance – The Albums Of Joy Division & New Order” back to the U.S., kicking things off in Detroit tomorrow tonight, with shows running through the end of November. Hooky and the band will be performing both the Joy Division and New Order albums Substance live, in their original track sequence and in their entirety. [Read more…]
Following some international dates in September and October, Morrisey will be performing in California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Texas, Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois next month. Definitely in my own Top Three list of artists and their live shows, every concert always has it’s own unique energy and end up being among my favorite events of the year, so if he is coming to a city near you, it is not to be missed. [Read more…]
Pixies put out their sixth studio album, Head Carrier, on September 30th. This is the first album from the band to feature Paz Lenchantin on bass. Pixies have now announced four shows in California to end this month, before embarking on a tour of Europe, England, and Australia in November, December, and March. [Read more…]