Tag Archives: Terminal 5
Childish Gambino – Terminal 5 – November 3, 2011
November 4th, 2011
Evanescence – Terminal 5 – November 1, 2011
November 2nd, 2011
Third Day Comes to Terminal 5 Tomorrow
November 1st, 2011
Church can bring people together, which is exactly what happened when Mac Powell (vocals and guitar) and Mark Lee (guitar and vocals) were playing at theirs the same night as Tai Anderson (bass and vocals) and David Carr (drums) were. Suddenly Third Day became a quartet. Actually, there were five of them, but in 1993 Billy Wilkins (keys) left the band to become a teacher. No matter, Third Day, an LP bridging Christian rock and Southern rock—a sound that would stay with the band—came out in 1996. Since then the group has toured across the US and abroad and put out a slew of new music. Their 10th and most recent studio album, Move, came out about a year ago. And Georgia Music Hall of Fame members Third Day (above, performing “Revelation” on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson) play Terminal 5 tomorrow night.
Grow a Pair: Win Free Tickets to See Chromeo on 11/5
November 1st, 2011
The electrofunk duo Chromeo comes to town to play Terminal 5 on Friday and Saturday. Both shows are sold out, but The House List is giving away two tickets to the one on Saturday. So if you’d like to go but don’t already have tickets, try to Grow a Pair. Just fill out the form below, making sure to include your full name, e-mail address, which show you’re trying to win tickets to (Chromeo, 11/5) and a brief message explaining how you fared, musically speaking, in Rocktober. Eddie Bruiser, who did pretty well for himself, will notify the winner by Friday. Good luck.
Three Sets, Two Bands and a Snowstorm
October 31st, 2011Medeski Martin & Wood/Antibalas – Terminal 5 – October 29, 2011
What are you dressing up as? It’s the annual question every Halloween. This past Saturday, the night most people were out celebrating, it was New York City itself wearing a costume. The whole city dressed as winter with a crazy October snowstorm. What better way to celebrate a freak storm than with some freak music: Medeski, Martin & Wood and Antibalas at Terminal 5. While some brave folks wore costumes, most in attendance dressed like they were just trying to stay warm and dry, and once the music started, there was no problem there.
Antibalas got the crowd moving with a solid set of Brooklyn-style Afrobeat so that by the time MMW took the stage, no one was thinking about what was going on outside. The trio, celebrating a 20th anniversary, has spent the entire year playing like there’s another 20 years ahead. The set list was by request—fans were invited to choose the songs they wanted to hear most online. The result was a show heavy on groovers almost exclusively from two early albums, Friday Afternoon in the Universe and Shack-man, as well as a great rare-cover bust out of “Psychedelic Sally.” John Medeski was dressed as a sumo wrestler and attacked all manner of keyboards, on songs like “Last Chance to Dance Trance (Perhaps),” with the artful reckless abandon of those massive athletes. Chris Wood was either Uncle Sam or Noel Redding, most likely the latter, but I prefer to think it was the former because he unleashed an arsenal of nasty bass playing like it was his patriotic duty on classic numbers like “Chubb Sub.” And Billy Martin was Cookie Monster, appropriate because he was gobbling up the rhythms on tunes like “Bubblehouse” without care of what kind of crumbs he’d left behind.
As if that weren’t enough, there was a third set with Medeski, Martin & Wood and Antibalas playing together. With 15 musicians onstage, the effect was like dumping out your pillowcase after a night of trick-or-treating. With the colorful array of chocolate and nougat and candy coating, the first reaction was “this might be a little too much.” But once they all started playing, the result was a fabulous Frankengroove merging the best parts of each group. The highlight was a big-band take on the Halloween-appropriate MMW tune “Dracula,” with the lights going purple and dark and the music following into deep, mysterious territory. It was as transcendent as a snowstorm in October. —A. Stein
MMW and Antibalas Host a Pumpkin-Carving Contest
October 26th, 2011Halloween isn’t a traditional holiday in the sense that people go home to spend time with their families. Instead they do something with their friends. And this year Medeski Martin & Wood (above, doing “Broken Mirror”) will be celebrating with their friends Antibalas (perhaps you saw them as the house band in the Broadway smash Fela!) at Terminal 5 on Saturday. The jazz-funk experimentalist trio and the Brooklyn groove ensemble will each play a set followed by one performed together. Expect plenty of Afrobeat, funk, hip-hop and Latin jazz. And expect to have a blast.
And since this is in celebration of Halloween, the two groups will host a pumpkin-carving contest. So bring your fantastically carved pumpkin to the venue between 6 and 6:30. The competition will be held on the roof deck at 6:45. Band members will select their favorite pumpkin, and the winner will receive a goodie bag of merch and six drink tickets as well as a chance meet and chat with the bands. All pumpkins must be carved in advance. Bring an LED light to place inside your pumpkin. (No candles permitted.) Please place your name inside your pumpkin. No admittance to the venue without a ticket.
Portugal. The Man Slays Terminal 5
October 21st, 2011Portugal. The Man – Terminal 5 – October 20, 2011
Lots of bands play New York City. Probably a zillion of them this week for CMJ alone. But not all of them do New York City the way Portugal. The Man does, with extra shows and secret sets that you’re likely to miss if you’re not paying attention. Already this week has seen two intimate acoustic sets in the same afternoon around town. So when playing their biggest headlining show to date at Terminal 5 last night, there was little doubt that it would be more than just another show.
Taking the stage in a cloud of smoke, the band opened with “So American” off their newest album, In the Mountain in the Cloud. Instead of continuing with new material, the band ripped through 30 minutes of older stuff (like “AKA M80 the Wolf”), strobe-light-induced jams and an in-your-face cover of the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” before even touching another new track. From there, the band zigzagged through their catalog, barely pausing for breath.
Portugal. The Man was a dichotomy in action, the Young Lady or an Old Hag? illusion. Is this a band that plays irresistible pop songs that had the entire room singing along to every chorus or is it one that turns its back on the audience, letting itself get lost in the smoke and lights with dragon-slaying guitar? Were those psychedelic orbs populating the stage oversize ping-pong balls succumbing to gravity’s will or were they bubbles escaping to the sky? After a 100-minute set of Portugal. The Man doing New York City like few do, including a five-song encore (that included the clever coupling of their “People Say” into a cover of its musical cousin Oasis’ “Don’t Look Back in Anger”), the answer of course is: either. Or both. Depends on how you look at it. —A. Stein
Spend Friday Night with Never Shout Never at Terminal 5
October 20th, 2011
It’s safe to say Christofer Drew got started early. He began making music, as Never Shout Never, when he was just 14 years old. Those songs eventually found their way to MySpace before Drew released The Yippee EP in 2008. A longer recording, somewhere between and EP and LP with a focus on acoustic emo, What Is Love?, followed next. But Drew’s third effort, Time Travel, has a different feel with a whole-band sound. Check it out for yourself when Never Shout Never (above, playing “Coffee & Cigarettes” for billboard.com) comes to Terminal 5 tomorrow.
Odd Future Thrills Terminal 5
October 20th, 2011Odd Future – Terminal 5 – October 19, 2011
Odd Future—the short form of Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All—is a hip-hop collective, although that doesn’t properly explain the group’s appeal. About a year ago, they emerged from Internet stardom and began performing their playful creations to small crowds. But with a combination of crude lyrics paired with sinister beats and ecstatic live shows, their profile rapidly rose. The tipping point came in February when two of the group’s members—de facto leader Tyler the Creator and supercharged menace Hodgy Beats—performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. And now, at the height of their popularity, Odd Future filled Terminal 5 on Wednesday, a school night for many of the all-ages attendees.
Mythology, symbolism and style surround Odd Future’s culture. A motto, “Free Earl,” appeared on numerous T-shirts, and a sheet hung over the back of the stage with a Photoshopped cat in the clouds and the OFWGKTA cross on the bottom. And when the group flooded the stage, most members were dressed in their signature style: skater shoes, tube socks and baseball T-shirts.
The band seemed humbled by the size of the venue. “This is a lot of fucking people,” said an initially bemused Tyler. But, as the show progressed, most members adapted their energy to engage the fans. During showstopper “French,” Tyler and Hodgy threw themselves off the second-floor balcony and into the crowd, a thrilling sight. And, while Tyler seemed agitated to perform his YouTube sensation “Yonkers,” most knew the lyrics and answered the call to rap the first few lines. Because second to Odd Future’s music is participating in the movement. —Jared Levy
Photos courtesy of Alexis Maindrault | www.rockinpix.com
(Odd Future plays The Wellmont Theatre tonight.)
A Smashing Return
October 19th, 2011Smashing Pumpkins – Terminal 5 – October 18, 2011
An early set time of 8:45 p.m. seemed odd for the Smashing Pumpkins, that is, until they began what turned into a muscular two-hour show last night at Terminal 5. The band sounded phenomenal, picking up where they left off at this same venue just over a year ago, the polish possibly a product of them finally hitting their stride with the newer touring lineup behind frontman Billy Corgan. You could hear and even feel each drum hit, heavy bassline and wah-wah-pedaled note that came from Corgan’s guitar, all without it being incoherently loud.
The set was missing many of the band’s big hits, but those are all more than a decade old, so the inclusion of only a few makes sense at this point (especially since newer material has been released in the last few years). And the omission of songs like “1979” didn’t seem to bother much the fans in attendance; most heads didn’t break their gaze focused on the shimmering stage before them, which was decked out in all sorts of flashy and reflective surfaces ranging from a giant, glass-covered fan to a circular LED screen behind drummer Mike Byrne that featured kaleidoscopic imagery throughout most of each song.
There was always something to look at or listen to (even while the band switched instruments between songs there were audio interludes and big-top lights that flashed). Not only has the storied alt-rock band returned to form with their live show, the fans last night showed they were no longer just here for the hits. —Sean O’Kane
CMJ Music Marathon Starts Today
October 18th, 2011
It’s that time of year again: 20-minute sets; in midtown one minute, the Lower East Side the next; scarfing down food with minutes to spare before the next show. From Mercury Lounge to The Bowery Ballroom and beyond, the CMJ Music Marathon is upon us. Here’re which bands we’re specifically looking forward to seeing play live. New York City quintet Caveman transfers any pop sensibilities into a dreamy landscape of lush indie harmonies through love, nostalgia and other sentiments. In support of their debut, CoCo Beware, Caveman will play 10 shows during CMJ, including the Bowery Presents showcase on 10/22 at Pianos. —Tina Benitez
The CMJ Music Marathon, now in its 31st year, is back to make five days in October seem impossible to navigate. Expect packed lineups at each venue because every band you ever wanted to see is in town. The supergroup Wild Flag, featuring Mary Timony, from Helium, and Carrie Brownstein, of Sleater Kinney among others, kicks off things tonight at The Bowery Ballroom. And at the same time Afro-punk Presents Death to Hip-Hop, featuring technical death-metal pioneers Death and Brooklyn’s own skate-pizza punk, Cerebral Ballzy, whose name really says it all. Wednesday’s pick has to be the ever-controversial indie rap group Odd Future at Terminal 5. Then on Thursday try to get into the sold-out lineup at Mercury Lounge, with garage-rock Xray Eyeballs and Florida’s Jacuzzi Boys, followed by Memoryhouse’s atmospheric shoegaze and finally, J. Mascis. You will show up at 6:30 and stay the entire night. Friday has more fuzzed-out pop with Dum Dum Girls and Crocodiles at The Bowery Ballroom, and if you sleep over, on Saturday, Gang Gang Dance’s experimental electronic beats just might give you a chance to recover. And then sleep on Sunday for 24 hours before work. That’s your CMJ. —Jason Dean
Last year I spent the majority of CMJ camped out at Terminal 5 for My Morning Jacket. But this year I plan to get around. Not everyone has an abundance of free time, so if you can only hit one show, my money’s on the High Road Touring showcase at The Bowery Ballroom on 10/20. And despite it being a stellar lineup from top to bottom, for me the No. 1 band to check out during the whole festival is Alabama Shakes (above, playing “I Found You” for Live from the Shoals). The quartet, out of small-town Athens, Ala., has a four-song EP and an incredible bluesy-soul sound. You won’t want to miss Brittany Howard’s voice. Sure, she’s a postal worker by day, but she’s a bona fide rock star by night. Don’t miss this. You’ll be able to tell your friends you saw this band at the very beginning. —R. Zizmor
Grow a Pair: Win Free Tickets to See Odd Future on 10/19
October 18th, 2011
Hip-hop collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All—sometimes known as Odd Future, at other times as OFWGKTA—comes to town for two shows this week. Tickets remain for The Wellmont Theatre on Thursday. But if you want to see the group’s sold-out show tomorrow at Terminal 5 and don’t already have tickets, your best bet is to try to Grow a Pair from The House List. Just fill out the form below, being sure to include your full name, e-mail address, which show you’re trying to win tickets to (Odd Future, 10/19) and a brief message explaining who you’re most excited during CMJ and why. Eddie Bruiser, who’s got a long list himself, will notify the winner tomorrow. Good luck.
The Royal Family Ball Comes to Terminal 5
October 14th, 2011
Soulive (Alan Evans on drums, Neal Evans on the Hammond B3 and Eric Krasno on guitar) formed in the late ’90s and has been bringing its own bluesy, jammy brand of jazz, funk, classic rock and R&B to the dancing masses ever since. Krasno joined the brothers Evans for a recording session in Woodstock in 1999, which eventually became their first EP, Get Down! A host of discs has followed, including last year’s Rubber Soulive, which, as you can imagine, reinterpreted the Beatles. But despite the trio’s recorded virtuosity, far and away the best way to experience these guys is live, which works out great because Soulive (above, doing “Eleanor Rigby” > “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”) hosts the Royal Family Ball—with all sorts of friends, including Lettuce, Roy Hargrove, Pharoahe Monch, Rahzel, Raul Midón and the Shady Horns—tomorrow night at Terminal 5.
Dressed to Impress
October 14th, 2011Iron & Wine – Terminal 5 – October 13, 2011
When Sam Beam (d.b.a. Iron & Wine) came on the scene, his music was the lo-fi comfort of well-worn jeans and a T-shirt, almost literally a guy in his basement with an acoustic guitar. With each new album and tour, the outfit has become more and more elaborate so that last night at Terminal 5, when Iron & Wine took the stage, the musical equivalent of a sharp-dressed man, gussied up from head to toe in the finest duds and a $300 haircut to match. No less than 12 musicians filled the stage with a full horn section and three backup singers, giving the band more of a Saturday-night soul-revue feel than a folk-rock ensemble.
Opening with “Rabbit Will Run” off this year’s Kiss Each Other Clean, it was clear that every sound and detail had been meticulously placed. Flutes, horns, guitar and vocals all perfectly assembled, the music came off as both heavy and light at the same time. Going through the newer material, the band hinted at gospel, blues, funk and rock, with the mellow, soft side of Iron & Wine being the exception. At times, it seemed that Beam himself was superfluous to all that surrounded him.
But, contrary to what they say, the clothes don’t make the man; the man makes the man. Iron & Wine still is Sam Beam, whether in Armani or in Levi’s, as a brilliant stretch of older tunes near the end of the set left no doubt. Beam shined on a funked-up “Boy with a Coin,” “Peace Beneath the City” and a drawn-out spacey “Woman King” that went into a slow-burn baritone-sax solo. Not surprisingly, it was a superlative “Naked as We Came” with Beam, a mandolin and some support from his singers that was the highlight of the show. It was just Iron & Wine—the lyrics, the voice, the delicate melody, the coziest pair of jeans in the closet. —A. Stein
Photos courtesy of Alexis Maindrault | www.rockinpix.com
