Blog.WBRU

There is ska, and then there’s SKA.  Last week the Mighty Mighty Bosstones proved they were the latter.  Not snow, wind, nor cold could not stop Rhode Islanders from packing Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel to the brim, and they definitely didn’t leave their energy at home.

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are a band that is not known to disappoint live.  The band literally blasts dance and romp out of every horn.  The Bosstones opened their show with a small banner falling to reveal a huge red plaid backdrop, which brought on just as much applause as any song they played.  Lead singer Dicky Barrett, who is going on 45 in June, jumped up and down in his cleanly pressed black tuxedo, the band’s attire for the evening, with the kind of enthusiasm usually reserved to the 20-year-old punk rocker. Read the rest » »

Recession, schmeschmession. Here are the top 10 priciest, bank-busting concert tickets of 2008, according to average re-sale ticket price from Ticketmaster Entertainment:

1. Madonna : $378
2. Elton John : $306
3. The Eagles : $279
4. AC/DC : $263
5. Tina Turner : $263
6. Celine Dion : $240
7. Bruce Springsteen : $235
8. Coldplay : $217
9. Neil Diamond : $217
10. The Police : $216

2008 was a year for local music for me. I was up on my common knowledge of southern New England music beforehand, but I didn’t completely dive into the scene until this year. Certainly, I’m still missing a lot of knowledge on the subject; we have a thriving music scene with a ton of bands, and I cannot say that I know them all. Nonetheless, I felt it appropriate to reflect on the year I’ve spent working with local music and make up a list of what I consider to be the best music in the area.
These are the best songs from our 2008 Home BRU’d playlist. I’m not too strict on release dates here - a lot of songs don’t get discovered right away, and they could be big hits in 2008 even if they were released prior.

Top 3 Local Songs of 2008

Read the rest » »

From the painfully blinding lighting to the disappointing taste of the Styrofoam snow falling from the ceiling, seeing the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the Dunk Wednesday was an experience for all the senses. As if ripped from the Vegas skyline, the lighting equipment was perhaps the only element of the show that rivaled its ego. Although the twenty-eight performers were all astoundingly talented, they were hard to make out behind the masturbatory extravagance of flames, lasers, and tigers (just kidding).

Dispersed between the Christmas-standards, there was some sort of plot that proved fairly difficult to follow. At one point, a man draped in what appeared to be a throw-rug, holding a bottle of what appeared to be white-wine, might have been acting out the part of Scrooge. Then there was something about angels, and neon lights, and baby Jesus. Yet in spite of the mash-up of a story-line, the packed-crowd sat as rapt and attentive as kids at a Nativity pageant.

The Christmas flavor may have seemed a bit “Wayne’s World Holiday Special,” but ‘tis the season to forget your standards of entertainment and indulge in chintzy cheer and flamboyant festivity. Baby Jesus is surely (rock ‘n) rolling in his grave.

-Maggie and Fat Scotty

Photo by Anirudh Koul on flickr

Have the leaves on the trees fallen already? Have you had to get your big winter jacket out of the closet? If yes, then you know that means THANKSGIVING is coming up, and you deserve a treat with a some interesting/hilarious info from the music world!

Let’s start it off with anniversaries, as Saturday, Scarlett Johansson and Miley Cyrus (!) will be 24 and 16. Although one does not deserve to be talked about after all that we hear from her already, the other definitely should be mentioned as her release from last May is pure bliss in this autumn weather. Anywhere I Lay My Head features covers of her friend Tom Waits’ songs, with a few collaborations from producers Dave Sitrek (TV On The Radio) and David Bowie. The album, despite meeting mixed reviews (1/5 from The Times?!), is simple and beautiful in a non-descript way, and it makes you appreciate even more the wait until winter snow. Read the rest » »

For the 10th anniversary of their second album, Clarity, Jimmy Eat World will play the whole thing live at 10 shows early next year.  The mini-tour starts in New York City on February 23rd, and swings up this way, stopping at Boston’s House of Blues on February 26th.  So if you’ve secretly been playing “Lucky Denver Mint” on your walkman all these years, now is your time to celebrate.

May the career of The Academy Is… be long and prosperous, and may they soon be given more of the mainstream attention they deserve. Call me biased towards a hometown hero, but last Wednesday’s show featuring this Chicago pop-punk band was the best concertgoing experience I’ve had in the Boston area to date, and it started the moment I walked in the door. High five to the Roxy for being classy and efficient - posted at the ticket area was an exact schedule of when all the bands for the night would be playing. I had never seen such a thing in my life. I was also shocked by how quickly they were planning to move: four bands in two hours and twenty-five minutes. Read the rest » »

When Iron & Wine took the Lupos stage on Sunday night, Providence got the chance to forget about the chilled weather outside and spent an hour and a half getting downright cozy. The set started out with several older tunes, with only Sam and Sarah Beam on the stage. Their voices were hushed and sweet, and quiet enough that crowd chatter probably could have drowned them out, but the concertgoers just soaked up the show. In a funny way, being polite enough for everyone to hear the band made the hall full of strangers feel like a group of friends. A little later on though, the Beams were joined by the rest of the band and jumped into mostly new material off of The Shepherd’s Dog—and if it wasn’t new material, it was stylized like the newer stuff.

In retrospect, I didn’t know what I was in for from the Iron & Wine live show. Instead of trying to make his hushed whisper work on the road, Beam worked the road into his music. Resting in the slick, bluesy grooves of his tight rhythm section, it was a lot more like Beam set out to turn Lupo’s into the coziest tavern-rock show ever. It worked.

Read more to see photos from the show. Read the rest » »