Imelda May
Pianos
September 15, 2009

Click here for full Photolog from the show

It’s hard to ignore the dearth of rockabilly bands hitting the Big Apple as part of their tour itinerary. So, when I get an invite to check out an up and coming rockabilly diva at an NYC show, I do not turn it down.

In the case of Imelda May, the show lived up to the hype. May is a country crooner straight out of the extremely not western-style country of Ireland. She’s petite, she’s spunky, and she belts out original and traditional rockabilly and rhythm and blues as if she were Etta James.

Pianos was packed to capacity, last week, as May and her backing band to stage for solo show between Chuck Berry gigs. The crowd was a mix of fans and curious onlookers, but everyone was sold by the second note of “Feel Me”. The show was clearly a night for the band to let its hair down, as May eschewed her usual fancy dresses for a bitching Electric Frankenstein shirt and heels. Not that anyone seemed to mind. She rocked and they were there to be rocked. Read the rest of this entry »

Green Day/Kaiser Chiefs
Madison Square Garden
July 27, 2009

Click to view more photos from show

Thousands of fans packed NYC’s biggest venue for two evenings of stellar punk rock courtesy of a band heralded as this generation’s U2, and judging by the audience reaction at MSG, the band is more than worthy of the moniker.

The band is currently on tour supporting their latest release “21st Century Breakdown,” so it wasn’t surprising that the set list skewed heavily towards the band’s last two records—at least for most of the first hour. While “Holiday” and “Song of the Century” are  tremendous tunes, there was some worry that Green Day was going to pull a Beastie Boys and ingore their earlier work. Boy was I wrong. Starting with “2000 Light Years Away” the band tore through every hit from “Dookie,” played a heavy version of “Brain Stew/Jaded,” and punctuated the old school set with “She” and “Disappearing Boy.” Read the rest of this entry »

Mummies/Back CC’s
June 9, 2009 – (two sets) Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ
June 10, 2009 – Southpaw, Brooklyn, NY

“So why do you think they played here in 2002?”

I turned around and saw my friend Jan laughing, as he brought over Maxwell’s and Telstar Records owner Todd Abramson to ask me this. I climbed drunkenly over another friend and sat on the top of the booth seat.  “Well,” I said, “it was listed on their website and I’m pretty sure I saw it in the Village Voice.”

You see, ever since November 2002, I’ve been kicking myself because I missed the Mummies play at Maxwell’s (presumably to promote the then just-released Never Been Caught CD.) Or I thought I missed it.  According to Abramson, the Mummies did not play Maxwell’s in November of 2002; he wasn’t aware it was listed on their website and said it was probably just a joke.

All these years, even after moving to the Midwest, I’ve been keeping tabs on Maxwell’s shows so I wouldn’t miss anything special (or at least know what I would miss beforehand). Goddamn those anti-technology jokers, they used the Internet to pull one over on me! Somehow, in all my confusion, the Mummies managed to actually play three area shows (over two nights) as a stop over on their way to two European gigs. Read the rest of this entry »