R.E.M. March, 8, 2008 Langerado Better Than:Realizing that your $50 bag of mushrooms failed to induce any hallucinations This morning we read an effusive article about REM’s performance at Langerado. The writer, Leslie Gray Streeter, described the show as “energetic,” and declared that their performance was “the lovely, light-hearted, serious-minded…
Ani DiFranco Sunday, March 9, 2008 Langerado Better Than: A Chocolate Seven-Layer Birthday Cake It’s a funny thing when you feel the “obsession” link with a musician kick in, especially when it’s been a few years since you felt so in love with the music. Such was the case at…
Part psycho, part Jane’s Addiction Blitzen Trapper March 8, 2008 Langerado Better than: A wake-up call from the hippie jam band tenting next door After a night of blustery winds and torrential rain ruined any chance for restful sleep at Langerado, day 3 of the fest kicked off with a…
Tuba Gooding Jr. at work. So the Roots showed hip-hop crews why they always reign supreme this past Friday night at Langerado. The talented Philly-based band was tight, crazy, fun, and definitely experimental as they worked out a few songs from their upcoming album, Rising Down, which is dropping April…
Ben Folds March 8, 2008 Langerado Better than: Whatever and Ever Amen on constant rotation I missed Ben Folds last time he came to town with John Mayer. I figured I couldn’t stomach the fans of pasty folk hipster Mayer any more than I could stomach his music. But I’m…
G. Love and Special Sauce March 7, 2008 Langerado Better Than:All the jam in Welch’s reserves. Forget Umphrey’s McGee and the Disco Biscuits and whatever’s left of the Dead (and that includes you, Dark Star Orchestra), ‘cause when it comes to full fest groove, there is but one band that…
Last Night: Matt Pond PA and The Walkmen at Langerado Matt Pond PA, The Walkmen March 7, 2008 Langerado, Big Cypress Reserve Better Than: A hot-buttered steam bath. Matt Pond PA If there were two more incongruous acts to stage in the swamplands, I can’t think of ’em. I mean,…
I was all set to badmouth Vampire Weekend when they were to take the stage at Langerado yesterday, but the Ivy League louts denied me the privilege. Seems a little TV show called Saturday Night Live trumps Big Cypress, so the boy band decided to stay home and do their…
Alright, Langerado is in it’s first full day and early reports are indicating that the music is rocking, the crowds are thick, and the drug busts have already started. Watch your ass people. Cops are on the lookout so be safe and stay out of jail. There’s a couple of…
Nile As is so often the case with metal shows, there are too many bands on this bill. While there’s a certain bang-for-the-buck factor, in all honesty – and with no offense to the other three bands – this show could easily be whittled down to Nile and Warbringer and…
The long-haired, natty Lazaro Casanova got his start playing at the now-defunct old Malibu Grand Prix’s infamous Full Moon parties, int he Nineties. But he really became a local marquee name as the musical selector du jour for the main rooms indie-ish dance parties in Miami, most notably at the…
This quartet specializes in face-melting volume, pounding riffage, and a churning, breakneck-speed riffage section. But don’t tag ’em with the “m” word – Torche is a band possessing the rare ability to create heavy, heavy sounds that remain versatile and nuanced. With a floating overlay of intelligent, almost shoegazey textures,…
Within a span of months, the kiddies of Black Tide have shot from totally unheard-of to total buzz band for lovers of heavy music, appearing in the like of Spin and Revolver. And they are, in fact kiddies – the oldest members of the quartet are 19, and the frontman,…
Jacek Gancarz Click here to see a slide show of the concert. Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin with Hurt and Seether March 6, 2008 Cruzan Amphitheater Better Than: A cold beer on a hot night. Allow me to begin by saying that I commend everyone that made the hellish…
It’s not often that you encounter a soul singer who’s as visually intriguing as Somong. Born of mixed Korean and black heritage, this Palm Beach County resident is making a name for himself with a style that’s all urban pop (think Casely) yet with more of an ethnic twist. His…
Punk bands have short shelf lives. That’s the conventional wisdom: that the pace and other physical demands of the genre are so intense that even the greatest punk practitioners can expect only five, maybe ten years on the road and charts. The Beastie Boys must have anticipated this when they…
Call Ani DiFranco the ultimate overachiever. As an artist, entrepreneur, activist, and insurgent, she’s evolved over the years as a torchbearer for both feminist affirmation and DIY empowerment. For the better part of the past two decades, she’s helped recast the stance of the modern folk troubadour. Fans around the…
Somewhere in the pages of my mother’s supersecret blackmail photo album, there are pictures of me with fishnet stockings on my arms and creepy black eyeliner on my face. The neatly printed caption beneath reads something like: “Our daughter’s brief stint in the puberty-induced purgatory of teen angst and passive-aggressive…
Langerado Music Festival is back and bigger than ever. If you thought last year’s version of South Florida’s biggest outdoor music event was impressive, wait till you get a look at Langerado as a 6-year-old. There are lots of cool changes, plenty of improvements, and a few megastars on the…
Ska has its detractors and its aficionados, and both tend to do a disservice to the music’s actual value. With its surface flash of bouncy rhythms and bright horns, ska very easily pulls you in or turns you off. The people who dismiss it as too cute for their liking…
Few modern jazz guitarists today have had the opportunity to collaborate with as many artists as Missouri’s Pat Metheny has throughout his career. Joni Mitchell, Milton Nascimento, and Jaco Pastorius are just a few of the recording giants Metheny has worked with over the years, and he briefly lived here…
For every musical prodigy, there will be a score of rabid critics eager to decry and defame. This is certainly true for Chinese piano virtuoso Lang Lang. His was a troubled career from the start. At 9 years old, after winning contests and playing highly regarded public recitals, Lang Lang…
