Live Aid was held on July 13, 1985. Thomas Dolby participated from London, and the Thompson Twins performed in Philadelphia for the biggest concert festival of the decade. Thirty-nine years later, Dolby and Thompson Twins frontman Tom Bailey find themselves sharing a touring festival bill for the Totally Tubular Festival, and a seven-act iteration of the roving show recently landed at The Anthem in DC.
Live Review: Patty Griffin w/ Lucy Wainwright Roche @ The Birchmere — 7/12/24
I’ve seen Patty Griffin many times, going to back to the Austin City Limits Festival in 2004, but I learned something new about her at her recent show at The Birchmere: She loves potty humor. (She’s just like me!) Patty told the audience how she couldn’t resist stopping at a roadside attraction in Missouri with the hilarious name of the Uranus Fudge Factory.
Sometimes, we forget that these artists, who we love and admire so much, are just people like anyone else. We often look at their ability to create as some kind of superpower, something that makes them categorically different from the rest of us. But they really aren’t! This funny, odd moment served to humanize Griffin.
Live Review: Duff Thompson @ Pie Shop — 7/10/24
Many admired Canadian songwriters have in the prime of their day ventured south of the world’s longest international border, where some of the best have flourished by helping Americans understand how music could and maybe should sound.
Fewer have entrenched themselves at the local level of this country’s most bustling and trend-setting artistic communities. But about a decade ago, that’s where Duff Thompson found himself: smack dab in the heart of New Orleans, surrounded by like-minded, energetic players with a shared appreciation for homemade recordings, vintage equipment and an age-old sound.
Live Review: Fightmaster @ The Atlantis — 6/29/24
E.R. Fightmaster is a creative who wears many hats. Their resume consists of improv with Chicago’s Second City group to doctor on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy.
Summer 2024’s Bloodshed Baby Tour was their first traveling as a musician, under the stage name FIGHTMASTER, and it included a stop at The Atlantis in DC not too long ago.
Live Review: Los Lobos w/ Chad Hollister & Primo @ The Birchmere — 7/10/24
In 1984, Los Lobos asked, “Will The Wolf Survive?” They kicked off their recent show at The Birchmere with that very song, and the answer was a resounding yes: Four decades later, Los Lobos (Spanish for “the wolves”) have not just survived, but thrived. They like to call themselves “just another band from East LA,” but they’ve become an institution in rock music, a beautiful example of the mixing of cultures that makes America a unique and wonderful country.
Preview: Green Day w/ The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid, and The Linda Lindas @ Nationals Park, 7/29/24
Global rock superstars Green Day — Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool — soon embark on their massive 2024 global stadium tour. The Saviors Tour, fueled by Monster Energy, begins at Nationals Park in DC on Monday, July 29, with the illustrious rock luminaries The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid, and The Linda Lindas as special guests.
Preview: Wand @ Songbyrd Music House, 7/20/24
Psychedelic rockers Wand soon release a new album, Vertigo, via Drag City, and they are on tour with a date locally at Songbyrd Music House on Saturday, July 20!
Live Review: Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo @ Warner Theatre — 7/9/24
Pat Benatar burst onto the music charts 45 years ago with her hard rockin’ single “Heartbreaker,” which hailed from her magnificent debut album, In the Heat of the Night. Things happened quickly for Ms. Benatar from that point forward, including a romance and marriage with guitarist Neil Giraldo, who was originally recruited for Pat’s band.
“Heartbreaker,” a thunderous gallop of a song, was released as a single packed with the sci-fi ballad “My Clone Sleeps Alone,” long a personal guilty pleasure but also a song indicative of Pat Benatar’s ambition and imagination.
I was therefore floored that Pat and Neil recently performed both songs in an awesome concert at Warner Theater in DC.
Live Review: TLC w/ En Vogue and Jody Watley @ Wolf Trap — 7/5/24
Legendary acts TLC, En Vogue, and Jody Watley recently teamed up for an unforgettable night of throwbacks and nostalgia at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia.
Snapshots: Railroad Earth and Leftover Salmon w/ Yonder Mountain String Band @ Wolf Trap — 7/6/24
Railroad Earth, Leftover Salmon, and Yonder Mountain String Band — three terrific jam bands — took over the Filene Center at Wolf Trap recently, and Mark Raker was there to shoot the show!