I have been a Wilco fan for many years now, going back to when I first saw the band at New York City’s The Town Hall pre-Nels Cline, and when “Summerteeth” was my favorite album of theirs for a period of time. I have seen Wilco many times, and just this past summer caught Tweedy with band at the Newport Folk Festival where I briefly met the great Glen Hansard standing behind my son and I as he watched Tweedy following his own set at on the main stage. Jeff Tweedy has released a three album solo set recently and the bulk of the songs on this tour come from that latest collection; the show was phenomenal; I was not familiar with the new material prior to this night and it did not matter. The tight knit group, with two of Tweedy’s sons in the band, was great, the sound was impeccable , the “older” crowd was appreciative, and Tweedy’s responses to occasional audience shout outs in the otherwise respectfully quiet room were sarcastic and humorous. Near the end of the show proper, Jeff said the plan for each concert was to play one tune unique for that evening connected to the venue or area where they were playing each night. While a Billy Joel tune seemed to be an obvious choice, the band instead performed Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” which he said they had just learned that afternoon.

The Patchogue Theatre, nestled in the heart of a vibrant Long Island business area, is a nice older venue, like a smaller Beacon Theatre without the architectural updates. Jeff Tweedy looks and sounds healthy and, with the latest compilation, is clearly still a creative force.

Twilight Override

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GQ

On a Sunday night in September, which is always a risky bet with an older crowd during football season, Elvis Costello played songs from his “early years”. The setlist was cool, and included some of my personal favorites like “Every Day I Write The Book”. I had purchased cheap seats for this one during the presale, which turned out to be the very last row a little right center of stage. The view was fine but the sound was kind of off for us and Elvis’ voice was not stellar this night as it seemed like he was struggling vocally a little. It was a pretty full house and the audience was clearly predominantly Elvis Costello fans who were attentative and appreciative throughout. I too am an Elvis Costello fan from way back; our friend Beefsteak Charlie chef John would play us the latest New Wave bands and albums in his apartment which was located above a store in Douglaston, Queens where he could crank up the volume to all hours of the night and he introduced to Elvis music early on.
I have seen Costello perform many times since about 1981, and even saw him recently at the Newport Jazz Festival a couple of years ago when he opened with “Watching the Detecives” at Fort Adams Park.
I am a big Elvis fan as well, and the setlist for this tour was great, but unfortunately the sound for me this Tilles Center concert left me slightly unsatisfied.

Radio, Radio

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GQ

The first date of the Neil Young & the Chrome Hearts 2025 U.S. tour took place last night at the PNC Music Pavilion in Charlotte, North Carolina after their European tour that was well chronicled in the NYA Archives. I had sworn to myself that I would jump on any Neil Young European tour but could not pull it off this year for a variety of reasons, so fortunately when the U.S. tour was announced to occur during the middle of a busy upcoming work schedule for me, I made arrangements to be in Charlotte for the start of the second leg of the world tour. The infamous Reverend Billy dressed in his white suit opened the show with a high energy pro-Earth soul sermon, then after a relatively short break, Neil and band hit the stage at a somewhat surprisingly early 8:30 PM. An acoustic “Ambulance Blues” was followed by “ Cowgirl in the Sand” and we were off to the races. I was in the pit about five bodies from the left of the stage and could not have been happier surrounded by an enthusiastic joyful crowd. The concert was nothing short of amazing. The break after the European tour did the band well as Neil was in great voice, the sound was impeccable and the song selection was off the charts. There are too many highlights to list them all; “Southern Man” “Love and Only Love”, “F!#*in Up”, “Harvest Moon”, “Old Man”, “ Like a Hurricane”, “Rockin’ in the Free World” and a couple of tunes off of “Greendale”, complete with megaphone, just the tip of the iceberg. The two hour show was absolutely incredible and I look forward to the Jones Beach Theatre stop in a couple of weeks, and the final show of the tour proper in Los Angeles in September (Young and the band wil perform at Farm Aid in Minneapolis following the L.A. gig.
it has been a bit of a hit and miss concert season for me this summer with the Newport Folk Festival being a highlight, however missing the Outlaw Festival with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and Wilco in my backyard of Jones Beach being a disappointing miss. I am at the airport heading home and when I land I am off to see Mumford & Sons at Forest Hills Stadium tonight, then David Lee Roth at the Paramount in Huntington tomorrow before working the U.S.Tennis Open for close to a month with no days off.

One of These Days

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GQ

I have a Lou Reed entry in my concert archive as Lou having played on Monday, February 13 at some unknown venue somewhere in New York. I checked the date to find that a 2/13/06 concert scheduled at the Crobar (a place that I do not believe that I ever seen a show at) was canceled due to “illness” as reported by the Brooklyn Vegan. I have no recollection of this, or a rescheduled date, but I have been fortunate to catch Mr. Reed through the years at the Bottom Line, Studio 54, Beacon Theatre (a benefit show with Peter Gabriel), a Broadway theatre, Madison Square Garden “Bobfest”, and one of two other shows along the way. Lou Reed was an all time great and he was always one of my favorite artists with a great band backing him. This trip down memory lane with Lou somehow reminded me that I once saw Andy Warhol seated at a table at the Bottom Line for what I think was an early Joan Jett “solo” performance following the release of “ Bad Reputation”.

Sally Can’t Dance

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GQ

Ted Nugent has officially retired from touring, but on a Monday night in August, 2005 the Motor City Madman rocked the house at the the theatre formerly known as Westbury Music Fair.

Wang Dang Sweet Poontang

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GQ

To celebrate Judy Collins 85th birthday, The Town Hall presents “85 years of Music & Protest” with special guests that include Richard Thompson and Stephen Stills.
My wife and I just recently saw a Judy Collins performance at Westbury Music Fair; many of the stories between songs have been told and heard before, and the Mae West references are severely dated, but Ms. Collins can still sing.

I am pumped to see Stephen Stills perform as his touring days are likely over and apparently spends much time on the West Coast these days (his annual “Light Up The Blues” benefit, with Neil Young and Billy Idol pitching in this year, will take place the end of April at the Greek Theatre).

it is a windy, chilly March Saturday night in Manhattan; it is good to be inside the cozy confines of The Town Hall for what should be an interesting evening of stories and songs.

Both Sides Now

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GQ

The last concert of 2024 was a Christmas gift for my wife; Billy Joel performed at the New York Islanders’ home , UBS Arena. Personally, I have seen Billy Joel so many times at this point I do not really need to see him again. We were supposed to attend Billy Joel’s last Madison Square Garden residency show in July but my wife threw her back out and we could not go. I managed to get rid of the pretty expensive tickets in the nosebleeds at the last minute and this New Year’s Eve concert was partly to make up for the show we missed. For this concert, I had managed to purchase a pair on the first row on right side of the stage and we were pleasantly surprised that the previously unannounced Jason Bonham JBLZE opened the show. The ticket said that the concert would begin at 9:30 PM( and we assumed Joel with his band was playing by himself) but Bonham hit the stage at the mostly empty arena, at that point, at 9:10 PM. I had seen Bonham perform at Westbury from the first row over a year or so ago so I knew what to expect, but the view from the side provided me a better view of Bonham drumming; it was a nice start to the evening’s festivities. Billy Joel hit the stage around 10:00 and it seemed to take awhile for the band to hit its stride this night. I do not know if Joel was sick, or if age is catching up with him, but I was not feeling it and found myself a bit bored at times. The energy picked up toward the end but much of the show felt rote as if on cruise control through much of the night. There were no additional special guests, and Billy’s band playing a Led Zeppelin tune with Bonham on drums seemed anticlimactic and not as good as the JBLZE versions that opened the program. While I have always liked Joel’s music, my wife is the bigger fan and even she expressed that the show was not quite as good as was anticipated. All things considered, it was still a good night out, being New Year’s Eve and all; we got to watch the Times Square ball drop on the Jumbotron, and it was not quite as bad getting out of the Emerald parking lot and home than I was expecting. The arena was built for hockey and I am not a fan of seeing a concert there without really good seats; we had pretty good orchestra seats for Eagles, not great seats for Journey with Toto but those were freebies. UBS Arena is too big and cavernous, with too many bad views and inconvenient parking at $54 bucks; it will have to be someone I really want to see to return to this venue.

Happy New Year Piano Man!

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GQ

I have a better recollection of Hall & Oates with Tears for Fears opening at Forest Hills Stadium than this show at Jones Beach Theatre on Friday, August 26, 2005. Quite frankly, I had completely forgotten that I had seen this concert line up at least twice. Hall & Oates has a million hits and Tears for Fears has a bunch of songs that you know, with both being pretty damn good in concert. I have seen Hall & Oates, together snd separately, a number of times through the years, but my favorite moment was at the Beacon Theatre (or was it The Paladium?), after the album “Private Eyes” was released, the duo came out for the encore in detective type trench coats to sing the title song; kind of corny but it worked at the time.

Wait For Me

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GQ

The date on this Chicago concert might be incorrect as it may have been July 8th or 9th, 2005, and it may be the show where I purchased the meet and greet for my wife (which I swore I would never do but it was a birthday or anniversary gift for her at the time). The photo with the band is actually pretty cool and a Chicago show never disappoints.

Feelin’ Stronger Every Day

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GQ

The Steve Winwood performance “in the round” at the Westbury Music Fair on Tuesday, June 21, 2005 was. a great one for me. My wife and I sat about five rows from the rotating stage giving us an incredible view of one of my favorite performers in concert. While I cannot remember exactly what was performed that evening, the memory of Winwood playing keyboards from that vantage point is forever etched into my memory.

Arc of a Diver

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GQ