At the start of the twentieth century, many Black Americans, facing racism and discrimination across the country, moved to a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan: Harlem. This neighborhood became a cultural center in the early 1900’s, fully blossoming during the 1920’s and 30’s. This period of time, the Harlem Renaissance, is seen as a watershed for the country, but especially within the arts.
The Harlem Renaissance established itself as a period of great innovation within jazz. There was a development with the piano making it more accessible for Black musicians. Innovations like this eventually because characteristic of the artists, and the music, of this period.
There were many prevalent themes in the works coming from the Renaissance. These included ideas of a “New Negro,” a person who could fight racism and stereotypes through literature, art, and music. These themes relied on the influence of slavery and the effect it had on the Black identity.
This period saw an increase in musicians, specifically Black jazz musicians. Artists like Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday, and many others were able to jumpstart their careers because of the popularity of the movement.
Due to the immense popularity of many Harlem Renaissance musicians, jazz clubs began to open across Harlem. The most famous is the Cotton Club, but other venues such as the Alhambra Ballroom and Apollo Theater also became staples of the Renaissance.
When talking about the Harlem Renaissance, it is important to recognize the contributions made to literature as well as music. W.E.B. Du Bois, a prominent civil rights activist and author, published many books describing the Black experience. Others such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston were also able to describe the experiences of Black Americans in the United States.
The widely accepted theory about the Harlem Renaissance is that it occurred because of the newly-found freedoms granted to African-Americans.
Over the next few years, NYS Music will take a look at the Harlem Renaissance, including notable musicians who brought to light the explosion of arts and music in Upper Manhattan, one century ago. Stay tuned for weekly articles taking a look at the history of the Harlem Renaissance and how the impact of the cultural awakening is still felt today.
If you want to rave to a collection of saxophones and woodwinds, then Moon Hooch is the band for you. Yes it’s weird, yes it’s wild, and yes it’s a fun show to dance to.
Moon Hooch at Bowery Ballroom 12.7, Photo Credit: Aidan Lukomnik
On Saturday, December 7, Moon Hooch brought their energetic mix of Jazz and Electronic music to Bowery Ballroom in downtown Manhattan.
A truly New York sound, Moon Hooch was born when Michael Wilbur (Horns, woodwind, vocals), Wenzl Mcgowen (Horns, woodwind, synth), and James Muschler (original drummer) met at The New School. The band, now with Cyzon Griffin on drums, started playing together as buskers across the city. Often playing in the subway, Moon Hooch was banned from the Bedford Ave L station for bringing in crowds that were dangerously large.
Audience Member; Photo Credit: Aidan Lukomnik
That history of busking can be heard in their music, as the trio at times evokes the guttural sounds of an oncoming train paired with high-pitched notes reminiscent of a closing subway door. They even use found objects, like a traffic cone, on stage as a mute to alter their sound.
Photo Credit: Aidan Lukomnik
On December 7, COFRESI opened for Moon Hooch. The drummer and beatmaker brought together modern techniques (looping, drops, Trap and Dancehall melodies) with samples from hits like, “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Stand By Me,” “Mr Sandman,” and “It’s Tricky” to create a sound all his own.
COFRESI Photo Credit: Aidan Lukomik
As Moon Hooch took the stage, audience members head banged, grinded, and jumped up and down – emphasizing how many different musical sub-cultures came out to see the band.
The band’s physicality is impressive, as Michael Wilbur and Wenzl Mcgowen dance throughout a set that’s over an hour while Cyzon Griffin’s rapid drumming holds down the beat. Throughout the set there wasn’t an idle monument with high energy songs one after another, only rarely bringing in classical music phrases to give the audience a breather before the beat drop.
Photo Credit: Aidan Lukomnik
At the same time, that lack of idleness has its own drawbacks. After a while, songs in the set started to run together with limited ability to determine where one song stops and the other begins. This run-on of songs was exacerbated by similar musical motifs and almost identical lighting cues that could cause a listener Deja Vu. While the band sometimes threw their hands up to engage the audience, they never stopped to talk to the crowd. Better performance pacing, verbal engagement with the crowd, and breaks between songs would do the band well.
Photo Credit: Aidan Lukomnik
On this tour the band isn’t just bringing their relentless energy, they’re also trying to do good. At each city, the band is auctioning off a (small) tree and giving away all of the proceeds to replant trees across the country. In NYC they also worked with Support and Feed – a food equity organization that works to address challenges in food desserts and provide information on plant-based food.
Dive bars and small clubs are generally the starting point for any fledgling band looking to make it big. Ideally, the goal is to move up to bigger and better venues eventually. Well, today, we celebrate one of the few tiny clubs that became renowned worldwide and a dream destination for any band. CBGB opened its doors 47 years ago,today, and the music world hasn’t been the same since.
Located in the heart of New York City’s Bowery district, CBGB was not always the musical Mecca it would come to be. It was previously a biker bar known as Hilly’s on the Bowery, one of two local establishments that owner Hilly Kristal managed. When his other bar was forced to close, Kristal redirected his efforts to the one left standing and made a life-altering change. On December 10, 1973, the Bowery dive bar officially became CBGB & OMFUG.
The CBGB acronym stands for Country, Bluegrass and Blues, Kristal’s initial vision for the music he wanted played there. The OMFUG supposedly stood for “Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers.” Although a gormandizer is a term often used in reference to someone who eats food ravenously, in this case it would be the music that was being consumed. However, Legs McNeil, one of the true punk music journalists of our time and a CBGB regular in its heyday, claims the “U” in OMFUG was often left open to interpretation.
At its inception, CBGB stayed true to Kristal’s musical vision. But that would soon change, starting in February of 1974 when they booked local act Squeeze. This marked the first shift from country and bluegrass to original rock acts performing there. Another factor that led to the change in format was the nearby Mercer Arts Center burning down in August of 1973. For years, local unsigned bands of all styles had a place to play music there. Now they were in need of a new stage.
Eventually, the bookings at CBGB would lean more and more towards rock. Bands like Television, a local band at the forefront of the newly emerging punk music scene, would begin playing there. Other bands like the Patti Smith Group, Talking Heads, and Angel and the Snake (eventually renamed to Blondie) later got their start here as well. Rock legends The Ramones also played their first gig ever at CBGB in August of 1974 to a comically small crowd in hindsight.
While the early years of the club were rife with bands that would later become nationally known, CBGB was far from a financial success. Per Kristal, it was not until sometime in 1976 that the club started paying for itself. During this time, he also established two “set in stone” rules that would go on to define the ethos of this establishment. Bands had to play original material only and they had to move their own gear. In return, Kristal would allot most of the door money to the bands, encouraging them to develop a following and return.
That first year was an exercise in persistence and a trial in patience. My determination to book only musicians who played their own music instead of copying others, was indomitable. Originality (to me) was prime, technique took second place.
Hilly Kristal
Within a few years, CBGB was a known place for local artists of all kinds to experiment, play and do whatever they want – as long as it was original. It would only be a matter of time before acts based outside of New York City would begin to appear. In 1977, The Damned played a show there that marked the first time a British punk band ever played in America. Elvis Costello later opened shows there and The Police would also play their first American gigs here. As the 1980s rolled on, CBGB became primarily a haven for hardcore punk and metal acts.
With its growing success, the club was able to expand a little and a neighboring storefront soon become the CBGB Record Canteen, a record shop and cafe. In the late 80s, this was converted into an art gallery and second performance space. This would be a place for the “other” musical acts to perform, catering to fans of folk, jazz or experimental music.
Sadly, the turn of the century would begin the downfall of this iconic music venue. CBGB would soon enter into a protracted dispute over allegedly unpaid rent amounts. In 2005, atop its normally paid monthly rent of $19,000, CBGB was sued for some $90,000 in rent allegedly owed to its landlord, Bowery Residents’ Committee. Kristal claimed, and the court would later agree, that he was not properly notified about the increase in rent, marking the debt invalid. However, the two sides were unable to come terms on a new rental agreement and the soon-to-expire lease would not be renewed.
The last show at CBGB took place on October 15, 2006 and was broadcast live on Sirius Satellite Radio. Fittingly, New York City and club legend Patti Smith was the headliner, aided by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Television’s Richard Lloyd. Smith’s rendition of “Gloria” was notably interlaced with snippets of The Ramone’s classic “Blitzkrieg Bop.” And during “Elegie,” the final encore, Smith named musicians and other music figures who had died since playing at CBGB. This marked a somewhat somber end for a venue that was undeniably full of life for decades.
Talking Heads play CBGB in 1977
Even though no more music is played here, the legacy of CBGB continues to live on. It remained open as CBGB Fashions—retail store, wholesale department, and an online store—until October 31, 2006. And in 2008, fashion designer John Varvatos opened a store there, although in tasteful fashion. Aside from a few needed upgrades, the entire interior of the club remained the same – stickers, graffiti and all – as it housed CBGB memorabilia and clothes for sale. It even has its own movie that came out in 2013.
Aside from the venue itself, CBGB Radio would later launch on the iHeartRadio platform in 2010. CBGB music festivals would later begin to sprout in 2012. And the following year, the building itself at 315 Bowery was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Bowery Historic District.
CBGB was founded in 1973 on the Bowery, in a former nineteenth-century saloon on the first floor of the Palace Lodging House. The legendary music venue fostered new genres of American music, including punk and art rock, that defined the culture of downtown Manhattan in the 1970s, and that still resonate today. In this role as cultural incubator, CBGB served the same function as the theaters and concert halls of the Bowery’s storied past.
National Park Service nomination form
The spirit of CBGB and the early punk era also lives on through new forms of audio storytelling like the immersive audio walks created by arts and culture app, Gesso. Their Punks + Poets audio walk begins in Washington Square Park and ends in Tompkins Square Park, illuminating the birth of punk music in the area.
It’s truly amazing that such a small club could leave such a big impact on society. The music it inspired and the artists it gave a home to read like a Who’s Who of rock music. Kristal’s willingness to pivot from his original vision and adapt to the surge of new wave and punk rock that the 70s and 80s brought with it helped define a generation of music.
For one last look at CBGB the way it was, check out the video below.
1995 was a year that defined the 1990s. Michael Jordan came out of retirement to return to the game of basketball. OJ Simpson’s verdict was “Not Guilty.” TLC encouraged listeners to stop chasing waterfalls. Pixar changed the future of animated films with the release of Toy Story. And if you were in the jamband music scene, you experienced a seismic shift in the atmosphere.
Just 49 days after Jerry Garcia passed on August 9, Phish kicked off a massive 1995 Fall Tour in the guitarist’s home state of California. The Vermont foursome played more than 50 shows through December, hitting over 30 states and making a pitstop in Canada. Fans will argue over the best shows (or even best month) during this transformative time period, but most are in agreement that The Who’s Quadrophenia Halloween show in Rosemont, Illinois was a career-defining moment for one of the year’s top-grossing acts just half-way through the megatour.
Official poster for 10/31/95 by Jim Pollock
As the rising stars ripped through the frigid Northeast in December, they were only getting hotter in their raunchy, rock-forward, improvisational playing and it all culminated on Sunday, December 31, 1995 at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The date marked the third time Phish would play “The World’s Most Famous Arena,” but the first time they would sell it out for New Year’s Eve. From the 12/29/95 Worchester show to the 12/30/95 opening night at the Garden, it was hard to imagine how the well-polished act would continue getting better night after night, but Phish is always poised to shock the brain.
There was and always will be a special energy when you see Phish’s name in big bright letters on the midtown Manhattan marquee. As Jon Fishman’s father so eloquently put it, he realized his son had “made it” after the band played their first performance to a capacity NYC crowd on 12/30/1994. As fans anxiously anticipated the first note of the last show of 1995, they were greeted by their hungry party hosts with the first-ever, one-two punch of “Punch You in the Eye” and “Sloth.” It was a high-energy attempt to sonically bottle the energy of the 1995 Fall Tour and to kick off a show considered by Rolling Stone as “one of the best live performances of the ’90s.”
Flip to page 824 of the 2nd Edition of The Phish Companion, and you’ll find that five of the songs performed that night are considered some of the “best versions ever.” With a fiery first set “Reba,” the second set’s “Runaway Jim” and closer of “Mike’s Song” to introduce the Gamehendge Time Factor laboratory loop, and the unfinished and unhinged “Weekapaug Groove” from Set III with a “YEM” to top it all off, Phish had made a statement—not only in their community—but in the history of live music. They showed the world what fans had been trying to say for over a decade. They were not just a talented, pot-smoking cover band from Vermont, although they did have the chops to cover and expand upon some of the most highly regarded artists in the rock genre. Any band can cover a popular song to get a reaction from the crowd, but Phish reinvents the music they love, and one example of this is their nod to The Who in Set II’s “Drowned” > “Lizards” opener. Not only did the band double the length of the Quadrophenia studio version, but they interweaved the Grateful Dead’s “Fire on the Mountain” to pay tribute to a band that had sold out six shows at the Garden just 14 months prior. Look past the epic jams, the tribute to legendary rock bands, the New Year’s Eve shenanigans, and the three-set masterpiece performance, and you will find a band on stage that wants fans to get their money’s worth – Phish at their core.
The 1995 New Year’s Eve performance was a launchpad for great things to come. 1996 was the year Phish released one of their greatest studio albums in Billy Breathes; they created a blueprint for music festivals by welcoming 70,000 fans to North America’s largest concert event of the summer, The Clifford Ball; brought their unique sound across Europe; dressed up as The Talking Heads for Remain in Light on Halloween; and claimed the throne as the most popular jamband of the 1990s. And they were just getting started.
But the purpose of this piece was never to recap one of the greatest shows in Phishtory, that has been dozens of times before. I’m here to tell you why it sparked a new generation of Phish fans nearly 10 years later.
This is the story of the New Year’s Eve 1995 – Live at Madison Square Garden, the official album release.
If you were in high school during the early 2000s, you had limited ability to enjoy Phish like your cooler, older family members (or maybe even parents). With the first hiatus in 2002 followed by the official farewell in 2004, it felt like maybe you just weren’t cut out to go on a full summer tour with your future college buddies like you dreamed about sitting in Earth Science, doodling pictures of ugly pigs in your notebook.
The internet was starting to get better, but looked nothing like what it does today in 2020. We didn’t have smartphones for Spotify, LivePhish, 4K professionally shot footage, or a girthy YouTube catalog of Vermont’s greatest rock band. You could risk destroying your family’s Gateway or Dell PC by downloading Phish shows from Limewire or Napster, but a lot of them were low quality, poorly recorded, or not even actually Phish (see their “Gin & Juice” cover) and took days to transfer. Apple iPods were expensive, and the use of .mp3s was becoming more common for those somewhat technologically-advanced, but didn’t completely take over until later that decade.
We did have CDs.
Before 2005, the year I graduated high school, the only officially-released Phish shows you would find in retail record stores were Slip Stitch and Pass, A Live One, Hampton Comes Alive, and drips and drabs of the 20-set LivePhish series. If you were lucky enough to have an older friend or family member serve as a Phish mentor, you could scrounge up hand-me-down, fan-traded tapes and CDs by the dozen, but if you had no path to follow besides seeing the band at SPAC in 2004, you were shit out of luck trying to level up from “noob” status in Upstate NY.
This all changed during the holiday season of 2005, when the retired jam band released New Year’s Eve 1995: Live from Madison Square Garden. At the time, the global Phish community was still mourning the loss of their fallen heroes much like the Deadheads of December 1995. The band members were still touring, and I was lucky enough to catch Page McConnell sit in with Trey Ananastio Band at Roseland Ballroom as a college freshman in NYC. That was NOT the Phish experience I had been dreaming about throughout high school.
Official shirt by Jim Pollock
Santa was extra heady that Christmas and next to NBA2K6 and the iconic Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 for PlayStation 2, the best gift was undoubtedly the three-disc, week-old live release. From the opening “PYITE” on disc one, followed by “The Sloth,” I was hooked. I had never even heard “The Sloth” before Christmas morning 2005, likely because it was never officially released until that album.
It was like in the movie Neverending Story where Sebastian finds the book and runs off to immerse himself in the incredible journey. I had spun through Slip, Stitch and Pass and A Live One until the discs were scratched and raw, but I had never understood the importance of a full show experience until MSG 1995. It was part performance and part theatrics. The show is the blueprint for quintessential Phish. Gamehendge narration, fantastic themes about the creation of time, covers from the recently performed musical costume The Who’s Quadrophenia, and of course, driven improvisation. In the twelve years of Phish music up to that show, December 1995 is widely considered the best. An entire tour of above-average shows was summarized during that hallowed night in the world’s most sacred rock space.
The live release made a new generation of fans appreciate the show as much as those that were in attendance. It made us extremely jealous we were still in elementary school in December 1995, and if we had just known about Trey Anastasio, maybe he would have been even more important than Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter, or Hootie & the Blowfish.
Big egos can get in the way of sharing in the groove and surrendering to the flow. The most obsessed Phish fans like to think they know more, feel more, and enjoy more than their fellow fan. Although I wasn’t fortunate enough to see Phish 1.0 and barely caught the tail end of Phish 2.0, I was able to listen to the Old Testament of Phish and memorize one of their greatest shows from the front of “PYITE” to the back of the “Johnny Be Good” encore. New Year’s Eve 1995: Live at Madison Square Garden proves that everyone begins their journey in different ways. And if you want to learn how to swim, you’ve got to jump in the water.
The whimsical singer-songwriter AURORA graced the stage of the Beacon Theatre for two nights amid her sold out What Happened to the Heart? world tour.
If you’re in search of an act straight from a storybook, look no further than AURORA. With a signature sound akin to a woodland fairytale, a voice that positively twinkles, and whimsical yet cutting lyricism, AURORA revels in the magical and channels the mystical in every sense of the words.
Born and raised in Norway, Aurora Aksnes exists within an ethereal sonic sphere entirely of her own. Beginning her songwriting and dance journeys at the age of six, creation is in her blood.
A self described “forest person,” AURORA has compared her home place of Drange to Narnia, spending her time in her home when not spent adventuring through the woods.
Releasing her fifth album What Happened to the Heart? in June of this year, AURORA’s most recent release and its subsequent headlining tour stems from a letter co-written by indigenous activists titled “We Are The Earth” which described the earth as “the heart that pulsates within us,” creating the inspiration for the album’s core concept.
Announced alongside the album was the What Happened to the Heart? world tour, which has and will continue to take AURORA throughout Europe, the United States, and South America- including a date at Manhattan’s own Beacon Theatre, which was soon expanded into a two-show run for its impressive demand.
Before the show even began, the Beacon Theatre was positively teeming with excitement. Folks were dressed in everything from band tees to ball gowns, couples were wandering the packed foyer excitedly pointing towards the merchandise table, and children were gasping in awe of the theater’s grandeur atop parents’ shoulders.
With opening support by neo-soul and hip hop artist Biig Piig, the evening’s festivities were off to a wonderfully mesmerizing start as she encouraged audience members to stand up and dance if they so wished in between tracks like the wonderfully smooth “Roses and Gold” and the hard hitting “Decimal” that had light production for days.
Prior to AURORA’s exciting step on stage, the lights dimmed to allow a nostalgically hazy projection begin to play. The excitement was palpable, but fans kept sound to an absolute hush to experience the visual to its fullest extent before she twirled her way on stage to an explosion of cheers.
Delivering a hauntingly magical performance of “Church Yard” and “Soulless Creatures,” AURORA’s main support was a small set of other vocalists that turned the theatre into an echo chamber.
With a full set list of 21 tracks, AURORA’s musicality and vibrancy both vocally and in her stage presence was on full display paired with the Theatre’s groundbreaking new Sphere Immersive Sound system.
Dazzling fans for the second night in a row with her shimmering voice, dazzling spins and leaps, and effortless sense of musical presence, AURORA made the New York dates of her What Happened to the Heart? tour ones to remember.
AURORA – Beacon Theatre – Friday, December 6, 2024
Bluegrass legend Alison Krauss and her band Union Station have announced their first tour in 10 years, the Arcadia 2025 Tour, alongside special guest Willie Watson with an extensive list of dates that include two stops in New York State.
A multi-instrumentalist, producer, and singer, Alison Krauss is a modern bluegrass legend. With 27 Grammy Awards of 42 nominations, the title of International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame inductee, and a whopping 14 albums under her belt, itâs no wonder as to why.
Krauss partnered up with the band Union Station tangentially with the release of her first solo works, reworking themselves to Alison Krauss & Union Station soon after and quickly becoming a cornerstone unit of the bluegrass and country scenes.
Known for their boundary-transcending sound, Alison Krauss & Union Station went quiet after the release of their 2011 album Paper Airplane that saw major critical success. Over the years, the unit brought their talents to stages across the globe, but similarly took a pause on performances as a unit in 2015. However, both of these hiatuses are about to change.
In an exciting announcement, the unit has made impressive progress on their newest album release slated for 2025 in addition to an impressive tour titled Arcadia that will take Alison Krauss & Union Station across the United States and Canada over the course of 73 shows, including two nights in Manhattan and Lewiston.
Having recently joined the ranks of the band and soon to be traveling North America alongside them is the vocalist and guitarist Russell Moore, best known for his work as the frontman of IIIrd Tyme Out. Being the most awarded male vocalist in the history of the International Bluegrass Music Association, Mooreâs skills will make for a stellar addition to each nightâs performance.
If all of that wasnât exciting enough, Alison Krauss & Union Station have announced that support for the tour will come in the form of special guest Willie Watson. Fans can look forward to hearing tracks brand new and time-honored all the same as the band kicks off their performances in the spring.
âIâm so grateful to get to make music again with my comrades of 40 years. Theyâve always accomplished incredible work individually and have been constantly traveling because of it. Weâre very inspired to experience this new exciting chapter in the bandâs history.â
– Alison Krauss
Tickets for Alison Krauss & Union Stationâs exciting Arcadia tour are available now. The band will be making two stops in New York, first at the historic Beacon Theatre in Manhattan on September 12 and then at the Artpark Mainstage Theater in Lewiston on September 21.
For more information on dates, to-be-announced special guests, and ticket purchasing opportunities, be sure to check out Alison Kraussâ official website here.
The expansive full list of Arcadia 2025 Tour dates are below.
TOUR DATES
Thursday, April 17, 2025 | The Louisville Palace | Louisville, KY
Friday, April 18, 2025 | The Louisville Palace | Louisville, KY
Saturday, April 19, 2025 | Mershon Auditorium | Columbus, OH
Friday, April 25, 2025 | Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park | Atlanta, GA
Saturday, April 26, 2025 | Live Oak Bank Pavilion | Wilmington, NC
Sunday, April 27, 2025 | Koka Booth Amphitheatre | Cary, NC
Tuesday, April 29, 2025 | Bell Auditorium | Augusta, GA
Wednesday, April 30, 2025 | The Adderley Amphitheater | Tallahassee, FL
Friday, May 2, 2025 | The Wharf Amphitheater | Orange Beach, AL
Saturday, May 3, 2025 | Brandon Amphitheater | Brandon, MS
Sunday, May 4, 2025 | BJCC Concert Hall | Birmingham, AL
Tuesday, May 6, 2025 | Orpheum Theatre | Memphis, TN
Monday, May 12, 2025 | First Security Amphitheater | Little Rock, AR
Tuesday, May 13, 2025 | The Criterion | Oklahoma City, OK
Thursday, May 15, 2025 | Saint Louis Music Park | Maryland Heights, MO
Friday, May 16, 2025 | Walmart AMP | Rogers, AR
Saturday, May 17, 2025 | Starlight Theatre | Kansas City, MO
Thursday, May 29, 2025 | Smart Financial Centre | Sugar Land, TX
Friday, May 30, 2025 | Whitewater Amphitheater | New Braunfels, TX
Saturday, May 31, 2025 | The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory | Irving, TX
Tuesday, June 3, 2025 | PNC Pavilion | Cincinnati, OH
Wednesday, June 4, 2025 | Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater | Decatur, IL
Friday, June 6, 2025 | BMO Pavilion | Milwaukee, WI
Saturday, June 7, 2025 | The Chicago Theatre | Chicago, IL
Sunday, June 8, 2025 | The Ledge | Waite Park, MN
Tuesday, June 10, 2025 | Vetter Stone Amphitheater | Mankato, MN
Wednesday, June 11, 2025 | Bayfront Festival Park | Duluth, MN
Friday, June 13, 2025 | McGrath Amphitheatre | Cedar Rapids, IA
Saturday, June 14, 2025 | Denny Sanford Premier Center | Sioux Falls, SD
Sunday, June 15, 2025 | The Astro Amphitheater | Omaha, NE
Monday, June 16, 2025 | Hartman Arena | Park City, KS
Wednesday, June 18, 2025 | Red Rocks Amphitheatre | Morrison, CO
Friday, June 20, 2025 | Dillon Amphitheater | Dillon, CO
Saturday, June 21, 2025 | Kit Carson Park | Taos, NM
Friday, July 11, 2025 | Arizona Financial Theatre | Phoenix, AZ
Saturday, July 12, 2025 | The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park | San Diego, CA
Sunday, July 13, 2025 | Greek Theatre | Los Angeles, CA
Tuesday, July 15, 2025 | Santa Barbara Bowl | Santa Barbara, CA
Wednesday, July 16, 2025 | The Mountain Winery | Saratoga, CA
Friday, July 18, 2025 | Grand Theatre | Reno, NV
Saturday, July 19, 2025 | Redding Civic Auditorium | Redding, CA
Sunday, July 20, 2025 | Edgefield Amphitheater | Troutdale, OR
Tuesday, July 22, 2025 | Wine Country Amphitheater | Walla Walla, WA
Wednesday, July 23, 2025 | Outlaw Field at the Idaho Botanical Garden | Boise, ID
Saturday, July 26, 2025 | Theatre at the Brick | Bozeman, MT
Sunday, July 27, 2025 | BECU Live at Northern Quest | Airway Heights, WA
Tuesday, July 29, 2025 | Grey Eagle Resort & Casino | Calgary, AB
Thursday, July 31, 2025 | TCU Place | Saskatoon, SK
Friday, August 1, 2025 | Centennial Concert Hall | Winnipeg, MB
Tuesday, August 19, 2025 | Massey Hall | Toronto, ON
Thursday, August 21, 2025 | Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park | Indianapolis, IN
Friday, August 22, 2025 | Ascend Amphitheater | Nashville, TN
Saturday, August 23, 2025 | The Tennessee Theatre | Knoxville, TN
Sunday, August 24, 2025 | The Tennessee Theatre | Knoxville, TN
Tuesday, August 26, 2025 | Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium | Chattanooga, TN
Thursday, August 28, 2025 | The Dome | Virginia Beach, VA
Friday, August 29, 2025 | Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront | Richmond, VA
Saturday, August 30, 2025 | Earl Scruggs Music Festival | Mill Spring, NC
Saturday, September 6, 2025 | Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre | Sterling Heights, MI
Sunday, September 7, 2025 | Jacobs Pavilion | Cleveland, OH
Tuesday, September 9, 2025 | Wolf Trap | Vienna, VA
Wednesday, September 10, 2025 | The Met Philadelphia presented by Highmark | Philadelphia, PA
Friday, September 12, 2025 | Beacon Theatre | New York, NY
Tuesday, September 16, 2025 | Veterans Memorial Auditorium | Providence, RI
Wednesday, September 17, 2025 | Leader Bank Pavilion | Boston, MA
Friday, September 19, 2025 | BankNH Pavilion | Gilford, NH
Saturday, September 20, 2025 | The Green at Shelburne Museum | Shelburne, VT
Sunday, September 21, 2025 | Artpark Mainstage Theater | Lewiston, NY
Tuesday, September 23, 2025 | Salem Civic Center | Salem, VA
Wednesday, September 24, 2025 | Credit One Stadium | Charleston, SC
Friday, September 26, 2025 | The Saint Augustine Amphitheatre | St. Augustine, FL
Saturday, September 27, 2025 | The BayCare Sound | Clearwater, FL
Sunday, September 28, 2025 | Hard Rock Live | Hollywood, FL
hannah bahng brought her sold-out debut Abysmal Tour to Mercury Lounge on December 5, promising to deliver “The Worst Night Of Your Life”.
Self-written, self-composed, and co-produced, hannah bahng is a multitalented artist with the skill and vision to realize every facet of her creative endeavors with evident care and precision. Hailing from Sydney, Australia, 20 year old bahng entered the music sphere with the perfectly nostalgic, sea-salt tinged “perfect blues” and its slightly hazier, dreamy counterpart “OLeander” on July 14, 2023.
Since the dual-single release, bahng has seen a meteoric rise in popularity, and certainly for good reason. Releasing her debut The Abysmal EP on May 31 produced in partnership with Andrew Luce, bahng delivered a total of seven tracks that cut deep sonically and lyrically, pulling listeners through each and every emotion with vibrant intensity.
This same intensity was on full display at the Mercury Lounge on December 5, one of several shows of bahng’s first ever tour which very quickly sold out and saw various venue upgrades due to a widespread hope to experience what was marketed as “the worst night of your life.”
This sentiment was equally felt in line outside the venue and within its doors, the warm lights of the Mercury Lounge twinkling invitingly as fans meandered their way inside.
Concert-goers could be found excitedly waiting in line for bahng’s adorably curated merchandise or exchanging homemade goods like bracelets and photocards just outside the entrance (the latter a tradition emerging from the K-Pop scene, which has since evidently bled into tangential spaces and beyond)- all various shades of blue in a lovely nod to her debut single.
Chatting with other fans proved effortless as everyone shared an intangible undercurrent of knowledge that something special was about to happen- after all, the Mercury Lounge marked the historic third show bahng has ever performed in the professional sphere following two dates in Texas.
And, as hannah herself would mention later in the evening, it marked her first ever performance in New York after visiting the city as a songwriter and audience member prior.
As bahng took the stage, the energy was electric. Opening the similar form to her Abysmal EP, she delivered a captivating performance of “OLeander” followed by a gut wrenching rendition of the deeply personal “hannah interlude” which was written while bahng was visiting New York out of a rented studio.
Similarly, the unreleased “Ribs” features bahng and a piano in a moment so deeply vulnerable it was as if the entire space around her took a moment to pause and listen in.
Between tracks, the intimacy of the venue resulted in an almost conversational rapport between hannah and the audience in which fans showered her in compliments, asked about her Pokémon jacket- custom made by a friend in the audience- and learned that her favorite Pokémon of the franchise is the definitively underrated cubone.
I’d also be remiss to not mention the vicious Rubiks Cube battle that occurred on stage. A lovely audience member went head to head with bahng in a tense battle of wits, and hannah reigned victorious- but not before passing off her newly signed cube to the audience participant with a hug and cheers from the crowd.
More hard hitting tracks followed, including the bass-heavy “POMEGRANATE” and the unreleased “What Never Lived” that mourns the death of a relationship that never quite happened, which quickly grew to be a personal favorite.
Tracks of her own weren’t all that hannah had to offer, either. Covers of Chase Atlantic’s “Church” and Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer” came next, the former a favorite of bahng’s that she explained was performed to balm the lack of the track at a Chase Atlantic concert she had attended, and the latter for the parents in the audience- though, as a nearly twenty-something myself, I found myself thanking my father’s influence on my music taste as I belted along.
As bahng bowed out for the evening, the cool blues of the lights faded to a dim gray- but this did nothing to deter the audience, who promptly jumped into cheers asking for just “one more song,” to which hannah delivered. Returning for a vibrant performance of “perfect blues,” the carefree joy felt in the room was tangible.
A room full of folks young and old gathered to celebrate the promising start of something beautiful, singing in tandem to the first song of her professional career- the promising creative sway of hannah bahng was in full effect as her first official concert in New York came to an end.
hannah bahng – Mercury Lounge – The Worst Night Of Your Life – Thursday, December 5, 2024
Canadian-born Avril Lavigne is the pop-punk singer-songwriter credited for paving the way for the female-driven pop punk music that became synonymous with the early 2000s.
Ushering in the era with her “Pop-Punk Queen” moniker and skater style with her debut studio album Let Go, Lavigne quickly rose to stardom with hits such as “Complicated” and “Sk8er Boi,” charting at the top of the Billboard 200 with her first ever release.
Since then, Lavigne has released six albums, each to critical acclaim. In addition to her traditional successes, Countless artists from punk to indie rock to emo hip hop have named Lavigne as a major inspiration or influence, creating a legacy extending well beyond herself.
Avril also earned a Guinness World Record for being the youngest female solo artist to top the UK chart and saw the success of her hit “Girlfriend” emerge as the first music video to reach 100 million views on YouTube just four years after the website’s creation.
Originally announced at the beginning of the year, Lavigne has spent the majority of 2024 performing her Greatest Hits Tour across the globe.
Supporting the tour will be special guests Fefe Dobson, Simple Plan, and We The Kings- the latter two of which will perform during all New York Dates.
Avril Lavigne will grace the stages of four venues in New York, with shows in Saratoga Springs on May 27, Syracuse on May 28, Manhattan on May 30, and Bethel Woods on June 27. The full list of dates and venues is below.
For more information on the Greatest Hits Tour and all things Avril Lavigne, be sure to visit her official website here.
AVRIL LAVIGNE: THE GREATEST HITS 2025 TOUR DATES:
Sun May 18 – Moncton, NB – Avenir Centre
Tue May 20 – Halifax, NS – Scotiabank Centre
Sun May 25 – Bangor, ME – Maine Savings Amphitheatre
Tue May 27 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Broadview Stage at SPAC
Wed May 28 – Syracuse, NY – Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater
Fri May 30 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Tue Jun 03 – London, ON – Canada Life Place
Thu Jun 05 – Niagara Falls, ON – Fallsview Casino Resort
Sat Jun 07 – Hershey, PA – Hersheypark Stadium
Sun Jun 08 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center
Tue Jun 10 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center
Thu Jun 12 – St. Louis, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – St. Louis
Tue Jun 17 – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park
Wed Jun 18 – Charleston, SC – Credit One Stadium
Fri Jun 20 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
Sat Jun 21 – Hollywood, FL – Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Mon Jun 23 – Jacksonville, FL – Daily’s Place
Thu Jun 26 – Burgettstown, PA – The Pavilion at Star Lake
Fri Jun 27 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
Sun Jun 29 – Burls Creek, ON – Burl’s Creek Event Grounds~ (visit AllYourFriendsFestival.com for ticket details)
Sat Oct 18 – Las Vegas, NV – Las Vegas Festival Grounds~ (visit WhenWeWereYoungFestival.com for more info)
For their final East Coast shows of 1971, The Grateful Dead played a four-night run at the Felt Forum in New York City. December 7 marks the fourth and final one of these shows during a still transitional era for the band. Drummer Mickey Hart left the group earlier in the year and the Dead were still in the process of integrating new keyboardist Keith Godchaux who joined them in September.
Original keys player and founding member Pigpen had also recently rejoined the group after a stint in the hospital. With the band now at full strength, they unleashed a chock full two sets of music on this evening that showcased their full potential, paving the way for their legendary Europe ’72 Tour that would follow a few months later. This show in particular was deemed so good that it would later go on to become an official Dave’s Picks release, serving as Volume #22 in the series. It sees the band at their finest, mixing up a healthy blend of rock, rhythm, and blues along with a little holiday cheer.
Grateful Dead Felt Forum 1971 Dave’s Picks
The last show of the Felt Forum run of ’71 begins with “Cold Rain and Snow,” a song that had established itself as a common opener in this era of Grateful Dead. Garcia delivers a couple of pristine guitar licks with new keyboardist Keith Godchaux providing timely fills on organ. The newest member of the band then moves over to piano as Bob Weir takes over on vocals for a quick yet feisty “Beat It On Down The Line.” With the band seemingly warmed up on a couple of classic numbers, Pigpen then takes over on lead vocals for the first time with the fairly new “Mister Charlie,” a song that debuted just a few months ago at the Yale Bowl which would be played every night of this run and for good reason. His sultry singing combined with some more vintage Garcia guitar play make for a soulful combination that, alas, doesn’t stray too far.
The first extended play of the evening is another fairly new song that actually debuted at the same show, “Sugaree.” Garcia and Godchaux exhibit more great chemistry early on with each taking a nominal solo and bassist Phil Lesh locking down the bottom line in style throughout. An even newer song that would remain a staple of live Dead shows for their entire career then follows in “Jack Straw,” another one that made an appearance at all four shows of the run. Godchaux’s work on piano compliments Weir’s vocals perfectly and the band eases through this classic number that seems to pick up speed from start to finish. After a quick introduction from Lesh, Pigpen then returns to center stage for his typical rambunctious take on “Next Time You See Me” that includes a couple of ripping solos on harmonica. The joy that the Grateful Dead get in playing this blues cover is nearly palpable.
This carries right over into another one of the new batch of songs, “Tennessee Jed,” which has Weir and Garcia harmonizing nicely on the choruses. Another song that would remain on set lists for years, this one is peppered with an extra bluesy guitar solo from Garcia that’s dripping with flavor. After Weir leads the Dead through a lively “El Paso,” things slow down considerably with the “Brokedown Palace” that follows which gets a considerable round of applause from the Felt Forum crowd at the onset. It’s a true group effort with Lesh joining in on some vocal harmonies and another typically tender, yet brief, solo from Garcia.
With the Dead no strangers to a Chuck Berry cover, afterwards they get in the holiday spirit and bust out a cover of “Run Rudolph Run,” a song they would only play a handful of times ever this month. It’s classic 12-bar blues with Pigpen, naturally, on lead vocals for a quick song that’s melodically similar to Berry’s “Little Queenie.” The band then stays in blues cover mode with a rare take of “You Win Again,” a ballad first sung in 1952 by Hank Williams which made its live debut just last month and would never be played again after 1972. The first set then wraps up with a couple of Grateful Dead classic originals starting with a fiery “Cumberland Blues” that sees Lesh leading the way with spirited bass play and Godchaux delivering a flurry of chords on piano. That troublesome train conductor “Casey Jones” then caps off a jam packed first set that seems to cover all the bases.
With the bar set high from a rollicking first set, the momentum carries right over into the second set with a powerful opening 1-2 combination of “Sugar Magnolia” and “Ramble On Rose” that sees Weir and Garcia passionately belting out the vocals on each, respectively. The torch is then passed back over to Pigpen who leads the band through yet another classic cover, this time it’s Jimmy Reed’s “Big Boss Man.” Another soulful harmonica solo serves as the bridge to some more bluesy guitar licks delivered by Garcia on this one. A lightning quick take on the new “Mexicali Blues,” another song that found its way onto the set list all four nights, then precedes a silky smooth rendition of “Brown Eyed Women.”
This sets the stage for the last Pigpen-centered song of the evening and the most extended “jam” of the show – a 12-minute enthralling cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Smokestack Lightning.” Pigpen’s iconic singing and harp play mesh perfectly with Garcia’s blues-driven guitar stylings and the band takes their time on this one, stretching it out nicely. Sadly, this is the second to last version the Dead would ever play with Pigpen, a founding member of the band. The “I been gone so long” lyrics sang in repetition towards the end of the song hit especially hard knowing that.
This is followed up by a rather mellow take, compared to later standards of “Deal” another fairly new song in the band’s catalog that made its debut at Port Chester’s Capitol Theatre earlier that year. This is succeeded by “Truckin’,” a song the Dead played at every show of that vaunted Capitol Theater run earlier in the year and one that finally sounds like it’s starting to develop an identity and jam capabilities thanks to the addition of Keith Godchaux who shines on the organ on this rendition.
The second set then comes to a triumphant finish with the classic closing sequence of “Not Fade Away” > “Goin’ Down The Road Feeing Bad” > “Not Fade Away.” Bill Kreutzmann on drums makes his presence felt early and often on “Not Fade Away” which elicits a truly blissful jam of sorts that flows effortlessly into the beginning of “GDTRFB.” For an encore, the band breaks out one last song from the new batch, “One More Saturday Night.” It would only be the second time ever used in this spot, one that it would soon become commonplace for the rest of their storied career, closing out the fourth and final show Dead show at Felt Forum in grand fashion.
Grateful Dead – Felt Forum, New York, NY – December 7, 1971
Set 1: Cold Rain and Snow, Beat It On Down The Line, Mister Charlie, Sugaree, Jack Straw, Next Time You See Me, Tennessee Jed, El Paso, Brokedown Palace, Run Rudolph Run, You Win Again, Cumberland Blues, Casey Jones
Set 2: Sugar Magnolia, Ramble On Rose, Big Boss Man, Mexicali Blues, Brown Eyed Women, Me and My Uncle, Smokestack Lightning, Deal, Truckin’, Not Fade Away > Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad > Not Fade Away
Encore: One More Saturday Night
View this and more Grateful Dead shows from across the years in New York State with our interactive map below
Co-Chairmen of the New York Philharmonic Board, Peter W. May and Oscar L. Tang announced that beginning Jan. 1, 2025, Matías Tarnopolsky will be the New York Philharmonic’s new President and CEO.
Photo credit: Jeff Fusco
Over the last 20 years, Tarnopolsky has held prominent artistic positions at orchestras worldwide. Before being the current the president and CEO of The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts, Tarnopolsky was the executive and artistic director of Cal Performances at the University of California, Berkeley. He has also served as Vice President of Artistic Planning at the New York Philharmonic from 2005 to 2009, and has held that position with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra as well.
During his tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra from 2018 to 2024, he achieved many significant milestones including the merger of the orchestra with the Kimmel Center in 2021, resulting in the establishment of The Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts. He also oversaw the rededication of the orchestra’s home as Marian Anderson Hall, which represented a groundbreaking approach to diverse programming. From 2009 to 2018, he worked at Cal Performances at UC Berkeley, the largest multidisciplinary arts presenter and producer based at a university in the country. During his time there, he launched Berkeley RADICAL (Research and Development Initiative in Creativity Arts and Learning), which included a residency featuring Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Orchestra of Venezuela.
New York Philharmonic Board Co-Chairmen Peter W. May and Oscar L. Tang said: “Matías Tarnopolsky is a singular figure among orchestral leaders. Building on his lifelong love for our art form, he has forged impactful collaborations with orchestral musicians and dynamic artistic leaders. He is also a force for innovation who has created new ways of connecting with communities and tapping into emerging technologies. His extensive executive experience is enhanced by his time on the ground at the Philharmonic, when he oversaw artistic planning, giving him unusual insight into New York City’s vibrant cultural landscape. We know that Matías will be a visionary partner for Gustavo Dudamel as we prepare for his arrival as our next Music and Artistic Director.”
