Authors: Ryan Michael Painter
Ride @ Metro Music Hall 09.21 with Lo Moon
We’ve gathered for what feels like a surprise party to celebrate Ride, a four-headed Lazarus of shoegaze origin that seduced crowds in the early ’90s. … read more
The Alarm @ The State Room 08.21 with New Shack
You see, if you haven’t seen The Alarm’s Mike Peters live, you’ve never really experienced his songs in the way that they were intended. … read more
Retro Futura Tour @ Red Butte 07.23 with Howard Jones,...
For this appearance, Jones had his usual array of keyboards and a backing band consisting of a keyboardist, two drummers and a guitarist. … read more
OK, So This is Pop Perfection: Poptone @ The Depot...
The night is filled with Tones on Tail tracks, five of which I’ve never had the opportunity to hear live. Maybe I’m more hungry for the songs that I haven’t seen live in 15 years, but I think a large part of what makes tonight work better than the 2002 tour show the presence of Haskins and Dompe. This is Poptone storming the stage. … read more
Damned and Loving It
Those who know their music history would tell you that, 40 years ago, The Damned were the first punk band to release a single, press an album and then break up and get back together. The rest is a little complicated. … read more
Cold Cave: Pomp and Discontent @ Urban Lounge 01.13 with...
Friday the 13th: an ominous and seemingly perfect date to watch Wesley Eisold and friends rattle the cage of discontent with a sound that takes the electro-punk aesthetic of Suicide and merges it with the songsmith of New Order—a discordant pop that references the past, but feels comfortably progressive. Everything that is old resurrected for future use. … read more
Midge Ure, the Once and Future New Romantic
My introduction to Ure was somewhat untraditional in the sense that I knew him as a solo artist before I learned of his work as a member of Visage and Ultravox. … read more
Morrissey: Rumors of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated @...
I’ve left many Morrissey concerts in something of a daze. It’s that strange sensation where you’ve been treated to something special, but had it snatched away from you before you were ready to see it go. … read more
Cyndi Lauper: Fearless, Reckless Friend @ The Depot 09.20 with Charlie...
With her multi-colored and ratted-out hair and bizarre fashion sense that bridged aspects of punk and new wave with something entirely her own, Lauper was the most outrageous person I had ever seen, and the world admired and celebrated her for her uniqueness. … read more
Garbage: Star-Crossed and Dreaming @ The Complex 09.16 with Cigarettes...
There’s always been an extra edge to Garbage live, an element of chaos that doesn’t typically come through on the records, and tonight, there’s a particularly aggressive undercurrent as Shirley Manson stalks the stage. … read more