Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Greg Ackerman

Greg AckermanReview

Live music review: Jawbreaker returned to Austin over 20 years later

On Friday at the Long Center’s Skyline Theater, Jawbreaker played their only Texas show on the seminal Emo-punk band’s current tour and first performance in Austin in over 20 years. The venue which holds over 7,000 fans came close to selling out which says a lot about how this fringe but influential punk band from California garnered so much attention when they reformed last year. 

Jawbreaker is often cited as a precursor to more popular Emo bands Dashboard Confessional, Fallout Boy and Face to Face. The latter two often cite Jawbreaker as an influence. The group is perhaps the most influential band most people haven’t heard of. Yet, the Blake Schwartzenbach-led act is much more than just an Emo punk originator.

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Live music review: Jared Leto’s Thirty Seconds To Mars landed at COTA Saturday

Saturday actor and musician Jared Leto’s band Thirty Seconds To Mars landed at the Circuit of the Americas’ Austin 360 Amphitheater (COTA) with Walk The Moon. K. Flay and Welshly Arms opened the performance. One might be skeptical about an Academy-award winning actor making popular music but Leto has been at it 16 years selling over 15 million records in the process.

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Live music review: Brit Floyd exceeded expectations at ACL Live last week

Tribute bands are a strange phenomena. Of course we love Pink Floyd. Their pioneering psych-rock musical style pairs well with our own home-bred original Cosmic Cowboy, Roxy Erickson. But a group of talented musicians recreating Floyd’s Division Bell tour like Brit Floyd? Despite the success of the group which tours worldwide, we had our doubts about how the show would play out. In retrospect, our hesitation was unwarranted. The show was a smashing success. The music, lights and visuals were spectacular. As were the musicians who performed. If you have the chance to catch this production when it rolls through your town, you should. It’s worth the ticket price. 

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Live music review: Lee Fields and Tameca Jones put soul in Austin Ice Cream Fest After Dark party

Hosting an ice cream-centered event during the unbearable hot months of summer here in Austin is a great idea. Complimenting the family-friendly daytime event with an After Dark program featuring soul singer Lee Fields & the Expressions with Austin’s reigning Queen of Soul Tameca Jones brought the popular fest to  a whole, new level as the Austin Ice Cream Festival did on Saturday at Fiesta Gardens in East Austin.

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Album review: Jesse Dayton drops outstanding new record this Friday

Austin’s Jesse Dayton is much like his influences Waylon, Willie and even The Clash and X. The music the Texas musician makes perfectly reflects those disparate styles and more. As an artist, Dayton refuses to be pigeon-holed into a particular genre. Listening to the tracks on his latest, “The Outsider” highlights the point that the singer, songwriter and guitarist is talented at presenting music regardless of genre, East Texas Blues, punk, rock, acoustic songwriter ballads in the Texas tradition all make an appearance on this outstanding new record. 

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Live music review: LSD and the Search for God at Cheer-Up Charlie’s

[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”13″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_slideshow” gallery_width=”600″ gallery_height=”400″ cycle_effect=”fade” cycle_interval=”10″ show_thumbnail_link=”1″ thumbnail_link_text=”[Show thumbnails]” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″] All photos: Brandon Sandler  San

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