From rock to jazz, spring is full of sound ideas.
ROCK
The Menzingers, April 1 at Royale
The post-punk rockers tour behind solid, nostalgia-laced new LP After the Party.
Weakened Friends, April 5 at Great Scott
This female-fronted Portland/Boston garage rock trio headline a local bill.
Rock & Roll Rumble Finals, April 21 at ONCE Ballroom
After three weeks of faceoffs with 24 local acts, a final winner is crowned.
Mastodon, May 8 at the House of Blues
The heavy metal behemoths rage into town behind their new conceptual album Emperor of Sand.
Ryan Adams, May 10 at the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
The prolific folkie and T-Swift cover pro plays the waterfront with Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis.
POP
Bebe Rexha, March 27 at Royale
The on-the-rise G-Eazy and David Guetta collaborator embarks on her first headlining tour.
John Mayer, April 9 at the TD Garden
The “Your Body is a Wonderland” crooner-turned-able-Jerry-Garcia-fill-in headlines an arena show.
Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, April 8 at House of Blues
The Something Corporate/Jack’s Mannequin frontman channels more mature emo sensibilities into this side project.
Betty Who, April 15 at Royale
The Berklee-bred pop princess continues her rise to stardom behind her new album, due out March 24.
Steve Winwood, April 27 at the Orpheum Theatre
The 60-something British hitmaker sees if he can still get high.
HIP-HOP/R&B
Vince Staples, March 28 at the Paradise Rock Club
The Long Beach rap wunderkind and onetime Odd Future protege keeps it weird on his Life
Aquatic tour.
Saba, March 30 at Brighton Music Hall
The Chicago upstart and Chance the Rapper collaborator checks some boxes off his Bucket List Project.
Big Sean, April 4 at the House of Blues
The surprisingly svelte Detroit emcee is finally ready to make his big league leap.
Erykah Badu, April 28 at the House of Blues
The neo-soul queen marks her 20-year anniversary of Baduizm.
Future, May 23 at the Xfinity Center
The Atlanta rhymer and current Billboard dominator takes over Mansfield.
CLASSICAL
A Roomful of Teeth and A Far Cry, April 13 at Sanders Theatre
A Grammy-winning vocal ensemble and a local 17-piece collective team up to perform works by Ted Hearne and Caroline Shaw.
Yo-Yo Ma + Edgar Meyer + Chris Thile, April 21 at Symphony Hall
The acclaimed cellist, bassist and mandolist perform works of J.S. Bach behind their album The Bach Trios, out April 7.
Handel and Haydn Society’s Semele, May 5 and 7 at Symphony Hall
H+H closes its season with a production of Handel’s once-scandalous oratorio.
Queen Latifah and the Boston Pops, May 10-11 at Symphony Hall
The Grammy-winning stage and screen queen lends the Pops her pipes for opening night.
JAZZ
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis: Buddy Rich Centennial, April 9 at Symphony Hall
The venerable trumpeter leads the orchestra in honoring the virtuoso drummer.
Nellie McKay: A Girl Named Bill, April 13 at Regattabar
The vocalist performs a tribute to late transgender jazz legend Billy Tipton.
Cecile McLorin Salvant, April 22 at Scullers
The 2016 Grammy winner for Best Jazz Vocal Album works the room for two shows.
AZIZA, May 6 at Sanders Theatre
The jazz supergroup (Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Lionel Loueke and Eric Harland) performs behind their just-dropped eponymous album.
THE IMPROPER’S 2017 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: COMEDY | THEATER | VISUAL ARTS | DANCE | FILM
Music to Your Ears
Your Spring '17 Concert Preview
By Alexandra Cavallo March 10, 2017
Glory Reigns
In the late ’90s, New Found Glory gave voice to legions of teens with asymmetrical haircuts and messy feelings. Two decades later, both the band and their early listeners have grown up, but they’re still rocking—and gaining new fans with every album. We caught up with guitarist/vocalist Chad Gilbert ahead of the band’s NFG: 20 Years of Pop Punk Tour, which stops at the Paradise Rock Club for back-to-back shows on March 29-31.
How does it feel to be on a 20th anniversary tour? As a fan, I know I feel old! It’s really cool. I can’t believe it’s been 20 years. I can’t believe time’s flown by so fast. At the same time, it’s weird because I kind of thought I’d be more tired or bitter or jaded by the time we hit 20 years. But, man, I’ve got to tell you there’s a light in our band that just makes me excited, because each of us is as excited about our new album as we are about this 20-year tour. I feel like we still have a drive and a hunger, and I feel our fans feel that way too. It’s cool because, I think even though there’s a lot of nostalgia that will be felt at the shows, it’s not just a bunch of our old fans coming back, it’s new fans who didn’t listen to punk when those records came out. It doesn’t feel like it’s just reliving something.
So you think the audiences will be a mix of new fans and diehards? Yeah, I think it’s both. We don’t just exist in our old catalog; we always believed in pushing our new albums. There are a lot of people who discovered us off of Resurrection. They weren’t alive when Nothing Gold Can Stay came out. Nothing Gold Can Stay came out in ’99, and some of our fans were born in, like, 2000! It’s really cool. I think that’s why I don’t mind playing the old records. I think that’s why I don’t mind playing the old records because the odds that you were into punk rock when this stuff—especially Nothing Gold Can Stay—actually came out are very slim. It’s cool to be able to sort of give [new] fans what they never would have had the chance of seeing.
Does your early music still resonate with you? I look at it in a way that you would look at an old photo. If you were going through old photos of yourself, from when you were a teenager … you wouldn’t want to be that person today. But you’re able to look at it and appreciate it for what it was and what it is. I think that’s how I can relate to those old records. Do I feel the same as I did when I was a teenager? No. Would I write songs with the same lyrics now? We wouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean when you look at your past that you’re like, “That sucked.” It’s awesome that we were a part of that.
You’re married [to Hayley Williams of Paramore] now. How does touring compare to when you were a bunch of young dudes in a van? You value both more. We value our family time, and we value our lives and our families. We love having real responsibilities. Because we’ve toured for so long, a lot of our lives were spent on the road so we really appreciate home life. But at the same time, being home and being married, you learn that “Hey, we have this gift, this band,” and we value it more now. And having a home life … gives you this sort of confidence… You can play music just for the passion of it. You can be more sincere. You can be less concerned about outside perspective because you have a home foundation.
Can you see yourself doing this for another 20 years? A 40-year anniversary tour? [Laughs.] Yeah, I definitely do. … There’s no feeling like playing. Does touring get really hard sometimes? Yeah. Does home life get hard sometimes? Yeah. But playing on stage is always fun, so maybe we won’t tour six months out of the year on our 40th anniversary tour, but we’ll always be a band. Nothing will ever keep us from wanting to go somewhere and play a show.
THE IMPROPER’S 2017 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: COMEDY | THEATER | VISUAL ARTS | DANCE | FILM
By Alexandra Cavallo | Photo Credit: Map rendering: Alina Daragon
Answering the Call
This spring marks some big changes for Boston Calling, which makes an inaugural move to a new venue—the Harvard Athletic Complex in Allston—and pares down its biannual format to a once-a-year event.When the lineup for Boston Calling 2017 was revealed in January, the internet went nuts, with major national outlets like Billboard calling it a “lineup festival dreams are made of,” and Consequence of Sound proclaiming “Boston Calling just made music festival lineups great again.” But the bill—running the gamut from headliners like alt-titans Tool, folk troubadours Mumford & Sons and indie-rap upstart/recent Grammy sweeper Chance the Rapper to a host of eclectic talent in indie rock, hip-hop, emo and folk—isn’t the only reason to get psyched about this May’s fest.
“We felt we were outgrowing City Hall Plaza, just on a square footage basis,” says Boston Calling co-founder Brian Appel. “We wanted to add more bands. We wanted to have more activations and activities… and the plaza was not getting any bigger. So we had been looking at new space for a while, and we were really fortunate that Harvard was open to having a conversation with us. … Our number one goal was to keep it within the city of Boston.”
The added square footage at Harvard’s athletic fields has afforded festival organizers the chance to expand booking capabilities. “We were able to get bands that we never would have been able to get before, like Tool,” Appel says. “And being able to book 45 bands instead of 23 allows you to be a lot more diverse and take some more risks. Trevor [Solomon], our booker, was able to go out and book a really good rock festival that has, like, 10 great rock bands on it—which is hard to find these days.”
The scope of the music isn’t the only thing generating buzz this spring—they’ve also added a film component, with Harvard alum Natalie Portman curating a film festival that will run concurrent with the music.
“It was just perfect timing because she went to Harvard and now we have an indoor venue; doing film outdoors is very problematic and tricky,” Appel explains. “She became very engaged and interested in working on this project, which we’re very humbled by because she’s in the middle of Academy Awards season, and pregnant.”
Lest festival-goers worry that this year’s star-studded additions herald a departure from the grassroots sensibility that marked the festival’s beginning, Appel says local bands (this year including the Hotelier and Vundabar) will continue to secure prime spots on the bill. “We got asked at an Allston community meeting if we were going to do a local stage, and our answer is that we don’t think locals should be annexed to a smaller stage,” he says. “We will put Boston bands on every Boston Calling festival, and they will always play the main stages.”
THE IMPROPER’S 2017 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: COMEDY | THEATER | VISUAL ARTS | DANCE | FILM
By Alexandra Cavallo | Photo Credit: Bebe Rexha: Dennis Leupold
Mark Your Calendar
From rock to jazz, spring is full of sound ideas.
ROCK
The Menzingers, April 1 at Royale
The post-punk rockers tour behind solid, nostalgia-laced new LP After the Party.
Weakened Friends, April 5 at Great Scott
This female-fronted Portland/Boston garage rock trio headline a local bill.
Rock & Roll Rumble Finals, April 21 at ONCE Ballroom
After three weeks of faceoffs with 24 local acts, a final winner is crowned.
Mastodon, May 8 at the House of Blues
The heavy metal behemoths rage into town behind their new conceptual album Emperor of Sand.
Ryan Adams, May 10 at the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
The prolific folkie and T-Swift cover pro plays the waterfront with Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis.
POP
Bebe Rexha, March 27 at Royale
The on-the-rise G-Eazy and David Guetta collaborator embarks on her first headlining tour.
John Mayer, April 9 at the TD Garden
The “Your Body is a Wonderland” crooner-turned-able-Jerry-Garcia-fill-in headlines an arena show.
Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, April 8 at House of Blues
The Something Corporate/Jack’s Mannequin frontman channels more mature emo sensibilities into this side project.
Betty Who, April 15 at Royale
The Berklee-bred pop princess continues her rise to stardom behind her new album, due out March 24.
Steve Winwood, April 27 at the Orpheum Theatre
The 60-something British hitmaker sees if he can still get high.
HIP-HOP/R&B
Vince Staples, March 28 at the Paradise Rock Club
The Long Beach rap wunderkind and onetime Odd Future protege keeps it weird on his Life
Aquatic tour.
Saba, March 30 at Brighton Music Hall
The Chicago upstart and Chance the Rapper collaborator checks some boxes off his Bucket List Project.
Big Sean, April 4 at the House of Blues
The surprisingly svelte Detroit emcee is finally ready to make his big league leap.
Erykah Badu, April 28 at the House of Blues
The neo-soul queen marks her 20-year anniversary of Baduizm.
Future, May 23 at the Xfinity Center
The Atlanta rhymer and current Billboard dominator takes over Mansfield.
CLASSICAL
A Roomful of Teeth and A Far Cry, April 13 at Sanders Theatre
A Grammy-winning vocal ensemble and a local 17-piece collective team up to perform works by Ted Hearne and Caroline Shaw.
Yo-Yo Ma + Edgar Meyer + Chris Thile, April 21 at Symphony Hall
The acclaimed cellist, bassist and mandolist perform works of J.S. Bach behind their album The Bach Trios, out April 7.
Handel and Haydn Society’s Semele, May 5 and 7 at Symphony Hall
H+H closes its season with a production of Handel’s once-scandalous oratorio.
Queen Latifah and the Boston Pops, May 10-11 at Symphony Hall
The Grammy-winning stage and screen queen lends the Pops her pipes for opening night.
JAZZ
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis: Buddy Rich Centennial, April 9 at Symphony Hall
The venerable trumpeter leads the orchestra in honoring the virtuoso drummer.
Nellie McKay: A Girl Named Bill, April 13 at Regattabar
The vocalist performs a tribute to late transgender jazz legend Billy Tipton.
Cecile McLorin Salvant, April 22 at Scullers
The 2016 Grammy winner for Best Jazz Vocal Album works the room for two shows.
AZIZA, May 6 at Sanders Theatre
The jazz supergroup (Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Lionel Loueke and Eric Harland) performs behind their just-dropped eponymous album.
THE IMPROPER’S 2017 SPRING ARTS PREVIEW: COMEDY | THEATER | VISUAL ARTS | DANCE | FILM
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