DECEMBER 15, 2011

DURHAM PERFORMING ARTS CENTER IN DURHAM, NC

WRITTEN BY MARTIN FRIED

As the crowd filled the Durham Performing Arts Center it was very noticeable that they were much older than any previous crowd I have seen been to but none the less very excited to see Kenny G. The Multi platinum-selling artist started off his performance on the stage with a Christmas tune. At the end of the first song, Kenny G walked off the stage.  The band began the second song of the set and when it was time for him to start playing, Kenny G appeared at the back of the theater where he continued to play as he walked through the hall giving his fans a chance to see and hear him up close. He ended up on a platform still in the crowd and he where he continued to play.  He then gave an example of a breathing technique called circular breathing, which allows him to hold a note continuously almost indefinitely. Kenny G is the Guinness books record holder for holding a note on a saxophone. He held an E-flat for 45 minutes and 47 seconds at J&R Music World in New York City. Kenny G’s third song of the show was his 1997 classic “Songbird” which he used to make his way back on to the stage.

All photos: Martin Fried/Rhythmscene.com

DURHAM PERFORMING ARTS CENTER IN DURHAM, NC

WRITTEN BY MARTIN FRIED

As John Oates and Daryl Hall appeared on stage, the sold out DPAC crowd took to their feet and gave the duo a standing ovation that their over 40 years of making great music together deserved. I was immediately transported back to my youth and started remembering all the times I heard Hall and Oates on the radio or watched their videos on MTV (Yes, younger fans, MTV used to play videos!).

The very few issues noted while watching this excellent concert were that age may be setting in and Hall’s voical range may not be what it once was.  It seems he may no longer be able to reach the high notes he once did and uses the method of backing away from the mic to hide it and Oates’ moustache has migrated south and become a gray soul patch.  One fan reported that their only complaint was that it was over way too soon, as you can see from the set list Hall and Oates only performed 13 songs in total, for many this was not nearly enough.

Set list:

Maneater

Family Man

Out Of Touch

How Does it feel to Be Back

Say it Isn’t So

Las Vegas Turnaround

She’s Gone

Sara Smile

I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)

Encore:

Rich Girl

You Make My Dreams

Encore 2:

Kiss on My List

Private Eyes

All photos: Martin Fried/Rhythmscene.com

RBC CENTER, RALEIGH, NC

All photos: Martin Fried

BankAtlantic Center, Sunrise, FL

Written by Kate Dingle

Taylor Swift is one of those artists that no one seems to hate. When it comes to her music, age, sex, race, and religion seem to not matter. Everyone can relate in one way or another to her songs of love and heartache.

Sunday night, Swift brought her “Speak Now” tour back to the Sunshine State for one final night of enchantment.

As 12,500 fans packed themselves into the American Airlines Arena in Miami, the country cross-over cutie did what she does best. She told her stories. And although Taylor’s stories were the main act of the night, also front and center were the hundreds of homemade t-shirts and handwritten signs with the number 13 and “T Swizzle” written on them. Throughout the two hour set, fans sung along with every word the 21-year-old singer sang; often times drowning out the very artist they paid to see.

Regardless, it was quite clear that fans are at the top of the list for Miss Swift. Cameras were constantly pointed at the screaming fans to display their images on the huge video screen onstage, and at one point, the mega-star exited the stage and walked through the crowd. She seemed to stop and say “hi” to everyone who stuck their hands out to get a piece of her.

Now, when superstars of Swift’s magnitude are presented with unexpected situations it can very quickly become clear what kind of person they truly are. Well, during her walk through the crowd an unexpected situation occurred: one of the barricades keeping fans at a safe distance gave way from the amount of weight on it when she walked by. In an instant, her security team surrounded her and tried to shield her from whatever was going to come her way. Instead of rushing away to the next portion of the set, the only thing that was happening was Taylor Swift repeatedly asking fans “Are you OK?” In that moment, Taylor Swift the celebrity gave way to Taylor Swift the human being. Well done.

Highlights of the set included: “Sparks Fly”, “Mean”, “Back To December/Apologize” (OneRepublic cover), “Better Than Revenge”, “Haunted”, “Ours”, “Love Story”, and “Right Round” (including Flo Rida himself joining her onstage).

Although it was a night of lots of screaming fans and, at times, absolute chaos, it was also a night for moms and dads to give the experience of a lifetime to their children. Throughout the night, plenty of parents were seen sporting “Taylor Swift” T-shirts and singing along and dancing with the younger crowd.

And even though everything about Taylor Swift is sweet and fun and innocent and fairytales, the fact that she could call anyone “mean” just seems like it would sting a little more.

Photos by Christina Mendenhall

Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, NC

Written by Martin Fried

Willie Nelson and Family performed last Thursday night at the Durham Center for Performing Arts to crowd that was asinteresting to see as it was varied.  From several members of our armed forces (Army and Navy) to the older crowd one would expect at a Nelson concert, grey bearded, cowboy boots and jean vests to a Willie Nelson clone I saw walking into the venue.

The 78-year-old Nelson came out waving with both hands to the cheering crowd and carrying his red, white and blue guitar strap.  He then picked up “Trigger”, his Martin N-20 nylon-string acoustic guitar.  Nelson began his set with “Whiskey River” as a giant Texas state flag unfurled behind him.  Nelson followed up with “Still Moving to Me” and “Shoeshine Man”.

 All photos: Martin Fried/Rhythmscene.com

Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, NC

Written by Martin Fried

Gap Band and Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh brought his unique sound to the Durham Performing Arts Center this past Tuesday. Walsh showed why he is considered one of the best Guitar artists of the 20^th century by wowing the crowd with classics “Welcome to the Club” and “A Life of Illusion”.  Several fans were seen wearing “Joe Walsh for President” T-shirts harking back to his unsuccessful run for the presidency in 1980 and promise to make “Life’s Been Good” the new National Anthem.  Walsh’s career has spanned over forty years and he has worked with some of the greatest names in music.

“Completely self taught” guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd opened the evening with “Never Lookin’ Back” off of his latest album “How I Go”.  Shepard and Lead singer Noah Hunt followed up with “Everything is Broken” from “Trouble Is…”, their 1997 album which also included his most popular song “Blue on Black”.

Photos: Martin Fried/Rythmscene.com

Culture Room, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Written by Brennan Forsyth

Montreal’s Stars’ last visit to South Florida was more than 9 years and 10 releases ago so perhaps they wanted to make up for lost time by playing an astounding 21 song set at Fort Lauderdale’s Culture Room this past Sunday.

The soggy weather kept the club’s patio entrance closed and the front door stood open, gusts of wind making fog and smoke swirl in the stage lights as Miami vets Astari Nite played before a stony yet attentive crowd who barely nodded to their spectral, driving set but applauded enthusiastically between songs. They were followed by Plains, also from Miami, whose upbeat rock and roll served as a good transition to Stars who took the stage just after 10 p.m., the five members of the band walking very casually onto the stage and lead vocalist Torquil Campbell cheerfully welcoming the crowd: “This is our music, we hope you enjoy.”

There are few bands that are truly without comparison and the theatrical grandeur of Stars’ music, their unpretentious stage presence and the genuine affection they show for the audience puts them far removed from other so-called indie-rock bands. “Fixed” from 2010’s The Five Ghosts was the first song of the evening with bassist Amy Millan on vocals, a shimmering, rarified song that seemed to make the temperature in the room drop appreciably and the steady autumn rain outside become all the more fitting. Stars’ music is unquestionably a product of the north. Lead vocalist Campbell shared the next song “The Passenger” with Amy, an intense but danceable synth-backed track from Chris Seligman’s keyboards and followed it up with “Take Me to the Riot”, the crowd joyfully singing along with the chorus.

“This is an outrageous show,” Amy Millan said between songs.

“It’s you, it’s kids,” Torq’ said to the crowd. “Kids make everything beautiful, that’s for sure.”

For the first time in years I witnessed someone weeping openly concert, a girl with her hands over her face and her down during the coda of “Set Yourself On Fire,” sobbing reservedly in the arms of her friend yet coming up with a tight smile and grateful applause when it was over.

The band’s easygoing nature and the joy they exuded was contagious, whether tossing plumes of rose petals into the crowd or at one another from arrangements lashed to their mic stands or describing plans to move to South Florida in a red convertible to listen to Steely Dan records and “write a novel about dissolute people doing terrible things under the Florida sun.”

They heaped praise on the crowd throughout the nearly 90-minute set, Torquil also giving shout-outs to the people in South Florida who support the Occupy Wall Street movement and finally forgiving us for the 2000 election that gave us George Bush.

Amy and Torquil became more and more caught up in the experience that they were creating as they plowed through the marathon set, pouring sweat, with cords standing out on his neck as they traded verses on another cut from the new album “How Much More.”

A five song encore followed, Torq’ jokingly encouraging the few children in attendance to “cover your ears. Take a break,” before playing “B*****s In Tokyo” and wrapping up the set with “Elevator Love Letter,” a song that indeed rose like a summer updraft, fed by the grateful energy of the crowd and the tireless, passionate performance of Stars. It was close to midnight when they said goodnight, leaving the crowd to file out of the club and into the tropical downpour that had gripped South Florida all weekend. “Its a nuclear show, and the stars are gone,” they sang on their last song. For now, perhaps. But hopefully not for another 9 years.

Set List

Fixed
The Passenger
Take Me To The Riot
Wasted Daylight
Set Yourself On Fire
To The Better Ones
Dead Hearts
Ageless Beauty
Soft Revolution
New Song (Piers)
Your Ex-Lover Is Dead
Window Bird
We Don’t Want Your Body
How Much More
Reunion
Calendar Girl

Encore

One More Night
B******s In Tokyo
The Ghost of Genova Heights
Changes
Elevator Love Letter

Photo via: thesilvertongueonline.com

Grand Central, Miami, FL

Written by Brennan Forsyth

Ladytron’s Miami show was the last stop on their tour in support of their latest albumGravity the Seducer, but they showed no sign of fatigue after nearly 20 North American shows since September. The crowd of about 500 packed into Miami’s Grand Central was first treated to New York’s VHS or Beta, who despite their electro-rock leanings have echoes of The Cure in lead guitarist Craig Pfunder’s vocals as well as other post-punk influences heard throughout their 50-minute set.

Ladytron took the stage just after midnight; Helen Marnie dressed in a sheer white blouse with a short black skirt and a black bow in her hair and an apparently pregnant Mira Aroyo wearing a black and red summer dress. As with most Ladytron shows keyboardist Ruben Wu and band founder/guitarist/keyboardist Daniel Hunt took up positions near the back of the stage, leaving Helen and Mira front and center.

The normally reserved Helen told the crowd “This is the last show of our tour, let’s have some fun tonight!” before starting off the show with the intense and soaring “Soft Power” off of Witching Hour and following it up with “International Dateline” from the same album. “Mirage”, a track from the new album that Berlin’s Terri Nunn could have stepped seamlessly into vocal duties on, was up third.

Ladytron’s music is electronic in the organic sense — they use no digital synthesizers, backtracking or sampling on stage and each song is played via a variety of vintage analog keyboards that are occasionally treated with standard guitar effects pedals and a live drummer. None of them move around much, even during instrumental breaks where one of them isn’t playing a keyboard, the level of animation usually gets no more involved than swaying gently to the music against a mic stand or rocking in place and with hands tapping against hips.

Helen wears every bit of each song on her face, often staring off towards the back of the room or making cursory eye contact with people in the crowd nearest her. Perhaps the reason for Ladytron’s often minimal stage presence can be partially attributed to having to manually adjust the pitch, tone and modulation of each instrument between songs, though what they lack in presence is more than made up for by their sound which is as captivating and striking as its two lead vocalists.

Ladytron masterfully shape and bend the inherent warmth of the analog synthesizer into sounds that can be as chilling as they are uplifting, exemplified by following up seriousness of a track such as “High Rise” with the electroclash tinged “True Mathematics” with Mira Aroyo singing the vocals in her native Bulgarian.

Miami received Ladytron warmly and though a lot of the crowd had progressed into their late 20s after perhaps having heard 604 for the first time on college radio or at a warehouse party in the early part of the last decade, the entire crowd was living the moment, cheering loudly between songs and dancing as much as the people to either side would allow. Noticeably absent from the set were earlier songs such as “Playgirl” and “He Took Her to a Movie” but the crowd still got to hear 1999’s “Discotraxx” and the dance floor staple “Seventeen” from their signature album Light & Magic.

Their entire discography was well represented, showcasing their ever evolving sound and the way it has progressed in the last decade and even included their stunning cover of the Death in June song “Little Black Angel.” They closed out the night with the driving “Destroy Everything You Touch”, bringing the musician Sonio on the stage to help out on keyboards before applauding the crowd as they left the stage while the throng returned their gratitude tenfold.

Despite a couple of minor problems with Helen’s keyboard that required the intervention of a tech just before they played the haunting “White Gold” off the new album Ladytron’s performance was as strong as their last few visits to South Florida and hopefully not too far into the future they will be gracious enough to pay Miami another call and show us once again why Brian Eno considers them to be “the best of English pop music.” Here, here!

Set list:
Soft Power
International Dateline
Mirage
Ghost
High Rise
True Mathematics
White Gold
Runaway
Ace of Hz
Little Black Angel (Death In June cover)
Discotraxx
Fighting In Built Up Areas
Seventeen

ENCORE
White Elephany
Destroy Everything You Touch

Photos by Christina Mendenhall

October 9, 2011

Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, NC

Written by Martin Fried

The only problem with a “Weird” Al Yankovic concert is that there is not enough time to hear all the great parodies that he has come up with over the years… It is especially true if you are a photographer who can only stay for the first four songs of the set!  With a career spanning over three decades there are too many great songs to choose from.

As we walked into the theater, a group of fans came out from back stage,  Based on the storm trooper t-shirts they were all wearing, I can only assume they were members of the  501 Legion Carolina Garrison, a Star Wars costuming organization that “Weird” Al uses as backup dancers while performing his Star Wars themed “The Saga Begins” and “Yoda”.

The crowd consisted of a very interesting mix, from young teens and college age fans, to older fans wearing their version of Al’s signature Hawaiian shirt and one very tall gentleman wearing a kilt and army boots.  As the fans waited for the concert to start, the crowd attempted the wave, but after several failed attempts they gave that up and started up a chant of “Wierd Al”.

When the lights went down and Yankovic came on stage with his accordion ready to go, Yankovic started off the evening with his latest pop/polka compilation “Polka Face”, taking the lyrics and music  of today’s most popular songs from artists such as Lady Gaga “Poker Face”, Katy Perry “I Kissed a Girl” and Britney Spears “Womanizer” and performing them with a polka twist as clips of the videos from the actual songs played in the background.  Next up was “TMZ” a Taylor Swift parody making fun of America’s obsession with celebrities and how it has led to the attack of the paparazzi on the famous and not so famous. Yankovic then went way back to 1988′s original song “You Make Me” off of his platinum selling album “Even Worse”.  After a quick video break where the classic Al TV Eminem interview was played, Yankovic came out dressed as Kurt Cobain and performed his 1992 hit “Smells Like Nirvana”.

It was very obvious that the crowd at DPAC enjoyed the performance and would remember it, looking forward to the next time Yankovic makes his way back to North Carolina.

More photos below the set list.

Set list:
Polka Face
TMZ
You Make Me
Smells Like Nirvana
Skipper Dan
Party In The CIA
CNR
Canadian Idiot
Wanna B Ur Lovr
Medley: Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies/Whatever You Like/Another Tattoo/eBay/I Want A New Duck/Theme From Rocky XIII/Spam/My Bologna/Ode To A Superhero/Lasagna/Eat It
Amish Paradise
Craigslist
Perform This Way
White & Nerdy
Fat
Encore:
The Saga Begins
Yoda

All photos courtsey Martin Fried/Rythmscene.com

Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, NC

Written by Martin Fried

An amazing night of music started with a great band from the 1980′s.  British R&B group Loose Ends featuring original member Jane Eugene performed for an hour prior to the Main event.

Charlie Wilson was introduced in style as three ‘tin solders’ came out bearing long trumpets with CW banners on them. The music started and another member of the band danced out on stage dressed as a train conductor, train lamp in hand, and gave Charlie a well deserved introduction.  Party Train started playing and Uncle Charlie’s three backup dancers train danced their way on to the stage. After the first lap around the stage Charlie Joined them and the crowd jumped to their feet, cheered and never sat back down.  Wilson showed he still has the funk and energy of his Gap Band days.  Even though the front of the stage was empty, Wilson, his dancers and the rest of the band filled it with lights and sounds that the concert goers will not soon forget.

Photos: Martin Fried/Rhythmscene.com