Rhiannon Giddens is an extraordinary talent.

After an insufferable half hour opening solo set by a forgettable singer songwriter, Rhiannon Giddens took the stage in a classic blue dress with three members of her incredible band the Carolina Chocolate Drops with additional stand up bass and drums. Giddens can sing a torch song, play bluegrass, gospel, and folk music with equal ease and power. The tour is in support of the relatively recent solo release “Tomorrow is My Turn” but she and the band intertwined the songs that broke her into a higher profile and Carolina Chocolate Drops tunes. It is a unique show incorporating various instruments including, as she pointed out, four banjos.

The Town Hall audience was clearly  reveling in the evening’s performance and gave Rhiannon and the band multiple well deserved standing ovations. The gracious Giddens thanked producer T-Bone Burnett, who approached her at the Inside Llewyn Davis inspired concert “Another Day, Another Time” at Town Hall a couple of years ago to do a solo album together while also conveying appreciation to her band for being supportive of the solo journey she has undertaken. It is hard not to like and root for Rhiannon Giddens and the crowd was rewarded with a guest appearance by Marcus Mumford on the final encore. Mumford, who has been in the New York City area all week, strapped the acoustic guitar back on and played one of the New Basement Tapes songs Rhiannon and he did together on the “Lost on the River” collection.

Rhiannon Giddens is amazing and must be seen on this six week solo tour. However, if you should miss this tour, you will be able to catch her somewhere down the line as she will be around for a long, long, time; someone this brilliant does not come along every day.

Today is her turn

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GQ

Rhiannon Giddens plays Town Hall in New York City tonight in support of her first solo album “Tomorrow is My Turn”. produced by T-Bone Burnett.

Rhiannon Giddens is a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist from the Carolina Chocolate Drops but perhaps best known for her work in the concert film “Another Day, Another Time” inspired by the Inside Llewyn Davis motion picture and more recently for the “Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes” sessions with Elvis Costello, Marcus Mumford and others.

The Town Hall is an excellent venue and I’m looking forward to a great night of entertainment from a musical talent who has already grown immensely as an artist and will likely just keep getting better going forward.

Shake Sugaree

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GQ

My son and I ventured into downtown Manhattan to catch Mumfird & Sons play at Le Poisson Rouge located on Bleeker Street. The invite said doors at 7 show at 9 and I expected a line down the block to get in. We really had not planned to try and arrive early but we hit no traffic, found a parking space around the corner with no trouble, and found ourselves inside the lower level of the building shortly after 7. Surprisingly there were only a few people milling around inside so we planted ourselves about 15 feet from the stage dead center and settled in for the show.

Le Poisson Rouge is dimly lit and has a club feel; the venue is intimate to say the least as it seemed to me to be about half the size of the Bowery Ballroom with no balcony. The website says the venue holds 700 standing and from the stage to the back bar was still a great view and very close to the stage.

The band had requested that no cell phones be allowed in the club since they were trying out the “Wilder Mind” material in front of live audiences and, except for one song, the new material had not been released yet. It was actually a pleasure not to be surrounded by people texting and taking video throughout the performance. Other bands should take note; the crowd was fully engaged in the moment and actually conversing with each other (many of the twenty something year olds in the crowd did not even know what time it was without their phones which had been secured at the door for safekeeping).

My wife and son are huge Mumford & Sons fans while I have been just a casual observer of the band to this point. Marcus Mumford clearly gets the lion’s share of the attention and credit for the group’s incredible success thus far, however, Mumford  & Sons is truly a BAND; with this new material they clearly intend to get their rock star on. The new music is a combination of hard rock, atmospheric, almost Peter Gabriel like interludes, punk rock, Clash-like bravado. and classic, but heavy, Mumford & Sons music, 

The new music rocked and the hour long show of new music was awesome. Marcus Mumford wearing a plain black T shirt and sipping what appeared to be Guinness beer throughout the show did his best rock star moves while bringing his distinctive vocal talents to the “Wilder Mind” materusl. 

Mumfird & Sons embarks on their Gentlemen of the Road Stopover festivals starting on June 5th and 6th in Seaside Heights New Jersey. If last night’s warm up is any indication, the band is primed for an auspicious summer.

The Wolf

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GQ

I am still trying to navigate this blogging/internet world we live in but if anyone out there is actually checking in once in awhile, my darling daughter has helped me set up a website to document my exploits. Last night my son and I attended a special club show by Mumford & Sons in Manhattan where they played the new “electric” music before taking it on the festival circuit.

Wilder Mind

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GQ

I have been hoping that Mumford & Sons will play the Newport Folk Festival this summer when the second “surprise” New York City concert this week was announced in support of the band’s “electric” release “Wilder Mind”. I am happy to say that I managed to purchase a pair of the extremely reasonably priced ducats for tonight’s special event as the show sold out in a matter of minutes as expected.

Le Poisson Rouge is a relatively new space; an intimate club that can accommodate 700 standing and I have never been to before. This should make for a very interesting evening.

Check your cell phone at the door.

Tomkins Square Park

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GQ

Robbie Krieger of the Doors plays two shows at City Winery in New York City tonight.

Light My Fire

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GQ

The Boomtown Rats finished up the U.S. leg of their 1979 world tour headlining the Paladium in New York City.

For me it was a bit of an unusual event at the time since the Boomtown Rats, while somewhat known, did not really seem to have the popularity to headline a venue like the Paladium where more established rock acts tended to play.

I also seem to recall that ticket prices for this show were really inexpensive (cheap) for the time and it was a night out so we went to check out some new music.

The Boomtown Rats had one popular radio hit with “I Don’t Like Mondays” about a school shooting of all things which did not really showcase the band’s punkish bent. The Bob Geldof led band put on a high energy show for the mostly curious crowd who was not sure what to expect, and the Irish band never did break big in the states.

Bob Geldof would later be primarily known for his humanitarian work and for putting together the Live Aid benefit concert.

The Boomtown Rats are planning a 2015 reunion tour starting in May which will include some festivals and eventually land at Terminal 5  New York City in September.

The Fine Art of Surfacing

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GQ

Billy Joel continues his sold out residency at Madison Square Garden tomorrow night Monday, 03/09/2015.

I’ve seen Billy Joel perform many times through the years and a couple of times on this historic run which so far will continue to December, 2015 with shows scheduled once a month.

I was very fortunate to catch Billy Joel at The Paramount in Huntington which he had rented out to rehearse for a recent tour. Joel liked the place so much that when he was done with the reheasals he did a spur of the moment one off benefit concert with reasonably priced tickets placed on sale the day before the show. It was a great night as it is not often an artist like Billy Joel will play a full set at a 1500 capacity club and to be there was certainly a thrill. Paul Rudd could be seen in a box above the stage rocking out along with the ecstatic crowd who all seemed to be happy to be at this special event.

Rumor has it that Long Island’s Joel will close out the Nassau Coliseum sometime this spring. When the New York Islanders finish their current hockey season they will relocate to the Barclay Center in Brooklyn next year. The Nassau Coliseum will be without a tenant and will shut its doors for a major renovation of the property. It is fitting that one of Long Island’s favorite sons will supposedly play the last shows at the Coliseum like he did for Shea Stadium not that long ago.

Only the Good Die Young

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GQ