Chrissie Hynde @ Rockwood Music Hall in August (more by Kurt Christensen)

Chrissie Hynde's new band didn't take very long to get things going. After playing some of their first shows over the summer, at random venues like Brooklyn Bowl for free, and Rockwood Music Hall and the Apple Store, JP, Chrissie & the Fairground Boys are now on a proper North American tour that hits Irving Plaza in NYC tonight (9/25). Tickets cost almost $50. All dates below...

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photos by Kurt Christensen

Chrissie Hynde's new band [played] Rockwood Music Hall [Monday] night. To say that JP, Chrissie and the Fairground Boys are the best project she's taken on in over twenty years is not the compliment it could be, but she proved that she's still got a way with a catchy hook and a spine-tingling vocal style that just keeps getting more and more exquisite. Hynde has never sung better: what a voice, what subtlety and nuance. She said more in just the minute inflection of a blue note, or those little melismas that she lets fall away, wounded but graceful, than most singers can relate over the course of a whole album. Yet what was most inspiring about the show - which went on for over an hour - was that much of the material was up to the level of that voice. Alongside Hynde, her boyfriend JP Jones (formerly of tuneful, anthemic British rockers Grace) and lead guitarist Patrick Murdoch switched back and forth between acoustic and electric guitar: when all three were playing, they frequently evoked the swampy Americana of Moby Grape, the 1960s Bay Area band they credit as a primary inspiration. [Lucid Culture]

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JP, Chrissie, & the Fairground Boys (featuring Chrissie Hynde & JP Jones) have some more upcoming shows scheduled including August 9th at Rockwood Music Hall's "Stage 2" (tickets), and August 10th at the Apple Store in SoHo (free). All dates below...

Continue reading "Chrissie Hynde's band playing 2 NYC shows & other dates"

"J P, Chrissie and the Fairground Boys - Biography by Chrissie Hynde I first met J. P. Jones in London, November 2008. I was propping up the bar on my own at a party at The Double Club in Highbury.. I was about 5 screwdrivers in when some scruffy boy-band looking guy sauntered over to the freebie bar.. He was pretty hammered too, but we managed enough of a conversation for me to ascertain that he was a musician; recently gone solo after his band 'Grace' split, and grew up on a fairground in Wales... [stuff happened].... The Fairground Boys are, Patrick Murdock on guitar, Vezio Baccio , bass, Geoff Holroyde , drums and Sam Swallow on piano /keyboards. Chrissie Hynde , January 2010

Continue reading "JP Chrissie & The Fairground Boys = Chrissie Hynde's new band (playing a free show in Brooklyn tonight) "

photos by Chris La Putt

"Friday night's show at the Chevrolet Theatre in Wallingford was not just an exercise in nostalgia as playing songs from "Concrete" was Hynde's main objective. Eight of the night's 20 songs were from the new disc and Hynde was far from worried about disappointing the fans that came just for the classic cuts.

"We're going to be throwing some new songs at you," she said early in the set. "I hope you like them; if not, tough." [CT Post]

Continue reading "The Pretenders, Cat Power & Juliette Lewis @ Central Park Summerstage in NYC - pics (and a tour setlist)"

The Pretenders @ the Stone Pony Summerstage (relaxing)

"Fans going to the two New York metropolitan area Pretenders concerts -- August 9 at the Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park, NJ [last night], and August 10 at the Central Park SummerStage in New York, NY [tonight] -- might want to [save their appetites] before they enter the venues.

Concert promoter Live Nation is supporting Chrissie Hynde's vegetarian initiatives by removing all meat products from the venues, as well as providing a special vegetarian BBQ for radio contest winners at the Central Park show. Hynde is a longtime and well-known vegetarian and PETA activist." [TicketNews]

photos by Natasha Ryan

Chrissie Hynde has done it again.
Over the past three decades, she has often reinvented The Pretenders - sometimes to suit her changing tastes, sometimes out of tragic necessity. The current incarnation of The Pretenders, the ones behind last year's standout album "Break Up the Concrete," may be the most potent lineup since the original one.
This quintet - Hynde, longtime drummer Martin Chambers, guitarist James Walbourne and pedal steel guitarist Eric Heywood, and bassist Nick Wilkinson - is rooted more in Americana than British rock, but that doesn't mean Hynde has left her punk roots behind. They've actually forged a new sound on this tour, revving up some of the "Concrete" tracks and prettifying some of the poppier songs from the Pretenders catalog.
Some songs, like the new "Boots of Chinese Plastic" and "Don't Cut Your Hair," clocked in faster and more intense than their recorded versions. The classic "Thumbelina" seemed like it could catch fire as it rocketed to a cowpunk ending, while "Don't Get Me Wrong" sped up and got drenched in reverb.... [Newsday]

Continue reading "The Pretenders @ Roseland Ballroom, NYC - pics & setlist"

'Years of Refusal' - the new studio album from Morrissey - will be released on February 16th, 2009, preceded by the single 'I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris', released on February 9th.

'I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris' will be supported by two new songs 'Because Of My Poor Education' and 'Shame Is The Name', the latter featuring additional vocals by Chrissie Hynde.

Chrissie Hynde also has some upcoming shows scheduled. All known Morrissey dates below...

Continue reading "Morrissey - new album, 2009 Tour Dates (Carnegie Hall?)"

The Pretenders @ Highline Ballroom (more by Dese'Rae L. Stage)

The Pretenders announced a tour through North American starting January 29 at the Palace Theatre in Albany, NY with the final show taking place on March 14 in Reno, Nevada. The tour is the band's first extensive headlining tour since 2003.

The Pretenders touring line up of Chrissie Hynde Martin Chambers, James Walbourne, Eric Heywood, and Nick Wilkinson is touring in support of the band's ninth album, Break Up The Concrete, which was released through Shangri-La Music in October of 2008. The album, which Rolling Stone lauded as, "The best Pretenders album in years," was recorded in 12 days in Los Angeles and offers an especially gritty and immediate and recalls the band's earlier days. The album has spawned the single "Boots Of Chinese Plastic" which reached #1 on the AAA radio chart.

Continue reading "The Pretenders - 2009 Tour Dates & new(ish) video"

Photos by Dese'rae L. Stage

The Pretenders played Highline Ballroom in NYC last night (10/7) - the same day their new album "Break Up The Concrete" was released on Shangri-La Music. Read reviews of the show here, here, and here.

One night earlier they appeared on Late Night with David Letterman. That video and more pictures from the Highline gig, below...

Continue reading "The Pretenders - Highline Ballroom pics, Letterman video"

The Pretenders "will release their new album Break Up The Concrete on October 7, 2008 through Shangri-La Music. This is the first studio album in 6 years." They play play Highline Ballroom in NYC on the same day. "A portion of the ticket proceeds will be donated to the New York Restoration Project and the MillionTreesNYC Initiative." Tickets are were on sale. Some videos below...

Continue reading "The Pretenders - a new album & a NYC show "