Rochester natives Thunder Body are gearing up for a busy month in March, with a five-week residency at Flour City Station. The ever-evolving band will play two sets every Wednesday in March for what they are calling “Medicine Wednesdays.”
Thunder Body’s recent changes include adding a powerful horn section, sailing them over previous genres. Honing their vocal melodies, they have evolved into something much bigger than fans may remember. Proof of their growth can be witnessed this Saturday, Feb. 13, when they open for funk heavy-hitters Turkuaz at the Westcott Theater in Syracuse.
Medicine Wednesdays at Flour City Station in Rochester will happen every Wednesday in March, with an $8 cover charge each night. All shows are 21+.
Details have been announced for the upcoming Disturbed and Breaking Benjamin North American summer tour with special guest Alter Bridge and Saint Asonia.
Dates and venues are now listed, and more are expected to be announced soon. VIP tickets go on sale Wednesday, Feb, 24, and on sale to general public on Friday, Feb, 26.
New York will see four different stops on the tour, including the first show in the touring cycle, which will take place in Syracuse at the Lakeview Amphitheater on Saturday, July 9. Other stops include July 12 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, July 24 at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center in Darien Center and July 30 at Nikon at Jones Beach in Wantagh.
Disturbed/Breaking Benjamin Tour Dates:
07-09 – Syracuse, NY – Lakeview Amphitheater
07-10 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live
07-12 – Saratoga, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center
07-17 – St. Louis, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheater
07-19 – Pittsburgh, PA – First Niagara Pavilion
07-20 – Indianapolis, IN – Klipsch Amphitheater
07-22 – Hartford, CT – Xfinity Theatre
07-23 – Boston, MA – Xfinity Center
07-24 – Darien Center, NY – Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
07-26 – Detroit, MI – DTE Energy Amphitheater
07-27 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center
07-29 – Scranton, PA- The Pavilion at Montage Mountain
07-30 – Wantagh, NY – Nikon at Jones Beach
07-31 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
08-04 – Gilford, NH – Bank of NH Pavilion
08-08 – Toronto, ON – Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
08-12 – Dallas, TX – Gexa Energy Amphitheater
08-13 – Houston, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
08-15 – Denver, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
08-17 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater
08-19 – Concord, CA – Concord Pavilion
Original article:
Two huge names in rock music who have both recently ended years of being on hiatus will join forces for one incredible co-headlining summer tour.
Disturbed and Breaking Benjamin will team up and hit the road together for a 24-city summer tour.
If a co-headling tour featuring two of the best frontmen in the business today is not enough, how about two more? Add Miles Kennedy with his boys from Alter Bridge and recently formed super group Saint Asonia, led by Adam Gontier, as the special guest for the tour.
It was only evident that a tour between the bands would come together after a video posted by Loudwire of David Draiman joining Ben Burnley and Breaking Benjamin on stage for a cover of “Under Pressure,” made famous by Queen and David Bowie.
On Feb. 4, Draiman, to the surprise of fans, walked onto stage during a recent stop on Breaking Benjamin’s acoustic tour at Irving Plaza in NYC to sing the duet with Burnley.
Since their return, Disturbed’s touring calendar is filling up quickly. A intimate, sold-out return tour with Nonpoint this winter and a spring tour with Rob Zombie in between countless festival dates to go along with this tour will keep the band busy now through summer.
Breaking Benjamin is showing no signs of slowing down since their return, touring relentlessly for almost two years. Breaking Benjamin started the year off with their second acoustic tour, which will be followed by a headlining tour with Startset.
Burnley and Draiman announced the co-headlining tour live on Sirius/XM Octane with host Kayla Riley, then took over the show as guest DJs for a bit. During the show, Burnley said his old cover band used to cover Disturbed’s “Down With the Sickness,” which delighted Draiman so much that he asked Burnley to play it during sound check. Burnley told him fans will get to hear it twice because he will play it during their set and then Disturbed can play it later. Whether he’ll follow through on that remains to be seen.
Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Feb. 26. Actual dates have yet to be announced. New York will see dates in Syracuse, Buffalo, Saratoga Springs (July 12?) and Wantagh.
Disturbed/Breaking Benjamin Tour Announced Cities:
Syracuse, NY
Bristow, VA
Saratoga, NY
Cleveland, OH
St. Louis, MO
Pittsburgh, PA
Indianapolis, IN
Boston, MA
Buffalo, NY
Detroit, MI
Cincinnati, OH
Scranton, PA
Wantagh, NY
Holmdel, NJ
Virginia Beach, VA
Gilford, NH
Toronto, ON
Dallas, TX
Houston, TX
Denver, CO
Albuquerque, NM
Concord, CA
Hartford, CT
Seattle, WA
Capital Region rockers Wild Adriatic recently rolled out dates for a Eurotrip and U.S. tour as well. The three-piece group will head out on the road beginning Feb. 11 in Boston and wrapping up May 15 in Spain.
Fresh off the heels of their debut voyage on the Rock Boat, where they played an all-Zeppelin set and jammed onstage with Sister Hazel, Michael Franti and Gavin Degraw, WA’s upcoming tour includes Northeast-heavy dates with home state stops in Corning, Saratoga Springs, Rochester, Syracuse, Brooklyn, Buffalo and Jamestown before returning to Europe for a four-week headlining run.
This January, WA released their first full-length live album from their two-night performance in Albany last October and will record the upcoming Feb. 20 show at Putnam Den for a possible future album. The band’s self-titled EP dropped in 2011, and their most recent collection debuted May 2015 as the five-song Never Enough. Although, according to the press release, WA has a new record in the works:
We’ll be back in the studio making our second full length record in Fall 2016. Hoping to release Early 2017 and we have never been more excited to get in the studio and create! So much inspiration over the last few months, I know we have a few more tunes in us to get out before we hit the studio but we are very excited with how the material has come together so far!”
Tickets for all 2016 show dates are on sale through Wild Adriatic’s official website.
Wild Adriatic 2016 Tour Dates:
2/11 – Boston, MA – Lansdowne Pub^
2/12 – Burlington, VT – Nectar’s^
2/13 – Sugarloaf, ME – Sugarloaf Mountain^
2/18 – Corning, NY – Corning Museum of Glass 2300 Series
2/19 – Portsmouth, NH – Birdseye^
2/20 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Putnam Den*
2/25 – Rochester, NY – Flour City Station
2/26 – Syracuse, NY – Funk N Waffles Downtown*
2/27 – Stratton, VT – Grizzly’s%
3/3 – Worcester, MA – Electric Haze
3/4 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Bowl#
3/10 – Sellersville, PA – Sellersville Theater
3/11 – Mifflinburg, PA – Rusty Rail
3/12 – Asbury Park, NJ – Wonder Bar
3/16 – Washington, DC – Black Cat~
3/17 – Mercersburg, PA – Mansion House~
3/18 – Philadelphia, PA – Milkboy~
3/24 – Hartford, CT – Arch Street Tavern
3/25 – Manchester, VT – The Perfect Wife
3/26 – Stratton, VT – Grizzly’s*
3/31 – Pittsburgh, PA – Thunderbird Cafe
4/1 – Buffalo, NY – Buffalo Iron Works
4/2 – Jamestown, NY – Shawbucks
^ – w/ The Mallett Brothers Band
* – w/ Let’s Be Leonard
% – w/ Turkuaz
# – w/ Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds & The Suitcase Junket
~ – w/ Animal Years
4/14 – Oostende, Belgium – Bada Bing
4/15 – Kortrijk, Belgium – Den Trap
4/16 – Krefeld, Germany – Kulturrampe
4/17 – Turnhout, Belgium – Dax Cafe
4/19 – Norderstedt, Germany – Music Star
4/20 – Malmo, Sweden – St Gertrund
4/21 – Hamburg, Germany – Sound Yard
4/22 – Bordesholm, Germany – Albatros
4/23 – Singwitz, Germany – Kesselhaus
4/26 – Bratislava, Slovakia – Muzeum Obchodu
4/27 – Kufstein, Austria – Eggers
4/28 – Besancon, France – Passengers Du Zinc
4/29 – Alencon, France – La Luciole
4/30 – Rouen, France – Hipster Cafe
5/2 – St Etienne, France – Thunderbird Lounge
5/4 – Bilbao, Spain – Antzokia
5/5 – Ourense, Spain – Cafe Auriense
5/6 – Cangas, Spain – Salason
5/7 – Aviles, Spain – Centro Niemeyer
5/8 – Leon, Spain – Gran Cafe
5/11 – Estepona, Spain – Louie Louie
5/12 – Murcia, Spain – Garaje Beat Club
5/13 – Castellon, Spain – Veneno Stereo
5/14 – Valencia, Spain – Pabersematao
5/15 – Torredembara, Spain – La Traviesa
Michael Lang, best known as co-creator of the most famous music festival in history, is at it again with plans for a 50th anniversary Woodstock music festival.
The original Woodstock took place in 1969 in Bethel and became one of the most famous music festivals of all time. There have been two other Woodstock anniversary festivals in the past, Woodstock ’94 in Saugerties and Woodstock ’99, held in Rome, N.Y., which came to a rather disastrous end with rioting, fires and police lines.
Since then, promoters have taken a break from using a festival to commemorate the most epic of all festivals, though the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts regularly hosts concerts at its amphitheater on the original festival grounds.
Lang told the Poughkeepsie Journal that with all the attention music festivals are seeing these days, it seems time for a Woodstock anniversary. He said there is a possibility of not only a U.S. event but one overseas as well, and he would like to see something done on an annual basis that uses the Woodstock name after the 50th anniversary. This is not the first time Lang has alluded to a 50th anniversary concert.
There are no details yet on locations or bands but stay tuned to see updates as they become available. Stay tuned for more info on the 50th Anniversary Woodstock Festival.
Last week, the Albany-based jamband Mister F casually published a stream-worthy collection of cover songs recorded live from their Southeast run this January. The 14-track mixtape features old-school hip-hop songs with guest appearances from the band’s current touring mates, the McLovins.
The hour-long downloadable release includes funky covers from popular ’90s artists like Snoop Dog, Beastie Boys, Dr. Dre, MC Hammer and Naughty By Nature. While Mister F keyboardist Scott Hannay lends his vocals to many of the rap renditions (and keytar skills on “Cantaloop”), guitarist Mike Candela takes the lead on “The Real Slim Shady” and drummer Matt Pickering does so on “This Is How We Do It,” with McLovins‘ drummer/frontman Jake Huffman tackling “Rapper’s Delight” and “Hot In Herre.”
Recorded at venues across Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas, the tape offers a snapshot of setlist surprises from 13 different shows, and with an extensive string of concert dates on the horizon (thankfully, many are in the Northeast), here’s hoping this will be a continued effort throughout the remainder of the tour — because it ain’t nothing but an F thang, baby, and we can’t wait until the next episode.
Mister F January ’16 Mixtape:
1. Nuthin’ But A G Thang* 1/14/2016 – The 8×10, Baltimore, MD
2. Ice Ice Baby* 1/17/2016 – The Pour House, Charleston, SC
3. Forgot About Dre* 1/15/2016 – Martin’s, Roanoke, VA
4. Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)*$^ 1/29/2016 – Nowhere Bar, Athens, GA
5. Baby Got Back* 1/16/2016 – The Camel, Richmond, VA
6. U Can’t Touch This* 1/21/2016 – SOL Bar at New Mountain AVL, Asheville, NC
7. Gin and Juice* 1/19/2016 – The Blind Tiger, Greensboro, NC
8. The Real Slim Shady%+ 1/27/2016 – The Rabbit Hole, Charlotte, NC
9. Rapper’s Delight@& 1/24/2016 – The Pour House, Raleigh, NC
10. Intergalactic*~ 1/20/2016 – The Whiskey, Wilmington, NC
11. Big Pimpin’* 1/24/2016 – The Pour House, Raleigh, NC
12. Hip Hop Hooray* 1/28/2016 – Buffington’s, Milledgeville, GA
13. This Is How We Do It#* 1/30/2016 – Aisle 5, Atlanta, GA
14. Hot In Herre@? 1/30/2016 – Aisle 5, Atlanta, GA
*w/Scott Hannay on vocals
$w/Atticus Kelly of McLovins on keys
^w/ScottHannay on keytar
%w/Mike Candela on vocals
+w/Justin Berger of McLovins on guitar
@w/Jake Huffman of McLovins on vocals
&w/Jason Ott of McLovins on bass
~w/Scott Hannay on vocoder
#w/Matt Pickering on vocals
?w/Mister McManagers trio (Mike Dean, David Limentani, Nick Sonsini) on backup singing/dancing
Plattsburgh residents can rejoice in drawing clever new meaning from the acronym PB&J. Starting Feb. 12, prominent music photographer Laura Carbone, in partnership with 30 City Foundation and Shen Marketing Solutions, will spotlight award-winning musical talent with Plattsburgh Blues and Jazz.
The music series will supply a rich diversity of blues and jazz styles, ranging from southern bayou roots to funk-infused soul. Those looking to diversify their musical interests or support time-tested favorites have a sparkling opportunity to witness world-class entertainment in a small city nestled in northern New York between Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains.
Performances will transpire every three to four weeks, with artists scheduled through mid-April. Those already booked for PB&J’s inaugural year include Swampcandy, Biscuit Miller and the Mix, the Slam Allen Band, JP Soars and the Redhots and John Nemeth. Tickets range between $12 and $15, with proceeds circulating right back into the musical flow to fund artists and to continue drawing inspiring talent to the Plattsburgh area.
The series promises to add extra flair to the Plattsburgh music scene, providing reliable, top-notch entertainment for locals, but also a worthy reason for out-of-towners to make Plattsburgh their next day-trip destination. Most shows will take place at Champlain Wine Company located at 30 City Hall Place. Tickets can be purchased through 30City, their online music and arts forum.
Vampire Weekend has become a staple in most indie rockers’ playlists, finding a lot of success with their second and third studio albums (their latest, 2013’s Modern Vampires of the City, won the band a Grammy for Best Alternative Album in 2014). The band was again in the spotlight recently performing “This Land Is Your Land” at a Bernie Sanders rally in Iowa.
Vampire Weekend headlining Governors Ball 2014
A few days before that rally, some mixed news bubbled through Twitter and Instagram regarding the band’s future. Rostam Batmanglij, a driving force behind the band’s songwriting, announced on his personal Twitter that he is no longer a member of the band:
I wanted to let [people] know I’m no longer a member of VW but that Ezra and I will continue to collaborate on future projects + future VW songs. My identity as a songwriter + producer, I realized, needs to stand on its own.
The same day, Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig took to Instagram with the following note:
A couple years ago, Rostam and I sat down at his house & talked abt whether our collaboration was dependent on being members of the same band. We both firmly agreed that nope, it was not. In fact, we agreed that our collaboration was more important. I’m psyched about the work we’ve already begun for LP4 and I’m psyched to hear anything else Rostam is a part of. Also very excited to continue playing music with CT and Baio but there will be plenty of time to talk about that later in the year. For now in the Vampire Weekend universe, it’s all about recording the next album. There will be a lot of familiar faces in the studio but also some fresh, new ones. Working title is “Mitsubishi Macchiato”…for obvious reasons.
Shout-out to the fans who have been waiting for new music – it’s coming. ?????? Also tomorrow, we gotta talk abt Iowa.
While the departure of Rostam and lineup change for Vampire Weekend came as an unexpected shock to fans, it should reassure them to hear that he plans to still contribute to the band’s work and that Vampire Weekend has a new album in the works. No details beyond what Koenig’s mentioned regarding Mitsubishi Macchiato are available.
HeadCount headed to New Hampshire prior to yesterday’s primary to discover young voters’ favorite candidates and musical preferences. The organization interviewed volunteers for the various campaigns, rally attendees and people still shopping for a candidate.
Music and politics have a long history together. Woody Guthrie wrote songs promoting populism and socialist viewpoints, particularly with “This Land is Your Land.” The civil rights movement adopted “We Shall Overcome” as their chant. The ’60s saw war protest songs being written by popular rock and folk artists. Punk music took an anti-establishment swing.
So, it’s no wonder that HeadCount, which has become pervasive at concerts helping attendees register to vote, would ask those they interviewed about their favorite music. The last question they asked was, “If you could pick any artist to rewrite the national anthem, who would it be?” (The final answer might surprise and/or delight some of our readers.) HeadCount also managed to catch Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz walking by and asked him about his favorite music. Sadly, he did not respond and simply kept walking.
The biggest takeaway from this video is that you cannot determine who a person might support based on their looks, occupation or musical preferences.
The most glaring omission from the video is a lack of any Hillary Clinton supporters. HeadCount said that they reached out to the campaign and even visited their New Hampshire office, but the Democratic candidate’s campaign chose not to participate.
The video (included below) was filmed prior to yesterday’s primary and catches the voters’ excitement for the process. Now that the primary has ended, we have the results. In the Republican primary, with 95 percent of precincts reporting, Donald Trump won with 35.3 percent of the vote. John Kasich came in second with 15.8 percent. Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush are in a virtual tie for third with 11.7 percent and 11 percent, respectively. In the Democratic primary, also with 95 percent of precincts reporting, Bernie Sanders won with 60 percent of the vote, while Hillary Clinton received 38.3 percent.
Several MSG employees have been terminated following an investigation that revealed scalping – taking tickets to events and reselling them for profit.
According to the New York Post, about a half dozen sales executives were caught reselling tickets to Knicks games on the after-market ticket site StubHub. The internal investigation uncovered a scheme where the employees would buy the lowest priced tickets, often those the teams would reserve for group sales, and sell them at a higher price online. The purchase of tickets by MSG employees is restricted by company policy. Employees must have written permission to purchase tickets. However, because the sales team has direct access to the tickets, their process is different.
This is not the first time MSG employees have been caught in a ticket scalping scam. In 1996, then-CEO Checketts terminated five ticket office employees for reselling tickets following a six-month investigation.
PIX11 also reported that the New York Attorney General’s office has accused MSG sales executives and a senior executive of illegally assisting ticket brokers with acquiring tickets for popular events to sell at huge profits. The Attorney General has said that oftentimes the tickets are given to the online ticket brokers before they’re even made available for public purchase.
This comes around the time the Attorney General released a report from a three-year investigation into the concert ticketing industry, as we previously reported.
Thankfully, websites like cashortrade.org are building a community of people who are only willing to buy and sell tickets at face value, bucking the trend of screwing fans out of money to see their favorite musicians perform.
Lock’n festival alum The Southern Belles are starting out the year with a new drummer, and a slew of touring dates that span the Northeast. Their new pick for drummer is Aaron Zarrow of Philadelphia’s The Royal Noise.
“I think this is going to be the beginning of an exciting musical journey,” Zarrow said in a press release. “I’m really stoked to be given an opportunity like this, to play in a band whose music I already enjoy listening to. Now I get to contribute to a band’s sound that I feel is unique and powerful enough to go very far. I’m also walking into what seems to be such a tight knit, family-like fan base and support system, and that’s huge.”
The Richmond, Virginia-based quartet will head up north to Rockwood Music Hall in New York City Feb. 19, and you can catch them at the Putnam Den in Saratoga on Feb. 25. They will wrap up their tour with dates in Montana and Colorado.
Full tour dates:
2/9- Blue Water, Jacksonville, FL
2/10- Guanabana’s, Jupiter, FL
2/11- Little Econ Love Fest, Jupiter, FL
2/12- Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin, FL
2/13- The Jam, Gainesville, FL #
2/19- Rockwood Music Hall, New York, NY
2/21- Stella Blues, New Haven, CT
2/24- Nectar’s, Burlington, VT
2/25- Putnam Den, Saratoga Springs, NY
2/26- Thunder Road, Somerville, MA %
2/27- Stone Church, Newmarket, NH %
3/4- The Camel, Richmond, VA **
3/5- Preservation Pun, Knoxville, TN
3/8- Gabe’s, Iowa City, IA
3/9- The Bridge, Columbia, MO
3/11- Bohemian Biergarten, Boulder, CO
3/12- The Whisk(e)y, Fort Collins, CO
3/13- Lola, Denver, CO
3/14- Sancho’s, Denver, CO
3/15- Little Nell, Aspen, CO
3/16- Little Nell, Aspen, CO
3/17- Black Nugget, Carbondale, CO
3/18- Bonfire Brewing, Eagle, CO
3/19- Zio Romolo’s, Denver, CO
*w/ Lord Nelson and Kendall Street Company
^w/ Soul Mechanic
#w/ Loccochino
%w/ The Jauntee
**w/ Groove Fetish
The original Woodstock took place in 1969 in Bethel and became one of the most famous music festivals of all time. There have been two other Woodstock anniversary festivals in the past, Woodstock ’94 in Saugerties and Woodstock ’99, held in Rome, N.Y., which came to a rather disastrous end with rioting, fires and police lines.
The music series will supply a rich diversity of blues and jazz styles, ranging from southern bayou roots to funk-infused soul. Those looking to diversify their musical interests or support time-tested favorites have a sparkling opportunity to witness world-class entertainment in a small city nestled in northern New York between Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains.
Music and politics have a long history together. Woody Guthrie wrote songs promoting populism and socialist viewpoints, particularly with “This Land is Your Land.” The civil rights movement adopted “We Shall Overcome” as their chant. The ’60s saw war protest songs being written by popular rock and folk artists. Punk music took an anti-establishment swing.
