Category: Show Reviews

Greensky Bluegrass and Infamous Stringdusters Kick Off Winter Tour In Albany at the Palace Theatre
Thursday, January 20 marked the return of Greensky Bluegrass and The Infamous Stringdusters to the Capital District, with a performance at the Palace Theatre that kept the audience warm and cozy from the frigid temperatures outside.

Greensky Bluegrass returned nearly two years after their last Albany performance, that time at The Egg with Ghost Light, and after a bit of a wait, they were back to kick off their Winter Tour ahead of the release of their new album, Stress Dreams.

photo by Zak Radick

Opening up the show were The Infamous Stringdusters, recently nominated for a Grammy for their Bill Monroe tribute album. They kicked off the show with “Rise Sun” off their 2019 album of the same name, and negotiated a very brief power outage, never missing a beat. The band took a few opportunities to comment on how long it’s been since they’ve seen each other, how good it feels playing live, and how much fun they were having.

Dobro player Andy Hall, a native of Binghamton spoke to Forbes this past week, recalling his view of his hometown:

The Binghamton area is beautiful — rolling hills, forests and lots of medium-size towns. Not a lot is happening there, but there are lots of colleges in the area, it was a great place to grow up and there were awesome down-to-earth people. I used to have a somewhat negative view of my hometown, but I think that just went along with the urge to escape and see the world. I went back recently to receive a distinguished alumni award from my high school and was really impressed with what they have going on with music and theater. It changed my view of my old high school for the better!
Andy Hall

The nearly hour-long set from Stringdusters included covers of the Grateful Dead’s “Touch of Grey” and The Police’s “Walking on the Moon,” as well as “Colorado” and “Sirens,” with the appreciative Albany crowd grooving along. Earlier in the day, the band released “I Didn’t Know” off their upcoming album, The Fray. Listen to the full show below:
Setlist: Rise Sun*. Colorado, Sirens, Touch of Grey^, Fire, Back Home Again, Walking on the Moon%, Vertigo, If You’re Gonna Love Someone, Fork in the Road

* Power outage on stage
^ Grateful Dead cover
% The Police cover

Infamous Stringdusters photos by Zach Culver

Returning to the Palace Theatre stage for the third time, Greensky Bluegrass celebrated the pending release of Stress Dreams, which was released 30 minutes after the band took their final bows. Songs from the album, included the catchy “New and Improved,” “Monument” and “Worry For You,” which had its live debut this evening. Greensky Mandolinist Paul Hoffman noted early in the first set, “We made a plan to play this show a long time ago with the Infamous Stringdusters, and so far the plan is working.”

A rarer tune, “Bont’s Breakdown” was performed for only the fourth time in the last 12 years, with fan favorites “Go it Alone” and “Living Over” closing out the first set with a 1-2 punch.

photo by Zak Culver

A new arrangement of “Old Barns” led to one of the top jams of the night, with the visually explosive light show from Andrew Lincoln offering the perfect dose of psychedelic luminescence to layer over the band. “Take Cover” and “Tarpology” both left plenty of room for improvisation, entrancing the audience as they filled every minute. The show concluded with another Stress Dreams track, “Until I Sing,” with the audience praising the band one last time before heading out into the bitter winter night, a little warmer thanks to The Infamous Stringdusters and Greensky Bluegrass. Stream the show via Archive.org.

Greensky Bluegrass setlist via Camp Greensky

Set 1: Jaywalking, New and Improved, Do Harm, Train Junkie, Worry For You*, Bont’s Breakdown, Do It Alone, Living Over
Set 2: Monument, Beauty and Pain, Old Barns^, Kerosene+, Take Cover, Against the Days, Tarpology, Windshield
Encore: Until I Sing
* debut
^ new arrangement
+ “Let it Grow” (Grateful Dead) tease

Greensky Bluegrass photos via Zak Radick
January 22, 2022
Grateful Dead bring back the Boys Club In Buffalo: January 20, 1979

By the time the Grateful Dead “trucked up to Buffalo” in January of 1979, the walls had already begun to crumble on this particular incarnation of the band. The end was nigh for Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux with their last show as members not even a month away now. And for tonight’s show, there would be no Donna Jean at all, making it a “boys only” performance, giving Deadheads a possible glimpse of what’s to come in the near future.

“Promised Land” serves as a fun little opener but this show takes off with the “Sugaree” that follows. The band gets into a relaxed groove immediately and it’s flavored with a trifecta of sublime guitar solos, courtesy of Jerry Garcia, each one growing with intensity. This carries over to a “Peggy-O” later in the set that seems to start off slower than usual but still winds up with a beautiful peak. And the writing certainly seemed to be on the walls for the all-too-fitting “Its All Over Now” that follows with its “I used to love her” lyrics.

The first set at Shea’s also features a “Jack-A-Roe” that has some shaky footing early but gets ironed out nicely with Garcia dropping another couple of slick runs on lead guitar with Bob Weir firmly in command on rhythm. The two pair up again nicely on a “New Minglewood Blues” that comes next and gets stretched out a little before a short but ferocious “Jack Straw” wraps up the set.

For those who were at last week’s show in Utica, well, the second set tonight would begin the same exact way with an opening pairing of “I Need A Miracle” and “Bertha.” The “Miracle” almost seems to be cut a little short or “rip corded,” in the parlance of our times. But a spirited “Bertha” flows effortlessly into a cover of The Young Rascals’ “Good Lovin’” that has the Buffalo crowd screaming in delight. Things finally cool down a little with a “Loser” that’s played more than ably but seems a little misplaced here mid-second set.

The latter part of this particular Buffalo show is vintage Grateful Dead and features something that those who were there would be able to brag about for years to come. It all begins with an “Estimated Prophet” that fires on all cylinders early before settling into a mellow, soulful jam with the bottom end handled nimbly by bassist Phil Lesh. As the mellowness fades and the tempo picks up, he helps steer the jam seamlessly into “The Other One” that gets a round of applause from Shea’s. This yields a jam that quickly goes deep until it’s just Garcia and the drummers remaining, with parrying back and forth. Naturally, this gives way to the “Drums” portion of the evening, with these three songs producing a full 30 minutes-plus worth of sonic wizardry.

After the band reemerges for a brief “Space” with its usual noodle-y nonsense, they immediately go back and complete “The Other One” and its final verse. Instead of raging on afterwards, instead the jam dwindles down to nothingness before the iconic opening notes of “Dark Star” ring out. Deadheads would need to savor this one though as this seminal tune would not be played for another 238 shows, not returning until almost three years later.

From “Dark Star” it almost sounds as if the music wants to return back once more to “The Other One” but instead Garcia starts up the opening chords of “Not Fade Away” as the show begins to come to a close. The set ends with a “Sugar Magnolia” that’s spurred on by clapping from the ever-engaged Shea’s Theatre before Weir belts out another one with “One More Saturday Night.” The tour would then head Midwest afterwards, officially bringing the end of a Grateful Dead era to the East Coast.

Grateful Dead Shea’s Theatre – Buffalo, NY 1/20/79

Set 1: Promised Land, Sugaree, El Paso, Peggy-O, It’s All Over Now, Jack-A-Roe, New Minglewood Blues, Stagger Lee, Jack Straw

Set 2: I Need A Miracle > Bertha > Good Lovin’, Loser, Estimated Prophet > The Other One > Drums > Space > Dark Star > Not Fade Away > Sugar Magnolia

E: One More Saturday Night

January 20, 2022
In Focus: The Campbell Brothers, Live at Caffe Lena
On Saturday, January 15, The Campbell Brothers played a high energy set for a small Caffe Lena crowd that braved the elements to make it out. The self-described church music group rocked Caffe Lena with their unique style that combined funk, soul, gospel, folk, and everything in between. The Campbell Brothers’ energy was contagious and the small cold crowd helped sing along to their entire hour and fifteen minute set.

To get a real sense of what The Campbell Brothers’ music is all about by listening, check out this clip of “Morning Train” from 2011.

The Campbell Brothers’ set included “Morning Train” and a number of other energetic tunes including “I’ve Got a Feeling,” “Hell No,” “Heaven Yes,” and “Jump for Joy”. This clip of “Morning Train,” though, is a perfect representation of the tone, mood, and level of musicianship present at the show on Saturday night.

Whether it was Phillip’s touch on guitar, Denise’s powerful vocals, or Chuck’s superb control on the pedal steel, The group hit notes that anyone can enjoy. Their simple hooks made it easy for the crowd to learn the lyrics and sing along with Denise throughout the night.

There is no substitute for witnessing their music performed live in person, and it is an experience that music lovers will crave again and again. So the next time The Campbell Brothers morning train rolls into your town, the only question you need to ask yourself is, “how many tickets am I buying?” Also, be sure to check them out on Facebook.
January 17, 2022
The Grateful Dead Bring A Touch of Heat To Utica: January 14, 1979

Today marks the anniversary of one of the last Grateful Dead shows ever to take place in Utica. It comes at a time that’s the end of an era, so to speak, as Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux’s final shows with the band would take place the following month in February before keyboardist Brent Mydland’s tenure began soon after. It’s not a very widely circulated show by any means; the lone audio copy is far from pristine and, supposedly, technical issues plagued the concert that night. It’s the third of four shows that the Dead would play at Utica Memorial Auditorium and one of the final times that fans in New York, and the Northeast for that matter, would be able to see the Godchauxs on stage.

In a fitting nod to the locale and season, the Grateful Dead greet Utica Memorial Auditorium with “Cold Rain And Snow.” The rowdy auditorium crowd eats it up, whistling and clapping endlessly throughout. A couple of crisp runs from Jerry Garcia on guitar give way to some engaged harmonies by song’s end, starting the show off nicely. First set stalwart “New Minglewood Blues” follows with the Utica faithful still very much engaged, taking the collective whistling of approval to another level. “Dire Wolf” does little to temper the audible energy, with Garcia’s signature guitar solo showing plenty of pep in its step. Bob Weir then tags back in on lead vocals for a jazzy “Me And My Uncle” which flows seamlessly into a rather percussive “Big River,” a song pairing that started the previous year and would remain popular for the rest of the Grateful Dead’s career.

The breakneck speed of all the songs after the opener finally comes to a halt with “They Love Each Other,” played very much in its low tempo format, lending itself much better to Donna Jean’s vocal harmonies which are also prominently featured alongside Weir for the emotional “Looks Like Rain” that comes next. A top notch “Brown Eyed Women” with a few more remarkable runs by Garcia up and down the fretboard follows, although it’s marred a little by some audio difficulties on the recording. The first set then begins to wrap up with a cover Bobby Womack’s “It’s All Over Now,” perhaps foreshadowing the upcoming end of an era. It’s a spirited version though, with Garcia and Keith Godchaux on piano trading fills back and forth. After a run through the folksy “Jack-A-Roe,” a regular cover at future Garcia solo gigs, the set comes to a close with another legendary pairing of songs “Lazy Lightning” and “Supplication.” The jam connecting the two is very much energetic, heavily psychedelic and fueled with extensive work on the drums from the Rhythm Devils, a great sign for the second set to come.

After a set break to rehydrate and reenergize, the second part of the show begins with somewhat of a first set feel to it. “I Need A Miracle” has a slightly extended Garcia-driven jam neatly attached to it which builds the platform for a launch into a boisterous “Bertha.” The communal good vibes keep moving along into a customarily raucous cover of “Good Lovin’” with Weir taking his usual liberties with vocals before “Stagger Lee” mellows things out a tad.

Finally, for a show bereft of much deep end improvisation, the next few numbers do their best to make up for it. The composed section of “Estimated Prophet” is played to near perfection, minus some off kilter early Garcia vocals, before later devolving into near silence (with the exception of more whistlers) for a soaring, exploratory jam that literally builds itself from the ground up. As the pace reaches a crescendo, some familiar guitar chords begin to seep through and the Dead are off and running in Utica with a blisteringly quick “Eyes Of The World.” Garcia dazzles once more in the song’s first jam with a jaw-dropping flurry of notes that can’t seemingly be played any faster. The second one is dominated by the rhythm section of bassist Phil Lesh and the drummers so, naturally, this makes its way into the “Drums” portion of the evening, shining the spotlight on Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart for a while.

View this and more Grateful Dead shows from across the years in New York State with our interactive map below!

A rather choppy-starting “Iko Iko” slowly but surely emerges from “Drums” and it’s played at a much slower tempo than it would be in the years to follow, making for an interesting early version. At its conclusion, the familiar noodley opening jam of “The Other One” begins to develop before Lesh’s thunderous opening bass riff confirms it. It’s a short but sweet take that serves as the evening’s last true dip into psychedelia.

Oddly there would be no encore for this show. Instead it wraps up with the lead singers going back and forth one last time. First, Garcia leads the band through a soulful “Black Peter” before Weir does the same for a show-closing cover of Chuck Berry’s “Around And Around” that has both he and Donna Jean trading lyrics back and forth by song’s end.

Grateful Dead – Utica Memorial Auditorium – Utica, NY 1/14/79

Set 1: Cold Rain And Snow, New Minglewood Blues, Dire Wolf, Me And My Uncle > Big River, They Love Each Other, Looks Like Rain, Brown Eyed Women, It’s All Over Now, Jack-A-Roe, Lazy Lightnin’ > Supplication

Set 2: I Need A Miracle > Bertha > Good Lovin’, Stagger Lee, Estimated Prophet > Eyes Of The World > Drums > Iko Iko > The Other One > Black Peter > Around And Around

January 14, 2022
Steve Aoki Throws Cake at Nebula in Times Square
Two time GRAMMY-nominated producer/DJ Steve Aoki made his way back to New York City’s club Nebula. One of the most recognized faces in EDM and deemed “one of the most in demand entertainers in the world” by Billboard, Aoki is one of today’s most successful American cross-genre artists. Collecting 2.8 billion streams on Spotify and a veteran of the live entertainment scene, Aoki is justifiably a one man party when it comes to his shows.

The clock struck 1am in Times Square as anxious concert goers could barely hold back their excitement for the DJ. If anything, Aoki knows how to work hard, creating his own label at the age of 19, Dim Mak Records, and of course, an expert on delivering incredible live shows and tonight was no exception. Emerging from behind the DJ booth, Aoki sported his long luscious signature locks beginning the night with a remix from Netflix’s most watched show Squid Game.

EDM shows are commonly recognized for lighting producrtion, including strobes and visuals, encapsulating the audience in a visceral environment to complement the electronic music. Steve Aoki is unique in his on stage presence, frequently seen running across the stage, singing along with the crowd, and often doesn’t find himself caged behind his booth.

At my shows, I am always thinking of how to define myself different[ly] and be fun. At the end of the day, you come to a show, you want to have a good time
Steve Aoki

With no hesitation, Steve rose atop of his booth, to match the energy of the packed dance floor. Screaming each lyric of “Azukita” and avid fanatics joined him in unison before ripping off his shirt and launching it into the crowd. His relentless fist bumping conducted the spellbound audience; Steve’s energy was contagious throughout the night creating an electrical current surging through the crowd. Arms up, palms open, Aoki unleashed his newest release “Typical” with Alok and Lars Martin. After less than a week, the single has already garnered over 1.5 million streams on Spotify.

Amidst ABBA’s “Gimme Gimme” and Zedd’s “Beautiful Now,” Aoki halted his remixes to take time to connect with the crowd. Aoki has reached global stardom with his steady stream of releases along with collaborations with prominent names like BTS and the Backstreet Boys. His successful label, Dim Mak Records, has helped launch the career of The Chainsmokers, Bloc Party, and The Kills. Forbes recognized Aoki as one of the top 5 world’s highest paid DJ’s and the world’s hardest working DJ. At 44, Aoki continues to be of undeniable stature in the music industry. His recent performances range from across the U.S to his prior show in Saudi Arabia. Aoki disclosed his ongoing footage of each performance for his new music video with Armin van Buuren for “Music Means Love Forever” and invited New York to take part.

The ultimate drop in “Music Means Love Forever” hit the audience like a defibrillator sparking sweat-covered bodies on the floor for perpetual intensity, and Aoki’s iconic “Cake Face” that followed was all too familiar for this crowd. Fans begged and pleaded to receive sheet cakes to the face from their favorite DJ. Steve put perfect arc and power into each launching of about five styrofoam-bottomed sheet cakes that could rival some of the best NFL quarterbacks. Gracious fans were blessed and covered by frosted baked goods from the fellow southpaw.

Steve Aoki’s notoriety in the EDM community could be felt throughout New York City. Boasting a lauded discography, Aoki had a plethora of songs to select and closed the night with his collaboration with Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit Of Happiness”. Steve Aoki’s ability to feed off the spirit of his audience and engage with the crowd throughout his sets makes for an unforgettable concert from this two-time GRAMMY nominee. With almost 250 tour dates per year, Aoki’s unabated lively performance creates a community with the DJ and his loyal fanbase for a fun night of memories.
January 2, 2022
New Year’s Day Flashback: Jazz at Town Hall, January 1, 1947

To start 2022, let’s jump back 75 years years to a jazzy New Year’s Day concert at New York City’s Town Hall. The show was both a celebration of Mezz Mezzrow’s then recently published book Really The Blues, and also served as a benefit for the American Committee for Yugoslav Relief.

Thanks to Jazz Lives, we are able to revisit this show, packed with jazz musicians including Muggsy Spanier, Sandy Williams, Sidney Bechet, Mezz Mezzrow, Sammy Price or Art Hodes, Wellman Braud, and Baby Dodds. Later in the evening Bob Wilber’s Wildcats (who were also on Mezzrow’s King Jazz Label) were added, which included Johnny Glasel, Ed Hubble, Bob Wilber, Dick Wellstood, Charlie Traeger, Eddie Phyfe. Jazz Lives notes Coot Grant and Kid Sox Wilson also performed on a playful version of their song “You Can’t Do That To Me”

The concert was recorded on 12-inch acetates on two machines and 10 performances were issued on LP (Jazz Archives JA-39), although this recording was not. It seems Mezzrow was one of jazz music’s most interesting characters, and was responsible for putting together many great jazz sessions in his time.

This particular concert from New Year’s Day 1947 celebrated the release of Mezzrow’s autobiography, Really The Blues, and he brought in a who’s-who of traditional jazz musicians, most notably Sidney Bechet on soprano sax and Muggsy Spanier on cornet. Sammy Price joined on piano, Sandy Williams on trombone, Wellan Braud on bass and Baby Dodds on drums rounded out the band.

Recordings like this offer insight into the post-war era in New York City, a return to normalcy if you will. Featured below is “When You’re Smiling” by Johnny Windhurst, along with Bechet and Wellstood. Jazz Lives compared Windhurst to Hot Lips Page in his prime, energetically lit from within, and radiantly taking another chorus just when you think he might have had or done enough. To the jazz aficionado, you’ll hear “an exultant hymn of praise to Louis Armstrong.”

A full recording of the performance is available here. The track listing includes: Darktown Strutters Ball, The Blues, Muskrat Ramble, Sammy’s Boogie Woogie Blues, You Can’t Do That To Me, There’ll Be Some Changes Made, Friar’s Point Shuffle, Really The Blues, Really The Blues (Extension), and High Society

Read and listen to more from Jazz Lives on a 1952 performance at Town Hall, featuring Bill Davison, Bobby Hackett and many more.

January 1, 2022