Irving Plaza reopened on Saturday, June 12 with a performance by The Strokes in front of a fully vaccinated crowd, in support of Maya Wiley’s campaign for Mayor of New York City.
John Mulaney started the night with a stand-up, not far from his run of sold-out City Winery show. Wiley and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez both spoke from the stage prior to The Strokes set.
photo via The Strokes Twitter
Guitarist Nick Valensi was unable to make the show, and had Longwave’s Steve Schlitz fill in for the night. Dev Hynes from Blood Orange joined The Strokes for âOne Way Trigger” amid a 16-song setlist that spanned the group’s discography. Check out videos from the night below.
photo via The Strokes Twitter
photo via Maya Wiley Twitter
The Strokes – Irving Plaza, NYC – June 12, 2021
Setlist: Juicebox Someday, The Adults Are Talking, One Way Trigger (w/ Blood Orange), You Only Live Once, Hard to Explain, Ize of the World, The Modern Age, 12:51, Is This It, Bad Decisions, Take It or Leave It
Encore: Automatic Stop, Last Nite, Ode to the Mets, Reptilia
Continuing NYS Music’s look at the venues of New York State, we are now more than a year since music venues were forced to shut down, and signs of life are visible everywhere this spring.
While venues await relief from the Small Business Administration (SBA), who administer Shuttered Venue Operators Grant to eligible entities, there are some venues that have returned to live music. Restrictions are lifting, allowing for greater capacity at venues, as well as Drive-In shows and socially distanced concerts continuing well into August.
Once New York State has 70% of the population receiving one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, most remaining restrictions will be lifted, based on a statement from Gov. Cuomo last week.
Our March installment of ‘This Darkness Has Got to Give’ showed venues across New York State that started to come back to life with socially distanced shows. Now in June, we have crowds returning to venues, a summer of live music ahead in various arrays and a brighter 2021 in the making.
Gov’t Mule and Allman Brothers Band guitarist Warren Haynes will venture into the Northeast for 5 solo acoustic shows, prior to his performance at Peach Music Festival on July 4.
Warren will make solo stops in Eatontown, NJ – a second show has been added on June 29 – and in Lake George. He’ll then head to East Swanzey, NH to perform at Northlands Live, and swing back to Central New York to perform at Apple Valley Park on July 3, before his July 4 performances at Peach Festival.
I can’t wait to get back on the road and play music in front of live audiences. Leading into Peach Fest, I’ve added 4 brand new shows in Eatontown, NJ, Lake George, NY, E. Swanzey, NH and Lafayette, NY. Each show will adhere to local regulations as pertains to seating, capacity and overall public health safety protocols. Please check out the links for each show below.
June 29&30 – Concerts On The Green – Eatontown, NJ July 1 – Lake George Festival Commons – Lake George, NY July 2 – Northlands Live – East Swanzey, NH July 3 – Apple Valley Park – Lafayette, NY
Scaling back an annual weekend of music and art in Burlington, VT, Higher Ground will present Double Down, with Twiddle performing at the Midway Lawn at Champlain Valley Expo on Friday, August 6 and Saturday, August 7.
The annual Tumble Down weekend, headlined by two nights of Twiddle with multiple bands performing each day as well as late night at Nectar’s and Higher Ground, will be scaled back as Double Down this year. Offering two nights of music along with support acts, fans can enjoy Twiddle’s annual Burlington summer jaunt as they have since 2015.
On August 6, Robert Banks Trio will open for Twiddle, while on August 7, Gubbilidis and Frends will kick off the night.
Tickets are $49 advance, $53 day of show, and $79 2-day pass. Gates open at 5:30pm, with the show starting at 7pm. Both shows are all ages, with children 12 & under are free. $2 of each ticket sold will help to combat Vermont’s opioid crisis. Tickets are now on sale at highergroundmusic.com
Higher Ground has a few other concerts planned at Champlain Valley Exposition. On Wednesday, July 28, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats performs, with The Marcus King Band and Tre Burt. Tuesday August 3 will find Billy Strings on the shores of Lake Champlain, and on Saturday, October 2 Primus will perform, with Wolfmother opening.
HeadCount and their Vote With Pride initiative has launched a new program #TransPeopleVote, to prevent continued disenfranchisement of transgender and non-binary voters around the country.
Since 2004, HeadCount has registered over one million voters working with musicians and partners including Ariana Grande, Phish, Billie Eilish, the Disco Biscuits, Camila Cabello, RuPaul’s DragCon, and MTV., among others.
Vote With Pride was launchedto provide accessible, safe, and affirming resources for the LGBTQ+ community to vote. #TransPeopleVote has been developed in partnership with VoteRiders, the leading national expert in obtaining a qualifying ID to vote.
Currently, 22 states that have both a restrictive process for changing your name and gender marker on ID, and voter ID requirements to case your ballot. The name on your voter registration must match your legal name in all 50 states and Washington DC. #TransPeopleVote is a resource dedicated to supporting transgender and non-binary people as they navigate this complicated process.
This work is core to HeadCount’s mission to make elections accessible for all voters. Together with VoteRiders, we can reach transgender voters and help them overcome ID barriers that may prevent them from voting.
Voters can visit HeadCount.org/Pride to receive state-by-state information on what steps they need to take to obtain an updated ID to register and vote in their state. Additionally, VoteRiders has assembled the first-of-its-kind volunteer legal team to support transgender and non-binary voters in this process. To obtain support, voters simply need to call or text VoteRiders and they will be connected to an expert in their state for assistance.
VoteRiders is delighted to join forces with HeadCount to provide transgender voters with the support they need to make their voices heard. Given the logistical, financial, and legal challenges transgender voters might face in securing their ID, we hope they will contact us right away so they will have the documents they need in time to vote – and the confidence they do, knowing they cannot be turned away. We are grateful that HeadCount inspired this tremendous opportunity to identify and assist voters who just might need a helping hand in the face of all these complicated and ever-changing voter ID laws.
Kathleen Unger, Founder, and President of VoteRiders
#TransPeopleVote is being launched in honor of Pride Month and will become a staple of the Vote With Pride initiative. HeadCount and VoteRiders will continue to update the resource as state laws are rapidly changing what is required to change your name and gender.
For more information, read more about how voter ID laws disenfranchise millions of eligible voters. In addition to the 25+ million voting-age citizens who lack a current government-issued photo ID, confusion and intimidation serve to prevent millions more eligible Americans from voting, even though they have a valid ID – or do not need one – in their state. Even poll workers are confused and sometimes ask voters for ID when none is required.The Voter ID Helpline (844-338-8743) receives many calls and texts from people in non-voter ID states as well as states that do require or request ID at the polls or to vote by mail.
On Tuesday’s The Tonight Show, Lin-Manuel Miranda joined Jimmy Fallonfor a musical tribute to all the Broadway shows they’ve missed in the last 16 months, and were joined by stage veterans during their song.
Filmed before a fully vaccinated audience in Studio 6B,”Broadway’s Back” paid homage to more than a dozen musicals, including Aladdin, Book of Mormon, Chicago, A Chorus Line, Come From Away, Company, Dear Evan Hansen, Hadestown, The Lion King, Moulin Rouge, Phantom of the Opera, Six, West Side Story and Wicked.
Fallon and Miranda were joined by Kristin Chenoweth, Christopher Jackson, Phylicia Rashad, and Laura Benanti were on hand to join in for a reinterpretation of Hamilton‘s “You’ll Be Back.” Also joining the performance were Jimmy Smits and Olga Merediz who star in the film adaptation of Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights, which releases in theaters and on HBO Max on Thursday, June 10.
Albany will have two new music venues on North Pearl Street very soon. Empire Live an Empire Underground will open this fall as the first downtown premier club in Albany in 30 years.
Formed from a partnership between Stan Levinstone of SLP Concerts and Teddy Etoll of Step Up Presents, Empire Live and Empire Underground will be located in the space vacated by Capitol Repertory Theater.
With two floors for show presentations, there will be a 1,000-capacity general admission room on the street level (Empire Live) and a 400-capacity basement space (Empire Underground), which will have its own entrance and identity. Both spaces will have state-of-the-art sound and lights and full artist accommodation amenities and currently ready for bookings.
The physical space will be completed by late spring, with Levinstone and Etoll, partners in Upstate Concert Hall of Clifton Park for the past 13 years, looking at the move into downtown Albany as a boom to its business model.
Downtown Albany is currently seeing a massive redevelopment and rebuilding of its entertainment district. Within the next few years more than 800 new mid- apartments will be added within a 10-minute walk to the club door.
Stan Levinstone
Empire Live will be located right off the highway at 93 North Pearl Street in Albany, one block from the legendary Palace Theatre and two blocks from the Times Union Center.
The new club is a centerpiece of Redburn Development’s $85 million redevelopment of the Kenmore Hotel, which features 275 apartments, 15 commercial spaces, four restaurants and two event venues. Construction will be completed this spring.
Among announced shows so far are Dr. Dog, Attila, August Burns Red, Tech N9ne, Circa Survive, Atreyu, and Gojira. Visit their calendar to see what more Empire Live and Empire Underground have in store.
King Crimson will return to the stage this summer, with their influential prog-rock ready in tow. They’ll make four stops across New York State, including Buffalo, Saratoga Springs, Canandaigua and Queens.
Featuring bandleader Robert Fripp, Tony Levin (bass), Jakko Jakszyk (vocalist/multi-instrumentalist), Mel Collins (multi-instrumentalist), and the drum trio of Pat Mastelotto, Gavin Harris, and Jeremy Stacey, King Crimson will kick off their summer tour on July 22 in Florida and find their way into New York in late August, before closing the tour in Washington D.C. on Sept. 11.
The Crimson Beast Of Terror has woken from its enforced slumbering and is venturing out to stomp flat the psyches of innocents not yet experienced in the hammering onslaught of King Crimson’s uncompromising pounding – bish! bish! bish! – before turning on a beat to jellify hearts with gut-wrenching passion and soul-squeezing epic unfoldings to remind us that we are all mere subjects in the unfolding drama of the universe’s unfathomable mysteries while simultaneously rocking out and having a great time bopping about with Tony and Bobby and Gavin and Jakko and Mel and Pat and Jezza too.
Robert Fripp
King Crimson formed in London in 1968 and have influenced artists from multiple genres of music since, among them YES and Genesis. Fripp, the band’s remaining founding member, has been a driving force throughout the band’s history. King Crimson has drawn broad inspiration over the years, incorporating elements of classical music, jazz, folk, heavy metal, industrial and experimental music.
On your way to SPAC, don’t forget that Stewart’s Shops is your ice cream shop! With over 345 shops in 31 counties across New York and southern Vermont, the convenience store chain is known for their fresh &local dairy products. With dozens of choices at the cone counter, you’re bound to find something you love! Try a shake, sundae, or cone today, What’s Your Flavor?
King Crimson 2021 Tour Dates
July 22 – Clearwater, FL – Ruth Eckerd Hall July 23 – Delray Beach, FL – Old School Square July 24 – St. Augustine, FL – St Augustine Amphitheater July 26 – Orlando, FL – Dr. Phillips Walt Disney Theater July 27 – Atlanta, GA – The Fox July 28 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium July 30 – Fort Worth, TX – Will Rogers Memorial Auditorium July 31 – Cedar Park, TX – H-E-B Center Aug. 2 – Greenwood Village, CO – Fiddlers Green Amphitheater Aug. 3 – Sandy, UT – Sandy Amphitheater Aug. 5 – Concord, CA – Concord Pavilion * Aug. 6 – Los Angeles – The Greek * Aug. 7 – Scottsdale, AZ – Talking Stick Ballroom Aug. 23 – Saratoga Springs, NY – SPAC * Aug. 24 – Northampton, MA – The Pines Theater * Aug. 26 – Canandaigua, NY – CMAC * Aug. 27 – Lewiston, NY – Artpark Amphitheater* Aug. 28 – Rochester Hills, MI – Meadow Brook Amphitheater * Aug. 29 – Highland Park, IL – Ravinia * Aug. 31 – Milwaukee, WI – Miller High Life Theatre * Sept. 1 – Cleveland, OH – Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica * Sept. 2 – Huber Heights, OH – Rose Music Center – The Heights * Sept. 4 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center * Sept. 5 – New Haven, CT – Westville Music Bowl Sept. 7 – Philadelphia, PA – The Mann Center * Sept. 9 – Forest Hills, NY – Forest Hills Stadium * Sept. 10 – Boston, MA – Leader Bank Pavilion * Sept. 11 – Washington, DC – The Anthem *
On June 27th in Peru, NY, just south of Plattsburgh, Plattsburgh Blues and Jazz (PB&J) will present White and Blues: Music on the Farm at White Rainbow Farm.
White and Blues will featuring Giovanina Bucci, Lucid (trio) and the Memphis based Ghost Town Blues Band for an afternoon of soul, funk and modern blues. Giovanina Bucci, a rising singer songwriter with a brand new album release, will be opening at 1pm. Following at 2pm will be the immensely popular Lucid (trio) ready to funk it up.
Lowell Wurster – Lucid
Then at 3pm, the Ghost Town Blues Band will take to the stage with a show and energy that has been hailed as the best new live blues show in the world. Their album Shine debuted number one on the Billboard Blues Charts and the band was awarded the International Entertainer of 2019.
Ghost Town Blues Band
White and Blues is made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and administered by the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts.
At White Rainbow Farm there is a beautiful open area with a sheltered barn stage and more then enough space for social distancing. Bring lawn chairs or a blanket to enjoy the music and check out the food truck, beer and craft vendors.
Giovanina Bucci
Limited advance tickets are $25 dollars per person and are available at the White Rainbow Farm, Alpha Stereo and online. Children under 12 are free.
White and Blues takes place June 27th from 1-5 pm at White Rainbow Far844 Route 22B, Peru, NY.
Twiddle headlined 4 nights at Apple Valley in Lafayette, NY over Memorial Day weekend, and welcomed Dopapod and Aqueous for two nights each. It was a rainy run of shows just south of Syracuse, but the weather didn’t damper spirits one bit.
Dopapod and Aqueous each opened two nights, with Dopapod taking the honors on Thursday and Friday, and Rob Compa & Eli Winderman joining Twiddle on night one for “Syncopated Healing.” The next night all members of Dopapod, including Chuck Jones and Neal ‘Fro’ Evans joined for the evening’s closing number, “Latin Tang.”
photo by Dave Decrescente
Aqueous would also join Twiddle on Saturday and Sunday, with Mike Gantzer sitting in for “Slippin in the Kitchen” and “All along the Watchtower.” Similar to their Dopapod counterparts, all of Aqueous joined in for “Shakedown Street” to close out the weekend.
Apple Valley Park has a great lineup this summer, with Get the Led Out, Allman Betts Band, Billy Strings, Umphrey’s McGee, Tedeschi Trucks Band and many more arriving over in the next couple months. Get your tickets here.
Amid the festivities in Lafayette, Long Island’s Baked Shrimp performed two afternoon shows at the Westcott Theater in Syracuse, welcoming Ryan and Mihali from Twiddle, and Mike from Aqueous, to join them. Baked Shrimp are poised for a breakout year, especially after building up momentum during this last year and heading to the finals of NYS Music’s March Madness. Check out photos of the early afternoon action from Zak Radick.
Dopapod Setlists May 27: Mucho, Freight Train, Upside of Down, Bats in the Cave, Vol. 3 #86
May 28: Cloudworld >PLSS >Braindead, We Are Not Alone, Trapper Keeper, FABA
Aqueous Setlists May 29: Origami, Little Something to Me, Aldehyde1, Random Company2 1 – Puddle of Mud teases after Aldehyde 2 – Rob playing half time through vocals
May 30: Second Sight > Timmy’s Blades > Second Sight, Weight of the Word, Kitty Chaser (Explosions) > Funky Monks²³⁴ > Kitty Chaser (Explosions), Be the Same 1) Featuring David Loss on tambourine 2) Red Hot Chili Peppers 3) MKDevo (Dave Peck) on vocals 4)FYMFYD full band quote
May 27: Collective Pulse, Carter Candlestick, Second Wind, Hattibagen McRat, Beehop -> Ganja Medley -> Beehop Moments, Zazu’s Flight, Syncopated Healing% % w/Rob Compa & Eli Winderman of Dopapod
May 28: Amydst the Myst, Jamflowman >Frankenfoote, Brown Chicken Brown Cow, White Light >WIRIP * D’yer Mak’er%, Latin Tang # % Led Zeppelin # with all members of Dopapod
May 29: Enter > Orlandos > Apples > Funky town > Apples, Dr Remedies, Tiberius > River Drift> LITC, Honeyburste Encore: Slippin in the kitchen^, All along the watchtower^ ^ w/Mike Gantzer of Aqueous
May 30: Peas and Carrots -> Gatsby the Great -> Harry’s Pond -> Gatsby -> Bronze Fingers, My Truck, Machine, Beethoven and Greene, Milk%, Shakedown Street! % with Mike Gantzer ! with Rob Compa, Mike Gantzer, Rob Houk & Dave Loss
