Good morning, everyone, and greetings from this year's Jazzfest in New Orleans. This festival is always a favorite for its wide range of musical offerings, including lots of jazz, but branching out into many different subgenres with dedicated stages for blues, gospel, and zydeco (traditional upbeat Creole folk music with an accordion at the core of the sound).

We started early the night before the fest with our musical pre-show. Saw two bands that we loved from last year. The first was River Eckert, a 16-year old piano phenom in the mold of Professor Longhair and other NOLA legends back in the day. Yes, you read that correctly, 16 YEARS OLD! He did a stellar boogie-woogie set on someone's front porch to a huge fun crowd who had to be told repeatedly by the show organizer to stay out of the street and off other people's property during his set (those requests ultimately failed). But what a show it was, just River pounding out legendary classics on his keyboard on a porch.

We then went to the Blue Nile, a renowned brass band club in the Marigny district of NOLA to see the New Breed Brass Band, a "second-line" marching band with lots of horns and drums and raw happy energy. That was a blast, but after their first set, it was time to call it a night.

We started the festival itself off with Government Majik, the first band of the day and a true fave for the day. They call themselves the "The Dirty South Afro-Beat Arkestra" and what that translates into in layman's English are driving funk and jazz beats with a compelling lead front woman and major political overtones that was an absolutely stellar way to start off the first day of the fest. They topped their show off with a mashup of a song called "Impeach the President", and "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath, lest you wonder about where their heads are at politically.

We watched a couple of more local delights like parades through the fairgrounds and "Mardi Gras Indians" in full-color dress and doing chants over heavy percussion and then we got to Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes. Their show pulled me in more and more as the set progressed, fusing Latin rhythms and Eastern European Jewish klezmer music over a sunny, upbeat rocking foundation. It continues to fascinate me how well klezmer goes with hard-edged jazz and rock, given that they originate from such fundamentally different places and cultures.

Next up was Brass-A-Holics, who start with that New Orleans second-line brass marching band sound, and incorporate heavy doses of hip-hop and DC go-go music (a criminally overlooked subgenre with heavy percussion and brass and LONG songs that was huge in Washington, DC but never really broke out beyond DC, but it's so nice to see some of these brass bands embracing it). A high-energy, very fun set of music.

After that was the Lena Prima Band led by the daughter of Louis Prima, the Sicilian jump blues bandleader from the middle of last century. She was great and her backing band was phenomenal, reminded me of Sinatra's backing band, but on speed! She did some of her Dad's classics like "Jump, Jive an' Wail" and "Angelina / Zooma Zooma". Full of fun with a killer band, we also caught her late show at a hotel ballroom in the French Quarter.

I saw the world-renowned Preservation Hall Jazz Band after that. They have several different touring bands that fall under that name, some are very traditional, and some are much more modern; the band that I saw kind of fell in the middle and was brilliant in spots, but their sound was somewhat muddled in others.

The finale for the day for me was a collaboration between Blues Hall of Famer Charlie Musselwhite and the Boston electric blues band GA-20. Such a treat to see Charlie Musselwhite again after all these years, he's 82 years old and still going strong with his harp and his lead vocals. GA-20 exemplifies the power of electric Chicago blues and together they were absolutely breathtaking. So much power in their music and I always find live electric blues to be a unique and transformational experience, and this was as good as it gets.

Day One in the books, weather was picture-perfect, and looking forward to diving into today's Jazzfest offerings!

Hello again from NOLA where Day Two of Jazzfest is now in the rear-view mirror. We weren't sure what to expect of yesterday's offerings but we wound up with some real gems.

Two highlights, back to back. We saw the Silver Birds Steel Drum Orchestra in the Jamaican Cultural Tent and, wow, they were something else. They are a troupe of high school kids from Jamaica making melodic music on four pairs of steel drums and, at the end, throwing in some very cool breakdancing to round out the experience. You haven't lived until you've heard "Beat It" and "Sweet Caroline" and "Livin' on a Prayer" done on steel drums.

After that was a Mexican-American ska-punk-reggae-Latin band called Los Skarnales who performed a great mashup of all the aforementioned genres with lots of energy and fun. The crowd loved them and they clearly basked in the positive feedback they were getting from the audience.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention one of the night's headliners, Jon Batiste, a New Orleans son and overall musical renaissance man. He did his set with the Blind Boys of Alabama, a chorus, dancers, and his regular band on stage and it was, wow, a performance to behold. His music transcends easy categorization but the overall theme is joy and love and, at the finale, EVERYONE on the stage (all gazillion of them) marched into the crowd and down one of the fest paths while playing "When the Saints Come Marching In". Pure live music bliss!

Other highlights include Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials, another electric Chicago blues special, always love seeing Lil' Ed pound out that blues energy. Al "Lil Fats" Jackson did a set of boogie-woogie piano that was inspired by Fats Domino, and was quite a hoot to watch. And the first band of the day, Poisson Rouge, was a zydeco band that incorporated some serious rock guitar jamming into their sound, a great way to start the day.

Getting ready for Day Three and Day Four. Have a great day, everybody!

Good morning after Day Three of Jazzfest in New Orleans. A good day at the Fest with not as many highlights as previous days, but some great stuff nonetheless. The best show of the festival yesterday for me was Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers. The band is named very aptly — their sound is based in Cajun zydeco music but they really do rock out, and it's a faster, harder sound (in the best way) than traditional zydeco music.

On the heels of Dwayne Dopsie was Samantha Fish, one of the hardest-rockin' female blues rock vocalists and guitarists you will ever see. Her sound is driving blues rock (almost a retro sound to the late-60s/early-70s, in some ways), but she has moments of tenderness and she really can command a stage. Definitely check her out, if you can.

I checked out Don Vappie's Creole Jazz Serenaders and they had a nice set of banjo-led traditional Dixieland music. And, after that, speaking of banjo, we checked out Rhiannon Giddens' set in the Blues Tent. She has an incredible voice and plays a mean banjo, and draws from many international and indigenous music genres. Mellower than most music I listen to, but very compelling and a nice way to close out the day.

A big musical highlight for me occurred after the festival at a club in a relatively desolate part of the Warehouse District in New Orleans. We saw the Morning 40 Federation, a New Orleans institution who defies easy categorization. Rockers with horns and a non-stop sense of twistedness — each song got me bopping around more than the previous one, and their vocal leads reminded me of something between Captain Beefheart and the Butthole Surfers. Very, very fun stuff, and so glad we were able to make it over to that club.

Last day of Jazzfest Week One is today and I am psyched. Have a great day, everybody!

The 2026 Jazzfest in New Orleans is now a wrap and it was another great fest down here. Yesterday was the final Day Four of the first weekend of Jazzfest and it was quite fun.

Any day that David Byrne is going to be on the dance card is a day that I know I will be in for a treat. He was the headliner and he put on an absolutely terrific set that combined some of his more recent solo work with a nice sprinkling of Talking Heads material (so thrilled to hear these songs live again), and his rearrangements and choreography around them were truly stunning and didn't diminish these classics in any way. The finale of "Life During Wartime" was positively hypnotic. And, on a humorous linguistic side note, his concert was the first time I heard the word "anthropomorphism" used on a concert stage.

Right before David Byrne was Tuba Skinny, a NOLA street band who focused on the old first-generation jazz such as ragtime, Dixieland, and swing. Very enjoyable, and the interplay between the musicians seemed positive and natural.

The very first band we saw of the day was the River Eckert Band. I had previously mentioned seeing this 16-year-old keyboard prodigy playing on a residential porch before the fest started, where he played solo piano. Yesterday's show was him and his whole band and, all I can say is that we were totally dazzled by his solo show and were just TOTALLY blown away about how "next level" River Eckert is playing with a full band.

Other fun sets were "Topp Brass Plays Ska" — they were a Jamaican band in the Jamaican Cultural Tent and they were very upbeat as they celebrated the legacy of ska.

Two other brass bands put on really nice sets yesterday. The upbeat Young Pinstripe Brass Band laid out a positive horn-filled groove, and the New Orleans Nightcrawlers did a set on one of the larger stages which exuded energy and joy. They have been around since 1996 and their experience shows, along with the rockin' side of the brass band continuum.

The last band I want to give a shout-out to are the New Orleans Klezmer All Stars. They play classic klezmer (Jewish folk music from Eastern Europe) which is not always the happiest music but, in this band's hands, the music takes on a whole new life. A very fun set on one of the smallest, most intimate stages at Jazzfest.

Well, that's it for this festival. Hope you enjoyed these updates and have a great week, everybody!

Good day, everyone, and greetings from Chicagoland, where we have a small crew attending the Riot Fest punk-centric music festival.

"Sending in the clowns" was how the inaugural day of the festival started off, with not one, but two, bands featuring clowns as leads. Mac Sabbath is a spoof band of Black Sabbath where they change some of the lyrics to make them more food oriented ("Sweet Beef" instead of "Sweet Leaf", for example). Very fun and very entertaining. Quick on the heels of that was Puddles Pity Party, another clown-led outfit that did spoofs of famous pop songs, and were actually legitimately talented.

As the day progressed, a few treats were in store. Agnostic Front, one of the OGs of NYC hardcore punk in the 80s, cranked up the speed and noise decades after their inception. This is the way punk is supposed to sound!

Another band that has been around for half a century is Sparks. They have put out 28 albums and have been very adept at adapting their musical sound to changing times, starting out as a quirky pop band and evolving into a new wave band with lots of beats and synthesizer. What a treat it was to see them. Russell Mael's voice is as good as ever.

Yet another blast from the past was Camper Van Beethoven. They've been around since the 80s and they mix Eastern European traditional music with punk and a very snarky, but humorous sensibility. This may be one of the last shows they do, because the lead singer said that the band lives on three different continents so touring becomes logistically challenging — I am absolutely delighted to have gotten to see them.

The highlight of the day for me was Weird Al Yankovic. Besides being a master parody-ist, he is also an excellent musician, as is his band, and the videos on the screen that supported the show were hysterical. If you're not familiar with him, I recommend having a look at YouTube.

The Pogues closed out the night with their Irish-music-meets-punk sound. I very much appreciate that they saluted their former member, the late Shane McGowan, who was such an influence on the band.

There are a number of logistical challenges with getting to and from this festival, and they need more food stands, but they did put on a nice array of exciting music for Day One with excellent weather.

Hello again from the Riot Fest in Chicago. Day Two is finito and offered a few musical gems.

The first band of the day was Agent Orange, a West Coast hard-core band that has been around since the beginning and interestingly fuses surf rock sounds into their very guitar-forward sonic attack. Nice way to start the day.

Building on that excitement was GWAR. GWAR is a spectacle to behold. I saw them a bunch of times many years ago, and it was nice to see that they are back. You don't go to see them so much for the blazing speed-metal music, you go for the entire "show". The members of GWAR have crazy costumes and dragons on the stage and blood spurting from all directions. It's a hoot, and it still works in 2025. They even had somebody dressed as Vladimir Putin on the stage at one point.

The highlight of the day for me was getting to see the Dropkick Murphys again. What a show they do, fusing Irish and Celtic music with punk, and I love their political sensibilities and how they're not shy about talking about them from the stage. High energy, high fun, and a very unique musical stew.

Although I was pretty far away, I really enjoyed Jack White's set. Mixing White Stripes classics with some of his solo work, and reworking a number of his classic songs for the stage made his show something quite compelling.

The headliner was The Damned, a first generation punk band that is still together and touring. Weezer was the official headliner, but I had never seen The Damned. A lot of their newer work is surprisingly melodic for a punk band, but they did play some of the old stuff toward the end, including a terrific cover of "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane — did not see THAT coming.

Onward to Day Three! Have a great day, one and all!

Good morning from the day after the final day of the Riot Fest music festival in Chicagoland. The weather cooperated and the stars aligned and we had quite the musical experience. The headliner for Day Three was Green Day, but all of us passed on seeing them in order to be able to get out of the festival without about 50,000 people trying to worm their way into one subway station. I saw Green Day recently and I love them, but I think that wound up being the wise choice.

One of my favorite bands of the day was Screeching Weasel. They come out of the hard-core punk space, but have a lot of melody and also surprisingly oppressive lead vocals. They have one song called "Cool Kids" that I previously heard and thought the chorus and instrumental break were incredibly catchy.

Right before Screeching Weasel was the Dance Hall Crashers. They came out of the late-80s/early-90s Berkeley scene that spawned bands like Rancid (and Green Day, for that matter). Punk, with a dose of ska, and an energetic female lead, made for a very fun listen.

IDLES came on later in the afternoon. Interesting and dichotomous band — their guitars shred, and their lead singer snarls, but amidst this seemingly angry sound, their message, which they reinforce continuously throughout the set, is a message of love and tolerance and kindness.

Got to see a few more bands interspersed with the aforementioned bands (Bad Religion, Lambrini Girls, the latter of whom reminded me a little bit of the Plasmatics). One band I thought I would share with you is Inhaler. Their lead singer is a young gentleman named Elijah Henson who has a relatively famous Dad named Paul Hewson, who also goes by the name of "Bono". Elijah actually sounds amazingly like his dad, though the band is by no means derivative of U2. Driving hard indie-pop with some other influences, I think best describes them.

Another festival in the books — enjoyed this one, they had an excellent musical lineup. Happy weeks to all of you.

Greetings from Asbury Park (well, not quite — just got back from a weekend there)! Attended the Sea Hear Now music festival right along the beach, which is always quite a good time. This year's festival spanned two days and had a number of great musical moments.

My personal highlight was LCD Soundsystem's performance late on Saturday. LCD always puts on a great show with a full band, lots of percussion, and classic songs. James Murphy hails from New Jersey but now lives in NYC, is a great lead vocalist, and creates interesting, quirky songs with a generous dose of danceability. I have seen LCD several times now and they just keep getting better.

Another highlight from the first day was Trombone Shorty. I try not to miss an opportunity to see him and his band fuse New Orleans second-line brass band music with funk, soul, and more than a dose of rock and roll to create a soaring live experience. Mondo Cozmo was also on the bill on Saturday. They hail from the Philly area and their first two albums are second to none in terms of how they fuse ballads, hard rock-and-roll, and a lush orchestral backdrop. They close their show with a cover of Bittersweet Symphony which could bring one to tears.

Sunday, we started off with Grace Bowers, a young and up-and-coming vocalist and guitarist who fuses blues, funk, and jam-band music into her sound. Quite powerful and compelling. She brought Flavor Flav from Public Enemy on stage during her set — turns out she is playing lead guitar on the new Public Enemy album, which has to be quite a coup career-wise. Speaking of Public Enemy, they did a set later in the afternoon and crushed it. Still sounds fresh and relevant after all these years.

Got a good dose of punk rock from Mannequin Pussy (yes, that's actually their name!). They are a Philly band and put out a couple of albums of straight-ahead punk that almost blew their stage right into the ocean! Very politically aware and not afraid to speak out on the topics they are passionate about.

Remember the band 4 Non-Blondes and the song "What's Up" from about thirty years ago? They resurrected themselves after several decades and did a rockin' set that was way better than I ever would have imagined.

Lenny Kravitz did a superb, loud, and electric set toward the end of the evening. He sure can crank up the noise but pulled off his poppier and more ballad-like tunes perfectly. A true professional.

The headliner for Sunday was Blink-182. This was my first time seeing them and they were a lot of fun. The crowd was very enthusiastic. I was struck by just how good their drummer, Travis Barker, is — positively electric all evening.

Another great time in the books! Happy Monday, everybody!

Good morning and greetings from Gothenburg, Sweden, the biggest European city you probably have never heard of. Out here for the Way Out West music festival. This is smaller and easier to navigate than many others I have been at, but still offered up a good lineup of different types of music.

The highlight of the first day for me was Iggy Pop. At 78 years old, he was a punk before any of us knew what that meant and he still snarls and rocks with the best of them. Hearing "Lust for Life" live was just incredible. (Fun sidebar: Royal Caribbean cruises used it in an ad campaign and had to pull it when someone pointed out the song was about shooting heroin.)

Another age-related mention goes out to Mavis Staples, who is 86 years old and still has quite the vocal pipes and stage presence for her blues-infused set.

Got to see Kneecap, the controversial rap band from Northern Ireland. We can't see them in the States because the Trump Administration had them banned for their political views on the Gaza War. Their set was explosive and featured many references to Palestine. I felt that I was seeing something my government didn't want me to see, which added an extra level of excitement to the whole experience.

Fontaines D.C. did a great set, as they always do. It's a bit hard to describe their sound but they have a compelling live presence and it's interesting to see how they have evolved over the course of their several albums.

A pleasant surprise was Nilufer Yanya. She had a somewhat dark but hypnotic alt-rock sound which drew me in. Also on the bill were Queens of the Stone Age and Cymande, a British R&B band from the 70s who are touring again after all these years.

We dodged most of the rain that had been forecast. Now let's see if we will be similarly lucky today!

Good morning from Sweden. Quick wrap-up of Day Two of the Way Out West music festival. This will be a quick one since the universe served up a big rain storm in the middle of the day.

Two excellent bands yesterday. Khruangbin is a band that defies easy categorization. They have a funky bass undercurrent but very ethereal and almost jam-like qualities at the fore. They are a very hypnotic live experience that draws you in and immerses you in their groovy soundscape. Right after Khruangbin was Wet Leg, a hard-edged alt-rock group from Wales. Female-led, with just the right mix of sexiness and raw power, they did a terrific set that got the crowd rocking. Their biggest hit is "Chaise Lounge" — a great singalong that is funny enough to almost qualify as a novelty song.

Before the rains came, we saw Seun Kuti, son of the legendary Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. His set wasn't bad, but I wished he played more music and talked less about universal love.

The headliner for the evening was Charli XCX. Clearly talented, but not the live music experience I always like to see, with musicians playing their instruments and spontaneously creating something special.

Have a great day!

Greetings from Gothenburg, Sweden, where Day Three of the Way Out West music festival has completed. Except for some brief drizzle, the weather held up.

Most festivals have a major "discovery" for me, and that happened yesterday with the band GOAT. They are a local band (from Gothenburg) and are very different from the other Swedish bands on the bill, who were more EDM or hip-hop-like. These guys were a wall of noise, mixing influences like Hawkwind, the B-52's, and Thee Oh Sees. They also dressed in off-the-wall costumes and had a massive Afrobeat percussion section driving them. Right up my alley, and the furthest thing you can imagine from "easy listening".

Right after GOAT was the Pet Shop Boys. A good set — his voice is still as melodious as ever — but pretty much the exact same show I had seen them do previously. Another local Swedish artist was Timbuktu, a rapper collaborating with the Rakiem Walker project from Harlem, laying out some good rapping with the benefit of a full funky band behind him.

The headliner for the evening was Chappell Roan. She went to town with her outfits, her stage set, and the whole deal. While her music isn't really in my wheelhouse, it is hard to dispute that she's got one helluva voice, had a great backing band, and advocated for progressive causes that are important to me. So much respect from this corner of the world. The crowd went nuts for her, standing on picnic tables and bopping continuously.

So that's a wrap. Gothenburg is also a really nice European city which is worth a visit on its own. Thanks for reading these wrap-ups!

Good morning and greetings from N'Awlins. We are down here for a four-day stint at Jazz Fest, which is already off to an excellent start. This is the one festival where I don't feel like the oldest person there! I love so much of this indigenous New Orleans music that being here is truly a bucket-list item for me.

The highlight of Day One was, no doubt, the headliner — Santana. They blew the roof off the stage (well, it was an outdoor show, so forgive the metaphor). Carlos is 77 years old and somewhat physically frail but his guitar still has that evocative quality and the band was phenomenal. A high-energy Latin rock fusion that blazed the trail for so many others but still remains relevant and incredibly special.

Another favorite was the homegrown-from-NOLA Dirty Dozen Brass Band. I have seen them for literally decades and watched their sound evolve — now with the inclusion of a funky guitar line in their arrangements — and they sound as solid and polished as ever.

The festival started with the modern swamp-funk sounds of John "Papa" Gros, who used to front Papa Grows Funk and has now gone solo. Such happy, upbeat music! The performance featured a guest appearance from Papa Grows Funk's legendary Japanese guitarist June Yamagichi, which was a real treat.

Another big treat came from the Mexico section of the festival. We got to see the Ballet Folklórico Nueva Antiquera doing a dance along with a full band playing stirringly powerful music from southern Mexico — extra interesting, because a lot of the Mexican music you hear tends to come from northern Mexico, and this was similar in some ways but quite different in others.

Saw part of Better Than Ezra's set — yes, they are still around and still can play, but it seemed a little out of place next to all the New Orleans brass bands and retro big bands sprinkled throughout the festival.

We even got to see some parades marching through the festival grounds. A very festive first day. The rain held off — hoping we'll be lucky on that front again today!

Good morning from the Big Easy and from Jazzfest. Yesterday was heavy on the blues and the zydeco — native Cajun folk music with an accordion at the center of the sound. Very fitting for a festival in New Orleans.

The day started with Leroy Thomas and the Zydeco Roadrunners. Their music (and zydeco in general) has gotta be the happiest music you can imagine, right up there with New Orleans second-line brass band music. It is near impossible to not be in a great mood listening to this. From there, we went to see Tin Men, who bill themselves as the "best sousaphone, guitar, and washboard" trio in the country — they may be the only band in this category, but they were fun and interesting.

On to the Da Truth Brass Band, another raucous and exciting New Orleans marching band. They got the crowd going and even a brief rain shower during their set didn't dampen spirits.

Two acts that blew me away: Jonathon "Boogie" Long did an electrifying blues set pulling from the Chicago electric blues tradition as well as southern rock and soul — a wonderful surprise from someone I was not previously familiar with. The last act of the day for me was the Fabulous Thunderbirds, still going strong after all these years, originally founded by Jimmie Vaughan, brother of the late legendary Stevie Ray Vaughan. I had to miss Joan Jett to see them but I think I made the right call.

Also worth shouting out: Big Sam's Funky Nation had a small village on stage with both a lot of musicians and a lot of dancers. Very high-energy driving funk with a great live presence that had people dancing.

This festival is a four-day musical marathon and we are at the halfway point. More to come on Day Three. Have a great day, y'all!

Good morning and greetings again from New Orleans, where the third day of the legendary Jazzfest is now in the books. So much good stuff spanning so many different genres of music that are at least somewhat associated with New Orleans!

One of the first bands we saw was the River Eckert Band. River is a 15-year-old pianist and bandleader — yes, that was not a typo — who brings forth the old sounds of New Orleans legends like Professor Longhair and Dr. John. Amazing poise, talent, and energy, and such unbridled joy flowing from that stage. This is someone you gotta watch!

The Joe Krown Trio also features sounds from the same era and were great fun to watch. A little after that, we caught the end of Cowboy Mouth's set — much more rock-and-roll at their core with more than a little Southern rock thrown in, very upbeat and really engaged the audience.

Then things really kicked into high gear. Samantha Fish was next up, and boy, is she a badass! She shreds that guitar, wields a powerful backup band, and belts out some awesome blues-based and hard rockin' tunes. A real highlight of the day. After her on that same stage was Dumpstafunk, funk legends from New Orleans. I wasn't sure how energetic they were going to be, but they brought the funk on in a big way and had the overflowing crowd bouncing along with them.

The New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars belted out a fun set. If you are not familiar with klezmer music, it is Jewish traditional music that spawned from Eastern Europe. These guys brought it to life and made it exciting — and if you think klezmer is a stretch for a jazz festival in NOLA, you'd be quite surprised at how well it fits in.

Last act of the night was Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Bobby Rush (I passed up Pearl Jam for this, but I have seen Pearl Jam many times). KWS sends you into an alternate galaxy with the transformative power of his hard-driving electric blues.

Got really lucky on the weather. One more day! Enjoy your Sunday, everybody.

Good morning, all and sundry. Yesterday was the final day of Jazzfest and it was an absolutely perfect day weatherwise to get out and about and listen to some fabulous music.

A ton of good music yesterday capped off by the blazing set of Trombone Shorty at the very end of the festival. He (they) are one of the pre-eminent live acts out there today and I heartily recommend seeing him if the opportunity presents itself. The band mixes funk, brass, rock, even a little rap, into an infectious joyous stew that is absolutely phenomenal.

We started the day with two stellar New Orleans second line brass bands: the New Birth Brass Band and the TBC Brass Band. Both high energy, funky, and very happy music.

One of the things that happens with a festival with this many bands compressed into a tight schedule is that bands I really want to see wind up playing at the same time and I have to "graze" to catch a little bit of each. I caught a half a set of Galactic, which is another funky collaborative of musicians and featured guests, and I also caught a set from Glen David Andrews, another NOLA local who did a kickin' high-energy set in the Blues tent.

I was also looking forward to seeing the Mexican Institute of Sound, who is actually a DJ with a backup band. He put on a rocking mix with Latin DJ beats fused with a hard-rocking foundation to get the crowd going.

Shout out to Lenny Kravitz, who did an absolutely rocking show in the middle of the afternoon at the Festival Stage. A true musical professional.

I also saw Kermit Ruffins, a local swing legend, doing a set honoring Louis Armstrong. But I'm glad I grazed my way over to Trombone Shorty to close out the night — that really capped off a terrific day of music.

It's been an incredible four days. This is one of the best festivals I have been at. It's well organized, the food is amazingly good, and a lot of it is Cajun/Creole so it has that wonderful local feel. Back to reality today! Thanks for reading!

Greetings from Chicagoland where we are one day into the 2024 Pitchfork Music Festival. Day One was a bit of a slow day and I found myself disappointed that so many acts had pre-recorded tracks behind them as they performed. This is supposed to be live music and I confess to being a bit of a purist!

Rant over — there were a few high points worth sharing. Jeff Rosenstock was the absolute highlight of the day. Far and away the most energetic performance, he mixed a punk sensibility with Springsteen-like energy and passion. He is a Long Island boy, previously in a band called Bomb the Music Industry!, so that should give you a sense of how he approaches his craft. Loud, fast, and fun.

Rosali did a solid set earlier in the day — from Philly but now living in North Carolina, she and her band did energetic and melodic tunes. Sudan Archives was a unique treat: a very fast-paced and clever rapper, but with a twist — she is an accomplished violinist and played violin as a lead instrument in her instrumental breaks.

Jai Paul did an interesting set ranging from hip hop to island music. 100 Gecs did a fun mash-up of many different genres — at times I thought I could hear Miley Cyrus being channeled, but they also weaved in some ska sounds and almost came across in spots as a novelty act you could hear on the Dr. Demento show.

The headliner was the Black Pumas. They lean toward soul as a primary influence but weave a fair amount of jam band into their sound. There were moments during their set that were brilliant and captivating, and others that were slower and less exciting. Overall glad I got to see them, but they didn't blow me away.

That was Day One. More to come!

Good day, everyone. Going to take a moment to recap the events of Day Two of the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. Overall, a much better band mix than Day One — and it really was a high watermark with lots of good stuff to share.

The day started with Lifeguard, a punk band whose extensive use of distortion evoked memories of Gang of Four back in the late 70s — one of the most original punk bands ever, with a truly unique sound.

Then the great bands came fast and furious. Feeble Little Horse (from Pittsburgh — Pitt graduates!) and Wednesday both did compelling shoegazy, hook-driven songs. FLH leaned more into jerky rhythms and rapid tempo changes, while Wednesday had somewhat more traditional song structure revolving around their female lead singer and lead guitarist, with a hint of country at times and songs that built up into a rousing crescendo.

After that came the highlight for me: De La Soul! Long Island's own rappers, back with a vengeance! Total fun, total joy — it was so nice to get into the happy zone with them during their set.

After De La Soul, we had the pleasure of seeing Bratmobile, one of the OG "riot grrrl" bands from Olympia, WA — female-led, straight ahead, no holds barred punk. They were a ton of fun. Last band of note was Unwound, also from Olympia, WA — very bass-forward post-grunge noise rock, and I enjoyed their set.

Today is the last day — Alanis Morissette and Grandmaster Flash are on the dance card. Have a great day, everybody!

Hi everyone. The third and final day of the Pitchfork Music Festival has completed and there was some real awesomeness to be had, amongst a higher than normal amount of commercial fluff.

Let me start with the headliner, Alanis Morissette. The first time I heard "You Oughta Know", it was in my car on the late, great radio station FM106.3. I was totally blown away — never heard a song quite like that. This was before the era of cell phones and Shazam, so I pulled into a local gas station, scraped up loose change from the toll stash and seat cushions to make a two-minute pay phone call to the radio station. They answered… and thirty years later, I finally got to hear the song live and it STILL gave me chills. Alanis was sensational, her voice is insanely powerful, and she roams the stage like a tiger. A phenomenal way to end three days of live music.

Right before Alanis, we saw Les Savy Fav — one of the more totally off-the-wall shows I have ever seen. They have a French name, but there is nothing French about their hard-driving speed punk sound. Their aging lead singer is totally nuts and ran through the crowd throughout the set stripped to his underwear with a wired microphone, the crowd helping pass it along as he moved and bellowed out the lyrics. Just such a fun live music experience.

I also enjoyed Model/Actrix. They had a very dark sound that reminded me of Nine Inch Nails, with a little bit of Bauhaus and some industrial noise thrown in. Crumb did a nice set — a female-led pop-psychedelic band from NYC with nice melodies, lush arrangements, and songs that often built up to very intense finales.

The big disappointment was Grandmaster Flash. I was so excited to see this godfather of the OG rap scene, but he really just did a DJ set and didn't rap live at all. I was hoping to hear "White Lines" and "The Message" live but, alas, it was just a DJ set of other people's music.

Overall, saw some great stuff this weekend. Back to reality and thank you all for indulging me this musical recap!

Good morning, Facebook friends. Checking in from Atlanta after the completion of Day One of the Shaky Knees music festival. This festival is always a fun one — big enough to be diverse and interesting, but not so big that it becomes overwhelming.

A reprise of a few years ago still showing their live magic: Arcade Fire does an absolutely perfect and spectacular live performance. The musical performance is flawless, the choreography is perfect, and they all look like they are having such fun on stage. Really quite something to see.

The first couple of hours got off to a slow start, but Winona Fighter changed all that with a blistering old-school punk set fronted by a female singer who exemplified the punk ethos. High energy and wonderful. The noise continued with Maserati, a band from Athens, GA who sophisticatedly weaves genres ranging from dance to progressive to psychedelic into a fun, upbeat musical stew. Wine Lips from Toronto came next with another female-led sonic attack.

Two Australian bands followed: Pond, who touched on multiple genres and came down on the high-quality, upbeat rock-n-roll side of things. Then came the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets (another great band name), laying it on thick with a dark, driving, noisy, psychedelic sound.

Real rock and roll made an appearance in the form of All Them Witches, featuring some great Southern rock and blues-infused jams that were at times absolutely hypnotizing. Also, Switchfoot from LA leaned into surf rock with a sustained high energy level — very enjoyable.

Looking rainy out there so fingers crossed it moves on before today's festivities!

Happy Sunday to all and sundry. We completed Day Two of the Shaky Knees music festival in Atlanta.

The first band of the day was the absolute killer band of the day. The Inspector Cluzo, a duo of French activist organic farmers by day and crazy-ass rock-n-rollers by night, stole the show! These two guys delivered blustering, distortion-laden rock the way the good Lord meant it to be — compelling listening, great viewing, and quite humorous. They even rocked so hard they blew out their amp. I'm surprised they haven't gotten more exposure, being as good and entertaining as they are.

Another new discovery: Bad Nerves. A British speed band with all the energy and fun you want in a punk band. Snarky and fun, they reeled us in from the word "go".

The Offspring were full of energy and a delightful trip down memory lane. They did a Ramones cover of "Blitzkrieg Bop", a rocked-out version of "Hall of the Mountain King", and closed with a rousing "Self Esteem" — truly transcendent.

I was looking forward to Blondshell after hearing her debut album and especially "Salad", but I thought her show was only OK — she missed some notes and didn't draw out the full power of her songs. Royal Blood was fun viewing — this UK duo takes you back to the late 60s and early 70s hard rock era, which not many bands do these days.

The two headliners were Queens of the Stone Age and Weezer. QOTSA did a solid, thoroughly professional set. As for Weezer, the vocals were totally muffled throughout and they seemed to be going through the motions — fun to hear the classics but it could've been a better show.

One more day of live music — the Foo Fighters are the headliners today. Have a great day, y'all!

Hello all. Gonna rattle off how everything went at yesterday's Day Three of the Shaky Knees music festival in Atlanta.

A lot of marquee bands wrapping up the festival, but my major highlight of Day Three was the Struts. They epitomize glam rock in an era where there isn't a lot of glam rock kicking around. Ballsy and energetic with a dynamic stage presence, they put forth great songs with nods to bands like Sweet, Kiss, and the Stones. Love them every time I see them and they get better each time.

Enjoyed Royel Otis, a band from Sydney who seem to be popping up everywhere on the tour circuit. Danceable, poppy, and just fun. Got a little gritty blues action from Christone "Kingfish" Ingram — kind of an outlier at this festival, but a real bluesman to watch. The day started with Benches, a fun 80s-new-wave-ish indie band from SoCal with some nicely crafted tunes.

The monsoon opened up during Dinosaur Jr but they did a great set that I heard from within the comfort of a corporate tent to stay dry.

The big bands for the day were all top-drawer: Billy Idol, Portugal the Man, and the Foo Fighters. The Foo Fighters did a thoroughly energetic set with lots of hits and a number of deep tracks. Fun fact: Dave Grohl is known to liberally sprinkle f-bombs in his banter, and for those of you counting, the final number was 63 f-bombs in the course of a 2.25-hour show.

A great three days of live music — and, alas, back to reality!

Greetings from the Madrid portion of the Primavera Sound music festival. We lost a day due to inclement weather but are diving into the remaining two days of live music with gusto.

Today continues the trend of an abundance of female-led bands at this festival. Got to see the Beths again (from New Zealand) and they rocked out even more than their set last week in Barcelona.

The last band of the night was Goat Girl — a British band best categorized as post-punk but with nice hooks and a fun stage presence that takes them beyond that description. Their show was sparsely attended, likely because Kendrick Lamar was playing at the same time.

Another female-led band we enjoyed was Alvvays (pronounced "Always") — a Canadian jangle-pop band with a shimmering production and light-hearted songs. Their song "Marry Me, Archie" is one of the cuter love songs you will ever hear.

Moldy Peaches is a very quirky band with dual male/female leads — hints of the B-52s, songs about silly and occasionally very non-PC topics, but truly unique and non-mainstream. Really enjoyed them and they were clearly having fun on stage.

Japanese Breakfast's Michelle Zauner wrote the fascinating "Crying in H-Mart" about her search for her Korean identity, soon to be a movie. Very appealing and charming, her performance was polished and professional.

The one non-female-led band we spent appreciable time with was the Mars Volta. I have wanted to see them for years — a very noisy, progressive rock band with diverse instrumentation and the ability to take their noise machine in all sorts of directions.

Will be back atcha shortly with the Day Two wrap-up!

Hi everyone. Here is the wrap on the final day of Primavera Sound here in Madrid.

Got another dose of Wednesday, the band from Asheville, NC, that can in one minute sound like the driving noise of bands like My Bloody Valentine and in another minute plumb the depths of country music and relatively traditional indie pop.

From there, we proceeded to the surprise "new band" highlight of the festival — a band from Vancouver, BC called Crack Cloud. What a wonderful wall of dissonant percussion-forward noise drawing influences from some of my faves like Pere Ubu, Gang of Four, and the Talking Heads. They totally blew my ears out!

We proceeded to James Ellis Ford on the recommendation of friends. He has collaborated with Arctic Monkeys and Depeche Mode and has other producing credits under his belt. Melodic, with more than a hint of psychedelia, is how I would describe his own music. They even did a cover of "I Talk to the Wind" from early King Crimson — a pretty "out there" song to cover in 2023.

Watched a good set from Gaz Coombes — melodic and poppy but with power behind it. Also saw a bit of the Voidz, a side project from Julian Casablancas of the Strokes. Lots more electronic influences than the Strokes, but nothing as classic as some of their material.

Final two bands: My Morning Jacket and Caroline Polachek. MMJ has become an increasing fixture on the Americana and jam-band scenes — some of their material really drew me in but some of it, much less so. Caroline Polachek has a nice voice, but the music seemed almost an afterthought for the camera, which focused exclusively on her the entire concert.

That's it for this festival. Thanks for reading and indulging me, as always!

Greetings from Barcelona, where we have just arrived for a two-weekend music festival marathon — first weekend in Barcelona, second weekend in Madrid.

Today is the official opening day but they had a "prequel" yesterday headlined by the Pet Shop Boys. You may remember them from the 80s synth-pop scene with hits like "West End Girls" and "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)". They started off with lots of pre-recorded synth tracks (this is a LIVE show, y'all!) but introduced live percussionists and other real musicians as the show progressed, along with a cool light show.

One other band of note — actually just a single female guitarist from Italy — was Dagger Moth. The write-up on her was so effusive about the extremely ethereal sounds and powerful discordant noise she could pull from her guitar that we snickered a bit and said "yeah, sure". But Dagger Moth was indeed quite something — not an easy listen, but a rewarding one.

Fun sidebar: we had a "prequel to our prequel" on American shores. The famous 9:30 Club in DC built a fairly authentic replica of their original 450-seat club from the 80s and 90s right next to their current club, with a soft opening prior to their actual opening day (which featured the Foo Fighters in that small club). Somehow, we won tickets to this soft opening and got to see Trouble Funk, one of the seminal bands from DC's go-go music scene. Go-go has nothing to do with stripper clubs — it's a mashup of funk, rap, and African percussion that just bursts with energy and pure fun. We saw Trouble Funk decades ago at the 9:30, and got to live it again. Spectacular — one of the best shows I've ever seen, and a wonderful 2.0!

More updates from Barcelona forthcoming — have a great day!

Good morning, all and sundry. Checking in after the completion of Day One of the Primavera Sound music festival here in Barcelona — a couple of major highlights and a couple of honorable mentions on this first night of music in a park by the beach under a full moon.

Yard Act and Turnstile were the major highlights. Yard Act is a British band with a driving beat and a lead singer who narrates his tales over a very hard-edged beat — taking influences from Fontaines DC, IDLES, and the sardonic rhythms of the Fall. It just works, and it really works in a live setting.

Turnstile was the other standout. From Baltimore, they could be described as loud, fast hardcore, but they pull in so much more — a surprising melodic sensibility and I could hear them channeling the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Beastie Boys at spots during their set. Very enjoyable, with a very active mosh pit (which I watched from afar — I am kind of old to be smack dab in the middle of that).

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Le Tigre, fronted by Kathleen Hanna, one of the original Riot Grrrl punks. This is punk gone electronic, with sharp synthesized beats and biting social-commentary vocals. Seeing them live in 2023 was a real treat.

Honorable mentions to New Order and Blur. New Order shined in spots but I will always remember their finale — a reverential version of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division, the band New Order emerged from after the suicide of their lead singer Ian Curtis. The crowd was visibly moved and rightly so. It was really a "moment".

Blur, one of the two major Britpop bands, was playing live for the first time in many years. They sounded sharp and appeared to be having a lot of fun on stage. Their leader Damon Albarn also has Gorillaz, which is a complete 180 from Blur's more rockin' sound.

The final band I want to mention is Ghost — more in the metal vein, with theatrical nods to Kiss and Alice Cooper, but displaying their own original approach with some surprisingly catchy and sophisticated music.

Until tomorrow — have a great day!

Hi everyone. Day Two of the Primavera Sound music festival here in Barcelona is now behind us and both the music and the weather continue to cooperate.

The first show of the evening was from the Beths, an up-and-coming female-led band from New Zealand with very catchy pop hooks and legit rock-and-roll fire behind them. Expect to hear a lot more from this band.

Got to partake of a couple of fun, grinding noise bands. Shellac is led by Steve Albini, most famous for recording Nirvana's "In Utero" with an eye toward making it as commercially unlistenable as possible — also a member of Big Black back in the day. Very bass-forward, choppy, dissonant sound. Also saw Soul Glo, a local Philly hardcore band. No melodic chops here AT ALL, but could blow the paint off a house!

Sparks was a tad disappointing — they focused so much on brand new material and less on their nearly half-century's worth of catalog. They maintain their operatic vocals over a changing backdrop from pop to new-wave synth. If you want to hear them at their magical best, check out "Kimono My House".

Bad Religion, a great West Coast band that has been around forever, continues to play melodic but fast and heavy punk. Recommended song: "21st Century Digital Boy".

And finally, the headliner: Depeche Mode. Even as a synthesizer-core band, they manage to offer a very real live experience, navigating through both popular and deep-track parts of their catalog. A fun surprise — they did "Just Can't Get Enough" as an encore, a much lighter, bouncier song from their very early era that I thought they had disavowed.

Loving being able to eat seafood and tapas by day and immerse myself in music at night here in Barcelona!

Buenos Dias! Completed the last day of the Primavera Sound music festival here in Barcelona and will be heading off to Madrid for three more days of music next week. It has been a blast!

Last night featured something "different": back-to-back close encounters with the Velvet Underground. First was a set by John Cale (co-founder of the Velvets along with Lou Reed) and right after that, a very out-there performance art set from Laurie Anderson (a/k/a Mrs. Lou Reed). John Cale's set was good — the bigger thrill was just seeing him after all these years. Laurie Anderson was her usual very quirky self and explored topics like global climate change and artificial intelligence during her set.

One of the standout performances came from Maneskin, an Italian band getting big with their straight-ahead hard rock. They really pulled off their powerful sound in a live setting and I thoroughly enjoyed their set.

Another band I enjoyed but wasn't expecting to was the War on Drugs — a local Philly band I never quite "got", but watching them last night drew me in. They are melodic, they jam, and they really seemed to be having a lot of fun on that stage. I am now officially a convert.

I also liked Wednesday from Asheville, NC — female-led, moving between fairly standard indie singer-songwriter fare and hard-driving shoegaze music. Another band we will be hearing a lot more about in the future.

It's been fun and thank you for taking the time to read my musical ramblings!

Hola from Barcelona, amigos! Yesterday (and today and tomorrow) come to you from the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, in the Catalan region of Spain. This festival boasts quite a lineup — an amalgamation of interesting new talent and a number of alternative-rock icons from yesteryear. It also starts early in the evening and goes almost till sunrise, which requires some stamina management.

Two of my faves of the night exemplified the dichotomy between old and new. On the "new" side, got to see the Linda Lindas — a girl punk band whose members range in age from 11 to 17. Despite their young years, these girls celebrate loud and fast punk and have already made an impact with "Oh" and "Racist Sexist Boy". Their whole set transported me back to the early days of punk and it was bada$$!

Alas, at the same time as the Linda Lindas was Dinosaur Jr. We were lucky to catch part of their set and, wow — these guys can still totally shred it, even after so many decades of discord (both within the band and in the beautiful musical noise they're known for generating).

In that vein of "noise at its finest", what a treat it was to see Yo La Tengo. I've seen them in tiny clubs like the late, great Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ, but never around thousands of people. To call them a "shoegaze" band doesn't do justice to their layered sound — a basic hypnotic bass/drum line that doesn't change for entire songs while the guitar feedback gets wilder and more convoluted as the song progresses.

The very first band of the night was a local band called Rombo — a bit of the Breeders with some Joy Division underpinnings. Always nice to start on a high note, and these guys (er, ladies) delivered.

Toward the end of the night came some off-the-wall stuff. Big Freedia, a gender-fluid rapper from New Orleans, did a great audience-engaging set from 2-3am. Then, since that just wasn't too late, we checked out Otoboke Beaver — Japanese all-girl speed punks. More evidence that girl punk still lives and thrives.

I saw part of the Pavement set but it wasn't grabbing me, so I went to see old favorites the Black Lips — loud, grungy, dirty garage rock with more than a little of their country roots peeking through.

Exciting Day One, and awaiting Day Two tonight!

Good morning, social media friends! One more night has slipped into day here at Primavera Sound in beautiful Barcelona.

My fave of the night was Parquet Courts from NYC. They just keep getting better and better — their quirky, slacker-y sound has tightened up a lot without sacrificing the irony that is core to their sound and attitude. Yes, I did get to see them two miles from my apartment a few weeks ago, but why not cross an ocean to see them again?!

Beck preceded Parquet Courts. Beck is such a musical renaissance man and genre-hopper that it would be difficult to find anyone who doesn't enjoy at least some of his repertoire. He did the hits and the crowd was enthralled — my one complaint would be that all the focus was on Beck and not his more-than-adequate band.

Earlier in the evening, got to see Wet Leg — a female-fronted band that I think we'll all be hearing a lot about. Take a listen to "Chaise Lounge" to get a sense of just how quirky they are. After Wet Leg I caught the last part of Fontaines DC's set — another band with a great punk sensibility demonstrating its ability to move beyond punk without losing that ethos.

Speaking of stretching genre boundaries, few do it better than King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard from Australia. Their sound runs from almost Butthole Surfer-like to straight-ahead noise to even soul and electronica. You never know what you might hear next with this very prolific band, which makes them so interesting.

Props also to the first local band I saw, Manel — yet another band pulling from different alternative sounds and integrating them into a unique musical stew.

Tonight is gonna feature some gems. Hasta mañana!

Greetings from the last night of the Primavera Sound music festival in Barcelona. This update is a bit late in coming since this fabulous city has kept me out-and-about non-stop.

The unexpected surprise of the evening was a Spanish band called Biscuit. They came on at 1am on a tiny stage and, boy, did they rock the house for the few dozen lucky people who were there. Power pop with definite 60s underground influence and a real punk delivery courtesy of three guitarists. My friend William Maxwell texted "you gotta come over here and see these guys" and I was so glad I did.

Another big highlight was getting to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. For a guy whose music is so out there on the fringe, I was amazed at how well he worked the stage and the crowds. A little more mellow than I would have liked at times, but when he hit those high spots it was absolutely soaring. Game-time decision was to see this instead of Bauhaus, since Bauhaus was going to be in Philly a couple of months later.

Another "what were they thinking scheduling these at the same time" moment: Gorillaz, IDLES, and DIIV. I had previously seen Gorillaz and IDLES (and happily caught part of IDLES' terrific punk-with-a-social-purpose set), so I went to see DIIV, who I'd wanted to see for a while. A Brooklyn band who clearly gets their core sound from shoegaze bands like My Bloody Valentine — they layer other styles of jamming on top of that to very nice effect.

First band of the night were industrial pioneers Einsturzende Neubaten. Without them, we might never have had bands like Ministry and Front 242. The 2022 version was somewhat kinder and gentler but still with the power tools for percussion. Great show. I missed Mavis Staples to see this — sad, sad, sad.

Other highlights: Jawbox, a DC band from the 80s somewhat akin to Husker Du, reunited for this show and were great fun. The evening's closer was SHAME from the UK, providing the late-night mosh pit action that we all really needed at 3am.

A great and different music fest in a terrific place!

Good morning, FB friends. Comin' atcha after completing Day One of the Shaky Knees music festival in Atlanta, GA. Very good day in terms of the musical offerings, and the weather was picture-perfect.

The two bands who kicked things off were both really good. The Specialists from NYC effectively fused rock, funk, and soul into a danceable sound featuring an organ in the manner that many songs from the last century did but you hear very infrequently today. We then sauntered over to see Glove from Tampa — reminiscent of something between the B-52s and A Flock of Seagulls, but with a driving powerful beat behind it. Two-for-two out of the gate.

A bit later, two bands played simultaneously — both loud, fast, and full of energy. Frankie and the Witch Fingers was psycho punk noise at its finest, recalling bands like the Cramps and Thee Oh Sees. They did what I think is the first ten-minute extended punk jam that just kept building and building. Definitely one of my faves of the day. We then hustled over to White Reaper — also loud, fast, and more melodic, but with that manic crazy edge I love to see live.

Possibly for the first time in all my decades of going to shows — I had to retreat from a stage because the band was SO loud! It was Ayron Jones, the heaviest all-black hard rock band you will ever see. Really good, but very risky business without earplugs!

Local H is a mosh-friendly duo who were great and did a hardcore punk version of "Brandy" by Looking Glass. The Alive were also in that same vein — probably not old enough to vote, but with lots of potential and good hard rockin'.

The headliner was the Foo Fighters. What can one say? Dave Grohl and the entire band keep things hopping through their entire set. We made a little game of counting f-bombs — last night's total was 52, pretty consistent with what we've seen previously.

Because 11 straight hours of live music wasn't quite enough, we went to an after-show and saw the Hives — a long-time fave sitting at the perfect intersection of punk and garage rock. They all come out in their fancy white and black suits (for real!) and tore the house down. The night before Day One, we also caught "Joe Buck Yourself" — a one-man show blending "dirty" country and punk, literally sitting on a chair on the concert floor without amplification. What a hoot.

Will be back atcha tomorrow with highlights from Day Two. Have a great day!

Morning greetings again from Atlanta where Day Two of the Shaky Knees music festival is in the rear-view mirror.

My personal highlight of the day was IDLES. This British band chafes at being classified as "punk" or "post-punk" but they have that driving rhythm section and the socially progressive, anti-bigotry, anti-fascism ethos that underpins much of first-generation punk rock. Not always easy listening and not for everyone, but the reward is there.

A big and welcome surprise was Portugal the Man. Some of you have heard "Feel It Still" (great catchy song) but there is so much more to this band. Their set featured lush, almost orchestral arrangements with a legit alternative beat. Fun fact: Sarah Palin is a fan — so she and I have exactly one thing in common. Further fun fact: the band is from Wasilla, AK and they definitely do not reciprocate the love toward Sarah, as they are vocal Bernie Sanders supporters.

Cloud Nothings did a great wall-of-sound set that was worthy of note — I can only imagine what they must be like in a small indoor venue. Earlier in the afternoon, got to see a very young Brooklyn band called Geese, causing quite a stir among the NYC music intelligentsia. Part Talking Heads, part Yes, part Butthole Surfers, part Television — parts of their set were absolutely brilliant. Young and full of potential.

Other good sets from Mammoth WVH (Wolfgang Van Halen, son of Eddie) — solid melodies with powerful guitar — and an unexpected treat from Larkin Poe, who dipped into blues and rockin' Americana and were just a whole lotta fun.

Got to see Garbage finally — decent if not particularly memorable. The headliner was Run the Jewels — fun, if not necessarily my personal cup of tea.

One more day — will draft up some words before you know it. Till then…

Good morning, FB friends! My final recap from Day Three of the Shaky Knees music festival in Atlanta.

Faves from the day would have to be black.midi and All Them Witches. black.midi — atonal, polyrhythmic, messy, not even slightly melodic, but a fast-paced compelling musical stew fusing progressive rock, punk, and other genres in an unrelenting sonic attack. Not for the easy-listening crowd, but in a word: wow!

All Them Witches drew me in big time. There is some reminiscence of Black Sabbath in their music but, while drawing from heavy metal in some respects, they also draw from early psychedelic rock and more than a touch of blues. The one common denominator through their whole set was this overarching sense of DOOM. It worked, believe you me.

The headliner was the Strokes — one of the "garage revival" leaders in the early 2000s with a distinctive sound courtesy of Julian Casablancas' sardonic voice and their tight, crisp guitars.

Another band I enjoyed was O.A.R., who have been on the festival circuit for a long time and played upbeat island-inspired tunes with a lively horn section. The Backseat Lovers from Utah did a nice set, but what particularly surprised me was the overwhelming crowd response — every lyric screamed along like they were at the Beatles at Shea Stadium. Even the band seemed stunned by the adoration.

Final band of note — the Aubreys. A nice pop-oriented set with occasional dives into rocking out more vigorously. The pop culture significance: this band is led by Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things fame.

Great weekend with perfect weather and lots of fun. Thanks for entertaining my ramblings, have a great day, and stay safe!