by Fred Pessaro / BBG

Harley Flanagan is wheeled out of Webster Hall (via NYC Hammers)

To follow up our vague tweet last night, the NY Post has the full story:

A former member of the hard-core punk band the Cro-Mags attacked two of the group's current members with a hunting knife in a dressing room before a show at Webster Hall yesterday -- biting one and slashing both.
The band was about to take the stage about 8:15 p.m. when tattooed rocker Harley Flanagan, 42, barreled through the East Village venue's VIP section toward the Cro-Mags' dressing room, sending nearly 30 guests on the balcony into a frenzy, law enforcement sources and witnesses said.

"Someone was yelling, 'Get his hands, get his hands, he's got a knife!' " witness Dave Gustav said. "Everything went nuts."

Several beefy security guards rushed to contain Flanagan, who seemed about to boil over before he entered the East Village venue.

...Flanagan, the band's former bassist and founder, suffered a broken leg by the time security finally pinned him down, witnesses said. Cops handcuffed him to a chair and took him out.

"People started booing him and throwing stuff at him," eyewitness Justin Brannan said. "His hands were handcuffed but he still gave everyone the finger."

William Berario, 45, was slashed above the eye and bitten on his cheek. Michael Couls, 33, -- the band's current bassist, who is known in the hardcore world as "The Gook" -- was cut on his arm and stomach. -
[NY Post]

Harley, who did the stabbing, is an original member of the band that formed in 1981. John Joseph, also an original member, leads the current version of "Cro-Mags" that Harley is not in, and which John was calling "Cro-Mags (jam)" for a bit in 2008 to avoid confusion with a version of the band Harley was leading (or for legal reasons or something like that). John's version, which didn't keep the "(jam)" on their name for long, has been having much success the past few years, this CBGB Festival booking included. Harley's version hasn't been active in a while

UPDATE: Here are pictures from the show and a statement from Cro-Mags too..

At least one of the American Nightmare / Give Up the Ghost Webster Hall reunion shows is listed as sold out, but now there's a way to get tickets to both:

Shirts for a Cure is excited to announce the American Nightmare ticket/shirt package deal. We have a VERY limited number if tickets for the American Nightmare Webster Hall shows in NYC and for a nominal donation of $100 you will receive two of these tickets to the show of your choice and two limited edition date-specific AN/SFAC shirts. Tickets will be issued at Will-Call and you will need to pick up your shirts at the show and the show only, no shirts will be shipped. Thank you for your support

American Nightmare also play FYF in LA this year. Tickets are on sale for that too.

You can watch the band's reunion documentary trailer below...

Continue reading "American Nightmare/GUTG tix to BOTH shows now available (with limited edition shirts For A Cure)"

Too Far To Care was a magical moment for the 97's. Starry-eyed and flush with confidence thanks to our brand-new deal with Elektra, we felt no fear, just giddy excitement. An adventurous producer and a world champion A&R guy shepherded us through the recording process. And when it was all over, we had captured our little bit of lightning in a bottle. I love Too Far To Care and can't wait to play it in its entirety across the USA. - Rhett Miller

In addition to the tour, Too Far to Care, is getting the deluxe reissue treatment this fall, including its first-ever vinyl pressing. Tour poster, plus all Old 97's tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Old 97's playing 'Too Far to Care' on tour (dates)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Mogwai @ Webster Hall -- 6/14/2012

"There was an amazing quote from Andrew Eldritch from the Sisters of Mercy who said, "The best thing about never being cool is that you're never that uncool." No, I'd rather we go on with our music and people who like it, listen to it and the thought that people turn out because it's in some way relevant or trendy, is kind of depressin.' I'd rather people just, like, came and heard the music because they like it or because it kinda had some sort of emotional connection to them. I also think that when, say, like ten years ago or whenever it was, when lots of instrumental music was really trendy, people were sick of it! It got to the point where we'd bring our record and some people would be like "Oh, no. Not another one of these records!" It was like "Really?" But it's gotten to the comical point now where like I'll meet people in bands making completely different kinds of music and they'll be like "I used to be in a band that sounded like you." I'm like "Oh, god." [laughs]" [Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai]

Continue reading "Mogwai and Balam Acab @ Webster Hall (night 1 pics, setlist)"

Agnostic Front are celebrating their 30th anniversary by playing the 1989 LP Live at CBGB on select dates, including at their recent shows in Long Island or Asbury Park. They'll do it again in NYC at Webster Hall on July 5th with support from Madball, Murphy's Law and Maximum Penalty. Tickets are on sale for the show which is one day before the Cro-Mags/Sick of it All show at the same space. Both shows are part of the the CBGB Festival which has badges of its own and which also recently added a Superchunk/Redd Kross show to its growing schedule.

Start the beatdown week with the Blood for Blood show at Highline Ballroom on June 30th. Tickets are on sale for that as well, and it also features The Unseen, Wisdom in Chains & Cruel Hand. Blood for Blood will also hit Club Lido in Revere, MA on June 29th.

Murphy's Law's Webster Hall appearance is one of at least two for the NYC band in the near future; they will also board the Half Moon as part of a Rocks Off boat cruise on August 12th. Tickets are on sale for what is basically an annual party on the sea (as long as the cops don't intervene)

A listing of all Agnostic Front dates and a live set from 2004, and more, below.

Continue reading "Agnostic Front keeps touring, playing 'Live @ CBGB' set @ CBGB Fest show w/ Madball & Murphy's Law"

Balam Acab at Mercury Lounge in May (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Balam Acab, who just played the Mogwai-curated ATP in London last month, has been added as an opener to Mogwai's tour. That tour comes to NYC for the previously discussed shows on June 14 and 15 at Webster Hall. Tickets to both NYC shows are still available.

Balam Acab recently dropped his most in-your-face track yet and it's called "Ass Pop." Stream that below, along with a list of all dates...

Continue reading "Balam Acab opening for Mogwai on tour; stream a new track"

photos by Toby Tenenbaum

The Polyphonic Spree played Webster Hall last night (5/23), which was recorded for a future live album. The front of the stage was covered in a wide red ribbon, from which Spree leader Tim DeLaughter cut out a heart, from which the rest of the band -- 22 of them this time -- emerged. The rest of the theatrical set included a medley of The Who's Tommy, and an encore where the band appeared at the back of the room, making their way through the crowd back onto the stage.

Spree keyboardist Sweet Lee Morrow opened the show with a mix of songs and comedy. In addition to the live album, The Polyphonic Spree, who play Philly tonight, will release a Christmtas album later this year. Check out more pictures from the show below, along with a list of remaining tour dates.

Continue reading "The Polyphonic Spree played Webster Hall (pics)"

Webster photos by Eric M. Townsend, Bowery photos by Bryan Bruchman

Nada Surf @ Webster Hall

Nada Surf @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

Chart Attack: What kind of relationship do you have with [your breakout 1996 single] "Popular" now?

Nada Surf's Matthew Caws: One new thing is it's starting to be a very long time ago. It never had been before. Our relationship with it is relatively simple: It's one of our earlier songs, it got us a lot of attention, it's funny - I still think it's really funny - but it doesn't always sit in the set list comfortably. Not only because it's goofier than everything else but also because the exterior perception of it is kind of loaded. I don't necessarily enjoy playing it at every show. I really like it at festivals, it kind of gets the crowd going.

But it's funny, we can't win. If we don't play it somewhere, somebody in the crowd is going to get huffy. But when we do play it, you'd be surprised at how many indier-than-thou audience members will be like Grumble grumble grumble! Why did you do that? or Don't remind me! or I wanted to hear something else. All in all my relationship with it is very positive, because it gave us an enormous jump-start. Had we not had that song we might've ended up on this kind of label like Barsuk that we really love eventually, it just would've been a different route. And we wouldn't have had the little leg-up of having our name be well known.

Continue reading "Nada Surf discuss relationship with 'Popular', played Webster Hall & Music Hall of Williamsburg (belated pics & setlists)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Temptress, lover, sufferer, scrapper -- those have been Ms. Manson's personae since Garbage started in 1995. In other eras she might have been a pop torch singer, a soul belter or a new-wave frontwoman: a Shirley Bassey, a Dusty Springfield, a Chrissie Hynde. There's a little of each of them in her voice.

But in the mid-1990s rock was pushing darker thoughts and heftier beats. Garbage's drummer, Butch Vig, had produced the grunge spearhead, Nirvana's 1991 album "Nevermind"; Nine Inch Nails had emerged with its blend of dance-music electronics and dire hard rock. Garbage rode both approaches to million-selling albums.

Songs like "Stupid Girl" used pop structures as they seesawed between electronics and power chords, while Ms. Manson exulted in goth-girl depressiveness or vengeful bluntness. But by the early 2000s pop had moved elsewhere, and Garbage's solid songwriting met diminishing returns.

Yet the old songs were memorable enough to draw loud singalongs more than a decade later. And on "Not Your Kind of People" Garbage returns without attempting some major makeover; at Webster Hall a handful of new songs fit easily alongside the older ones. [NY Times]

Continue reading "Garbage played Webster Hall (pics, setlist)"

photos by Joe McCabe

Justin Townes Earle at Webster Hall 5/17/12

For one, nothing was that loud, as if Earle were daring the room to speak over his band's music (although he wasn't). From the moment Earle started the set alone with "Wanderin'," which he dedicated to Woody Guthrie ("Wherever he is," said the singer-songwriter), until the pedal steel-backed "Ain't Glad I'm Leaving," he calmly slipped into the full-band set. By then the smoke had made its way to the stage from the machine in the back, the starry Webster Hall background had been lit and the scene looked much more ready for Earle to pick things up a bit, which he did, in his own unique way. [The House List]

Continue reading "Justin Townes Earle played Webster Hall w/ Tristen (pics)"

Matthew Dear at Moogfest 2011 (more by Diana Wong)

Matthew Dear has a few shows scheduled this summer including a DJ set at the Wavefront Festival in Chicago and possibly a DJ set at Loreley Brooklyn on 5.27 (limited details exist), and in the fall he'll make his way over here for his largest headlining NYC show at Webster Hall on November 17. Tickets go on sale Friday (5/11) at noon with an AmEx presale starting today (5/9) at noon. No word on whether this date is part of a larger tour yet.

All currently known dates and the video for "In The Middle (I Met You There)" featuring Jonny Pierce of The Drums off of January's Headcage EP, as well as live footage of Dear performing at Amersterdam's Bitterzoet Festival below...

Continue reading "Matthew Dear headlining Webster Hall, DJing other places"

Twin Shadow at BAM last week (more by David Andrako)

Twin Shadow, who just played Crossing Brooklyn Ferry at BAM last week, will release his sophomore LP, Confess, on July 10 via 4AD. Listen to the first single, "Five Seconds," HERE.

He just announced that he'll support the album this summer with the "Ton Up Tour," which kicks off in Seattle at the Capitol HIll Block Party, includes Lollapalooza, and culminates in a NYC show at Webster Hall on September 27. Twin Shadow is offering a presale package on his website which includes a ticket and a limited edition T-shirt illustrated by Gianmarco Magnani. The image on the shirt is the same as the tour poster, which is pictured below. Tickets for the NYC show go on sale to the general public on Friday (5/11) at noon with an AmEx presale starting today (5/9) at noon.

All dates and tour poster below...

Continue reading "Twin Shadow going on tour, playing Webster Hall again (dates)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo, video by Kurt Christensen, words by Christopher Paragraph

Kathleen Edwards, who is on the just-announced lineup of NJ's XPoNential Music Festival, performed for a crowded Webster Hall Saturday night (4/28), playing songs off her new, Justin Vernon-produced album, "Voyageur," alongside selections from her previous three records. Edwards opened the night with the funny-but-not-really "Empty Threat," in which she teases the notion of moving to America. Whether the Canadian songwriter feels more at home in the USA or up north is up for debate, but she certainly feels comfortable on stage. At one point she announced mid-song that she had to pee, ran off stage during a guitar solo, and made it back in time to hit the last chorus of "12 Bellevue", though she admitted she didn't have time to wash her hands.

The night focused on the emotional, introspective side of Edwards' songwriting, even when it got loud. There were no props, backdrops, or stage antics. Edwards seems content letting the power of the lyrics dictate the energy of the room. (It's no small feat to pull that off in a venue the size of Webster Hall.) It's a testament to the quality of her songwriting that she does this so effectively.

Fans of songwriters from Tom Petty to David Bazan will certainly find something to latch onto in the music of Kathleen Edwards. Fans of Death Grips maybe not so much. But who knows, maybe Death Grips fans have acoustic guitars under their beds. And she did play a cover of Flaming Lips' "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate," which bridged the folk and indie worlds in an unexpectedly seamless way.

Video of the Flaming Lips cover, the full setlist and more pictures from the show (which Hannah Georgas opened), below...

Continue reading "Kathleen Edwards played Webster Hall (pics, review, setlist & video of the Flaming Lips cover)"

Real Estate drummer Jackson Pollis @ Coachella (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

Real Estate, who "recently released a 7" flexi disc for brand new track 'In My Car' along with Domino label mates Dirty Projectors, Cass McCombs and John Maus as part of a zine / flexi package entitled Smugglers Way", support the Shins at Terminal 5 tomorrow night (5/1, sold out), And though that date isnt even here, Real Estate have already scheduled their return to the NYC stage as part of a bunch of just-announced August dates. Real Estate will headline Webster Hall on August 11th, tickets go on AMEX presale at noon on 5/2 and regular sale on Friday.

Watch Real Estate's entire Coachella set HERE. All dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Real Estate announce dates, headlining Webster Hall"

photo via bertiewooster99

Did you make it to Webster Hall or watch the Gary Oldman-directed stream? If you missed it, it seems to still be on repeat over on YouTube. Check out the full 2-set Jack White setlist, featuring songs from throughout his career and many bands, below...

Continue reading "Jack White played Webster Hall (setlist)"

photos by Joe McCabe

Though we missed openers The Drowners, here are some pictures from the 4/23 Vaccines / Porcelain Raft show at Webster Hall. More below...

Continue reading "The Vaccines & Porcelain Raft @ Webster Hall (pics)"

words by Andrew Sacher, photos by Chris La Putt

It's needless to say that The Hives' tiny show at The Studio at Webster Hall last night (4/26) was a wild, packed, sweaty party. It only took about a song and a half for Pelle to hang from the venue's lighting fixture and for his brother/guitarist Nicholaus Arson to end up on top of the crowd. The band, known for their matching black and white attire, were decked out in tuxedos and top hats like they were at Coachella and other recent dates. Pelle and his bandmates were in their usual on-stage state of extremely high cheeky arrogance, complete with demanding that the crowd make more and more noise and answer "YEAH!" to any question asked. He dropped lines like, "This stage is not big enough for my ego!" Like many other garage rock revivalists of the early-mid aughts, The Hives have been playing much larger venues like Terminal 5, where they'll play on June 22, so of course it was great to see them in a venue closer in size to the one their genre implies. (Terminal 5 tix on sale at noon)

The band's set, which was about an hour long, included a fair amount of material off their new record, Lex Hives, which is due out on June 5, in addition to old favorites including "Walk idiot Walk," "Main Offender," and show highlight "Hate To Say I Told You So." The show was filled with nonstop on and off stage dancing and tons of interaction between the band and crowd. The Hives left the stage after an initial twelve song set which felt way too short (but I guess that's what happens when the bulk of your songs are under 3 minutes) and finally returned for a two-song encore which kicked off with Lex Hives lead single "Go Right Ahead". They then ended their set with a drawn out version of "Tick Tick Boom" off 2007's The Black and White Album. On what you thought was the final "tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, boom" the band literally paused, holding statue-like poses for at least a minute until the bass was finally brought back in and Pelle commanded the crowd to form an aisle which he walked down only to be, per his own instructions, completely swarmed when the song started up again as he rushed back to the stage.

More pictures and setlist from the show, and details on how you can win a pair of tickets to Terminal 5 (we have three to give away), below...

Continue reading "The Hives played The Studio (pics & setlist); win tix to Terminal 5 (which is on sale today)"

"...And now, Jack White will be giving back to the city that's so warmly embraced his debut album, as his Third Man Records Rolling Record Store hits the Big Apple on Thursday the 26th to bestow upon the citizenry free tickets to Jack White's American Express Unstaged concert at Webster Hall on Friday April 27th.

An educational vinyl adventure center on wheels, Third Man Records' Rolling Record Store will be wheeling into locations all over the New York City area, then tweeting (@ThirdManRRS) each location along with instructions on how to claim a pair of free tickets to the show. There are only five pairs of tickets, one pair to be given away at each of five locations.

Jack's American Express Unstaged event, to be directed by Gary Oldman, will be previewed by one new video each day leading up to the actual performance on Friday. The first of these can be seen at youtube.com/jackwhitevevo...

Frank Turner (via)

Frank Turner, who spends virtually all of his time on the road, played an intimate show at Knitting Factory last month, and is continuing to tour internationally throughout the rest of 2012. He'll return to NYC in the fall for a much larger, full band show at Webster Hall on September 30. Tickets go on sale Friday (4/27) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (4/25) at noon. All dates, including a solo appearance at The Fest, are listed below.

In an interview with Pop-Break, Frank mentioned that his new album will be out in January, 2013 via Epitaph. Here's what he had to say about the album:

I've got a ton of songs hanging around right now in various different levels of finished-ness, and I found some gaps in my schedule to go into the studio, and I'm not the kind to be sitting around and waiting. I've got more than enough songs for one record, but I'm trying to get another whole pile finished to have a large selection to choose from and put the best ones on the record. Realistically, the new record will probably be out in January of next year. I'm excited about this new record. I think the songs are better than the ones that came before, and that's always a good feeling.

All dates and video below...

Continue reading "Frank Turner playing Webster Hall & other dates"

The Hives @ Coachella 2012 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

We could keep giving clues, but at this point many more than 10 people got it right, so the contest is over anyway. Winners have not been notified yet, but will be shortly. Meanwhile, TICKETS for the show The Studio at Webster Hall on April 26 will go on PRE-SALE at 6pm EST. The password is lexhives. will be posted shortly right HERE: _____. A general sale (with more tickets) will then begin at 8pm EST. 2 ticket limit per person. Will call only. Good luck and thanks for playing!

DOWNLOAD: Tycho - "Dive" (Memoryhouse Remix) (MP3)

Tycho at Lincoln Hall in Chicago in January (more by Zach Pollack)

Tycho (aka Scott Hansen) whose last two trips to NYC brought him to Music Hall of Williamsburg, will be touring again this spring/summer culminating in a larger NYC show at Webster Hall on July 14, one day after he plays Camp Bisco.. Tickets for the NYC show are on AmEx presale now and go on sale to the general public on Friday (4/20) at noon. All dates are listed below.

Meanwhile, Tycho will be in the NYC-area later this month for SUNY Purchase Culture Shock, which is technically only open to students and their guests, and which recently announced that EMAreplaced Grimes who cancelled. The full lineup also includes Islands, Idle Warship,Big Feedia, The Felice Brothers, Cloud Nothings, Casey Veggies, Pissed Jeans, and Bio Ritmo.

Tycho's most recent single, "Dive," off the 2011 album of the same name, was recently remixed by Memoryhouse. Grab that remix above or stream it below. The Zombies-covering Memoryhouse will be in Brooklyn this Saturday (4/21) for a show at Public Assembly with Mattheah Baim and Ex Cops. Tickets are still avialable.

All Tycho dates and song stream below...

Continue reading "Tycho announces tour, headlining Webster Hall after Camp Bisco (dates); EMA replaces Grimes @ Culture Shock"

Jack White's debut solo album, Blunderbuss, is out April 23rd but streaming on iTunes now.

As mentioned yesterday, "Tickets for the April 27 performance at Webster Hall in New York City are available for American Express Cardmembers during an exclusive presale window beginning Tuesday, April 17th at 12:00 PM ET at www.Ticketmaster.com. Tickets will also be available to the general public beginning Tuesday, April 17th at 3:00 PM ET at www.Ticketmaster.com."

Watch and listen to Jack discuss the new album with Bob Boilen at NPR in the video below...

Continue reading "iTunes streaming new Jack Whites LP 'Blunderbuss'; Webster Hall tickets going on sale"

Jack White previously announced a tour that brings him and his band to NYC for two sold out shows at Roseland Ballroom in May. Today it has been announced that Jack will play a show at the much smaller Webster Hall on April 27 (three days after the release of BLUNDERBUSS). The show will be open to the public and will stream online as part of the American Express "UNSTAGED" series that hands over live concert directorial duties to famous filmmakers (like Arcade Fire at MSG was). Jack White's webcast will be directed by Gary Oldman and will stream live at http://www.youtube.com/JackWhiteVEVO (at 9pm EST).

"Tickets for the April 27 performance at Webster Hall in New York City are available for American Express Cardmembers during an exclusive presale window beginning Tuesday, April 17th at 12:00 PM ET at www.Ticketmaster.com. Tickets will also be available to the general public beginning Tuesday, April 17th at 3:00 PM ET at www.Ticketmaster.com."

The NYC dated is one of a few new ones announced for Jack who was also recently announced as a Lollapalooza headliner. Other new dates are in London, Paris, and LA. All shows are listed below...

Continue reading "Jack White adds dates, playing Webster Hall; Gary Oldman will direct 'Unstaged' YouTube stream "

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Andrew W.K. @ Webster Hall

"Andrew W.K.'s 2001 album I Get Wet is one of those records that tends to polarize people; it combines monster riffs, giddy lyrics about partying and beautiful girls, and living-in-the-red maximalism in a way that either electrifies or makes people reach for the ANYTHING ELSE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD button.

Monday night at Webster Hall, though, the room was 100% in favor of the keyboard-wielding signer/motiviational speaker/club owner's debut, singing along from word one of "It's Time To Party" and taking that song's plainly stated message to heart throughout the evening. There was pogoing; there was yelling; there was headbanging; there were, at one point, about 40 people on stage who weren't contracted members of the band. A lot of the interlopers got off the stage in the most party-like way: They dove." [Village Voice]

Continue reading "Andrew W.K. performed 'I Get Wet' @ Webster Hall w/ Math the Band & Aleister X (pics, setlist)"

photos by Greg Cristman

As promised, here are the rest of the pictures from the first of two Of Montreal shows at Webster Hall last weekend. More below...

Continue reading "Computer Magic & Hard Nips (opening for Of Montreal) @ Webster Hall (pics)"