Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn shows some signs of his age. He used a cane when he took the stage at the Warner Theatre Friday night. But once he started playing, you’d never have known he was 78. A skilled and sophisticated guitarist, his hands are still nimble and his playing is impressive — and his voice is well-preserved.
For singer-songwriters Andrew Combs and Caitlin Roxse, a recent show at DC9 marked their post-pandemic return to the nation’s capital, with each touring behind a new album.
Combs released Sundays last year. “All these [songs],” Combs told the audience, “were written during a desperate, dark period,” when he was struggling mightily with mental health issues.
Scots indie rockers Franz Ferdinand blasted out of the gates with their glam call to action “Michael” in a super small show at newly opened The Atlantis just a few days ago.
To say it was utterly magnificent would be an understatement. Frontman Alex Kapranos led his hardworking crew through a set of 18 songs songs that blew the roof off the intimate venue, capacity 450. Normally, Franz Ferdinand would not perform in such a small space, but they headlined specially for a 44 great acts performing in The Atlantis opening lineup to celebrate 44 years of its parent company, IMP (famed owner of DC’s 9:30 Club).
The show was a testament to Alex, perhaps the most cunning band leader of the past decade, and his very good bandmates.
Bruce Hornsby might joke that he plays gigs for selfish reasons. But the pile of hand-written requests on his piano this past weekend at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis certainly suggested otherwise.
To round out their main set at The Birchmere recently, New Jersey rockers Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes returned to play “Having A Party.” It was the perfect note to end the show because the Jukes are always a party. With a style that encompasses rock, soul, and R&B, and a grooving horn section, they all always manage to get at least some of the crowd up and dancing; on Saturday night, it was a handful of women at the front of the room.
Last year, I had the opportunity to see Puscifer, live, for the first time. The show was so wild that when they came to the area again, I had to go see it one more time. Puscifer’s current tour, Existential Reckoning Tour 3.0 – Global Probing, takes the band to areas that they missed on the 2.0 tour.
The Lyric Baltimore was on that list, so I got my camera and went to see the show.
With one of the most recognizable voices in all of roots rock, John Mellencamp’s music is woven into America’s cultural fabric. His songs have fittingly soundtracked the good times and even the bad ones, too, across more than four decades.
Now 71 years old, the blue-collar Seymour, Indiana, native bounced around a few college bands — even a glam rock outfit — before breaking through as “Johnny Cougar” in the late 1970s. His humble upbringing and exposure to music and players from all walks of life gave him a wide perspective and informed his songwriting, and that effused across a series of hyper-successful albums released through the 1980s.
As a crucial voice, one that seemed to speak to and encourage the less fortunate, John’s contributed an impressive list of what can only be described as “classics” to the American songbook.
“That’s what authenticity looks like,” stated Billy Porter after a video montage of his recent red carpet looks.
This statement perfectly summed up his show at the Warner Theater on June 2 as well. Porter was joyfully chatty, exuberant, and friendly throughout, despite this being his very first rock and roll tour.
Legends of the underground, BONES, Xavier Wulf, and Eddy Baker brought their In Loving Memory Tour to The Fillmore Silver Spring last week, the first-ever co-headlining tour from the three frequent collaborators and friends.
Backed by some creepy black and white projections, three open coffins occupied by their skeleton doppelgängers and a couple of decrepit old trees for the full cemetery effect; the trio stepped through the fog tagging in and out of the spotlight for over two hours with no openers. Serving as each others hype men, the guys performed song after song from their long-lived careers since the era Soundcloud rap.
At 84 years old, Del McCoury has devoted most of his life to bluegrass, an extension of old-time music that he essentially helped define decades ago as a member of Bill Monroe’s famous Blue Grass Boys. And since 2008, Del and his family have celebrated the sounds and people of bluegrass in marvelous fashion at a rollicking, pre-summer bash that’s become a can’t-miss event for both artists and fans alike.
The McCourys hosted a milestone fifteenth edition of DelFest over Memorial Day weekend, drawing a large contingent of bluegrass lovers and an outstanding lineup of musicians to the Allegany County Fairgrounds out in Cumberland, Maryland.
