The National – Beacon Theatre – December 15, 2011
December 16th, 2011
(The National play the Beacon Theatre tonight and tomorrow.)
Tag Archives: Gregg Greenwood
Lykke Li – The Wellmont Theatre – November 17, 2011
November 18th, 2011
St. Vincent – Webster Hall – November 3, 2011
November 4th, 2011
An Electronic Madness
November 2nd, 2011Battles – Webster Hall – November 1, 2011
Surprise is no longer an appropriate reaction when it comes to technology’s entanglement with music. Pro Tools, pedals and amplifiers are now mainstays of live performances, expanding timbral possibilities beyond acoustic capability. To believe otherwise is to impose delusion on reality. The more appropriate response is awe and wonder. Try matching sound to sight and you’re more likely to become dizzy than echolocate instrumentation. But that challenge makes bands like Battles a thoroughly engaging show, with the eyes, ears and mind.
On Tuesday night at Webster Hall, Battles returned to a “hometown crowd” for the first time since April. The band is currently touring in support of its latest album, Gloss Drop, the first without former band member Tyondai Braxton. And, while his vocal contributions are missed, they aren’t forgotten. Without a singer, Battles’ live show relies on recorded vocal tracks from Braxton as well as recent Gloss Drop contributors, like Matias Aguayo and Gary Numan. The trick is Battles matches the vocals to video projections of the singers, a clever way to humanize the sound.
But outside of watching the band and the screens, Battles’ performance is most appreciated in its ingenuity and physicality. Multi-instrumentalists Ian Williams and Dave Konopka constantly trigger loops and tinker with sounds while drummer John Stanier pounds mercilessly against his drum kit, highlighted by an elevated ride cymbal. During performances of crowd pleasers “Atlas” and “Ice Cream,” all three melded their seemingly incongruous parts into a whole, astonishingly sounding like pop music. It is electronic madness—enough so to inspire periodic moshing, but Battles always finds a way to make it both difficult and enjoyable. —Jared Levy
Big Audio Dynamite – Brooklyn Bowl – August 3, 2011
August 4th, 2011
Beady Eye – Webster Hall – June 23, 2011
June 24th, 2011
Lykke Li – Webster Hall – May 17, 2011
May 18th, 2011
(Lykke Li’s show at Webster Hall tonight is sold out.)
Twilight Singers – Webster Hall – May 13, 2011
May 16th, 2011
The Kills – Terminal 5 – April 29, 2011
May 2nd, 2011
Femi Kuti & the Positive Force – Music Hall – April 26, 2011
April 28th, 2011
PJ Harvey’s Voice Is a Weapon
April 21st, 2011PJ Harvey – Terminal 5 – April 20, 2011
Looking a bit otherworldly in a floor-length white gown with a flurry of black feathers atop her head, PJ Harvey hugged an autoharp to her chest and gave a small nod to the crowd at the start of the second of two sold-out shows at Terminal 5. Touring in support of Let England Shake, her new record inspired by the history of conflict and war, Harvey’s set contained songs full of arresting imagery, tales of violence and destruction and ruminations on death.
Despite the serious subject matter, Harvey and her band, comprised of album-collaborators John Parish, Mick Harvey and Jean-Marc Butty, set a tone that was anything but somber. In fact, the show was largely lively, with intricate guitars and upbeat drums complementing Harvey’s sound, which at times recalled hints of Nick Cave, Kate Bush, Björk and Tom Waits. Numbers like “The Words That Maketh Murder” and “C’mon Billy” highlighted the nice contrast between Harvey’s delicate voice and the appealingly gruff, soft-edged backing vocals from the male musicians.
Harvey alternated between autoharp and electric and acoustic guitars throughout the set, but perhaps the most engaging moments of the evening came when she sang empty-handed, during songs like “The Devil” and “Pocket Knife,” slowly and gracefully swaying to the music, letting the focus rest on her powerful voice as it moved from bright and operatic to deep and throaty. Although Harvey sings about the extreme power of tanks and guns in her new songs, at Terminal 5 last night, her voice was perhaps the most powerful weapon of all. —Alena Kastin
Photos courtesy of Gregg Greenwood | www.gregggreenwood.com
LCD Soundsystem – Madison Square Garden – April 2, 2011
April 4th, 2011
LCD Soundsystem – Terminal 5 – March 30, 2011
March 31st, 2011
A Friday Rock Show at Terminal 5
March 28th, 2011Queens of the Stone Age – Terminal 5 – March 25, 2011
Appropriate for a band of their stature, Queens of the Stone Age fit an arena-sized show into Terminal 5 on Friday night. In between songs from their 1998 self-titled album (which they are playing in full at each stop on this tour to help celebrate its rerelease), lead singer Josh Homme showed his veteran rocker chops by playing to the crowd’s favor. “This city isn’t a bunch of fucking sheep—it’s a bunch of individuals,” he proclaimed between cigarette puffs.
The band took time working through the classic debut album, spending just more than an hour on the 11 fuzz-heavy tracks while throwing in some musical embellishments along the way. Guitar solos at times bounced among the three members with axes, making as much fun as they could out of songs more than a decade old. But returning for their first encore, Homme reset the tone: “Now we’re just here to have fun. The hard part’s over.” More familiar tracks like “Little Sister” seemed to rock a bit harder without the weight of reminiscence hanging over them.
A second round of encore performances featured an even looser and more fun attitude, as the band grinned through the sweet-sounding “Make It wit Chu” and rounded out the night with their megahit, “No One Knows.” The totally professional rockers that they are, Queens of the Stone Age showed they can mix nostalgia, swagger and a whole arena’s worth of rock into any venue they play, giving the crowd more than their money’s worth. —Sean O’Kane
Photos courtesy of Gregg Greenwood | www.gregggreenwood.com
