Concert Reviews
Concert Review
Izzy Cox
Double Down Saloon, Feb. 3
February 7th, 2013
This one-woman band offered a sonic portal to a different world. Her tantric drum beats combined with what Cox calls “voodoo billy” guitar riffs, painting a portrait of sideshow circus freaks living in a twisted gypsy den. But that’s just her music. Read more »
Overkill
LVCS, Feb. 3
February 7th, 2013
Rocking out for more than 30 years isn’t easy; it only looks that way when Overkill plays. Before the thrash-metal quintet went on, the enthusiastic crowd was treated to a light show, which included an illuminated drum set. In return, a hearty “Overkill” chant began. Read more »
Concert Review
Kodo
The Smith Center, Feb. 1
February 7th, 2013
The percussive music of Japanese drumming company Kodo did more than remind a packed audience why a superb-sounding facility like Reynolds Hall is important. The troupe’s ritualistic wallop also revealed how today’s skins-smacking Vegas shows—Blue Man Group, Cirque du Soleil’s Mystère—are indebted to the art form of ensemble drumming, or taiko. Read more »
Concert Review
Natalie Merchant
The Smith Center, Jan. 29
February 7th, 2013
Backed by a 20-piece symphonic ensemble, the ex-10,000 Maniacs frontwoman, gray-haired and lovely at 49, stepped onstage … and botched her intro. “Welcome for coming,” she said. Realizing her flub, Merchant hilariously experimented with an Eastern European accent before launching into string- and horn-laden chamber-pop versions of songs culled from 2010 children’s-verse album Leave Your Sleep. Read more »
Music
Concert Review: Lady Gaga
MGM Grand Garden Arena, Jan. 25
January 31st, 2013
Few artists can get away with making an entrance by popping out of an inflatable zippered vagina. But Lady Gaga can. When her Born This Way tour made a two-night stop in Las Vegas, she brought the spectacle that fans have come to expect from the pop star—one that perhaps only her true fans can appreciate. Read more »
Music
Concert Review: Ben Folds Five
The Pearl, Jan. 25
January 31st, 2013
I never saw Ben Folds Five in concert before the trio’s breakup in 2000, other than their outstanding 1997 performance captured on the DVD The Complete Sessions at West 54th. But in catching Folds three times as a solo artist since 2006 (always with a backing band), I came away each time feeling like his shows didn’t possess the collaborative spirit and intensity that the Sessions performance did. Read more »
Music
Concert Review: Street Drum Corps
Vinyl at the Hard Rock Hotel, Jan. 26
January 31st, 2013
It started with three people in black bandana masks pounding on metal, drawing the crowd in. Just when we got comfortable, the second song erupted with lead singer Adam Alt blaring the hit “Sdc X” off their most recent album, Children of the Drum. Oh, and surprise: feathery strippers on stilts! Read more »
Music
Concert Review: The Gashers
Double Down Saloon, Jan. 25
January 31st, 2013
It was an outrageous punk-rock birthday bash as SquidHat Records celebrated its one-year anniversary with an extravaganza headlined by the Gashers. The latest incarnation of local legends the Peccadilloes, the Gashers took the stage at 2 a.m. and attempted to whip up the crowd after a series of kick-ass preceding acts (Surrounded by Thieves, Guilty by Association, Candy Warpop and Pet Tigers). Read more »
Concert Review
Styx
The Pearl at the Palms, Nov. 16
November 27th, 2012
There’s been a growing trend in recent years of bands eschewing the traditional hit-packed concert format in favor of playing an album in its entirety. It’s a marketing strategy that’s as brilliant (“Hey fans, come hear songs you haven’t heard live in decades—if ever!”) as it is dangerous (“Oh, shit, do we know what we’re doing here?”) That danger quotient is multiplied when the set list features not one, but two albums. It’s multiplied yet again when three-fifths of the band’s current lineup wasn’t around when the original tracks were slapped on vinyl decades ago. Read more »
Concert Review
Betty Buckley
Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center, Nov. 16
November 22nd, 2012
On the first of a four-show run, the Broadway legend tackled with aplomb the gender-bending task of performing songs traditionally written for men. The result was fun and fluid as she engaged the audience in a master class of great American songwriting. Read more »
