Concert Review Site

The BBC has admitted that they went a bit overboard in their coverage of the release of U2’s album No Line on the Horizon last year. It was early in the spring last year and the BBC changed their logo to read “U2 BBC” or something like that. There were complaints from many quarters that this gave the band too much publicity on the taxpayers’ money. The network has apologized. The band, however, got a lot of great national publicity for this event and that’s good. Who knows whether people like the band that much that or whether they’ve just seen the name on the news so much that they get into the habit of listening to the music. However, they are putting forward a lot of great music, so perhaps it’s just that the network got swept up in the enthusiasm.

Girls out there might not be worried about Argentina crying for them, but they might be crying about Argentina. Apparently Michael Buble has become engaged to Luisana Loreley Lopilato de la Torre, an actress from Argentina. The sadness was practically palpable for people all over the country, as the Canadian crooner’s Facebook status shifted from “In a Relationship” to “Engaged to De La Torre”. He will still be touring and singing great music. Plus, it’s not like he hasn’t been married before. Maybe this one won’t work out either? Anyway, no one wants his relationship to end in sadness, but you can’t blame any of his fans for wishing that he would give them a chance too.

One of the most unnoticed concert stories of the last few years was the Kanye West performance at Bonnaroo in 2008. I was tempted to call it the story of the decade, just because it’s kind of entertaining to me. But it wasn’t entertaining for the people who bought lots of tickets to the festival specifically to see him. In case you don’t remember, he was scheduled to play at a certain time. But then his show was shifted to another stage on the grounds and supposed to start at 2:45 am. And his best fans waited most of the night for him to play. He showed up two hours late to do his light show mostly and it was very short. Afterwards, many fans were furious because of the money they’d spent and how disrespectful he had been. It’s similar to the Taylor Swift interruption. Not a huge disrespect for the world, but the kind of thing most stars don’t even try. Ben Sollee, a folk cellist at the same festival, wrote a song about the fiasco, telling him to do his music, because it’s good music, and don’t get distracted by the lights and thse ego that comes with them.

Amy Winehouse has just been having a terrible time. I’m sure she would love to be living in normalcy again, but it’s not happening yet. First off, she got divorced this last summer, which is hard enough without lots of people watching you all the time from the tabloids. Jus tin the last couple of weeks she was involved in an incident at a theater in England. She has been charged with assaulting the manager of the theater and creating a public disruption after she interrupted a performance of Cinderella. We really don’t know what’s happening here, but we will have to keep reading the different accounts of this event to figure out what happened and if it will affect Winehouse’s career.

The Cranberries have a new album and some live performances. It is one of those groups that is known to a relatively small group of people, though you might know recognize some of their songs from hearing them. The audience that comes to their shows is roughly the same as the one that would have come back in the early 90s. It’s almost like the band hasn’t changed at all, though they’re of course older. But they hardly tried to play their new music, instead going with their old hits and keeping things going on that basis. When they did play the new stuff, it wasn’t quite as good as the old stuff. Were the Cranberries a part of their own time and it doesn’t translate? Or have they perhaps not tried hard enough yet? It’ll be interesting to see whether they’re able to take off again or it they will stick with what they already know.

One of the surprising pieces of information this week was that Dave Matthews has a new film out, including clips from various of his concerts this last year and it’ll be interesting to see if they decide to let the film run a bit longer than previously announced. The concerts were partly in outdoor festivals and partly some of the rest of the indoor concerts. But the fun thing is that it’s partly in 3D format. This will make you think that you’re right there, and even in a better place than you might have been during the actual performance. No matter how much fun you think it will be, it will be an amazing movie for you to see. Check out Larger than Life if it’s playing in your area.

Rascal Flatts is right on their way into 2010, when their Unstoppable tour will continue. They have announced a couple dozen dates from January through mid-March, becoming one of the big early tours at the moment. The tour will start with a couple of performance dates in Canada and then they will filter down to the US for shows in Detroit, KC, and several dates in Texas and the Southeast. This year, their Unstoppable Tour included some of the best songs you’ve heard in a long time and gave fans so much fun that it’s hard to imagine. Were you able to see it during 2009? If not, get your tickets for Rascal Flatts and enjoy one of this year’s best current performers.

The last of the singing Clancy Brothers passed away at the end of last week. Liam Clancy was a musician of the top caliber. Back in the 1950s, he emigrated to the US in order to join his brothers who were starting up a strong career. They made a highly touted record at the time and then joined another Irishman named Tommy Makem. The group brought Irish music to a wide audience and also helped to bring the world of folk music to a new generation of musicians. This added to the folk-rock movement, including people like Bob Dylan. They also played their Irish music differently, without putting nearly so much emphasis on ballads (think Bing Crosby) and shifted it more into a bouncy dancing rhythm (Michael Flatly style). We never think that this music wasn’t the norm, but the Clancy Brothers helped to bring it forwards.

Guess who is at the top of the charts this week? It’s not one of the expected musicians. In fact, it’s one of the performers that’s the biggest surprise of the year. Susan Boyle is the biggest musician on the charts! She is the woman who was on Britain’s Got Talent last spring, singing “I Dreamed A Dream” and surprising everyone in the theater. Before that, she was a woman who sang in the church choir and lives with her cats. Now everyone knows her and she’s sold more albums than anyone else right now. She’s possibly the top selling artist of the year. That beats out the Beatles, Michael Jackson, and a bunch of other famous musicians. Who knows if her star will last very well into 2010, but it’s been a great ride for her!

Nick Jonas seems to have struck out on his own. While the Jonas Brothers are officially a real musical group still, Nick Jonas has announced a tour with a band called The Administration. It will be important for fans to realize that this isn’t the same as the Jonas Brothers were and that the music might not be the same. In fact, it might not be as family-friendly as a lot of their earlier efforts were. I honestly don’t know one way or another, but make sure that you read a bit about it if you are someone who likes them for that friendly, safe sound. Nick Jonas isn’t the only one of the brothers to try something new, but he does seem to be the one with the most plans for it going forwards. Check into it and see if it’s something for you!