E Street Band

Boss Fans Take Note: Springsteen Announces First Local Date Since 2002

Whither Springsteen?

Q&A: Little Steven Van Zandt

Last Night: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Toyota Center

Alejandro Escovedo Spills the Beans on Houston Springsteen Duet

Gather Around for Storytime

Tracy Chapman

New Tape Of A Young Springsteen Remembering His First Houston Gigs

Someone has put up on YouTube the long audio interview he did with a very young Bruce Springsteen in Phoenix on March 24th, 1974 (Way before the 1978 Phoenix show that included the legendarily filmed "Rosalita").In part two of the six-part interview, Springsteen talks about the reception he's been g ... More >>

Classic Rock Corner: In Memoriam 2008

You know, the Grim Reaper don't care if you're a multiplatinum music legend, a one-hit wonder or studio-only sideman - he's comin' for you someday! And in 2008, he seemed to like keyboardists and drummers most. A number of classic rockers left for "The Great Gig in the Sky," foremost of whom is the ... More >>

Aftermath Extra: The Best Concerts of the Year, Part 2

Gram Rabbit, Super Happy Fun Land, January 31: "Gram Rabbit is the face of 21st century glam; denser than Scissor Sisters and more fun than Ladytron. If everyone who heard Roxy Music got these sorts of ideas, the world would be a vastly better place." (Chris Henderson) Over the Rhine, McGonigel' ... More >>

U2 Lace Up Their Dirty "Boots"

Among, you know, a few other things, the past 24 hours have been the start of a very, very big year for the band Rocks Off affectionately refers to as the Best Band Ever. U2 appeared alongside Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, "One" pal Mary J. Blige and many more as Barack Obama's opening acts at ... More >>

Bruce Springsteen Confirms Second Houston Show in a Year

Alejandro Escovedo with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band,"Always a Friend," Toyota Center, April 14, 2008 After last year's sold-out show that ended with both Alejandro Escovedo and Joe Ely duetting with the Boss, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are headed back to Houston for ... More >>

Super Bowl XLIII Recap

So I suppose I should say a little something about the Super Bowl. But before I do, I'd like to make an appeal to all future Super Bowl organizers. Please, no more American Idol rejects (or winners) for the anthem. Please. When Jennifer Hudson hit the 10 minute mark on that song yesterday, I d ... More >>

Aftermath: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Super Bowl XLIII

Part 1: "10th Avenue Freeze-Out" and "Born to Run" Score another one for the old folks. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's quarter-hour onstage at Super Bowl XLIII Sunday night may not have been the most contemporary booking the NFL could have landed - but, and we'll get to this in a minut ... More >>

Aftermath: The Killers at Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by Torey Mundkowsky Next year this decade will be over, and very few new bands have distinguished themselves either at the turnstiles or the cash register. Even one of the main ones that has, the Killers, chose to hit the theater circuit this winter after releasing its th ... More >>

Austin's Fave

Photos by Torey Mundkowsky Next year this decade will be over, and very few new bands have distinguished themselves either at the turnstiles or the cash register. Even one of the main ones that has, the Killers, chose to hit the theater circuit this winter after releasing its th ... More >>

Rotation

Photos by Torey Mundkowsky Next year this decade will be over, and very few new bands have distinguished themselves either at the turnstiles or the cash register. Even one of the main ones that has, the Killers, chose to hit the theater circuit this winter after releasing its th ... More >>

Breaking Through to the Mainstream

Photos by Torey Mundkowsky Next year this decade will be over, and very few new bands have distinguished themselves either at the turnstiles or the cash register. Even one of the main ones that has, the Killers, chose to hit the theater circuit this winter after releasing its th ... More >>

Springsteen Tickets for 20 Bucks

Chris Gray The line for Springsteen tickets shortly after noon - Rocks Off would assume there are still tickets available (they're in the upper deck, btw). Bring a couple of canned goods please. It's always nice to find something out from the daily, but when it involves Bruce Springsteen, ... More >>

Super Bowl XLIII Recap

So I suppose I should say a little something about the Super Bowl. But before I do, I'd like to make an appeal to all future Super Bowl organizers. Please, no more American Idol rejects (or winners) for the anthem. Please. When Jennifer Hudson hit the 10 minute mark on that song yesterday, I d ... More >>

Moments the Grammy Awards Would Rather Forget

Soy Bombed

Recent Super Bowl Halftime Highlights and Lowlights

Backfield in Motion

Should Bruce Springsteen Be Forgiven?

Arguments for reconsidering the missteps on the Boss's otherwise impeccable track record

Between the Cracks

Profiling local bands

Bruce Springsteen

The Rising (Columbia)

Back To Basics

Steven Van Zandt is dedicated to garage rock

Listen In

Clandestine -- Dave Nevling and the Blues Kats -- Tommy Dardar and the Sheetrockers

St. Boss

Clandestine -- Dave Nevling and the Blues Kats -- Tommy Dardar and the Sheetrockers

Rocks Off Succumbs to That Evil Facebook "Bands I've Seen" List

Chris GrayWilco's Jeff Tweedy at Verizon Wireless Theater, March 2008​If you're reading this at all, Rocks Off will just assume you're fairly familiar with the Internet, and therefore that you more than likely also have a Facebook page. Congratulations - don't you feel special? Rocks Off was recen ... More >>

"Kill Yourself" or "Don't Give Up"? Five Possible Theme Songs for the 2009 Houston Texans

[Ed. note: Due to an editing mistake, this should have been up Friday afternoon. Apologies... we sure hope it didn't jinx the Texans or anything.] ​You may have missed it - what with there being almost no media coverage whatsoever - but football season started this week. Our own Texans are looking ... More >>

Sorry Dave, We Had To: Top Ten Songs to Listen to While Having Sex With Co-Workers

If The Late Show with David Letterman hasn't seemed very funny lately, it's probably because Dave has been spending more time apologizing for banging his subordinates than he has making fun of Paul Shaffer. Admittedly, it was a bold move: coming forward and confessing his past missteps in order to ... More >>

Get Lit: Three More for That Already Groaning Springsteen Bookshelf

Daniel KramerThe Big Man, the Boss and Mighty Max Weinberg at Toyota Center, April 2009​ Just as Bruce Springsteen winds down a frenzied period of back-to-back album and tour marathon - despite the death of Springsteen's cousin/assistant tour manager earlier this week in Kansas City, he and the E ... More >>

Hiding on the Backstreets: Remembering Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band In Houston

Daniel KramerThe Boss at Toyota Center, April 2009​This past weekend's show in Buffalo, N.Y., was the last date on a nearly two-year (and two-album-supporting) trek by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which found them criss-crossing the country and the globe several times to rapt audiences ... More >>

Five Decisions That Took Less Time Than Bill White Figuring Out If He'll Run For Governor

​Bill White brought the Texas political world to a standstill yesterday when he convened a press conference to make the momentous announcement that....he was going to take some time to think about running for Governor instead of Senator.In a little over a week, he said, he'll make up his mind.Some ... More >>

Hiding on the Backstreets, Part 2: Bruce Springsteen Brings The River, Born In the U.S.A., Tunnel of Love and Tom Joad to Town

Daniel KramerBruce Springsteen and Miami Steve van Zandt at Toyota Center, April 2009​ As Bruce Springsteen fans come to grips with the unfortunate reality that this past weekend's show in Buffalo, N.Y., may well have been the final offical tour date - although surely not the final show - from the ... More >>

Hiding on the Backstreets, Part 3: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's Last (and Final?) Four Houston Shows

[Ed. Note: This is the final installment of our series reminiscing on Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's long history in Houston. See here for the '70s, and here for the '80s and '90s.] April 18, 2000: E Street Band Reunion Tour, Compaq Center (the Summit) Daniel Kramer​"It was on this to ... More >>

Can Rocks Off Withstand an Entire Hour of Sunny 99.1's Holiday Programming?

​Since Thanksgiving night, local dentist office-core radio station Sunny 99.1 FM has been pumping out non-stop Christmas tunes as they have been doing now for quite a few years. It's a Houston phenomenon and an ominous bellwether for the coming holiday. You pretty much know when you can hear Vanes ... More >>

2009 Concert Rewind, April: Springsteen, Jandek, Morrissey, The Faint, iFest, Cake... and Nickelback

Harley C. Pitts​ Kevin and Dustin Welch, McGonigel's Mucky Duck, April 2: "Dustin (son of Kevin) Welch stunned the sparse crowd at the Duck last night from the first note of "One False Move," the brilliant opener to his new album, Whisky Priest. While the graying crowd had mostly come to hear the ... More >>

Live with Me

The best Houston concerts of 2009: U2, George Strait, Kid Cudi, Jandek, Peaches and even T-Pain.

Springsteen 2.0: Can Baby Bosses Cruise The Backstreets?

Daniel Kramer​This fall, Houstonians salivating for another touring run by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band don't have to search to hard to find bands heavily influenced by the man's sound and work ethic. Even though Springsteen and his merry band of musicians may be cooling their road ... More >>

Springsteen Web Site: '78 Summit Show Best Video Ever

​ Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, "Fire," live at the Summit 12/8/78 Since one of the extra goodies is a complete video of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's December 1978 concert at the Summit, Rocks Off is sure Houston's Boss fans don't need much more reason to buy the expande ... More >>

Guns N' Roses, Rolling Stones, Prince Coming In 2011?

Sind Axl und Slash wieder Freunde geworden?​Rocks Off is in the concert business for all intents and purposes. We scour Pollstar and other Web sites and almost hourly looking for new shows and tours to tell you about around the clock. In the span of writing this introduction we just listed Luc ... More >>

Top 10 Super Bowl Halftime Shows

idontlikeyouinthatway.com​This Sunday, Rocks Off will be live-blogging and tweeting this year's Super Bowl halftime show, which will feature noted scholars The Black Eyed Peas. We are diligently studying the entire BEP canon and that of all of their solo members, like the dedicated pop histori ... More >>

Joe Ely Band, Mike Stinson

idontlikeyouinthatway.com​This Sunday, Rocks Off will be live-blogging and tweeting this year's Super Bowl halftime show, which will feature noted scholars The Black Eyed Peas. We are diligently studying the entire BEP canon and that of all of their solo members, like the dedicated pop histori ... More >>

BestFest: Slim Thug's Sweet Tooth, Against Me! Destroys, Bun B Trills

Photos by Marc BrubakerSlim Thug​Slim Thug is in front of me eating a popsicle right now. That sums up the second half of my day pretty well. There was skanking at Los Skarnales - both kinds - and a surprise Baby Bash mini-set before Slim Thug came onstage. I forgot how much "Suga Suga" remind ... More >>

Looking Back at A Very Special Christmas Track by Track

​In the late 1980's, music empresario Jimmy Iovine cobbled together quite a collection of pop and rock artists to record songs for a Christmas album benefitting the Special Olympics. In 1987, A Very Special Christmas was released and rapidly became an instant holiday classic thanks to the star ... More >>

In Memoriam: Musicians And Industry Giants We Lost In 2011

Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band passed on in 2011. ​For Rocks Off, one of the creepiest parts of our job is to report on deaths in the industry. Now matter how old or young the musician or mogul is, it's hard to try to quantify a person's life over the course of a few hundred words. How ... More >>

Tori, Tool, TLC And The Other Musical Debuts Of 1992

​1992 was a pretty heady year for music in general, with the masses gobbling up all the gangsta rap, grunge, and pop-country they could. That year would see the release of not only R.E.M.'s Automatic For The People, Peter Gabriel's Us, Pantera's Vulgar Display Of Power, but also what is arguab ... More >>

Rolled Up Like a Douche: "Blinded by the Light" Explained

​A few years ago, my band took a trip up the east coast to play some shows in and around New York City. One of the stops was in Asbury Park at a club called The Saint. Not more than probably a mile down the road was the Stone Pony, the legendary venue where some great bands got their start inc ... More >>

Bruce Springsteen's New Single and a Preemptive Review of His Upcoming Album

​Like any red-blooded American rock and roll fan, I am looking forward to the next year to be filled with Bruce Springsteen. The man has a new album, Wrecking Ball, coming on March 6, a massive tour in the planning stages, and he's set to be the keynote speaker at this year's South By Southwes ... More >>

In Ten Years, Will Indie Be Remembered Like Nu-Metal?

​What exactly do you remember from the summer of 2002? Stop and think -- of the music on the radio, the CDs you were most excited for, who won the Grammy for Best Album, and so on. What exactly stands out from 10 years ago? If you find that your answer is "Not much," then you're probably l ... More >>