Green Day has been in NYC lately, hangin with Little Steven and fighting cancer. On Thursday, 10/27 (tomorrow), they play the very small Studio at Webster Hall. Good luck getting tickets at noon.

by Jacob Blickenstaff

On Saturday (7/30), Lincoln Center Out of Doors in partnership with the Ponderosa Stomp, put on a remarkable day of music and music history under the name of "She's Got The Power, a Girl Group Extravaganza." Within its 10 (free) hours, the event included a 3-part, 4-hour panel of "Girl Talk" that presented Lesley Gore, members of the Angels and the Exciters, Seymour Stein (co-founder of Sire Records) and many studio musicians who worked closely with (r'n'r hall of famer) Ellie Greenwich.

The concert was organized into 3 parts covering 5 hours. First was a revue of girl group singers. Arlene Smith, of the Chantels, performed magnificently from her motorized wheelchair, commanding the stage by zipping back and forth. Then there were extended sets from headliners La La Brooks of the Crystals, Lesley Gore and Ronnie Spector (the Ronettes), and finally a tribute by the evening's artists to girl-group-godmother Ellie Greenwich.

This was not your father's PBS Doo-Wop special. Although the passing of Amy Winehouse was noted by Ronnie Spector, who performed part of 'Back to Black', it was more of a (tragic) footnote to the larger spirit of survival, brilliance, toughness and female chutzpah on parade. Many performers commented both publicly and privately that the spirit of Ellie Greenwich was the guiding force of the day. As stellar performance after performance dredged up tingly globs of our collective memory, the realization grew of just how much we owe to these artists, producers and songwriters who had just as much influence on the Beatles, Stones and other British Invasion bands as did the blues.

More about the show with lots of pictures, below...

Continue reading "it was all about the girls @ Lincoln Center's 2011 Ponderosa Stomp (pics & review)"

photos by Tim Griffin

"Giants Stadium heard its last sha-la-las -- at least, the amplified kind with tens of thousands of voices singing along -- on Friday night, when Bruce Springsteen played the final concert before the stadium is demolished. During the three-hour set, sha-la-las filled this year's "Working on a Dream," the 1984 song "Darlington County" and Tom Waits' "Jersey Girl," the finale that Mr. Springsteen called the stadium's "last dance." It was Mr. Springsteen's 24th performance, dating back to 1985, at Giants Stadium, where the audiences are his most fervent fans: fellow New Jerseyans.

So in a way, Mr. Springsteen could identify with the place, and he did -- at least half-seriously -- in "Wrecking Ball," a robust, guitar-strumming song he wrote to start off each of his five final concerts at the stadium. (A video performance is at brucespringsteen.net.)

It may be the only song ever to make Giants Stadium itself the narrator, "raised out of steel in the swamps of Jersey." It remembers games played and blood spilled, and envisions the stadium's fate, when "all this steel and these stories, they drift away to rust/and all our youth and beauty's been given to the dust." Typically, Mr. Springsteen was thinking about work, mortality, and a sense of place, on his way to a chorus where everyone could join in.

He wasn't overly sentimental. Later, he pointedly called Giants Stadium "the last bastion of affordable sports seating."

At each of the Giants Stadium concerts, Mr. Springsteen played one of his albums all the way through, and the one he chose for Friday was his 1984 blockbuster, "Born in the U.S.A." Before he started the title track, he said it was "the song we started out with the first time we entered this arena."... [NY Times]

I already posted all five Giants Stadium setlists (first four shows & Friday night). More pictures from the final show, below...

Continue reading "Bruce Springsteen @ Giants Stadium for the last time - pics"

photos by Tim Griffin

"Technology is one problem, [Little Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band] observes. "I think in the old days, in order to even be decent, it took a lot of work," he says. "And today, relatively untalented and uncreative people can actually make rock 'n' roll music that sounds kind of decent. And I think that kind of fools people and causes people to be lazy."

But for [Steve Greenberg, founder of S-Curve Records], there's also a sense that the "square pegs" -- the naturally rebellious types -- are getting shoved in round holes. "A lot of opportunities inevitably these days go to people who fit the format, whether the format is Top 40 radio or 'American Idol' or [Radio] Disney or whatever it is," he says. "There's so much pressure to fit those slots. And it's the square pegs ultimately who are going to change the world."

The spirited Greenberg wants to channel that rebellious energy. He's high on a band he signed named Care Bears on Fire, a trio of 13-year-old Brooklyn girls [who have a free show coming up and] who sound like the Ramones with a touch of Shonen Knife.

"Their attitude is maybe one size doesn't fit all," he says. "I feel like the spirit of rock 'n' roll lives in those guys. ... They're having fun playing rock 'n' roll."" [CNN]

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (Little Steven included) played their second of two rock 'n' roll shows at the Izod Center in NJ on Saturday night (5/23). After the first (5/21), Bruce announced from the stage that they'd be back in September to play the final three Giants Stadium concerts. Both NJ setlists, and more pictures from Saturday's show, below...

Continue reading "Bruce Springsteen @ the Izod Center (night 2) - pics & setlist"

Iggy Pop, Billy Bragg, Perry Farrell, Don Was, Wayne Kramer, Tom Morello, Little Steven & friends @ the Nokia Theatre last night (edenpictures)

tonight in NYC
* Corn Mo @ Sputnik
* Tribeca Film Festival
* Lady Gaga @ Terminal 5
* Ben & Vesper @ Sycamore
* Bamboozle 2009 @ Giants Stadium
* Fires of Rome @ Tribeca Grand Hotel
* Buraka Som Sistema @ Bowery Ballroom
* Superpitcher, JDH & Dave P (FIXED) @ Studio B
* Look & Listen Festival @ Gary Snyder/Project Space
* Hexa, Air Waves, Jared Micah and Hats @ Glasslands
* The Kills, The Horrors, Magic Wands @ Webster Hall
* Bell Denmark, Grey Gersten, Shahzad Ismaily @ The Stone
* Kurt Vile, Gary War, Sightings, Drunkdriver @ Silent Barn
* Bloody Panda, Pontiak, Ocean, Microkingdom @ Death By Audio
* Bat For Lashes, Lewis & Clarke @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* King Khan & The Shrines, Mark Sultan, Golden Triangle @ Maxwell's
* Trevor Dunn's Madlove, Thurston Moore/Daniel Carter/Ryan Sawyer Trio, Pink Noise @ Union Pool

Iggy Pop (as pictured above) played the Road Recovery Benefit last night. Video below..

A video ad/interview with Bell Orchestre below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Saturday?"

Primal Scream @ The Metro in Chicago - March 22, 2009 (theres no way home)

"Steven Van Zandt plays many roles: Guitarist in the E Street Band. Tough-talking club owner Silvio Dante in "The Sopranos." Host of syndicated radio show "Little Steven's Underground Garage."

But early on Friday, March 20, in the Austin Convention Center, he assumed the role of music industry elder statesman and philosopher during the South By Southwest Music and Media Conference.

Van Zandt spoke and answered audience questions in a convention center conference room....

... When a booking agent informed Van Zandt that the British band Primal Scream was not physically capable of doing a 20-show tour he hoped to organize, he did not hide his disgust.

"C'mon. (The E Street Band) does 20 shows a month. You want to be a drug addict? Go be a drug addict. Don't waste my time."
[The Times-Picaynne]

Primal Scream play their 2nd of two NYC shows tonight (3/29). Last night was at Webster Hall (how was that show?). Tonight is at Music Hall of Williamsburg and it is not sold out.

On March 22nd, right after they left Austin, Primal Scream played The Metro in Chicago. The setlist from that show is below...

Continue reading "Primal Scream played Webster Hall, Chicago (setlist) & SXSW (where Little Steven implied they are drug addicts)"

photos by Eric M. Townsend

It was E Street Family Night at Giants Stadium on Monday.

Drummer Max Weinberg's 18-year-old son Jay substituted for his father on "Born to Run," pounding the skins with authority as the elder Weinberg watched from the side of the stage. Bruce Springsteen's 16-year-old daughter, Jessica, danced onstage during the show-closing "Twist and Shout," and even took a little rock-star leap at the end. Also, Springsteen led the crowd in singing "Happy Birthday To You" to his wife, E Street Band member Patti Scialfa. She turned 55 yesterday.

This was the second of three shows that Springsteen and the band will be presenting at Giants Stadium this week, and though it was slightly longer than Sunday's show, it still lasted more than three hours and featured 28 songs. [The Star Ledger]

The setlist, and more pics, from last night's show below...

Continue reading "Bruce Springsteen & E Street Band @ Giants Stadium - pics"

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band in Philly, Oct 6, 2007 (CRED)

"This would mark Springsteen's third No. 1 on The Billboard 200 among his last four studio albums." [Billboard]. AOL is still streaming the album for free.

Bruce's Saturday night Philly setlist below....

Continue reading "Springsteen scores another number one album"

"Losing CBGB meant it was only a matter of time before Hilly followed" said Van Zandt "It was his whole life. He created the space to allow Indie Rock, Pop Art Rock, and Punk to be born. There would be no Ramones without Hilly Kristal. And who would want to live in a world without them? He loved this city and in the end, the city spit in his face."

Catch long-time CBGB supporter Steven Van Zandt (and friends) when he goes on a tour that includes two stops at NYC's MSG in October (during CMJ actually).

Tommy Ramone (seen pictured above with Hilly & Stevie) has a bunch of shows coming up (with his bluegrass band Uncle Monk).

Continue reading "Bruce Springsteen - 2007 Tour Dates & new album"