It was a misty cool mid-Autumn Tuesday evening, in a quiet revitalized corner of Buffa-vento at the Iron Works. Sometime after 9 p.m., the three women of And the Kids (Hannah Mohan on guitar/ukelele, Rebecca Lasaponaro on drums and Taliana Katz on bass) came on stage and sparked up a flame. A fire of music to gather around and keep us warm.
And the Kids are indie rock upstarts out to prove that the East Coast’s answer to Portland, OR is not Portland, ME, but Western Massachusetts. They mismatched glittery face paint with outfits of dark grays. However, the music was full of color. Mohan’s angular guitar leads were backed by driving bass and drums, while her unique and wide-ranging vocal delivery was often outlined with perfectly placed backing harmonies. The songs were short blasts of catchy yet off-kilter pop gems, each one feeling like it could be the song that catches them a big break. Original band member, keyboardist Megan Miller, was deported to Canada earlier this year. Being so close to the border, the band paid tribute to her with their song “No Countries” off of their latest Turn To Each Other. They squeezed 13 songs into their 45 minute set, pulling heavily off their newest release, including the hypnotic round-like vocals of “Neighbors,” and “Cats Were Born,” with its startling screams of “Aiyeeeee!”
After a short break, with the flames cooling down, Marco Benevento and his bandmates, Dave Dreiwitz on bass and Andy Borger on drums, came out to throw some more wood on the fire. Wearing a top hat and pink sunglasses, Benevento was clearly ready to get the party started with some color of his own.
Benevento’s unique take on mu
sic has grown to be wholly unique and more than a little difficult to describe. It borrows from rock, jazz, funk, classical, pop, techno etc., without ever residing within any one of those. Most impressively, a Benevento song can be a singalong with lyrics or without.
His customized upright piano makes ample use of effects pedals to become his own personalized synthesizer keyboard. When he wants that pure sound of hammers hitting strings, it’s right there waiting for him. No synthesized piano sound, no matter how expensive, can ever capture that. He also has the luxury of reaching inside and holding down the strings, creating a cool staccato effect, as he did during a long intro solo for This Is How It Goes.
After a couple of Beatles teases (“Norwegian Wood”, “Eleanor Rigby”) early on in the set, it was pure Benevento from then on out. Though there were hints of Steve Winwood’s playing here and a flourish reminiscent of Bernie Worrell there. He took many an opportunity to ham it up with the crowd as well, carrying a small keyboard out front and dancing around like a quasi rock star. Later, on “Limbs of a Pine,” it would be more of the same, this time singing at the front of the stage while capturing it all with some selfie GoPro filming. In the middle of the soundtrack-esque “Fireworks,” Benevento broke into a rambunctious barrelhouse blues number that appeared to be completely improvised. The man is playing by his own rules, on his own whims, and his band is right there every step of the way, never missing a beat.
The most thrilling moments however, came when the Dreiwitz and Borger weren’t following, but right in the thick of it. On “Escape Horse,” Dreiwitz opened with a mean slide bass solo before channeling the late Allen Woody with some monsterous bass blasts, while Borger slammed away on the skins producing one of the more rocking moments of the night.
Late in the set, they played a couple of new tunes off an album due out next April. “Follow the Arrow” was a funky number, with some elements reminiscent of “Thriller” thrown in. Another new one, “Dropkick,” will be released on a special 45 in November for Record Store Day.
The show closed with a one-two punch off of Swift. “Witches of Ulster” had Benevento performing a mid-set wardrobe change as he swapped the top hat for a seasonally-appropriate witches wig and hat. Then they finished off with “At the Show,” ensuring that all in attendance would have the impossibly infectious song stuck in their heads for the rest of the week. Benevento had once again made his own unique mark on Buffalo. Welcome to Buffa-vento.
My first friend I met inside was holding a stuffed cat named Kathy B. Really? (my maiden name was Kathy B!) #karmic
The quartet took welcomed liberties with each tune; at times stretching them out, while at others clearing them of the vocals. It was hard to tell where one song ended, and another began, and that was okay. Opening for Turbo Suit was the Nevermind Orchestra who brought “psyhco-jazz-grudge” arrangements of Nirvana tunes to the stage.
Wildling
Trace Adkins brought country music back to the Harford Fair in New Milford, PA, after the Fair’s year hiatus of having a national act headline the main stage. Not even the steady downpour of rain could dampen anyone’s excitement at the 
Though Empress Of, known off stage as Lorely Rodriguez, performs as a solo act, she was accompanied on stage by a keyboardist and live drummer. She stood close to the front of the stage with untamable confidence, her wild mane of curly hair giving her a distinct and eye-catching profile as she thrashed her head to the beat, corkscrew ends illuminated by vibrant hazy hues of purple, red and blue. After her first song, Rodriguez thanked the crowd with a breathy, unexpectedly sheepish “I’m so excited to be opening for Glass Animals.” Her soft tone between songs painted a distinct contrast to her bold presence while performing.
“Hazy” offered a more nuanced beat riddled with subtle effects incorporating what sounded like a collection of snaps, rattling bones and exaggerated rain drops. Lead singer David Bayley, equipped with a tambourine, bounded around the stage in an explosion of animated energy. The crowd sang along to the chorus, providing additional background effects for fellow band mates Drew MacFarlane (guitar/keyboard), Edmund Irwin-Singer (bass/keyboard) and Joe Seaward (drums) to feed off.
The sold-out Palace Theatre fans excitedly sat in suspense, awaiting for dashing, charming, funny and vocally graceful Groban, to adorn the theater stage.
Groban then introduced Lena Hall to the stage for a beautiful duet, after he touted some of her accolades, to help him with the next song from “The Phantom of the Opera,” “All I Ask of You.” Groban joked that he was kind of regretting turning the fog off now, because they were about to do something from Phantom of the Opera, and said he feels like he can’t do something from Phantom without fog. Then joked again “It’s ok. We’ll be fine but our sinuses thank us. Groban then said that he wanted to be the Phantom so bad, that he made a paper mache mask in art class.
Vince Neil was disappointing throughout the entire set, minus maybe a loud “yeah” here and there. Vince certainly tried to play his heart out and toward the end of the night you could hear and see the exhaustion on his face as he huffed and puffed his way through songs. During “Kickstart My Heart” there were some parts where at the end of a verse he mumbled the words, almost like he gave up. Nevertheless that’s what the pyrotechnics were there for that night, to cover up their failing ability to perform live like in days’ past. The hero of the night was Mick Mars, who didn’t need to jump around on stage in frilly costumes for people to be entranced by him. His guitar playing and solos were enough to capture people. While costume changes were happening for Nikki and Vince, Mars was given the spotlight to play some impressive solos. If this was really the band’s last hurrah, and last show in Buffalo, the band could have put more effort into performing a complete show.