Dec 31
AndrewMusic Live, New Release
Blue October has set a March 24 release date for their forthcoming studio set Approaching Normal. The album is preceded by the single Dirt Room which is available as a digital single. The band currently has a handful of tour dates lined up overseas in the month of January.
Blue October tour dates
January 20 Cannes, France MIDEM
January 22 Berlin, Germany Lido
January 23 Cologne, Germany Luxor
January 26 Amsterdam, Holland Paradiso
January 27 London, England Underworld
Tour information is up to date at time of publication
Oct 06
AndrewMusic Live, Tour
Ben Folds will record and release 10 songs from his current tour for sale on iTunes the day after the recording. Each track will be recorded from a different show and uploaded to iTunes with original cover art. At the end of the tour, Folds plans to package them together a digital live album.
Excluding two performances one each with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and the Louisville Orchestra, Folds has an additional twelve dates on his headlining tour, stopping next at Ohio University on October 8.
October 8 Athens, OH Ohio University
October 9 Detroit, MI The Fillmore Detroit
October 10 Chicago, IL Congress Theater
October 11 Green Bay, WI Resch Center
October 16 St Louis, MO The Pageant
October 17 Maplewood, MN Myth
October 22 Kansas City, MO Uptown Theater
October 23 Dallas, TX The Palladium Ballroom
October 24 Houston, TX Warehouse Live
October 25 Austin, TX Stubb’s BBQ
November 13 San Francisco, CA The Warfield
November 14 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern
Concert information is up to date at time of publication
Sep 24
AndrewMusic Live, Smashing Pumpkin, Tour
The Smashing Pumpkins have lined up a short tour to support their 20th Anniversary, and promise to not repeat a single song from their back catalog during the tour. The Pumpkins will also play one night during the Bridge School Benefit on October 26. They have recorded a new song G.L.O.W. for Guitar Hero: World Tour.
Smashing Pumpkins 20th Anniversary Tour
November 1 Cleveland Palace Theatre
November 3 Toronto, ON Massey Hall
November 4 Toronto, ON Massey Hall
November 6 New York, NY United Palace Theatre
November 7 New York, NY United Palace Theatre
November 8 Atlantic City, N.J. Borgata
November 11 Washington, DC DAR Constitution Hall
November 12 Washington, DC DAR Constitution Hall
November 14 Boston, MA Wang Center
November 15 Boston, MA Wang Center
November 18 Chicago, IL Chicago Theatre
November 19 Chicago, IL Chicago Theatre
November 21 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre
November 22 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre
November 26 St. Louis, MO Fox Theatre
November 30 San Diego, CA RIMAC Arena
December 2 Los Angeles, CA Gibson Amphitheatre
December 3 Los Angeles, CA Gibson Amphitheatre
Tour information is up to date at time of publication
Sep 17
AndrewMusic Amanda Palmer, Concert, Live, WKAP
Amanda Palmer will take her solo release, Who Killed Amanda Palmer, on the road in November and December. She will play club venues in North America including a two night stand at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston, MA. The Danger Ensemble will back Palmer on all dates.
Presale tickets for the shows are available now through the Dresden Dolls website for Palmer’s fan community.
Amanda Palmer tour
November 12 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge
November 14 Asheville, NC The Orange Peel
November 15 Raleigh, NC Lincoln Theatre
November 16 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
November 18 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
November 19 Toad’s Place New Haven, CT
November 21 New York, NY Webster Hall
November 22 Philadelphia, PA Theatre Of Living Arts
November 24 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
November 25 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
November 29 Pittsburgh, PA Mr. Small’s Theatre
November 30 Toronto, ONT Mod Club Theatre
December 2 Detroit, MI Magic Bag
December 3 Chicago, IL Cabaret Metro
December 5 Minneapolis, MN First Ave Nightclub
December 6 Denver, CO Bluebird Theatre
December 8 Salt Lake City, UT Murray Theatre
December 10 Vancouver, BC Venue TBA
December 11 Seattle, WA Showbox Theatre
December 12 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom
December 13 Sacramento, CA Harlow’s
December 15 San Francisco, CA Bimbo’s 365 Club
December 16 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theatre
Concert information is up to date at time of publication
Sep 15
AndrewMusic Band, Interview, Live, Zac Mac Band
The Zac Mac Band set up on a triangular stage about 10 feet across in the back half of Kennedy’s Midtown bar on Saturday night. Most of the stage is dwarfed by Justin Casanave’s drum kit, so that when frontman Zac McIntyre’s keyboard stand is set up, it sits to the front the stage itself. The sound guy has pushed the speakers forward to make space between them and the band.
It’s that kind of life for a band that is newly formed and still finding its fanbase and identity as a band. The members of the Zac Mac Band have individually been around the local music scene, from Maine to Boston, for years but have only played together since earlier this spring. Out of their collaboration has come an album full of songs that they are currently recording with producer Zac Cataldo in Night Train Studios in Westford, MA. In the meantime, the band’s focus is getting out there and playing some gigs.
The first thing that’s hard not to notice about the band is that McIntyre towers over everyone else in the room. At 6′10, McIntyre plays keyboards and also provides the vocals. Earlier this year, he placed a craigslist ad for a bassist and drummer, around the same time that Casanave and bassist Jeff Bates were looking for another band. The two had played together in a band called Soul Taxi, which had split in 2007. The pair jammed one night with McIntyre and it was instant chemistry.
When you sit down and talk to the band, which also includes guitarist Ben Dwyer who joined them last week, chemistry is a running theme. And it’s evident from watching them that there is already a strong rapport, whether they’re talking about Fenway Park, woman, politics, or their music. They joke easily with one another, are to a man down to earth and supremely congenial. So despite the fact that they have only played two live dates, zero before tonight with Dwyer, you get the impression that chemistry is more than just talk.
“My previous projects weren’t of the same caliber,” McIntyre says of the band, “the chemistry wasn’t there.”
“We’re in sync,” Bates agrees.
Like most musicians, their musical backgrounds are diverse. For Dwyer, he played the alto saxophone in high school before he learned guitar. After mastering guitar, he played with an instrumental jam rock band and also an avant garde jazz band. Ten days ago, responding to an audition for a guitarist, he jammed with the guys and they immediately gelled. The guys had auditioned 5 other guitarists; Dwyer was the last. But according to Casanave, “it was a perfect fit. He had 10 days to learn the setlist.”
As for the others, Bates actually learned accordion first (clearly his parent’s decision) but picked up the bass and found it a natural fit. McIntyre played percussion, jokes about his marching band experience, played the piano and later picked up guitar.
Guitar, for him, gave him a chance to experiment in the writing process. “I wanted to write on the guitar. It’s a different instrument,” he says. “You develop habits on instruments and you need that different vehicle to drive the musical soul.” He immediately cringes to realize how corny that sounds, and elicits laughter from the rest of the band.
And Casanave? “I’ve only played drums. All my friends played guitar and bass and I wanted to be in a band.”
The band, now united, has put together a dozen or so tracks that they are eager to play live. The tunes have memorable pop hooks and evoke some of their musical influences, a little Radiohead here, a little Coldplay there, some U2, some jazz influence. But even for only being all together for 10 days, what is apparent is just how much their songs sound like them as a band. They are aiming to have an EP release ready for this December and likely a full album release in the spring.
In the meantime, the band’s goal is increased gigging, getting themselves out to the local venues and playing in front of fans and strangers alike. Or as Casanave says simply, “Get exposed.” To that end, they enthusiastically hop on stage at Kennedy’s around 11:30 and begin an impromptu soundcheck to the tune of their popular song Red Light. The soundcheck version is a little different though. The lyrics go like this:
“This is a sound check song.”
It brings a cheer from the crowd. Launching into a stellar hour-long set, they effortlessly show off what they have been talking about all night. Newly formed or not, this band has a chemistry that’s hard not to notice.
The Zac Mac Band’s next live date is October 3 at All Asia in Cambridge, MA. Music samples are streaming on their MySpace page.
Read a review of The Zac Mac Band at Kennedy’s Midtown.
Sep 30
AndrewMusic Live, MB20
Matchbox Twenty
Agganis Arena, Boston University
September 29, 2007
Just minutes before Matchbox Twenty took the stage as headliners of MixFest 2007, the song Jungle Boogie blared out from the speakers. The song spun itself out and the band nonchalantly took the stage and launched into Long Day. It was a laid-back reunion, the first of a handful of tour dates in promotion of their greatest hits set Exile on Mainstream.
If the band has been away for a while, you can probably put a lot of the blame on Rob Thomas. The band was on hiatus while Thomas decided to take his act solo, collaborating with other artists and releasing Something to Be in 2005. He effortlessly established himself as a premier pop song writer and solo artist.
The question is whether Matchbox Twenty can sustain any momentum after an almost 5 year hiatus, especially given that Thomas has already says he has plans to write and record a second solo album. Or has Matchbox Twenty went relegated to a nostalgia band of the nineties?
If the crowd was any evidence, which was far more forty- and fifty-year olds than teenagers, you might be tempted to question their mainstream relevancy. But all that was pushed aside for the hour long set of hits plus a couple of new tunes. It was a rousing singalong from start to finish and the crowd was very into it. It was evident after a lackluster response to Colbie Caillat and Mat Kearney (mostly nobody was in the audience during Blue October’s blistering set.) The crowd came alive for Daughtry, but they exalted in Thomas and co.
Thomas was a bundle of good vibrations. He danced to the beat of the music, engaging the crowd with winks and expressions of delight perfectly captured on the video screens (and likely hundreds of camera phones.) He’s an ultra-expressive performer, it pays to be close enough to watch his face as well as his grooves. But the thing that struck most about Matchbox Twenty’s leading man is how normal he seems, the guy next door type. He came across instantly approachable and likable. He chatted a lot during the set, as much to his bandmates as to the crowd, and whizzed through familiar songs like 3am and If You’re Gone.
New tracks held up well against the old material, but amazingly, they seemed to have a more relaxed bent than some of the older songs. The lyrics to How Far We’ve Come seem like the typical Matchbox Twenty downer ballad, but the energy and the pulse of the song just don’t fit their old image the way Unwell and Bent perfectly encapsulated it. And they wedged the downright playful song I’ll Believe You When in between Bright Lights and the set closer Push. The energy picked up further into the set, especially Real World, Back to Good. The extended jam version of Bright Lights featured Kyle Cook and Paul Doucette (now playing guitar) taking turns on lead vocals.
The question of whether Matchbox Twenty can remain relevant lies with Rob Thomas. Though their songwriting may now be more of a collaborative affair, his energy leaves a distinct signature on their studio work and their live show. But even if they eventually do get labeled a nostalgia act, tonight was a testament that it’s a pretty damn good one.
Matchbox Twenty Setlist
Long Day
Disease
How Far We’ve Come
3am
Unwell
If You’re Gone
Bent
These Hard Times
Real World
Back to Good
Bright Lights
I’ll Believe You When
Push
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