Janelle Monae: Electrifying [Tempe Recap]
This woman is one of a kind. The Electric Lady, the title of Janelle Monáe’s latest album, is no joke. Electricity surges through her on stage: in the manic dance moves that channel James Brown, Michael Jackson, Prince, and Elvis;…
The Power and Mystique Of Minneapolis
On the fourth song into their set in the Main Room at First Avenue last night, Tom Chapman, lead singer of Battle, East Sussex’s Keane, realized he was going to have a personally transformative evening. It was during the devastating…
Recap: Cameo at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix
Everyone’s allowed a pure and simple nostalgia trip from time to time, right? For me tonight, it was the funk/soul/R&B of Cameo that brought me back to simpler days. Crazy to think that the last time I saw Cameo in…
Recap: Band of Horses at the Marquee Theater in Tempe
It was starting to feel like Band of Horses may never actually make it back to Phoenix. Last year, they were scheduled to open for Kings of Leon at Ashley Home Store Pavilion, but that got axed. Then this year,…
Those Three Words: Snow Patrol at the State Theater in Minneapolis
In April of 2004, I walked the cold, snow/rain soaked streets of downtown Minneapolis towards the now defunct music venue The Quest. I was a man obsessed. For the few weeks before this, I had been incessantly playing what has…
Review: Huey Lewis & The News Live at Seaside Summer Concert Series
The Heart of Rock & Roll is still beating in Coney Island. “New York, New York, is everything they say and no place that I’d rather be”, with these words Huey Lewis & The News kicked off the final show…
Review: George Michael in Phoenix, June 22
You know what’s entertaining to me? The looks I got from people over the last couple of months – some of them close friends of mine – when they found out I was going to see George Michael in concert.…
Review: Citizen Cope with Alice Smith in Tempe
While a mass of humanity took in Fergie’s (disappointing? gasp!) set across Town Lake at the Tempe Music Festival, we smart ones were filing into the Marquee Theater to take in D.C. / Brooklyn artist Citizen Cope. It was billed…
Prince’s Planet Earth – A Review
This Tuesday, Prince’s new album, Planet Earth, will be released in the U.S. This past Sunday, British fans could pick up the album by buying an issue of a newspaper, The Daily Mail. Thanks to a fine, upstanding Brit, I…
