Concert Reviews »
Concert Review: Charles Bradley
(Photo: Thiago Gravana Couto) I will resist the temptation to call Charles Bradley a soul revivalist. This label makes him seem like a kind of Civil War reenactor, one preserving the look and feel
Read More »Concert Review: Blind Pilot
In the endless search for authenticity, we tend to be critical to a fault. We search for sincerity and objective truth on subjective matters. We mistake the agreement of others for evidence. We malign
Read More »Concert Review: The Darkness
(Photo: Brandi Lukas) The Darkness almost missed their time. When they broke in 2003, glam was a weird, typically ignored part of rock history and listeners were in the midst of a golden era
Read More »Concert Review: Eleanor Friedberger
At a quarter past 10, before a thinly populated but receptive mid-winter Portland crowd, the Fiery Furnaces’ Eleanor Friedberger and her solo effort’s backing band (MGMT’s Matt Asti on bass, Ahmed Gallab on percussion
Read More »Concert Review: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra
(Photo: (c) Pirlouiiiit – Concertandco.com) The experimental post-rock group known today as Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra was first named, in an age now long past – that is, 1999 – simply A
Read More »Concert Review: Cass McCombs/Gabriel Wallace/Frank Fairfield
(Photo: D’Aundra Wallace/The Spec) After “Love Thine Enemy,” the opening tune of Cass McCombs’ set at Chicago’s Lincoln Hall, the performer asked the sound technician, “Is there any way you could turn it all
Read More »Concert Review: Tortoise
As I walked out of the Empty Bottle the other night, I was faced with the conundrum of trying to describe the indescribable. This is not to say that post-rock band Tortoise’s set was
Read More »Concert Review: Vince Neil/Station/Whisky Preacher
The name Vince Neil should conjure up either the image of an ‘80s glam metal party boy or the modern adult who, between public turmoils, devotes time to charity. I had the chance to
Read More »Concert Review: Sharon Van Etten
Before having the privilege of hearing Sharon Van Etten perform her new album Tramp front to back at the Mercury Lounge on a frozen Manhattan evening, all I knew was that she’d put out
Read More »Concert Review: Papercuts
On a chilly December evening in Portland, Papercuts fits right in. The fog drifting in off the Willamette, casting its luminescence in clumps near each streetlight, and the heavy moist sheen accumulating around every
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