Don’t have plans yet for New Year’s Eve? Music fans across New York State have got plenty of choices this Thursday. NYS Music helps you get there with the short list of NYE activities.
Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad at the Historic German House with special guests Danielle Ponder & Tomorrow People and Funknut. Three Heads Brewing Tasting Party start at 7pm with an acoustic jam featuring members of GPGDS and Extended Family. Late night the party continues with Subsoil and Level 7 Hip Hop DJ Set. $20 in advance/$30 day of show.
Nothing compares to experiencing live music. But when it comes to packing up and leaving the world behind to immerse in a weekend of musical debauchery with a community of like-minded souls, well, that’s the stuff that dreams are made of for music festival fans.
From one-band to multi-artist events and crowd sizes from 2,000 to 50,000, New York State hosts a bevy of festivals annually in some of the most beautiful settings imaginable, and let’s face it, our state knows how to throw a proper fest, as it is ingrained in New York’s rich musical history having put on one of the biggest rock festivals of all time, Woodstock. Here we’ve rounded up our favorites from NYS Music 2015, so sit back, relax and relive some of the festival magic that happened throughout the Empire State this year, because we all know what it’s like to experience those post-fest blues.
The third installment of Buffalove Music Festival saw a venue change from Cole Farm, Panama, NY, to North Fork Music Park, Warsaw, NY, with the new location offering four stages, a private beach, disc golf and wooded-area camping, and a record attendance that doubled previous years. With an impressive lineup including Kung Fu, Pink Talking Fish, Funktional Flow, Particle, Formula 5, Mister F, Space Junk, Dopapod, Aqueous and Aquapod, the three-day June 2015 festival created to celebrate Western New York’s emerging music scene was one for the books, according to Jen Foster and Thomas Sgroi:
Buffalove came through. Co-founder of Buffalive Productions and Founder of Buffalove Cody Conway clearly had one goal in mind: keep the energy as high as possible. Every single band had heads turning and jaws on the ground. There was never a lull, never a band that just played to fill space. Every minute was dance-worthy. If you missed out this year, we can highly recommend you don’t make that mistake next year. Without any problems or unruly attendees, this festival made its mark at North Fork Music Park in Warsaw, NY. The amount of talent coming out of Upstate New York is only paving the road for more incredible shows. Buffalove, you certainly were lovely.”
Another summer fest that saw a venue change was the fifth annual Disc Jam Music Festival, which moved from Massachusetts to New York State—and promoters recently announced that the event will return to Gardner’s Farm in Stephentown for its sixth year in June. Throughout four days of music, camping, disc golf and Flow Tribe, festivalgoers experienced live performances from more than 50 acts, including Lettuce, Electron, Dopapod, Aqueous, Brightside, Kung Fu, Consider the Source, Cabinet, Soule Monde, Roots of Creation, Formula 5, The Hornitz, Soul Rebel Project, Broccoli Samurai, Krewe de Groove and Relative Souls. According to Dave DeCrescente, the festival’s last day culminated with a “healthy dose of guest sit-ins” with jamband Twiddle, noting that:
One of the highlights of the set was the massive guest sit in with DJ Honeycomb, James Woods, and Joe Davis from Formula 5, Scott Hannay of Mister F and Todd Stoops for the ultimate mega jam on “Apples.” The Disc Jam Flow Tribe was out in full force with fire spinners and hooping entertainers that were almost as mesmerizing as the music. The weekend ended just as it started, with mind blowing music and a close knit community who continue to make the Disc Jam Festival special. Tony Scavone and crew did a suburb job of organizing the 5th annual Disc Jam with a new location but still the same friendly, loving festival experience that keeps fans coming back each year.”
While Catskill Chill is speculated to make a move to Lake George in 2016, the festival’s last waltz at bucolic Camp Minglewood in Hancock, NY, this September was a success, selling 5,000 tickets, according to Chill promoter Dave Marzollo. Headlined by moe. who kicked off their fall tour at the festival and including other bands like Lotus, Zappa Plays Zappa, Lettuce, Twiddle, Turkuaz, Dopakuaz plays Studio 54 and The Motet, the sixth annual installment of Catskill Chill featured on-site cabin rentals, daily yoga, live art, a farmer’s market, craft and food vendors, a communal bonfire nightly and an open mic. The three-day event was packed with guest sit-ins and collaborations like Dopapod and Turkuaz joining forces to play as Dopakuaz, which Chill organizer Josh Cohen noted is the type of community mindset that sets this festival apart from others its size or larger by creating an environment where rising bands can experiment and grow in a unique setting:
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. 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.”
It’s no surprise that Magnaball takes the cake for this category. During late August more than 30,000 phans invaded Watkins Glen International race track for Phish Festival 10. And while the three-day event took place at the site of their 2011 Superball IX festival, this time around the setup featured many upgrades, including local and regional food vendors, the five-course restaurant Festival Ate, MagnaWater Program, speciality Phish-themed cocktails and coveted craft beer from Lawson’s Finest Liquids and Hill Farmstead. (And let’s not forget to mention the interactive Glurt Institute, Drive-In movie theater, JEMP Record Store and cornhole tournament.) The Vermont quartet majorly delivered throughout the weekend’s eight sets busting out rare tunes like “Mock Song” and jamming out typical breather ballads such as “Prince Caspian” to uncharted territory, but perhaps one of the highlights was the Saturday festival tradition of performing a late-night set, which according to Pete Mason raised expectations for future secret sets:
Magnaball’s foray into the history of Phish’s special festival sets was the Drive-In Jam and it raised the bar while putting forth a performance on par with the ‘Storage Jam,’ if not exceeded this established upper echelon of improvisation. On a 183-foot movie screen, a wide array of visual treats combined with a progressively growing ambient jam that eclipsed the Lemonwheel by a longshot and morphed into a full on jam for 50 minutes. The Drive-In Set raised the bar for surprise performances and gave fans a treat after the music on the main stage ended an hour prior.”
Buffalo and Rochester won’t be short of something amazing to see this holiday season as Borg Party invades both cities just days before the Christmas Holiday. The super group spearheaded by Dopapod’s Rob Compa (guitar) also features Mike Gantzer (Aqueous– guitar), Mikey Carruba (Turkuaz – drums), James Searl (Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad – bass) and Willy O’Riley (The Niche – keys). Borg Party will take over Buffalo Iron Works in Buffalo on Dec. 22 before moving to Flour City Station in Rochester on Dec. 23.
The music looks to take on a festive atmosphere with a mix of covers and improvisational rifting. Compa, who grew up in Rochester, told NYS Music that he wanted to create a project that was less about creating something new and more about playing music that is enjoyable. “I was planning on coming home for the week of Christmas to visit my parents, so I figured I would call up some people who’s playing I really love who are from western New York and put together a couple shows just to have some fun and blow off some steam. That is really pretty much the whole point. Every one of the guys doing this with me is one of my favorites on their respective instruments, so I really wanted a chance to play with all of them.”
It’s not the first time that Compa has played with several of the musicians in various incarnations. This summer Dopapod and Aqueous highlighted the Buffalove Music Festival as Aquapod. At Catskill Chill, Dopapod and Turkauz joined forces for the Dopakuaz featuring the music of Studio 54. Gantzer has also made appearances on stage with both Dopapod and Turkauz at various shows in Buffalo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr-90SLkSl8
But for Compa, it’s also another opportunity to play with a musician that was an enormous influence on him as a teenager. “I used to go see Willy O’Riley play with his band the Niche when that venue [Flour City Station] was called Milestones,” he noted. “I was young and hungry to play, and was a huge fan of that band. They were incredibly cool to me and would let me sit in with them from time to time at that club. Willy in particular is a huge influence over who I became as a musician, and this will be our first time playing together in that room in almost ten years. I’m really excited to play with him again.”
Borg Party is currently only planned as a two night engagement. Tickets for both shows at Buffalo Iron Works and Flour City Station are currently still available.
The Arkells performed an extensive high energy set to a sold out crowd at Town Ballroom this past Friday. Not before vocalist Max Kerman and guitarist Mike DeAngelis played an intimate acoustic set to fans who brought a toy valued at 10 dollars or more to donate to local children who are less fortunate and otherwise would not have presents under the tree this Christmas.
Pentimento was direct support for The Arkells, they are a local band right here from my city of Buffalo. I have not had the pleasure of seeing them perform before so excitement came over me as they walked onto the stage. My first reaction was wow, how are these guys not headlining their own tours yet? They swept fans off their feet with Jeremiahs smooth voice and guitarist Lance Claypools catchy riffs. These guys gained plenty of new fans that night and I am proud to say that I am one of them.
The Arkells took the stage and got the fans jumping to their feet and screaming lyrics at the top of their lungs from the opener Cynical. The set continued with songs from High Noon; such as Come To Light, Dirty Blonde, and Leather Jacket. They also played songs off their older albums “Michigan Left” and “Jackson Square.” A fan favorite that night was 11:11, once they started singing that the crowd seemed to lose control. The encore started off with acoustic version of Kiss Cam, followed by young Turks and their biggest hit to date Leather Jacket.
Legendary Stevie Wonder performed to a packed house at Buffalo’s First Niagara Center. The “Songs In The Key of Life” show was a nearly four hour concert to the delight of the crowd.
Every music fan has endured the online ticketing rush; when the clock strikes on-sale time, it’s a frustrating game of repeatedly hitting refresh, chancing each click until that next one successfully unfreezes the screen to show items in your cart. But in truth, most concertgoers stick it out to avoid being forced to pay for high-priced resale tickets, or missing out on the show entirely.
While the secondary market has improved with the creation of fan-based campaigns and startups on a mission to embrace the face value, professional ticket brokering is still finding a way to flood the resale market. And New Jersey’s blue-jean boss Bruce Springsteen is the latest artist to fall victim (again) in the never-ending battle against ticket scalping.
Tickets for Springsteen‘s 2016 tour will be released at 10 a.m. today through Ticketmaster and Live Nation, but the New York Timesreported Tuesday that hundreds of seats were already listed by resellers online with single-ticket prices beginning at $5,000.
Thankfully, these eyebrow-raising listings led New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to send the involved sites letters that questioned the act of false advertising under state general business law, since sellers could not yet have the tickets in possession.
The NYT also said that the sites in question — StubHub, TicketNetwork, Vivid Seats — either remained confident in their refund policy for invalid tickets or removed listings for concerts in New York until the public on-sale date. Schneiderman’s office called the removal of listings a victory for consumers and pledged to continue to work on the issue.
Springsteen and the E Street Band are set to tour the country, making stops for two nights in New York City (Jan. 24 and 27), Albany (Feb. 8), Buffalo (Feb. 25) and Rochester (Feb. 27). Springsteen is touring in support of the box-set release of “The Ties That Bind: The River Collection,” and this run is a nod to the Boss’ career-making 1980 “The River” tour.
The Joe Marcinek Band will play five shows in early December with a very special lineup. The brief tour brings the band to Syracuse and Buffalo on Dec. 4 and 5.
The current incarnation of the Joe Marcinek Band features Reed Mathis (Tea Leaf Green) on bass, Pete Koopmans (Family Groove Project) on drums and Holly Bowling on keys. Joe Marcinek, of course, will be on guitar. Jason Hann (String Cheese Incident, EOTO) will cover percussion the first two nights, with Michelangelo Carubba (Turkuaz) taking over the final three. ROAR, formerly Yojimbo, will open each night.
Marcinek has a new album in the works. He is funding its creation through a crowd-source campaign. From his website:
We are going out to Colorado to record at Scanhope Sound with Joey Porter from the Motet producing. Most of the money raised will go towards covering the studio time, musicians, mixing, master, manufacturing and anything left over will go towards advertising!
I’ve put together a great package of perks for all those that pledge! Not only will you get a copy of the new CD once finished but if you let us know your email address you will recieve a digital copy of our first album “Both Sides” and the unreleased recording of the show from last month where JMB opened for Moe. The JMB lineup included Jim and Vinnie from Moe as well as Borahm Lee from Break Science on keys!
Dec. 2 – Scarlet and Grey Cafe, Columbus, OH
Dec. 3 – Madison Live!, Covington, KY
Dec. 4 – Funk ‘n Waffles, Syracuse, NY
Dec. 5 – Buffalo Iron Works, Buffalo, NY
Dec. 6 – Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH
Correction: Michelangelo Caruba will no longer be joining the Joe Marcinek Band for this run. Jason Hann will be covering percussion for the first three nights, with Ryan Nogle, formerly of Aqueous, on the fourth night. There will be no percussionist on Dec. 6.
The event will also be giving away free band merchandise for every fan that brings in at least five cans of food to be donated to the food drive. This event is a perfect way to celebrate one of the biggest party nights of the year and a really great way to support the local food drive. Funktional Flow is becoming a larger presence in the Buffalo scene and have a brand new record being wrapped up at Sonic Farms Studio for release in 2016.
SkyePilot is also starting to gain some real steam with a very promising Buffalove Music Festival showing as well as a nice following around town after coming of their brand new EP, Biology which was released last May.
After Funk, a Toronto based Funk Jam experience has been really blowing up in the northern states as they have been touring quite a bit and are coming off the heels of a new album, ‘Till The Sun Comes Up, which came out last month, you can take a listen to it on their website and purchase singles or the entire album.
It was a chilly night in Buffalo When July talk came to town this past Saturday; but Canadian locals are used to the harsh temperatures. They came in full force with an incredible lineup. July Talk is not a stranger to Buffalo.
We were graced with their presence Edgefest at the outer harbor this past September. It’s safe to say that July Talk has one of the most unique forms of stage presence that I have ever seen: full of jokes, hair pulling, screaming, climbing, general insanity, and some…suggestive gestures.
Fay’s composed confidence and subtle playfulness on stage created an interesting juxtaposition to Dreimanis’ jerky, energetic movements and the two combined formed a balanced and exciting performance that only July Talk could deliver. Right off the bat, the on stage chemistry between lead singers Peter Dreimanis and Leah Fay grabbed attention and refused to simmer down throughout the whole set. Aside from all the joking and mischief, every song was expertly delivered and professionally performed. The show rocked hard and loud, the contrast between Peter Dreimanis’ growling vocals and the delicate poppy sounds of Leah Fay worked together to perfectly propel the message of the songs forward.
Opening up for July Talk was San Diego’s bluesy rock band Little Hurricane. band was well received and garnered great responses to songs like “Trouble Ahead” “Shortbread” and “Haunted Heart” the duo’s rich sound emanated all along Town Ballroom and making for a nice way to warm up and drink before the nights headliner.
The openers of the night were part of two Cow garage but solo acts. It was not expressed as to why the whole band was not there. The openers had acoustic sets and the songs were witty and related to everyday life and events. This drew in the audience from the beginning. They were solid openers and I`d love to see them again as a whole band collectively.
Progressive supergroup Jane Getter Premonition will head out on a brief tour in support of their new album On. The mid-December tour includes stops in Buffalo, Kingston and New York City.
Joining Jane Getter, who Guitar Player called “the fieriest fretboarding female ever to strap on a Stratocaster,” on tour will be Adam Holzman (Miles Davis, Steven Wilson) on keyboards, Alex Skolnick (Testament) on guitar, Stu Hamm (Joe Satriani, Steve Vai) on bass and John Mader (Steve Miller, Pat Benatar) on drums. The tour will kick off on Dec. 8 in Cleveland, Ohio and end with two shows on Dec. 16 in New York City.
Commenting on the tour, Getter said in a press release, “We will be playing the exciting and hard hitting music from our newly released album, On, on Madfish Music, along with a few older hits from Three and See Jane Run. Get ready for some intense jams!”
From the press release:
Guitarist and composer Jane Getter has played with many jazz and rock greats while garnering increasing recognition as a bandleader, gifted writer and instrumentalist. Early in her career she toured with legendary jazz/blues organist Brother Jack McDuff. Her composing talents received attention when she won the ASCAP Gershwin Award for Music for Dance or Theatre in the mid 90’s. Her debut CD, Jane, in 1998 received worldwide critical acclaim and the 2006 follow up, See Jane Run, was released on Alternity Records (home of Allan Holdsworth). In 2012 she released the progressive jazz/rock album, Three. Getter also received widespread exposure playing in the Saturday Night Live Band.
The Arkells performed an extensive high energy set to a sold out crowd at 
Three bands from last years 
It was a chilly night in Buffalo When July talk came to town this past Saturday; but 