Sadie Jean recently transformed The Atlantis into her own world. With chalk on the sidewalk outside and perfectly coordinated outfits with pink, white, and lace fabrics you could tell you were entering the world of the Early Twenties Tour(ture).
For Greenville, South Carolina’s Marcus King, music is in his blood. A third-generation musician, his father, Marvin, and his grandfather were popular regional musicians. Marcus started young, playing shows with his father when he was only eight years old, and fronting his own bands in his teens, playing “soul-influenced psychedelic Southern rock.”
King and his band recently brought these deep traditions and decades of experiences to The Anthem, thrilling the audience with his dazzling guitar work and their fiery brand of cosmic Americana.
LA Guns Bring Sunset Strip Swagger to Tally Ho Theater
Words and photos by Michael Sprouse/ Odd Rocker Photography
There are certain bands that never really fit neatly into a single era.
Sure, they may have emerged during a specific moment in rock history, but the songs somehow outlive the trends that surrounded them. Long after fashions change and radio formats evolve, those riffs still work. Those choruses still land. Those records still find their way into playlists, road trips, and late-night conversations among rock fans.
Ten years ago, it was nearly impossible for the teenager to miss the ubiquitous croon of Khalid. His songs were the blueprint for American adolescence in the 2010s: late night drives, young love, house parties, wanting to belong — you name it.
Freedom Is a Guitar: Joe Satriani and Steve Vai
Words by Liz Wyatt
Photos by Steve Satzberg
The last show of the SATCHVAI Surfing the Hydra Tour was at Wolf Trap on May 30.
There are some concerts where the headliner is the obvious attraction, the name on the ticket that everyone circled months ago. Then there are nights where the entire bill feels thoughtfully assembled, like somebody spent time building a musical journey rather than simply filling slots on a poster.
That was the case on a warm Saturday evening on May 30 at the outdoor concert venue in The Trav L Park campground. The occasion was for the 2026 Veterans Band Aid Music Festival, an event specifically for helping our nation’s veterans.
With the Atlantic Ocean only a few blocks away and a steady coastal breeze drifting through the venue, the atmosphere felt tailor-made for a night of Southern rock, blues, and roots music. Fans arrived early, and wisely so.
This wasn’t the type of show where you stroll in halfway through the opening acts. Every band brought something distinct to the stage, creating a lineup that felt more like a traveling music festival than a traditional concert package.
By the time Blackberry Smoke eventually took the stage, later in the evening, the audience had already experienced nearly five hours of music. Remarkably, nobody seemed tired. If anything, the crowd appeared more energized with each passing set.
That’s the mark of a strong bill.
Sometimes the best concerts happen far away from arenas and amphitheaters.
They happen in rooms where the stage is only a few feet from the audience. Where musicians can actually see individual faces in the crowd. Where every guitar note bounces off brick walls instead of disappearing into the night air. The kind of venue where a great show feels less like a production and more like a conversation.
That was the atmosphere on May 29 at Live at Hub City Vinyl as local favorites Stone Horses returned to western Maryland for a performance that felt equal parts hometown celebration and old-school rock revival.
Future Islands adores Baltimore, and the Charm City most certainly reciprocates the love.
It was obvious the night of May 28 at Pier IV Pavilion as the intrepid indie rock group made the final appearance on its current tour, a nine-gig run celebrating the 20 years of music that’s seen it ascend to world-wide acclaim.
And there could have been no finale more fitting than a wild stop along a moonlit Inner Harbor, where several thousand people gathered last Thursday night to see and hear an incredible set from a group of musicians who credit Baltimore for helping it thrive as artists.
Is it possible to beat allegations of nepotism? Once the public learns your insider connections, will the haters ever let it go? Is it better to embrace your family ties, or stake out your own path?
These questions will likely follow Baby Keem, West Coast rapper and cousin of Kendrick Lamar, for the rest of his life. Up to this point, Keem’s entire career has orbited around Kendrick (his mother’s first cousin), who can credibly claim to be the greatest rapper of all time. After a short string of viral singles, Keem signed to Kendrick’s pgLang label in 2020; the next year the pair confirmed the rumors on the collaborative track “Family Ties,” which anchored Keem’s debut studio album The Melodic Blue and later won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance. That song is the biggest of a number of credited and uncredited collaborations between the two. The cousins enjoy a palpable chemistry on the mic, with Keem’s off-kilter vocal stylings bringing out a fun, oddball side of hip hop’s greatest contemporary statesman.
Legendary classic rock band Little Feat are currently on tour in the USA and calling their series The Last Final Farewell Tour. The band — which started way back in 1969 — continues today and are in great form for a band considering touring for the last time. Hopefully, we get to see them play a few more years, but if the band does hang up their touring shoes, the recent show in Ocean City, Maryland, was definitely a fantastic display of the greatness of this band. They were brilliant from the beginning to the final song played.
