Umphrey’s McGee 2022 winter tour will start with 5 tour dates across New York State. The world tour will have 26 stops and will start on January 14, 2022 in New York City.
Umphrey’s McGee is an American Jam band that is originally from South Bend, Indiana. The band started back in 1997 and are known for their experiments with many musical styles, including rock, metal, funk, jazz, blues, reggae, electronic, folk and more. Some of their most well known songs include “Ocean Billy,” “Puppet String,” and “Nothing too Fancy.”
The band’s winter tour will start on January 14, 2022 at Terminal 5 in NYC and will Wrap up on May 27, 2022 at the Rockjavik in Reykjavik, Iceland. The band’s second stop will also be at Terminal 5 in NYC on January 15, 2022. The third stop will be at Town Ballroom in Buffalo on January 20, 2022. The fourth stop will be at the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse on January 21, 2022. The last stop in New York will be at Palace Theatre in Albany on January 22, 2022.
People can snag presale tickets for all shows and umVIP packages for select dates starting on Wednesday, November 3rd at 12PM EST. General on sale will begin Friday, November 5th at 12PM EST.
For more information on Umphrey’s McGee 2022 Winter tour visit their website.
Each Sunday evening from 7-9pm you’ll find EQXposure on WEQX, featuring two hours of local music from up and coming artists. Tune into WEQX.com this Sunday night to hear new music from Belle-Skinner, grape juice! and many more!
WEQX has long been the preeminent independent station in the Capital Region of New York, broadcasting from Southern VT to an ever-expanding listening audience. NYS Music brings you a preview of artists to discover each week, just a taste of the talent waiting to be discovered by fans like you.
Belle-Skinner
Just in time for Halloween, singer-songwriter Belle-Skinner has released her love magic-themed EP, Love Spell. Each song is equal parts spooky and seductive, with siren-esque vocals and lyrics that charm and bewitch. Skinner created the concept after hearing similar songs written by her friends, and penned her own to accompany the covers. “Spellbound” follows Skinner as the target of a love spell, while the psychedelic “Love Witch” sees her as the perpetrator. Instruments like the organ and theremin set the mood perfectly, creating a haunting atmosphere.
grape juice!
Albany alternative rock band grape juice! released their newest single “sad songs” in July. Despite the title and some of its lyrics like “Disappointment is my forte,” it’s an upbeat power pop song in the vein of Weezer and Fountains of Wayne.
Dark Star Orchestra will ring in the New Year in Albany. The Palace Theater announced today the band will play two shows, on December 31st and January 1st, at the venue. The band have a warm relationship with the Palace, previously celebrating their 20th anniversary there in 2017.
Dark Star Orchestra have performed their rendition of the live Grateful Dead experience to rapt audiences for over 20 years. Basing their performances on the Dead’s lengthy and singular live catalog, DSO draws from historic set lists while offering their own interpretations.
Cosmic New Year's Run kicks off Saturday! ⚡🎊⚡
Two nights in Albany at @palacealbany & a 1977 show recreation on Sunday! Two nights at @WellmontTheater 12/30 & 12/31 round out the year and ring in 2020!
“Even for Deadheads who say they’ve been to a hundred shows in the 90s, we offer something they never got to see live,” said keyboardist and vocalist Rob Barraco.
After over 3000 shows, DSO’s performances have expanded into their own universe. DSO host an annual music festival and gathering, “Dark Star Jubilee,” in Thornville, Ohio. DSO headlines all three nights of the Jubilee, joined by a variety of acts. The band has even brought their experience to Jamaica, hosting the “Jam in the Sand” event at an oceanside stage. Unfortunately, both events were canceled in 2021 due to COVID-19. But “Jam in the Sand” will return January 11-14, while the next “Dark Star Jubilee” is expected for summer 2022.
Six members of the original Dead have also made appearances at DSO shows. Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, Vince Welnick, and Tom Constanten have all shared the stage with them before. DSO also previously toured with the Dead’s longtime soundman, Dan Healy.
Before landing in Albany, DSO will make other stops around New York. DSO will spend two nights at the Capitol Theatre in Portchester on November 12th and 13th. After that, they’ll play two shows at the Paramount in Huntington on December 29th and 30th.
Tickets for both shows will go on sale Friday, October 29th at 10:00 A.M. Tickets are available for purchase via ticketmaster.com and the Palace Theater Box Office.
Alongside the New Year’s shows, the Palace Theater also announced upcoming performances from The Wood Brothers on January 28th and comedian Bert Kreischer on April 3rd. Tickets for these shows will also be available Friday at 10:00 A.M.
The Wood Brothers have announced their first shows in 2022. The Grammy Award-nominated, Nashville-based trio will head out on 19-date tour that begins January 25 at The Kodak Center in Rochester. They’ll also make stops in Albany, Plattsburgh and NYC before heading out west.
The first leg of dates—featuring support from singer/songwriter Steve Poltz—extends into February and stretches across the Northeast. Highlights include performances at 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, The Fillmore in Philadelphia, House of Blues in Boston and a return to Webster Hall in New York City to close out the run. After a brief pause, the second leg picks up on February 22 at The Rialto Theatre in Tucson and proceeds to blanket the Mountain states into March, including appearances at The Mission Ballroom in Denver, Center For The Arts in Jackson and Knitting Factory in Boise before concluding with two nights in Montana. Rounder Records’ recording artist Katie Pruitt performs an opening set each evening.
The Wood Brothers most recent album, Kingdom In My Mind, was released in January 2020. The pandemic forced the band to cut short touring plans in support of the collection thus many of the upcoming dates represent the first time fans will have an opportunity to witness the band performing material from the recording.While on hiatus in 2020, The Wood Brothers remained active, reissuing their landmark 2013 album The Muse on 2-LP vinyl and playing a series of livestreams. Additionally, Oliver Wood would record his first solo album, Always Smilin’. Released in May 2021 on The Wood Brothers’ imprint Honey Jar Records, the 12-track collection was warmly received by critics and fans alike.
Tickets for the upcoming tour go on-sale on Friday, October 29 at 10am local. All shows will be available for purchase at thewoodbros.com
The Wood Brothers Winter/Spring 2022 Tour
1/25 – Rochester, NY – Kodak Center * 1/26 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club * 1/28 – Albany, NY – Palace Theater * 1/29 – Portland, ME – State Theatre * 1/30 – Plattsburgh, NY – Strand Center for the Arts * 1/31 – Providence, RI – The Strand * 2/2 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall * 2/3 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore * 2/4 – Boston, MA – House of Blues * 2/5 – New York, NY – Webster Hall * 2/22 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre ** 2/23 – Scottsdale, AZ – Virginia G. Piper Theater ** 2/25 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom ** 2/26 – Crested Butte, CO – Center for the Arts ** 2/28 – Jackson, WY – Center for the Arts ** 3/1 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Commonwealth Room ** 3/ 3 – Boise, ID – Knitting Factory ** 3/ 4 – Bozeman, MT – The ELM ** 3/ 5 – Missoula, MT – The Wilma **
Countless new strides have been made by The Empire State Youth Orchestra (ESYO), as they emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic filled now triumphant with an in-person 2021-2022 concert season. For these musicians living in Upstate New York and Western New England, they now call the historic Troy Savings Bank Music Hall home, marking yet another milestone. With a new first-ever Director of Education in the hands of Dr. David Bebe, he pledges to take the emerging and developing musicians to new heights.
Dr. David Bebe is a gifted cellist, conductor, and experienced pedagogue who will guide ESYO’s ventures to enrich the musical experiences of ESYO musicians. Rich with experience, Dr. Bebe was a frequent guest sectional coach with ESYO’s flagship performing ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, and was an Associate Professor of Music at the College of St. Rose. Dr. Bebe has now become a crucial component developing string curriculum and performance courses with being a critical resource for ESYO’s artistic staff and CHIME Teaching Artists.
I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues and the conductors at ESYO to identify and provide the tools ESYO musicians need to be successful in their ensembles, especially after COVID-19 interrupted music programs across the country. I’ve had the opportunity to work with emergin gand developing musicians throughout my entire career. ESYO nurtures and supports amazingly talented and passionate musicians.
Dr. David Bebe
The Empire State Youth Orchestra agenda is looking a little different than before with the newest edition of a year-round chamber music program launched by Dr. Bebe this fall. Throughout the season he will also be developing events and programs while discovering opportunities to bridge various levels, programs, and ensembles, fully committing himself to supporting ESYO.
With support from Dr. Bebe and a team of experienced coaches, ESYO musicians will experience music in a smaller, more musician directed ensemble. As with all ESYO-sponsored ensembles and programs, the ESYO Chamber Music program will culminate with a performance in early December.
The season will be opening on Friday, November 5 from ESYO’s Symphony Orchestra, led by guest conductor Andrés Rivas from the Orchestra Now at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. The season’s program also holds features from Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8, Bizet’s L’Artesienne Suites No. 1 & No. 2, Jennifer Higdon’s Light, Danzon No. 2 by Mexican composer Arturo Marquez and Jazz standards by Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. On November 20, the Youth Jazz Orchestra will be joined in concert by Grammy-nominated Trumpet player Michael Rodriguez.
A complete list of ESYO Fall performances is available online at ESYO.org/tickets. Tickets can be purchased online for as little as $1 with ACCESS ESYO’s unique “pay what you can” ticket program.
Albany’s The Late Shift have announced “The Last Shift,” a farewell concert celebrating the band’s 15th anniversary, to be held at The Hollow Bar + Kitchen on Saturday, November 27.
The celebration will occur in place of the bands annual Thanksgiving Eve performance at the same venue. 2020 excluded, this year’s concert will mark the group’s seventh consecutive Thanksgiving show at The Hollow Bar + Kitchen. The Late Shift will be performing two sets of music, with the first set a celebration of the group’s 15-year catalog, a greatest hits set, including songs like “Sweetness,” “Drink and Stone” and “Through It All.” This will be followed by a power packed second set, loaded with everyone’s favorite LateShift style covers to usher patrons into the evening. Both sets are sure to be full of surprises and special guests.
In addition to celebrating 15 years of The LateShift, this event will also serve as the official launch of Wooden Duck Entertainment, a brand-new Capital Region based music and events company owned by members of The Late Shift.
Tickets are on-sale now. Presale tickets are available for $12.50 until November 1. After that General Admission tickets will be available for $15. A limited number of VIP Packages are currently available for $30. For updates and additional information RSVP on Facebook.
A few songs into The Dude of Life Band’s first set at Lark Hall, Steve Pollak (aka, The Dude of Life) announced that after the show, they’ll be streaming the Phish show from San Francisco, which started shortly after 11pm ET on Saturday, October 16. “So we’re opening for Phish a few time zones away,” said Pollak, much to the crowd’s delight. And in a way, the band was opening for Phish, a band with whom Pollak has a decades-long connection.
The Dude of Life Band, a genre-bending group led by the Dude of Life, Steve Pollak, includes Pollak on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Fred Scholl on lead guitar, Charlie de Saint Phalle on bass, Doug Schneider on drums, and Jon Liebowitz of God Street Wine on keyboard and organ.
For several decades, The Dude has been writing songs in an ongoing collaboration with Phish, and first teamed up with Trey Anastasio while the two were in high school. The Dude wrote lyrics for a number of Phish’s most beloved songs, including “Fluffhead,” “Run Like an Antelope” and “Suzy Greenberg,” and has also been a mythical sideshow with the band, making random guest appearances often highlighted by the throwing of uniquely-inscripted rubber chickens into the crowd. The Dude’s debut album, Crimes of the Mind, was recorded with Phish for Elektra Records and released in 1994.
In recent years, The Dude of Life has developed a more refined sound, and a recent burst of creativity has yielded an album’s worth of new material which was recently recorded by acclaimed producer Bryce Goggin.
The Dude of Life Band performed some of these new songs – “Automatic Pilot,” “Dilaudid Nurse” and “In Case You Didn’t Know,” alongside his Phish classics, plus a handful of Grateful Dead covers, “Ruby Tuesday” by The Rolling Stones and “Badge” by Cream. The flow to the show was smooth and the hits kept coming as the evening progressed. Pollak wrapped up the show with an appropriate “Show of Life,” right before turning the mic over to Phish, live from the Chase Center in San Francisco
Setlist: Crazy Too, Althea, Can’t Always Listen, Ain’t No More Caine, Nobody Finer, Mississippi Blues, Automatic Pilot, Franklin’s Tower, Suzy Greenberg, Dilaudid Nurse, Fluffhead, She Belongs to Me, Sugaree, Space -> Lost Moments in Time, In Case You Didn’t Know, Crimes of the Mind, Ruby Tuesday, Badge, Goin Down the Road Feelin Bad -> Show Of Life
Its not every day an 80 year old bassist stops in Albany to play a club show. Its not every 80 year old bassist who happens to be Phil Lesh, who, while in between shows at The Capitol Theatre, made some stops with his son Grahame’s band, Midnight North as they played in Burlington and Albany this past weekend.
photo by Frankie Cavone
Phil has been no stranger to Midnight North shows recently, having sat in for shows in Washington, D.C., Fairfield, CT and Woodstock, as noted by Jambands.com. Phil joined Midnight North at Nectar’s on Friday night for “I Know You Rider” and “Ripple,” with Twiddle members Mihali and Ryan Dempsey joining in.
On Saturday, as Midnight North made their way to Albany, Phil Lesh was along for the ride, and sat in with Midnight North for their original “Wine and Roses,” followed by the Grateful Dead classic, “New Speedway Boogie” with Elliot Peck taking lead on vocals. Watch the two songs below, with Video courtesy of Mirth Films
Phil Lesh returns to the Capitol Theatre this week, October 18 – 20 with Stuart Bogie and Amy Helm join Phil on the first and last night of the run, with Eric D. Johnson, Josh Kaufman, Elliot Peck and Phil’s son Grahame set to play on the 19th. This run will also feature Joe Russo on drums and Benmont Tench on keys.
Acclaimed soul-rock trio, The Nth Power has made some exciting additions to their already announced “Fall Back In Love Tour,” further exploring the Midwest with nine additional dates in November. The Nth Power will also be hitting the Northeast for four nights to ring in the New Year, including two night’s in Albany. The tour will be featuring the newly released studio albumReverence.
The full band is filled with musicians you may already know from elsewhere, guitarist and vocalist Nick Cassarino (Jennifer Hartswick Band), bassist Nate Edgar (John Brown’s Body) and drummer and vocalist Nikki Glaspie (Beyonce).
Their origin story started as an impromptu late-night jam during the 2012 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The energy that Nth Power taps into is something almost sensual, spiritual, and sexy. They prove that music can be a higher power which might just be relentlessly funky and soulful. While Nth Power does transcend genre audiences hear influences from American rock, soul, funk, rhythm and blues. The latest album, Reverence offers the utmost maturity of the trio’s sound conveying messages of hope, empathy, gratitude, self-forgiveness and, above all, the universal power of love. They tap into an energy that is simultaneously sexy and spiritual, with songs that will inspire audiences to dance, groove, make love or just stand there with goosebumps.
We’re going as far as you can go on planet Earth as musicians. We want to change the world through music – that’s the goal
Nikki Glaspie
Distributed by The Orchard, Reverence features guests like Kofi Burbridgeis who plays on keys and flute throughoutlike, the album itself has been dedicated to the memory of this Grammy-winning keyboardist. You may also hear renowned saxophonist Maceo Parker, vocalists Ivan Neville and Nick Daniels III of Dumpstaphunk, vocalist Cheryl Pepsii Riley and keyboardist Amy Bellamy.
The Nth Power return to the Northeast to ring in 2022 with a trio of shows in Waterbury, VT,; Albany, and Bridgeport, CT.
10.22 – Placerville, CA – Hangtown Festival
10.23 – Placerville, CA – Hangtown Festival
10.30 – Live Oak, FL – Suwannee Hulaween
11.4 – Ferndale, MI – Otus Supply
11.5 – Berwyn, IL – FitzGerald’s
11.6 – Cincinnati, OH – Fretboard Brewing Company
11.7 – Bloomington, IN – Stable Music Hall & Lounge
Earlier this year, as the weather thawed and there were early signs of the coming easement of pandemic restrictions, a small courtyard in the Center Square neighborhood of Albany became the home to intimate sessions from a variety of Capital District artists.
James White. Photo by Frankie Cavone
Produced by Frankie Cavone of Mirth Films, the Courtyard Sessions provided an opportunity for a variety of musicians from across the 518 to step into a private outdoor space and play acoustic renditions of their tunes.
Brad Hester of Annie in the Water. Photo by Frankie Cavone
Starting in May 2021, Cavone started the Courtyard Sessions as a way to help promote solo musicians in a creative form. Combining his video skills and a new courtyard at his recently moved into house, it was a match made in heaven.
For myself this was a way to stay creative learn and try new things. I don’t like being stagnant and after the big live streaming boom that we experienced in 2020 and early 2021, I wanted to try something different something less sterile.
Frankie Cavone, Mirth Films
The lineup was curated by Cavone, working with musicians he had worked with previously, as well as hoped to work with for the first time. The response was strong, with musicians coming to the courtyard for an afternoon or evening session, with enough interest and response from viewers to continue the series this fall and into 2022.
I did not know if this was something that would last as long as a did, but after 14 episodes, it’s something that I want to continue doing. As a creator it definitely helps me learn and build my skills.
Frankie Cavone, Mirth Films
Cavone’s end goal with Courtyard Sessions, now that it is established, is to have not only local musicians but national touring musicians as well who are coming through the Capital Region step into the courtyard.
An official Mirth Films series, Courtyard Sessions is one of a handful of new series that will be coming out before the end of 2021,
The Fall season will end later this month, with local singer/songwriter Caity Gallagher, who has a voice comparable to Dolores O’Riordan of The Cranberries, as the penultimate guest, premiering Wednesday, October 20 on the Mirth Films YouTube Channel.
Watch all episodes of Courtyard Sessions from Mirth Films below.
