In the ’90s the punk/grunge music explosion was primarily dominated by male fronted bands. However, there were a few female bands who defied the norm and managed to take the scene by storm. One group of women who managed to gain worldwide recognition was the Los Angeles punk quartet, L7.
Originally formed by Donita Sparks and Suzy Gardner in 1985, the band has had a remarkable career. They have had numerous hits such as the smash breakthrough songs “Pretend That We’re Dead” and “Andres.”
Flash forward to 2015, I’m standing in line at the famed Brooklyn punk concert hall and Polish National Home, the Warsaw, the show is SOLD OUT and L7 is playing! The last time I saw L7 was over 20 years ago and I feel the same excitement as I wait for the show to start as I did back then.
With a packed house, I could feel the momentum building as the fans waited for L7 to hit the stage, and then it happens, smoke rolls out , the amp hum is heard, guitars are plugged in and BAM! Donita, Suzy, Jennifer and Demetra hit the stage wasting no time ripping right into “Deathwish” from their album Smell The Magic. Without a pause, they lit right into the mega hit “Andres.” During the song, bassist Jennifer Precious Finch miss-stepped and fell off the stage. To prove that she is still in top form, Jennifer kept right on playing, never missed a beat and jokingly quipped when the song was over, “eh, who needs notes? Notes are overrated.”
The ladies belted out a massive 18 song set with most of the songs from their most well-known albums, Smell the Magic, Bricks are Heavy, and Hungry for Stink. They ended the evening with their fan favorite song that always gets the crowd pumped, “Fast and Frightening.” L7 thanked the crowd, said goodnight and left the stage, leaving behind a drove of wild fans chanting and begging for more. Twenty years later, L7 has proven that they are without a doubt one of the most powerful female punk rock bands of all!
Promoter Stu Green and his partner Charlie Schmitt announced the re-opening of the Magic City Music Hall after a seven-year hiatus.
The venue will be at a new location at 1240 Upper Front St. in Binghamton at the old Ames plaza and will re-open Oct. 23. The new venue’s first national artist, REO Speedwagon, will perform that same weekend, on Oct. 25.
Excitement and news of the re-opening has been spreading quickly on social media with the venue’s Facebook page gaining over 2,000 likes in the span of a few hours. That’s proof that the area has sorely missed “the magic” Magic City Music Hall brought to the area.
The first month of performances include:
-REO Speedwagon on Sunday, Oct. 25
-Sublime with Rome on Saturday, Nov. 14
-Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland with Special Guest Brandy Clark on Friday, Nov. 27
Tickets for all three shows go on sale at 10 a.m. this Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Magic City Music Hall Box Office and on Ticketmaster.
To ask of another album like Even If It Kills Me from Motion City Soundtrack is embarrassing. Eight years after its release, I have to choke back the urge to cry when I listen to “Last Night” and watch my reflection in the Greyhound window blend with the brackish, gray landscape of Upstate New York. As it turns out, when I flee from a relationship, I’m still looking to seek comfort in squeamish accounts of cats clawing the floorboard. Motion City Soundtrack has a way of discussing the delicate delinquencies of modern romance with zany humor that draws from panic and frustration, while gingerly holding onto fading details. Antonia’s proclivity for collecting flashlights, eating Captain Crunch and citing Annie Hall makes me feel like I still have a shot at finding someone who won’t run away screaming when he finds out that I can’t sleep without a swiss army knife under my pillow.
It’s unreasonable yet completely inherent: I want them to sing about making terrible mistakes so I feel better about making mine. I want them to tell me it’s ok to compensate lack of love with ice-creams and ten-dollar wines. But you won’t find foreboding cats clawing the door on Panic Stations. Though sonically competent, the new album superficially touches the expansive territory plowed in the previous albums. With producer John Angello (The Hold Steady, Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth) on board, it seems like the band is so preoccupied with writing “great hooks” that they take it for granted that vacant sentiments won’t knock fans off their barstools. Panic Stations is clouded with hard-driving guitars and aggressively cheerful moogs punctuated by an insincere collection of ‘whoa’s that abort even an imagined possibility of genuineness.
Justin Pierre propels the opener “Anything At All” with a part-coy, part-goofy “let’s do this”, which gives away the going-to-be-a-return-to-form album. The track is full-on power-pop strong until the vague narrative denigrates its structure. Unlike “The Future Freaks Me Out” from their 2003 album I Am The Movie, “Anything At All” ironically faces some trouble expressing the lack of communication in the relationship.
“TKO” is a tepid track about the feverish pull and push of love. Though it’s unfair to peg the song to “Fell In Love Without You”, it falls flat with a perfunctory chorus: “You keep knocking me out/ I can’t get up/ I’ll just stay down”. And the synths in the bridge only weigh down the song further. “Lose Control” bristles dangerously with a processional drum kit, drawing from stadium rock a la fun.’s One Foot, only to poignantly nosedive into mediocre results. The verse serves as a nagging reminder that this is a nautical themed record and it’s vital to the band’s artistic integrity to include lines like, “stranded on top of this ugly ocean, everybody looks the same”.
“Heavy Boots” and “It’s a Pleasure” are two of the catchiest albeit corniest songs on the album that try so desperately to relate (“You are not alone/ We’ve all had our battles with darkness and shadows/ I’m here to let you know/ It’s a pleasure to meet you”) that they become all too transparent in their out-and-out commercial outreach.
“Over It Now” is clearly intended to be a fuck-you song that everyone can relate to. From the cringe-worthy way Pierre pronounces “action figures” to the way he exploits tried-and-tested allusions to his past substance-abuse escapades, it becomes explicit that I’m not the only one aching to recreate Even If It Kills Me. If only success were formulaic. The same sentiment that was once endearing, now begins to nag, dragging along until it becomes irritating.
Melodically, “Broken Arrow” is the closest the album comes to sincerity, even though it’s unable to reproduce the somber-wonder-twin type of harmony lionized in “It Had To Be You”. The nautical theme ensues in “Gravity” with the opening line, “I didn’t want to be the anchor in your heart”. The halfhearted chorus is frustrating because it seems as if Pierre himself is disaffected by what he is singing. Crammed with even more extensive but jejune nautical metaphors (“I’d like to anchor someday”, “my heart belongs beneath the ocean floor”, “clutching the tide as the ship goes down”–you get the drift), “The Samurai Code” is tired, trite and tiring. The prosaic distortion of the guitar and the petering synths in the second verse sound over-rehearsed, like they are trying too hard to fit in a neat blueprint rock scheme prescribed by the producer.
Album closer “Days Will Run Away” is the most stripped-down song on the Panic Stations. That being said, the band just couldn’t seem to resist the urge of a no-frills production, as evidenced by the droning range of guitars that comes in during the latter half of the song. “Days” draws a very solemn vocal and guitar arrangement from Sufjan Stevens, but chooses to endorse plagiarized dime store philosophies (“living a million years in a moment”, “why is goodbye so hard to say”) instead of providing actual insight.
Panic is lacking in many ways–it distracts the listener with overproduction instead of involving them with a strong narrative. Their nautical theme—and here’s a metaphor they glossed over—leaves them stuck at sea. It surely has a few catchy hooks that make for decent listen if you don’t pay any attention to the lyrics. But that’s the thing: I don’t turn to Motion City Soundtrack for clean production and structural sophistication; I turn to them for moments that capture the fragile fluctuations of human stability so exquisitely, so simply, that I feel like I’m not alone. Maybe they got it right in the 2007 track, “Last Night”: they really can’t compete with all my damn ideas.
The 2015 incarnation of the Catskill Chill Music Festival may serve as a farewell to host site Camp Minglewood, but since its inception, the festival has really been a big introduction to new music and groups, while also bringing in established bands that many people know.
For instance, this year’s lineup features moe., Lotus and Zappa Plays Zappa as the headliners, while groups such as the Motet, Lettuce and Electron also support the bill. Just like all festival flyers, the headliners get the most ink, while the font size shrinks with each passing line.
Twiddle
Enter Twiddle, on the fourth line of the Chill’s flyer. Just three years ago, it seemed Twiddle was a name at the bottom of so many festival advertisements. Yet, now, the group from Vermont has risen steadily up to headlining smaller festivals such as Disc Jam, while throwing down what band members describe as one of the best sets the group has ever played at this year’s Bonnaroo.
At the Chill last year, Twiddle played a normal set, and a Grateful Dead set, the latter being one of the most well-received sets in the history of the festival. Since then, Twiddle has exploded, headlining tours and playing venues such as Red Rocks in Colorado.
“One tidbit I often appreciate about our fest is what is great about a lot of small-to-medium size fests, which is how great it is to hear bands who are still in the early stages of their career on the main stages and in prime, night time slots,” Catskill Chill organizer Josh Cohen said in an email.
He went on to specify about Twiddle: “For instance … Twiddle. Twiddle always plays daytime sets at larger festivals, even have at the Chill the last couple years actually, but their Dead set was at night. Anyway, (they’re playing a late-night Dead set this year) and I’m pretty sure that’s going to make a lot of Twiddle fans very happy (including me!).”
This kind of exposure can do wonders for a band, especially in the jam band scene, where people listen with the most open of ears.
Just ask Ryan Dempsey, keyboardist from Twiddle.
“Last year at Catskill was one of my favorite Twiddle sets. Ever,” Dempsey said. “I thought we were all very connected and we had the privilege to have some of our mentors and favorite musicians from the scene sit in on our songs with us.
“It was also the debut of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hats idea that took on as a fad even after Catskill.”
That statement says a lot about just what the Chill has done for Twiddle. In the last year, every Twiddle show is littered with fans wearing Ninja Turtles hats, shirts and even full-on Turtle costumes. It also helps that Twiddle has one of the most dedicated young fan bases in the entire scene.
Mihali Savoulidis, guitarist for Twiddle, summed up his thoughts on Catskill Chill in a few short words.
“Bottom line is Catskill creates a super creative environment that I believe all the artists can feel and feed off of,” he said.
This year, Dopapod and Turkuaz are collaborating on a late-night set that Cohen referred to as Dopakuaz, saying this type of community mindset is what sets the Chill apart from other festivals its size or bigger.
“Point is that when comparing us to larger festivals, we’re at this cool stage attendance-wise where in many band’s cases we have the best ‘music’ out there in our prime slots,” Cohen added. “I love tons of bands who’ve been around since the ’90s or earlier but there’s nothing like seeing musicians in their youthful stages, when creativity is just exploding and you can feel it dripping off the stage as opposed to later-in-their career bands who are playing mostly songs they first wrote and fell in love with decades earlier.”
Dempsey echoed that sentiment: “They are a great ally of ours and have helped us play in front of new and old fans. They have a strong and professional staff and crew along with a lot of great music and people.”
Camp Minglewood has a unique setup which allows attendees to rent cabins if the traditional tent-style camping is not wanted. Savoulidis closed his interview by summing up not only Twiddle’s experience at the Chill, but also spoke for fans, calling it one of the best festivals he has had the opportunity to play.
“Catskill is one of our fans’ favorite festivals,” he said. “It gives them the opportunity to see us play and interact with our fellow artists in an incredibly unique setting. The way that Minglewood is set up provides a very cool experience for both the festival goers and the artists. I believe this is our fifth Chill and each year is better than the last. Our career has grown as the festival has and it’s usually the last one we do of the season so I think whenever we play at Minglewood all our creative juices are primed from a long summer of shows enabling us to come up with some really strong performances. This year should be no different.”
If hearing these words from the Lion’s mouth got you as pumped as I did writing this, clear your weekend plans and get yourself to the Lion’s den. It’s an experience that cannot be recreated anywhere else.
High energy and good humor characterized the evening of Saturday September 5 at Funk ‘n Waffles Downtown as Albany-based Mister F and Syracuse group Vaporeyes dished out mystical reverberations of sonic opulence. Mister F, featuring Matt Pickering (Mr. M) on drums/samples/vocals, Scott Hannay (Mr. S) on keyboards/vocals/vocoder, Ben Pickering (Mr. B) on bass/vocals and Andrew Chamberlaine (Mr. A) on guitar/vocals, channeled a Particle-esque vibe, while displaying plenty of original character for the audience.
After an energetic performance of “Machine,” Pickering announced sarcastically, “that song’s not about robot voices at all.” Hannay quickly followed up, speaking purposefully into the mic in a distinctly altered voice, “no, not about robot voices at all…” Although the band freely jokes around on stage, they take their actual musicianship quite seriously. Pickering frequently spices up his intricate drum beats with clever pauses and commanding breakout jams.
After finishing an impressive jam halfway through their set, Hannay walked over to Pickering, momentarily commandeering a drumstick to serve as a bottle opener before immediately returning to his post and fluidly sliding into the next jam. At it’s conclusion Pickering called out to the crowd, “We’re Mr. F, give it up for beer!” Members from Vaporeyes scattered amongst the unfortunately sparse crowd, including bassist Shannon Zory and his girlfriend who had plenty of dance room to face each other and playfully weave their heads back and forth in a snake-like fashion, clearly enjoying the music.
Vaporeyes, composed of notably younger musicians than Mister F, certainly held their own on stage. With a slightly muddier, grungier sound, Jonas Reddy-Nicholson playing keys/synths, Shannon Zory slappin’ bass guitar, Sean “Chid Law” Cadley on drums, Jamie “Jyms” Tynan on guitar and Stephanie Donato playing saxophone delivered a string of equally dance-worthy tunes to listeners. As the evening progressed, the musicians called out to the crowd, “Is it still Saturday?” There were in fact ten more minutes before midnight, so they opted to play a number aptly titled “Saturday Song.” It carried a lighter, more ambient sound than some of their heavier jams and incorporated more prominent synth effects.
Throughout the evening, Zory’s gilfriend mingled with the other bandmates’ girlfriends and snapped photos of the band’s performance, occasionally gesturing with a victory fist pump reminiscent of a golfer making a hole-in-one. The close-knit flock of dedicated followers supporting the members of Vaporeyes makes watching the band more gratifying, knowing their musical endeavors are supported by the ones they love.
After having the absolute pleasure of reviewing his long-running band, Mandate of Heaven’s most recent work and anticipating their new release, Syracuse singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Greg Pier has released a solo outing, Three Bird Songs and Six More.
Released on July 25, 2015, all songs were written, performed, recorded, and mixed by Greg Pier at Neon Witch Studio, from 2013-2015. As stated on his bandcamp page, “The songs on this demo are inspired by the countryside of Onondaga and Oneida counties in central New York.” He lists his Townes Van Zant and Lightning Hopkins as influences, I’ll add my thoughts to that at the end. As a listener that was only recently introduced to his band, this is completely new and unexpected ground, expectations are high.
The acoustic guitar, when well played is like listening to three parts, melody, bass and metronome. It has a percussive accent and bass line from the right thumb, melody from the right fingers, direction and foundation from the left. It tells a story for the voice to sing about. “Kitty Kills the Cardinal” is a striking example right out of the box. You can almost feel the wind under the wings come from Pier’s soft, but steady, right hand and his voice changes character fluidly as the multiple perspectives play out their versions of demise. Right into “Amber Eyes” with a bit of a bounce belying the topic, but there’s an energy of change, renewal and introspection underlying. With the mist of a tambourine interlaced, Pier’s voice softens with the nylon strings and speaks in a voice of knowing.
“Blue Jay Blues” is just that, Pier flexes skills, sounding right at home with the blues, walking blues that is. It’s the feeling of motion while talking to a friend, in this case telling a story to the only ears listening. Verbalization of dreams is often the best way to attain them, no matter who the audience may be. “Fields of White” is bassy and percussive, it yearns to find shelter and safety for a child of desolation, all the while knowing the end is impossible to avoid. “Easy to Say” is one of my favorite picking patterns, it’s strong and aggressively attacked with both hands. It’s youthful and staunch, yet the protagonist is learning lessons deeply and painfully. The brash use of his B and E strings close distinctly cold, as cold as the dismissed heart.
“Prison Creek” gets a bit Delta Blues, reflected through the tone and timbre of the finger pick, combine that with the doubled vocals and it gets eerie, fast. The voice has a tinge of spirit presence, apparition-like, but somewhat soothing, foretelling, maybe that’s the hook. When it doubles it feels like doom. Then “Paper World” is lilting and lost, but eloquently said. Analogizing a love cycle to a paper map that’s easily torn. The sylph harmony at the end is faint in its agreement.
“Red-Winged Blackbird’”takes a first person position as the ever observant red-wing, wings beating furiously, rising, drifting, voiced by the acoustic while the notes he takes smolder out. The multiple tracks thicken both words and notes adding a element of pace. The multiple voicing is used very sparingly throughout, but nicely here in the bridge. The closer, “Spring Ponies” is perfect in its delivery and ability to let the mind wander attempting definition. It’s more free than that with its bounce and bravado, its push start and heralded arrival of spring.
Pier reaches for a different foothold securely. His vocal expression mixed with the varying patterns on the acoustic combine in a superb way. Whether light or dark, blues or otherwise, he sings and plays in colors all his own. He creates motion as well as emotional imagery in a style that is very distinct. His phrasing is deft, his playing is nimble and strong, the subtlety of the mix is near immaculate. There are moments that conjure thoughts of George Harrison, Elliot Smith and Nick Drake, John Fahey, Sufjan Stevens. Likewise with breaths of acoustic delta blues players, Mississippi John Hurt and Elizabeth Cotton. Pier certainly pays respect to his strongest influences, I really dig that and my favorite musicians consistently do it. He’s more than capable of whatever he wants musically, I wonder if this acoustic work coincides with fatherhood.
Key Tracks: Kitty Kills The Cardinal, Prison Creek, Red-Winged Blackbird
The sixth annual Catskill Chill Music Festival – A Farewell to Minglewood – is set to take place this weekend on Sept 18-20 with this year being the last time at Camp Minglewood in Hancock, NY. The Chill gathers fans from all over the North East to the beautiful, secluded Catskills for a three-day camping summer music festival finale. The Chill has called Camp Minglewood home since the beginning and it’s sleep away camp setting of multiple concert halls, cabins full of friends and tents scattered over the hills, all within short walking distance made for the ideal festival grounds. The Catskill Chill motto holds true to “All Love, All the Time” as you can see and feel it all around you with nonstop smiles, hugs, high fives and the radiating positive vibes that keep Minglewood clean and fun.
This coming weekend will be a time of reflection of all the wonderful moments of Chills past. We’ve endured all types of weather: perfect sunny days, light rain, the Tornado of 2012 and those cold, cold, cold early fall nights of NY. The little to no cell phone reception is a painful delight as we are given a chance to truly enjoy all that the Chill has to offer with both hands and a focused mind. The Catskill Chill lines up talented regional and national musical acts of all genres that connects us to each other and the dance floor. The bands love the Chill as much as the fans do with major returning acts such as Lotus, Dopapod, Particle, Lettuce, The Motet and Kung Fu.
One of the best features about The Chill is the abundance of guest sit ins and collaborations from over the years such as Shwizz and Fikus will join forces to become Shwikus, the late late night Sunday set of Dopadosio, Bobby Paltauf with The Meter Men, Todd Stoops with Twiddle plus so many more. The number of artists has dramatically increased over the years with a jam-packed schedule that doesn’t stop til you do. With more bands comes more stages and those cabin porches serve more than neighborly meetups, Solaris is no stranger to the late night porch shows. Acoustic Junction was a great addition to The Chill with memorable acts from The Brummy Brothers, Consider the Source and Primate Fiasco, guaranteed to rock your socks off electronically or acoustically.
Be mindful to savor every beautiful minute of music and scenery because we’re so lucky to have them together. Don’t miss out on one hell of a going away party and buy tickets now (available here). NYSMusic is grateful to share the bittersweet goodbye of Camp Minglewood and looks forward to more memories of The Catskill Chill.
Check out past NYSMusic Catskill Chill Reviews and Photo Galleries: 2012, 20132014
The sixth annual Werk Out Music and Arts Festival in 2015 was as always a ridiculously good time for all who made the journey. This is the fourth year the festival has commenced at Legend Valley in Thornville, Ohio. The venue has been host to many famous acts since the ’70s. Most famously one of largest and favorite stops of The Grateful Dead tour in the ’80s. The festival includes three stages as well as a silent disco. The festival is a celebration of music, dance, and friendship brought to you by Columbus’ own — The Werks.
Thursday night’s music included Papadosio. Which seems to be growing in popularity by the minute. After hearing them there’s no questioning the reason. The level of improvisation is incredible. Next up was Broccoli Samurai and then the much-anticipated first set from The Werks. The Rumpke Mountain Boys picked on into the early morning hours at the B stage. After the two main stages shut down for the evening, many headed over to the Silent Disco tent sponsored by The Untz.
For those who haven’t been to a Silent Disco before, it’s really an interesting concept. In exchange for your id you pick up a pair of wireless headphones. There are two channels which feature EDM from two live DJs in the tent. You can choose channel A or channel B to listen to. Then dance till the sun comes up in silence! The Silent Disco is gaining popularity at festivals that have to respect noise ordinances. It might be quiet but the party lives on.
Friday afternoon welcomed Wisconsin’s own Horseshoes and Hand Grenades. Their brand of progressive bluegrass is especially fueled by pristine songwriting, lightening fast fiddle, banjo, guitar and harmonica solos. Not to mention exceptional five-part harmonies. Their most recent cd Middle Western is a collection of original songs will be sure to get your feet tapping and your brain ticking. Some of their lyrics are down right philosophical and some might say the messages are transcendental. It will be so exciting to see what these boys have in store for the future.
Umphrey’s set Friday night was awesome as usual. The band even covered Prince’s “When Doves Cry”. Not only was the music incredible but the lighting was out of sight. Following Umphrey’s was the festival host The Werks. They played an evening set which featured former member Norman Dimitrouleas on keys. The band segued into their perpetual groves and would at just the right moment say the magic words “You are the universe”. Energy was high and hoopers, and dancers all moved as if they were under their spell.
A peaceful silence fell upon the campground but shortly after the silence was broken by Blue Moon Soup. A Newgrass band from Yellow Springs Ohio. The harmony on their rendition of Manfred Mann’s “Fox on the Run” was spot on. Every solo was also crisp with accuracy and precision. At the closing on their set it was time to head for the MBFP tent to catch Eoto and Friends. The tent was absolutely filled to the brim with dancers and fans alike. Some featured guests included Chris Houser, and Todd Stoops.
Saturday I managed to catch Ekoostik Hookah’s set. Many die-hard fans gathered towards the front of the stage and sang along and danced. Next up was musical genius Zach Deputy. Just watching him ties my brain in knots. His dance-able and energetic originals flooded the concert area and his positive energy flooded the audience. He even played our favorite “Just the tip”. Other highlights from Saturday included Lettuce, Dopapod, The Werks final set, and Glostik Willy.
The Werkout is a celebration of music, dancing and art. Who knows, you may even decide to wed there, as one happy couple did. The staff is super friendly and the music is some of the best ever heard. The overall energy is upbeat and positive. Between the beauty of Legend Valley, the bright spirit of the fans, the innovative music this festival is one of the treasures of the mid west. See you at Werkout 2016.
Two months ago roots-rocker Jason Isbell released his fifth studio album, Something More Than Free, and the record quickly topped Billboard’s rock, country, and folk charts after its July 17 drop date.
A follow-up to his 2013 album-of-the-year, Southeastern, the former Drive-By Trucker teamed up again with producer Dave Cobb, and the two created something more polished, identifiable— dare we say, genre-saving for new Nashville to embrace. The album captures the sounds of ’70s outlaw anthems, crooner acoustic ballads and small-town blues-rock with simple bass lines. Isbell’s raw vocals loosely dominate and demand careful attention. Never cryptic in his songwriting, Isbell “put down my fears on a page” and arranged those scribbled-down emotions into 11 solid tracks that pluck to the core of the human search for meaning.
With SMTF Isbell takes listeners on a 43-minute mental flashback from a more mature musician “hell-bent on growing up if it takes a lifetime” to the rebellious “22-backwoods-years-old” determined to find his sound. In songs like “24 Frames,” “Life You Chose,” “Speed Trap Town,” and “Children of Children” (note the nod to Led Zeppelin’s “Thank You”), Isbell weaves his autobiographical experience of loss, learning, growing, and salvaging the good into tender hymns for the underprivileged rural South and those struggling with addiction. And it’s this unapologetic courage to sound like nobody but himself that secures Isbell as a front-and-center fixture on Americana’s stage.
SMTF marks Isbell’s return as a focused, confident artist who’s at peace with his purpose and proves that a metamodern country boy can survive.
Key Tracks: 24 Frames, Life You Chose, Something More Than Free
Brantley Gilbert took the Big Revival tour to SPAC in Saratoga Springs, on August 16 with great success. He was supported by Lee Brice and Cam who each brought their own unique flare to the evening.
First to take the stage was the up and coming singer, Cam. Cam was named one of Rolling Stone’s 10 New Country Artists You Need to Know for Spring 2015 because of her strong entrance to country music. She drew the attention of her current label Arista Nashville through her Kickstarter campaign to finance her first album. Fans in attendance seemed very receptive to her upbeat stage presence, strong voice and persona, and emphatic performance. Cam played songs off of her current EP, Welcome to Cam Country including “Half Broke Heart” and “Runaway Train” as well as some other songs all of which got the crowd to their feet and dancing along. Fans really started to get involved with singing along for her two last songs, also off her current EP, “Burning House” and “My Mistake”. Both songs were recognizable to a good amount of the audience based on crowd involvement. Cam did a good job engaging those who were not familiar with her or her music but had arrived early to enjoy the entire show.
Lee Brice took the stage next with a strong entrance getting attendees off their feet from the start with two fan favorites, “Drinking Class” and “Hard to Love” off of I Don’t Dance (2015) and Hard 2 Love (2012) respectively. This set the tone for the rest of his set with fans engaged and involved from the very start. This tour was a good fit for Brice as it allowed him to showcase his well crafted songs with strong lyrical content which is lacking in some of the more popular party country that has become mainstream recently. “A Woman Like You,” “I Don’t Dance” and “I Drive Your Truck” are among the most popular songs that have earned strong recognition and favor throughout the genre with their well written and heartfelt lyrics that are impossible not to sing along to. The crowd’s reaction to the songs demonstrated how strongly these songs have resonated with fans. Brice certainly does a great job of building his fan base through live performances, he is the type of artists that grows on listeners more with each listen but really makes a strong impression after hearing the songs live and feeling the emotion behind what he’s singing about. He closed out his set with a song that has become a staple for Brice since its release in 2012. “Parking Lot Party” may not be in keeping with his usual style but this upbeat song is always well received live and brings the energy in the venue up to the next level. He had everyone singing along and warmed up for Brantley Gilbert by the end of his set.
Brantley Gilbert is another artist that started to make quite the name for himself despite being outside of party country mold since his 2010 release Halfway to Heaven, however he has grown exponentially into the top-tier of A-list country stars since the release of Just as I Am in 2014. Gilbert singed to Valory Music Co. for the re-release of Halfway to Heaven and has remained there since. He kicked off his set with “Kick it in the Sticks” a single off of “Halfway to Heaven” which went platinum in the U.S. Fan favorites also played off of that album included “Hell on Wheels”, “My Kind of Crazy” and “You Don’t Know her like I Do,” all of which have become staple songs for Gilbert. “My Kind of Crazy” and “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do” were extremely well received showing off the more sensitive side of the edgy, self-proclaimed “bad boy” and never fail to make the women in the crowd dreamingly sing along. Gilbert has released his share of songs with a more party vibe mixed with rock edge that have been extremely well received and are always extremely popular live. Both “Bottoms Up” and “Small Town Throwdown” quickly became staple songs for live performances and garnered a great deal of airtime on the radio with “Bottoms Up” earning double platinum certification and “Small Town Throwdown” earning gold. These are two songs that never fail to engage the crowd and have the entire building, or amphitheater off their feet and singing along word for word. Other noteworthy songs played off of Just as I Am included the more serious “Guns and Roses”, “One Hell of an Amen”, “Lights of My Hometown” and current single “Stone Cold Sober”. Despite his “bad boy” edgy personality many of Gilbert’s most popular songs have been his more sensitive lyrically strong songs which sets him apart from many of his fellow top-tier country artists.
A word that comes to mind for many who have seen a Brantley Gilbert show at any point of his career is genuine; a genuine passion for what he does, a genuine personality, determined to hold to his southern roots and morals no matter where he goes, and genuine talent for writing and performing his own work. All throughout his work this is evident, however it becomes especially so when it comes to his morals. Two songs that have become extremely popular that exemplify his strong sense of morals are “Take It Outside” and “Read Me My Rights”. Both songs always get a strong rise out of the crowd but “Read Me My Rights” elicits such a strong response that it too has become a staple song. Gilbert always explains before the song that it is important to him because as a proud southern gentleman he would take the law into his own hands if he ever saw a man put his hands on a woman or if someone entered his home and threatened his family. He even goes on to explain that he will do what he feels needs to be done then sit with his hands behind his back waiting for the police and “politely tell the officer to read him his rights” which is his transition into the song and starts the screaming and cheering from the crowd. He closed out his set with this song and a strong U.S.A. chant. He did however return as expected for an encore with the ever popular “Country Must Be Country Wide”. This was a phenomenal song to end the night with as it is something country fans can relate to anywhere in the country.
A follow-up to his 2013 album-of-the-year, Southeastern, the former Drive-By Trucker teamed up again with producer