Steve Hackett performs at Warner Theatre on April 13, 2022. (Photo by Jason Nicholson)
What a concert! In a recent performance that lasted roughly three hours, Steve Hackett couldn’t have sounded better at the Warner Theatre.
Steve Poltz (Photo by Michael Weintrob)
“I’m not folk,” Steve Poltz said when he was hanging out with some members of the audience after his recent show at Jammin’ Java. In his song “Wrong Town,” on his recently released album Stardust and Satellites, he jokes about being “Americana if you wanna.” He also describes Emmylou Harris as his fashion icon, mixed with a little Don Was.
It’s hard to pin down exactly what Steve Poltz does. He’s a guy with an acoustic guitar, and that does often indicate some sort of folksinger. But there’s some definite punk energy to him, too. He is also a total weirdo, more than a little out of his mind. His show, both in and between songs, often veered in filthy and scatological territory, much of it improvised, providing the audience with a one-of-kind experience.
Spoon performs at 9:30 Club on April 11, 2022. (Photo by Kyle Gustafson)
Spoon are a big enough band to play Merriweather Post Pavilion, but they choose to play smaller venues like the 9:30 Club — as they did last week! This is because, quite simply, Britt Daniel and the rest of the guys in this band are cool. They write great songs, and they perform them well. There’s no bullshit with Spoon, just rock ‘n’ roll; they don’t waste a lot of time on chatter — it’s all about the songs. They give you enough to feel satisfied, but they also know when it’s time to leave before you’re worn out, exhausted, and you’ve had too much. Because, Spoon, as I’ve, is a cool band.
Homeshake (Photo by Salina Ladha)
Peter Sagar, more popularly known as Homeshake, first made his name as guitarist for Mac DeMarco! The Montreal-based singer-songwriter released Under the Weather, his fifth studio album as Homeshake, last year, and now he’s coming to perform at 9:30 Club on Friday, April 22.
You can win tix to see the show with Parklife DC!
Morten Harket takes in the response to the Hunting High and Low Tour in a recent concert photo. (Photo by Stian Andersen/ Courtesy of A-ha.com)
A-ha — the Norwegian trio who took the global pop charts by storm in 1985 — recently returned to the United States for rare concert performances. The four sold-out concerts, including one at Radio City Music Hall in New York City this week, drew ardent admirers ready to sing along to each and every hit by the three now stately men, who demonstrated their ample power to capture hearts and to compel bodies to dance.
Although A-ha were in New York to celebrate their debut album Hunting High and Low — and celebrate it they did by performing the record’s 10 original tracks to end the show — one of the most remarkable moments in the concert occurred early thanks to a new song.
River Whyless perform at Union Stage on April 11, 2022. (Photo by Mark Caicedo)
For those of us who’ve seen our favorite bands multiple times (followers of the Grateful Dead and Phish come to mind), we’ve learned how to spot patterns and/or variations in the live performances of the songs, onstage banter, and the unspoken conversation between artist and audience. Although I have yet to follow River Whyless on tour, I have diligently observed their career for close to a decade and have seen the band perform nearly twenty times. This past Monday, River Whyless appeared at Union Stage showcasing songs from their new album, Monoflora, and I was just as captivated as the first time I saw them perform in 2013.
Boy Harsher perform at Black Cat on April 10, 2022. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)
Boy Harsher have begun to break out of a niche and find a wider audience, and this is quite a good thing, as evidenced by the very crowded room in their recent show at Black Cat.
Early in their set, Boy Harsher, a duo of vocalist Jae Matthews and synthesist Gus Muller, presented “Give Me a Reason,” a song from their most recent project, this year’s soundtrack album to their film, The Runner. Left to its own devices, the song sounded 100 percent as if it could have sprung from the chart lists of eastern Europe in the very early ’80s. Jae intoned huskily over a bounding synthline, each allowing the sound plenty of room to breathe and a lot of space to mesmerize the enthralled gathering.
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway perform at Baltimore Soundstage on April 10, 2022. (Photo by Casey Vock)
Making a life as a musician requires enough courage that any success should be considered, by all accounts, an admirable achievement.
But Molly Tuttle has shown herself to be brave both on the stage and off of it. The qualities that empower her to thrive in both worlds was on display in her recent show at Baltimore Soundstage.
 “Lifting your spirits,” teased Cowboy Junkies vocalist Margo Timmins in the band’s recent appearance at The Birchmere, “is not what we do.”
It wasn’t quite a joke, as it’s a true statement. “Upbeat” would not describe their music, which is deeply moody and full of heartache. Sonically, the Junkies accomplish this by combining two distinct musical traditions, both of which have plenty of sadness: the alternative and art-rock of Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground — whose “Sweet Jane” still occupies a central place in their setlist — and David Bowie, whose “Five Years” they covered in their encore, and the dusty Americana embodied by their late friend, the legendary Townes Van Zandt, whose “Rake” was featured in the second set.
Since they last appeared at The Birchmere before the pandemic, the Junkies have released two albums. The first, Ghosts, came out in 2020, and was made in response to the death of the Timmins siblings’ mother.
Bright Eyes performs at The Anthem on April 9, 2022. (Photo by David LaMason)
Introducing “Mariana Trench,” Conor Oberst, the lyricist/vocalist for Omaha-bred indie folk band Bright Eyes said, “There’s been a lot more ups than downs these last few years.” “Mariana Trench” is the fourth track on the band’s newest album, Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was, and it was also the fourth song played by the band in their recent set at The Anthem.
Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was was released after a long hiatus — it had been nine years since the release of their previous album, 2011’s The People’s Key —Â in 2020. As Conor drolly pointed out, it did not go particularly well. They were only now getting to tour behind that album.
