Saturday, April 19, 2025

Review

Amanda QuraishiLiveLive Music

Live Music Review: The Bright Light Social Hour Works Magic at Mohawk

The Bright Light Social Hour is currently on tour following the release of their new LP, Emergency Leisure but the band made a pitstop in their hometown last Saturday night, playing The Mohawk before a throng of loyal, exuberant fans. 

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Amanda QuraishiLiveLive Music

Live Music Review: Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily Perform Love in Exile at Bass Concert Hall

On the evening of Friday, September 29 2023, Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily took to the stage at Bass Concert Hall to perform their spellbinding collaborative project Love in Exile. What transpired over the course of the next hour was, in every sense of the word, art. 

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Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Night Beats and Daiistar gave Austin a modern psychedelic rock treat Saturday

When a band in Austin gets to make a record after playing their material for local audiences for months, sometimes years on end, it’s worthy of multiple rounds of applause. For Austin shoegaze/noise-pop act Daiistar, it’s been a long time coming. To celebrate the release of Daiistar’s new album Good Time, the rising Austin act enlisted the help of Seattle-born, now Texas-based band Night Beats, who are on a new album cycle of their own.

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Brian HillsmanLiveReview

Live music review: Pearl Jam put on historic performance to wrap tour at Moody Center in Austin

Around 7:30 p.m., on September 19, Eddie Vedder’s voice echoed through the halls of the Moody Center.  It would be the second of two consecutive nights on which the seasoned rock veterans, Pearl Jam, would rattle the walls of the vaunted and relatively new Austin arena on the University of Texas campus, ending their extended, world-wide tour in the Live Music Capital.

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Case CockrellLiveReview

Live music review: Frankie and the Witch Fingers unleashed psych and roll on an ecstatic Austin audience

For Los Angeles act, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, every record has been a step further to indie psych-rock royalty. Formed by frontman Dylan Sizemore as a solo project in Indiana before relocating to Los Angeles recently, Sizemore has assembled his group of rock and roll avengers, sculpting record after record of “psych and roll” material built to blow audiences away. Sizemore and his band did just that for a Thursday night Austin crowd at The Parish in the city’s famed East Side.

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Case CockrellReview

Live music review: Swans evades fire code shutdown at Paramount, delivers two hour onslaught

Michael Gira’s multi-genre outfit Swans showed an Austin crowd that age is just a number on Sunday night at the historic Paramount Theatre down the street from the Capitol. For those unfamiliar, Swans is a New York band that has gone through various phases, line-ups, genres, and forms through the leadership of multi-instrumentalist, Gira since 1982.

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Live MusicMike CosmicReview

Live music review: Sparta Celebrates Wiretap Scars 20th Anniversary Tour at Parish

Sparta cruised into Austin’s Parish venue on July 26, celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album, Wiretap Scars. This highly anticipated release came after their 2002 EP, Austere. Wiretap Scars was well received, particularly following the downfall of the critically acclaimed band, At The Drive-In. The breakup of At The Drive-In, due to musical differences, split the band into Sparta and The Mars Volta. Both bands definitely took different paths and crafted their own sound. 

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Case CockrellReview

Live music review: Hot Summer Nights 2023 delivered FOMO-worthy lineup to Austin music fans

Red River Cultural District’s Hot Summer Nights 2023 returned July 20-23 with a bill that was too hot (figuratively and literally) to pass up. With bands such as Exotic Fruitica, Grandmaster, Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band, and Nuclear Daisies all rounding out the lineup, HSN delivered a FOMO-worthy event that was not to be missed for local fans of a wide variety of musical genres from heavy to mellow.

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Greg AckermanReview

Live music photo review: The Wood Brothers played Red Butte Garden Thursday

New York City-based roots act, The Wood Brothers performed at Red Butte Garden Thursday in Salt Lake City. The trio consisting of siblings Chris (Medeski, Martin and Wood) and Oliver Wood along with multi-instrumentalist, Jane Rix are touring in support of their forthcoming release, Heart is the Hero.

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