The Grammy Awards were not half bad this year. It was touching to see Joni Mitchell performing again after years of crippling health issues. Her voice, once a pure soprano, is now a husky contralto, but no matter. Brandi Carlile, who has helped Mitchell regain her form over the past several years, was at her side, offering musical and emotional support, but credit must go to Mitchell for gathering the fortitude to get back on stage, even with her physical limitations. Truly a courageous performance.
Now that the Grammys have come and gone, we can turn our musical attention to the halftime performance at the upcoming Super Bowl. Usher will be the featured performer this year, and there has been some harrumphing surrounding that choice. Some have wondered, “Is that the best they could do?” My answer is this: Usher is a talented musician who has sold a bunch of records. And hey, it could be a lot worse.
How much worse? As someone who is old enough to have been around for all 57 Super Bowls, I hasten to point out that the annoyingly perky and belligerently wholesome group Up with People played the Super Bowl four times between 1976 and 1986. And prior to that, the cavalcade of Super Bowl stars included Mickey Rooney, George Burns, Carol Channing and Andy Williams. Not exactly what you might call hip. And did I mention that we had to walk uphill both ways to get to and from the stadium? Hey, you punks, get off of my lawn!
Ticket Alert
So how badly do you want to see the Eagles on Friday, February 16, at Toyota Center? The band has played in these parts several times over the last five or six years, but if you have missed them, I can tell you it’s a hell of a show. I can also tell you that it will be expensive. $433 on the low end, around $1,600 if money is no object. And that’s through the venue, not the secondary market.
Wanna get your metal on? Do we have a show for you! Lamb of God and Mastodon will perform on Sunday, July 21, at the 713 Music Hall as part of a tour dubbed “Ashes of Leviathan.” Is that what you get when you overcook a whale? Actually, the jaunt’s name stems from the fact that both bands are celebrating the twentieth anniversaries of classic albums: Ashes of the Wake for Lamb of God and Leviathan for Mastodon. Presales are up now, with the general ticket sale on Friday.
Concerts This Week
Jared James Nichols doesn’t usually get the ink devoted to some young guitar wizards, but he has what a lot of shredders don’t. Soul. Funk. Groove. Encouraged by his classic rock-loving father, Nichols spent hours woodshedding and listening to Eric Clapton, Leslie West and Stevie Ray Vaughan during his formative years, and it shows. If loud guitars and long solos are your thing, head for the House of Blues on Friday.
Matisyahu was once a hacky sack-playing, drug-gobbling slacker who followed Phish on tour. Then, in the space of a couple of years, he was ripping up the charts (“King Without a Crown”) as an Orthodox Jewish reggae rapper and beat boxer. The sidelocks and beard are gone now, but Matisyahu is still on the road, doing his singular thing and playing on Friday at Warehouse Live Midtown.
Portugal. The Man. Unusual. The name. Saturday. The show. Music Center. Bayou.
Austin’s Hot Club of Cowtown has established itself as not only a caretaker of western swing but as a purveyor of the jazzy alchemy developed by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli when they were members of the Quintette du Hot Club de France during the 1930s. And hey, any band that has the, er, nerve to hang its hat on the Bob Wills classic “Big Balls in Cow Town” is OK with me. They will be swinging hard on Tuesday at Main Street Crossing.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
