Blogs

One of my favorite moments at this year’s Newport Folk Festival was seeing Elvis Costello, who was billed to play solo acoustic, hit the stage with an electric guitar and his band the Imposters and fire up the Byrds’ “So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star.” Granted, it wasn’t Dylan going electric at Newport. And catching Costello meant ducking out on the indie-rock buddy club Middle Brother before the band Dawes arrived unannounced to fuel that spirited cocktail. And those weren’t the only surprises at the fest, which sold out both day… More>

Wayne Coyne is a man of vision more than talent. But his passion and positivity literally take him over the top with the Flaming Lips. As frontman Coyne told a fervent crowd at Bank of America Pavilion Wednesday, a Lips show should be like your birthday, New Year’s Eve and other celebrations all wrapped into one… More>

Soundgarden’s dark mash of grunge, groove, punk-metal and psychedelia undercut singer Chris Cornell’s wailing vocals with detuned guitar heaviness and a creeping melodicism that nodded to Beatles as well as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. However, with its gloomy, insular personality, Soundgarden was not always a compelling live band. That fact hadn’t changed in the early going of Sunday’s Comcast Center concert for about 9,000 fans who toasted the group’s return after a 12-year break. Then, lo and behold, the sound cleared up, th… More>

Sometimes a great festival can separate itself from the field through unique infrastructure, and that was the case with the Solid Sound Festival at MASS MoCA this past weekend. The Berkshires-based museum of contemporary art regularly hosts concerts (upcoming events include Bang on a Can and M. Ward). But the Wilco-curated Solid Sound unlocks the potential of a music and arts festival that can appeal to broad ages and sensibilities… More>

Peter Gabriel has always meshed drama, technology and spectacle onstage, from his early days in Genesis through his now-slowed solo career. His tech-savvy sets pioneered spotlight rigs that move like attacking cranes and his bouncing around in a giant hamster ball much like the one now used by the Flaming Lips. In turn, expect some tricky video effects when Gabriel returns to the Comcast Center stage Friday. Musically, however, his first local show in nearly a decade presents a bigger change. Instead of art-rock instrumentation, Gabrie… More>