There was at least some hubris in Weezer’s 30th anniversary Blue Album tour announcement. Openers the Flaming Lips and Dinosaur Jr. are more than potential show-stealers, they’re established headliners in their own right. How do you follow that? You drop a giant curtain to reveal a Weezer-branded spacecraft. It seemed …
Read More »Asake's Madison Square Garden Debut Connects the Corners of the Earth
From Lagos, Nigeria to New York, New York, the corner is the corner. There’s a through line between the neighborhoods worldwide where money may be low but vibes are high, and as Asake recreated the gritty Lagos streets he came up on for his first headline show at Madison Square …
Read More »Ice Spice's New York Show Was a Coronation For a Budding Icon
Ice Spice, Cash Cobain, and their New York crowd may have been robbed of seeing the exciting duo amid the beautiful views of Manhattan’s Pier 17 — but they made due at Terminal 5. Rainy weather made the westside Manhattan venue the alternate choice for the second-turned-first leg of their …
Read More »Green Day and Smashing Pumpkins Turn the Clock Back to 1994 (And 2004) at New York's Citi Field
In the waning days of the Nineties’ alt-rock revolution, just before major record labels turned forever away from left-of-center acts and toward more mainstream fare (coughBushcough) that forever made the world a duller place, Green Day and Smashing Pumpkins were two of the hottest young rock bands on the planet. …
Read More »Blink-182 Crack Dick Jokes, Melanie Martinez Enters 'Portals' at Lollapalooza Day Four
Lollapalooza 2024 wrapped on a high note Sunday night, with the welcome return of Blink-182, who last headlined the festival in 2017. According to organizers, more than 100,000 fans showed up at each of the four days (during Chappell Roan’s performance, it felt like all 100K from Day One showed …
Read More »Killers Serve Fan Favorites, Skrillex Is Honored, Future x Metro Boomin Draw Big Crowds on Lolla Day Three
Headliners the Killers served up fan favorites, Skrillex got a stage named after him, and Future x Metro Boomin drew so many fans that the audience was asked to take five steps back, twice, during their set on Lollapalooza 2024’s penultimate day on Saturday in Chicago’s Grant Park. Killer Mike, …
Read More »Stray Kids 'ATE,' SZA and Zedd Drop New Songs at Lollapalooza Day Two
While Chappell Roan and politics ruled Day One of Lollapalooza 2024, the second day of the Chicago festival held in Grant Park featured new song debuts from headliners SZA and Zedd, and a top billing from the chart history-making Stray Kids. It also featured surprise guests, including Chance the Rapper, …
Read More »Chappell Roan Gives Headline-Worthy Set; Megan Thee Stallion, Hozier Talk Cease-Fire on Lolla Day One
There was one artist on most everyone’s must-see list for the first day of Lollapalooza 2024: Chappell Roan. Fans, eager to stake a good spot, ran from the entrance gates at Chicago’s Grant Park to the main headline T-Mobile stage and camped out as early as noon to wait it …
Read More »Beck Goes Orchestral at Carnegie Hall
In the time of chimpanzees he was a monkey, but now, after 30-plus years of practice, practice, practice, Beck has made it to Carnegie Hall. “This is a good-sounding room,” he deadpanned on Tuesday night, during the second of two performances at the fabled venue. “It sounds pretty good. I’ve …
Read More »Billy Joel Wraps Up Historic MSG Residency With Emotional Finale: 'There's No Place Like This'
The world has changed in countless ways since Billy Joel kicked off his monthly Madison Square Garden residency in January 2014. Donald Trump was a mere NBC reality show host at the time, Jeb Bush had good reason to think he was the future of the Republican party, and few …
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