Category: News

An Intimate Evening with Art Garfunkel: More Spring/Summer Dates With Appearances in NY and MA

Art Garfunkel, legendary folk singer known for his part in Simon and Garfunkel, has recently returned to the stage with a select number of acoustic performances across NY.

Starting his tour this past December Garfunkel has just announced more performance dates for late spring and early summer, with three of those stops in downstate NY and the not-too distant reaches of the Capital District. Garfunkel recently performed several shows in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut between the months of March and April.

Be a part of “An intimate Evening with Art Garfunkel,” an acoustic performance with songs, anecdotes and prose at these nearby tour stops:

Tour Dates:

June 13: White Plains Performing Arts Center, White Plains, NY (Tickets now on sale here)

June 14: Paramount Hudson Valley, Peekskill, NY (Tickets are on pre-sale until April 20, open to the public afterward here)

June 20: Mechanics Hall, Worcester, MA (Ticket sale date not yet announced)

For a full listing of Art Garfunkel’s performances, visit his website here.

April 17, 2014
Backwoods Pondfest 2014 lineup announced

The lineup for the 2014 and eighth annual Backwoods Pondfest in Peru, NY was announced Sunday night via Facebook.

All, that is, except for the headliner.

The list of acts is heavily laden with Upstate New York talent – Twiddle, Spiritual Rez, Turquaz, Cabinet, Alan Evans Trio, The Garcia Project, Lucid, The Manhattan Project, Hot Day at the Zoo, Sophistafunk, Aqueous, The Blind Owl Band, Conehead Buddha, Capital Zen, Big Daddy Love, Big Mean Sound Machine, The Big Takeover, Mister F, GUBBILIDIS (Twiddle Duo), Formula 5, Doomfxck, and North Funk Tree.

As it has since the beginning, the festival will take place at Twin Lake Campsite on August 8th and 9th, a tossed apple from Plattsburgh; or, roughly 13 miles south of the college town.

Advanced tickets are on sale now for $70, and will continue to be sold online until August 5th. Afterwards, tickets are advertised to be sold at $85 ($5 off with a non-perishable good) at the time of the show.

April 15, 2014
Aqueous Announces 2014 Summer Tour Dates

Buffalo, New York’s groove rock champions Aqueous, are announcing an extensive 2014 late spring and summer tour. The band will visit over a dozen festivals and make their first trips into Indiana and Georgia. Late spring includes a 4 show run with Dopapod, a 2 night headlining weekend at Rochester NY’s Spring Revival festival, and a second visit to Summer Camp. June and July feature an extended run down the coast with multiple dates in Virginia and North Carolina.

More festival announcements are coming soon!

Tour Dates

4/24 – Putnam Den :: Saratoga Springs, NY **

4/25 – Westcott Theater :: Syracuse, NY **

4/26 – The Waiting Room :: Buffalo, NY **

5/3 – Music Hall of Williamsburg :: Brooklyn, NY **

5/4 – Tyrone Farm :: Pomfret Center, CT ^

5/9 & 5/10 – Spring Revival festival :: Macedon, NY

5/14 – Thunderbird Cafe :: Pittsburgh, PA ^

5/15 – Tribal Connection Festival :: Bellefontaine, OH

5/16 – Cosmo’s :: Covington, KY ^

5/17 – The Mousetrap :: Indianapolis, IN ^

5/22 – Beachland Tavern :: Cleveland, OH “

5/25 & 5/26 – Summer Camp Music Festival :: Chillicothe, IL

5/28 – 8×10 :: Baltimore, MD *

5/29 – The Hot Spot :: Waynesboro, VA

5/30 – Domefest :: Tera Alta, WV

6/1 – Fam Jamily Music Festival :: Vernon, NJ

6/14 – Disc Jam Music Festival :: Brimfield, MA

6/21 – Buffalove Festival ::Silver Creek, NY

6/24 – The Camel :: Richmond, VA

6/25 – One Stop :: Asheville, NC

6/26 – Nowhere Bar :: Athens, GA

6/27 – Peasants Pub :: Greenville, NC

6/28 – The Big What? :: Mebane, NC

7/1 – Elmwood Village :: Buffalo, NY

7/4 – Under the Stars Festival :: Terra Alta, WV

7/5 – Bungalow Live :: Chantilly, VA ^^

7/8 – The Blind Tiger :: Greensboro, NC

7/9 – Martins :: Roanoke, VA

7/10 – Doc Taylor’s :: Virginia Beach, VA

7/11 – Pasture Palooza :: Berryville, VA

7/12 – Paradise Music Festival :: Hustonville, KY

7/13 – Luna Lights Music Festival :: Barto, PA

7/15 – V Pub :: Canandaigua, NY (Phish after party)

7/23 – Larkin Square :: Buffalo, NY

7/24 – The Montage :: Rochester, NY

7/25 – Gathering at Chaffee Festival :: Girard, PA

8/31 – Moe.Down :: Turin, NY

** with Dopapod

^ with TAUK

“ with Jahman Brahman

* with Big Something

^^ with Arpetrio

April 15, 2014
Formula 5 Announce Sophomore Album ‘Edging on Catastrophe’, Addition of New Bassist James Woods

Upstate New York’s Formula 5 have announced the release of their sophomore album Edging on Catastrophe. A more ambitious project than their debut album, it contains 13 tracks total and has a run-time of near 75 minutes. Recorded at the beautiful Edie Road Recording Studios in Argyle, NY, Edging on Catastrophe seeks to illustrate the progression of the groups song-writing and album-crafting, while continuing to satisfy the group’s ever-expanding palette for different musical styles. They also bring to the table a new bassist in James Woods.

Sprinkled into this album are various musical styles including bluegrass, folk, funk, reggae, and electronica, among others. This album incorporates a more cohesive feel with each track thoughtfully blending into the next through the use of re-occurring melodies and lyrical themes throughout. The appearance of acoustic guitar, violin, saxophone, trombone, an increased use of synthesizers, instrument and studio effects provide for a more polished final product. Guitarist and songwriter Joe Davis echoed this sentiment. “I’m really excited for people to hear the growth we’ve had over the last year. I feel this album is much more complete than our last and I think that will be clear right from the very first track. We explored a lot of new territory this time around in the studio and I’m extremely pleased with our effort.”

Album release shows will be held on April 18th at Red Square in Albany, NY with The Hornitz (Boston, MA) and Suitable Groove (Albany, NY) opening the show, and April 19th at The Monopole in Plattsburgh with locals North Funktree opening.

The April 19th Formula 5 show also marks the debut of new bassist James Woods joining the band with his fretless bass and a root in jam and improvisation. “It feels great to be a part of a band which not only appreciates the bass but also a band that works as a whole. Every instrument is adding equally to deliver music, not just a spotlight for a single person.” Joining the band has proved seamless for Woods, a Lake George native. “Being a new member to this group I’m exited to add a fusion edge to the sound, constantly piece together original ideas and bring the fretless tone back and into local music.” Added Woods, “It’s not every day that you can link up with some new musicians and throw together a Jeff Beck song in a few minutes.”

Keyboardist Mike McDonald follows suit with the excitement of Woods’ addition to the band. “We are extremely excited for the next chapter of Formula 5. What immediately drew us to James was his interesting style and bass tone. He plays a fretless jazz bass and immediately brought a new feel to our style of improvisation and groove. You will notice this change instantly, but we feel this is a great opportunity for us to evolve as a band, continue to write interesting new material and push the boundaries of what we want to do as a band. James will be a key component of really pushing us there.”

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April 14, 2014
Rockstar Mayhem Festival 2014 Coming to Upstate, NY

Rockster Mayhem Festival 2014 Tour Poster

Finally, it’s that time of the year again. The official line-up for this years Rockstar Energy Drink’s Mayhem Festival has been officially announced. Time to put all the rumors to bed and see which ones were true and which ones were just actually rumors.

Founded by Kevin Lyman and John Reese in 2008, Mayhem has now become an annual event to kick off every summer.

Mayhem will run ramped across New York State on Wednesday, July 23rd at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, N.Y, Tuesday, July 29th at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center in Darien, N.Y and Wednesday, July 30th at Nikon at Jones Beach in Wantagh, N.Y.

This years festival will mark the seventh annual event for this summers tour and will hit over 20 different cities. The tour will be headlined by Avenged Sevenfold and Korn and will round out to 19 bands in all. Korn headlined the festival in 2010 and Avenged Sevenfold appeared on the same tour for only 2 dates in July.

James “Munkey” Schaeffer, guitarist from Korn enlightened us to this information in a video interview at NAMM.

Munkey’s Interview Mayhem Announcement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xx-Lb9B8YY

The 2014 lineup will also include the likes of Asking Alexandria, Trivium, Cannibal Corpse, Suicide Silence, Miss May I, Mushroomhead, Emmure, Texas Hippie Coalition, Veil of Maya, Upon a Burning Body, Darkest Hour, Body Count, Ill Nino, Wretched, King 810, Erihma and Islander.

Rockstar’s Mayhem Festival usually consist of bands in the Hard Rock/Heavy Metal genre style of music. There are also a lot of sub-genre band styles like nu-metal, metalcore, thrash metal, groove metal and industrial metal to name a few.

The Festival was a three stage event until 2013 when a fourth stage was added. The Main stage, the Jagermeister stage and a third has been rotated by sponsors’ like Hot Topic in 2008 and 2009, Silver Star in 2010, Revolver in 2011, Sumerian Records in 2012 and 2013 and last years third stage was sponsored by the Musicians Institute.

The festival is a must for all rock fans. Not only is there kick @$$ live music, but you have the Metal Mulisha as a side attraction.

Most of the bands that participate on the tour have meet-and-greets at various locations throughout each venue and how can you beat all the free samples of new Rockstar flavors you can handle under the Rockstar Tent.

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April 12, 2014
Dave Matthews Band ‘2-Set Acoustic/Electric’ Tour

Well it’s that time of the year again when all the summer concert tours start getting announced. Well one band that seems to never miss touring in the summer and has now become an annual event of summer concert tours for many music fans is here. That’s right people! Dave Matthews Band has announced their summer concert tour dates for 2014. The Tour is titled ” A Very Special Night With” Dave Matthews Band. Dave will perform two different sets, one acoustic and one electric in the same night. The tour will start on May 16th, in Woodland, Texas and conclude on September 6th, in Irvine, California and will expand over 30 cities nationwide. This will be a tour that every DMB fan will not want to miss!

This very special tour will hit New York State in the bands usual NYS weekend summer tour stomping grounds on Friday, May 30th and Saturday May 31st, 2014, at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The tour will also jam out the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center in Darien, N.Y on Wednesday, June 11th, 2014.

Dave Matthews Band has a wide variety of musical styles. DMB’s musical genres include Alternative, Country, Folk, Funk Rock, Jam, Jazz Fusion and Bluegrass. From Charlottesville, Virginia the band is made up of singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, Carter Beauford (drums,backing vocals), Stefan Lessard (bass), Jeff Coffin (saxophonist), Boyd Tinsley (violinist), Tim Renyolds (electric guitar) and RaShawn Ross (trumpet).

With eight studio albums under their belt the band is currently working on their ninth album. The band also has eighteen live albums and one greatest hits album called “The Best Of What’s Around Vol.1.” Their current album “Away From The World” was released in September of 2012. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. That made it the 6th consecutive #1 studio album in a row for the band making them the only group to do so. DMB has sold over 30 million records worldwide as of 2010.

Fan Club Members of DMB called “The Warehouse” can gain early access to DMB concert tickets, exclusive cds and merchandise. The club was created to promote fan interaction.

This will be the bands 23rd year touring in the last 24 years. In 2011 the band announced that they were going to take the summer off and did not tour that year. Dave Matthews and Tim Renyolds played an acoustic set at Farm Aid 2013 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y in September of 2013. Amazing performance!

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April 12, 2014
Jason Aldean ‘Burn It Down Tour’

Country Pop star, Jason Aldean will be one of the headlining acts this year for Live Nation’s “Country Ticket” series with his “Burn It Down Tour” that will cover 50 cities across North America. Florida Georgia Line and Tyler Farr will help support the shows in select cities. Miranda Lambert will even make a couple of very limited appearance on the tour as well.

Aldean Army of New York are you ready? The tour will trek through New York State on Saturday, July 12th at the Darien Lakes Performing Arts Center in Darien, N.Y, Friday, August 29th at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, N.Y and on Saturday, August 30th at the NYS Fairgrounds in Syracuse, N.Y.

Appearing on the tour with Aldean will be Florida Georgia Line. Formed in Nashville, Tennessee, the country pop/rock duo of Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard have the world country music buzzing.

Tyler Farr will opener for the tour. Born in Garden City, Missouri, the guitar playing singer/songwriter released his debut and current studio album Redneck Crazy, was released in September of 2013. His top 10 hit, and the title track from the album “Redneck Crazy” is certified platinum by the RIAA.

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April 12, 2014
Aqueous Running KickStarter to Fund New Album

Buffalo’s groove rock champions Aqueous are in the midst of a Kick Starter campaign to fund their new studio album. With the advent of mp3’s and digital music rendering cd sales and labels practically moot, more and more artists are turning directly to their fan base to fund the expensive process of studio creation, mixing and production.

This has become a win for fans – with most campaigns including a plethora of unique and exclusive opportunities up for grabs, the barricades between artist and audience start to crumble. Aqueous’s campaign is no exception, offering everything from personalized artwork from band members, brand new merchandise, personalized set lists, to having the band play a raging full show in your backyard.

Even the most basic contribution will net the lucky investor their name in the albums liner notes. is a big supporter of these campaigns and we hope you’ll consider helping out one of our favorite up and coming bands.

At the least you should check out the page for the really amusing video. Lemonade anyone?

Upcoming Upstate Aqueous Dates

April 24th Putnam Den, Saratoga NY*

April 25th The Westcott Theatre, Syracuse NY*

April 26th The Waiting Room, Buffalo NY **

May 9-10 Carey Lake Spring Revival Festival, Macedon NY

* w/ Dopapod

** w/ Dopapod and Mister F

Aqueous – King For a Day – Erie Pa 2013-12-31

http://youtu.be/x7YHjUm7XBI

April 10, 2014
The Oncoming Tour: Unearth to Play Entire Album for its 10th Year Anniversary

Unearth may not be as widely known outside of metal’s circle pits, but their impact on the scene and genre as a whole can be seen throughout. Originally debuting back in 1998, the band rose to prominence with other New Wave of American Heavy Metal acts such as Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God, and Shadows Fall, re-energizing the genre and grabbing the bar from previous nu-metalites and setting it much higher than it’s been since the early 90’s.

Their style, along with the others mentioned, mixed the speed and chops of metal with the heaviness of hardcore into a brand new genre known as metalcore. Their most prominent album, The Oncoming Storm, was released in 2004 and is one of the best of the era with well-written, beautiful melodies giving way to the most brutal breakdowns of the time; you couldn’t help but feed off of their energy. They are one of the few bands whose onstage presence somehow carries over to the studio. With the album reaching its 10 year anniversary, the band has decided to put a tour together and play it in its entirety for the first time ever, start to finish.

Announced yesterday, the band will be hitting the road for over 20 dates including a stop in Rochester on May 31st at Montage Music Hall. In direct support will be Texas in July, Cruel Hand, and Armed for Apocalypse. If you’re unfamiliar with Unearth’s body of work, here are two of their official videos from The Oncoming Storm. Crank it up and enjoy! m/

April 10, 2014
Yonder Mountain String Band Announce 2014 Summer Tour Dates

The boys from Yonder Mountain String Band will be bringing that thumpin noise back through Upstate NY in 2014 with their brothers in bluegrass arms, Railroad Earth, with their respective signature bluegrass sounds. Their summer tour will have stops throughout the East and West Coasts, with a much-needed stop in Syracuse, NY on July 11th at the F Shed.

This is an all ages show, doors open at 7PM and the show starts at 8PM. Tickets are $29.50-$60 and can be purchased online here, tickets go on sale this Friday at 10AM.

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April 9, 2014