The Disco Biscuits, Brazilian Girls, Little Feat, Tea Leaf Green and The Slip are among the acts who've signed on for this year's Snoe.Down festival. The event--which is set to take place in Lake Placid, NY, March 23-25--will also feature a headlining performance from the festival's founding act, indie-jam outfit moe.. Ticketing info is available at the festival's website.
March
11
- Paramount Theatre, Seattle
12 - Orpheum Theatre,
Vancouver
13 - Crystal Ballroom, Portland
15 - South
By Southwest, Austin
17 - Concourse Exhibition, San
Francisco
19 - Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles
20 -
Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles
23 - Congress Theatre,
Chicago
24 - Royal Oak Theatre, Detroit
25 - Kool
Haus, Toronto
27 - Metropolis, Montreal
28 - Orpheum
Theatre, Boston
30 - United Palace Theatre, New
York
31 - United Palace Theatre, New
York
This just in: My fave skinny suit-wearing YouTubers have signed on for the opening slot on Snow Patrol's Spring tour of North America. Hell yeah! I don't know about you, but I'm thrilled. Not only do I get to jump around to OK Go, but I also get to see my fave Glaswegian/Northern Irish lads stateside again.
Caught Snow Patrol the first time at 9:30 Club, with fewer than 30 people in the joint, and was immediately converted. A mere year later, and their show at the same venue was entirely sold out. Fast forward to a sold-out Roseland Ballroom in NY, and you can see how their reputation as live performers has mushroomed.
Here's a wee glance at their tour schedule, thanks to their publicity peeps...
OK GO / SNOW PATROL – NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
Irving Plaza, NY, 12/31/06 - 1/1/07
What was the ultimate way to usher in 2007? No, not with the massive throngs in Times Square, nor the wild hordes parading up and down the velvet ropes of the Meatpacking District. The best address in my book for New Years Eve 2007 was Irving Plaza. Why that's where the Brazilian Girls were, of course.
One can always count on the New York club legends to create a wild evening of lusty trip-hop with an altogether wacky edge. And you can bet they brought the beats and made us boogie.
First off, Sabina Sciubba is one of the most outrageous front women you'll ever come across. I've made much noise in past reviews about her incredible "fashion" statements and slightly nutty persona. And yes, New Years Eve was no exception. Topping her Clockwork Orange Droog-in-a-straightjacket look and even her space oddity with blinking boobies from shows past, this evening she was a vision in a cloud of white ruffles and glowing blue neon.
Better yet, this was a two-parter. After unburdening herself of the pouf extraordinnaire, she shimmied in wearing nothing more than red speedo trunks over an olive bandage-wrapped bodysuit. As these photos attest, she looked barely dressed. And with a bod like that, why the hell not?
But despite the overtly showy ensembles, the emphasis is never on appearance. The Brazilian Girls are they to groove us with their sensuous Euro trip-hop, crooned by turns in Spanish, French, German, Italian and English. And what better night than New Years Eve to close your eyes and get swept up in the sheer love of shaking it? Who can resist? Certainly not I.
With barely any warning before our midnight countdown began, the Brazilians kicked the evening into pseudo-rave mode, dumping oodles of balloons from lofty heights above the crowd. It was a beautiful sight...
From that point forward, all self control went down the drain for the crowd of revelers. Sabina and bassist, Jesse Murphy, were ready ringleaders, encouraging the audience to join them onstage. But there was one catch: You had to be ready to strip to your skivvies. And ready we apparently were! Considering what ensued...
And yes, that's a girl in paisties you see below. One of the opening acts, she performed a highly skilled burlesque act, synchronized swinging tassles and all...
Want more? Catch a full slideshow of the concert, including a few more sexy shots of the crowd in various stages of undress here:
http://flickr.com/photos/90224601@N00/sets/72157594465849134/show/
Plus some video of the debauchery here:
I hope everyone enjoyed their New Years celebration as much as I, and the rest of the crowd at Irving that night, did. And if you didn't? Pour yourself a glass of champagne and enjoy the sultry sounds of one of my faves from the show, "Lazy Lover"...
Or go straight out and buy their two albums, Brazilian Girls and the brand new Talk to La Bomb. Put 'em on the stereo, crank it up high, and crank the lights down low. Now shimmy. This cocktail is best shaken, not stirred.
Festival of Light Concert Series, Hammerstein Ballroom, 12/17
Enough with the Chrstmas concerts. It's time to pay some homage to the Judeo half of the Judeo-Christian continuum. And who better to get down with for Hanukkah than our favorite (and world's only) Chasidic Reggae artist, Matisyahu. After all, he threw one hekkuvah Hanukkah party at Hammerstein Ballroom 12/16, 12/17 & 12/19, with the first annual Festival of Lights concert series.
In honor of the eight crazy nights of Hanukkah, henceforth follows the eight best things about Matisyahu's Festival of Lights.
1. Matis is just as good as I remembered. In fact, he's better. His year of intense media exposure and extended touring has matured him, thankfully, without jading him. And I'm happy to report that his performances are benefitting from that maturity. His voice is better, stronger, and more toned. Though, I will admit that he does tend to tire toward the last quarter of the show, allowing his tenor to get off tune from time to time. But he's so energetic and heartfelt, it's easy to forgive him getting knocked off key a bit with all the improvisation and bouncing around (literally, bouncing). My Hanukkah wish for you, Matis: A voice coach, to help you train up that tenor, so I have no need for disclaimers next Hanukkah. You're good enough now, so let's take it to the next level and make you truly great.
But I digress. Here's one of the crowd's faves from the evening to prove he's got the chops:
Jerusalem
2. Matis' fans let loose the love. It's not often that the kids from Hebrew School get such an outspoken and visually Jewish icon throwing them a Hanukkah party in the form of a rock show. What makes this night different from all other nights? This one is Matis' night. And as you can see from the video above, his fans cut loose with a gleeful abandon that suggests they might not get out to rock shows too often. Or maybe they'rejust thrilled to let out who they are in a way that isn't publically accepted all that often. They jumped, they bounced, they threw their hands to the sky, and there was joyous celebration.
3. Matis makes love to the camera. He demonstrated that he knows the value of a photographer in the pit. Taking every opportunity to stroll right up and tower over us, he gave each of us a multitude of photo ops yielding ample fodder for golden galleries. As a photog and fan, this made me very happy. And I'm rather pleased with the results...
4. Matis loves to dance. And watching him do it just makes you want to bust out in an ear-to-ear grin. In black hat and overcoat, plus classic Adidas, it's old world meets old skool. And it can be downright goofy. I dare you not to giggle...
5. Matis lights the menorah... on stage. After asking us to hold up our lighter if we hadn't lit the menorah that night, he asks if anyone in the audience reads Hebrew. In this crowd, are you kidding? Half the audience holds up their hands, but it's lucky Debbie (Hebrew name Haya Rivka) who gets pulled onstage to read the Hanukkah blessing from the prayer book, as Matis lights an oversize menorah. Yes, those are actual candles on actual fire. Watch and believe:
Haya Rivka & Matis light the Menorah
As many of you undoubtedly know (or maybe you don't), a menorah has 8 candles representing the 8 nights that the lamps miraculously remained lit in the Temple, plus a 9th candle in the center, used to light the rest. As you can see below, 12/17 was the third night of Hanukkah, with 3 candles plus the center one lit...
Meanwhile, I found it interesting that his set designer chose to echo the theme of the menorah in the larger lighting scheme. Check out the number of lights in the set: 9 across the top; 4 down both sides of the stage in descending heights (apologies that my lens wasn't wide enough to get all of them in the frame); plus the tallest one in the middle. Nicely done, sir...
6. The candle is the new lighter. Lighters are so 1985. Cell phones are so 2005. But candles? Man, that's so old it's new. Obviously, Matis' menorah-lighting moment was inspirational for the audience, as you can see from the shots below. Kudos to the bearded boy who thought to bring his own menorah to begin with. And thanks for sharing, Shaul. Passing around the candles was classy, comforting, and created community, right there at Hammerstein Ballroom.
7. He shows pride in the Tribe. Each night of the tour, Matis brought along for the ride another member of the Tribe. On the 17th, it was Ben Kweller, solo onstage, representing for the collective Hebrew crew. He gave a remarkably strong performance, accompanying himself on the guitar and on keys. I'm not a Kweller afficionado, but I'd definitely give him another listen based on the strength of what I saw that night. > Check out a whole gallery of shots from the show here:
8. He takes his Hanukkah show on the road. NY wasn't the only city where Matis would light the menorah this year, oh no. He also took his Festival of Lights tour to DC and Boston, before the festivities were through. It's good to share the love.
And just as he did when he closed out his CD Release Party at the very beginning of 2006, he showed that there's one source and one love that unites us all. No matter what faith, no matter what creed, we can all agree that's the right message for the holiday season.
More Holiday Concerts
Part 1: Andrea Bocelli at Madison Square Garden
Part 2: NYCGMC Holiday Spectacular at Carnegie Hall
Part 3: Wainwright Family Christmas
