Where the Bands Are: This Week in Live Music & Concert News

Justin Adams & Mauro Durante, new concert announcements, music news, and some good old Grateful Dead

Design by Kim Miers

My Grammy hangover has finally dissipated, lol. And I have the Grateful Dead to thank for it, at least in part.

The day following the Los Angeles music industry bacchanal, what’s left of Pitchfork ran a story with a glorious headline.

 “Grateful Dead Break Record for Most Top 40 Albums on Billboard.” 

I swear I heard Jerry Garcia giggle madly from on high, or perhaps I was just hearing myself chortle like a giddy teenager at the idea of this tribe of merry pranksters - whose conception of a strategic business meeting invariably involved a bong and a whole bunch of pipe-dreamy ideas of ‘what would be cool to do’ - casually breaking records that so many of the mega-stars claiming Grammy statues (and acting is if they are entitled to a lifetime’s supply of them, in some cases) haven’t come close to. 

“Grateful Dead have broken the record for the most Top 40 albums on the Billboard 200 charts, surpassing previous holders of the title Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra,” the Pitchfork piece read. Dave’s Picks, Vol. 49 became the jam band’s 59th album to cross into the Top 40.”

Why do I find this so delightful? Well, Dave’s Picks, Vol 49, the album that broke the record for the Dead, is a 4-disc box set documenting shows the band performed at the Frost Amphitheater at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA, on 4/27 and 4/28 1985. 

So it’s an unedited, raw live recording, full of psychedelic folk music, twisted Americana, rampant exploratory interplay, and lengthy improvisations. I take great joy from the manner in which this music stands in such stark contrast to so much of the over-produced-but-under-cooked pop music that the Grammys glorify. (This is a generalization - the Grammys also honor some brave, forward-looking, or just plain excellent music, too. But doing so is not their bread and butter.) 

The whole Dead thing is super cool because it offers a window into a world where musical artists do exactly what they want to do, regardless of trends, retain integrity by staying true to musical ideals, build a relationship with fans based on mutual respect, and release albums and collections that those fans can feel good about dropping their money on. There’s something that is pretty much the exact opposite of cynicism at the heart of all of this. 

Of course, I don’t have such lofty feelings about Dead & Company shows that have been announced for the Sphere in Las Vegas this Spring. While I love the idea of the band playing more dates after last summer’s straight-up incredible summer tour, look forward to them playing in this incredible venue, and drool over the possibilities of what the band might do with all the high-tech, wraparound video imagery potential, the pricing is a bad trip, dude. Pre-sale tickets were in the area of $700 a pop. That completely prices me out of the discussion, and I doubt I’m alone. I mean, I get it. But c’mon. 

Sigh. I hope nugs.net will be streaming these shows, so I can turn my living room into Shakedown Street and join the party. 

In other news, Pearl Jam showed up at the Troubadour in Los Angeles last week, where Eddie Vedder, Mike McReady, Jeff Ament and producer Andrew Watt  announced the impending release of their 12th studio album, and played the whole thing for a crowd of invited guests. 

“Specific details such as song titles and lyrics are being kept under wraps for now, but… the album offers a little bit of everything for the longtime Pearl Jam fan,” wrote Spin’s Jonathan Cohen. “‘No hyperbole — I think this is our best work,’ enthused Vedder, who later poured tequila shots for the assembled audience. ‘I couldn’t be prouder of us as a band,’ added Ament, who briefly got emotional while describing the experience of making the album.” 

That sounds enticing, as does the news that the band will be announcing an expansive 2024 tour shortly. 

In other concert news, the Town Ballroom in Buffalo announced a two-night engagement with Lotus on May 3 & 4. Tickets, including 2-day pass options, are on sale now through etix.com.

And the Red Hot Chili Peppers announced their Unlimited Love Tour, which includes a stop at Darien Lake PAC with guests Wand and IronTom on July 12. Ticketmaster has those tickets, because, of course they do. 

Now, for this week…

Justin Adams & Mauro Durante

Friday, February 16, 7:30 p.m. at Marcato in Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, NY. $35.

In an under-the-radar, understated, but indelible manner, guitarist/producer/composer Justin Adams has impacted the course of late 20th/early 21st century rock-based music. And yet, you may not have ever come across the man’s name. 

Ah, but you very well may have experienced Adams’ uber-impactful musical cross-pollinations, perhaps without realizing it. 

Born in London, and raised in part in Egypt, Adams first came to my attention when he was a member of Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart, where he brought an interesting blend of Eastern and Western musical inspirations to the table, and married them to Wobble’s post-modern concoctions of reggae-and dub-influenced sounds. 

Adams then went on to add his beautifully eclectic influence to work with Sinead O’Connor, LoJo, Tinarawen, and a host of musicians from the North of Mali. In 2000, Adams crystalized all of his musical travels in the form of his first solo effort, Desert Road. That album bears all the marking of a timeless affair, so ably does Adams blend Arabic influences with the deepest strains of Black American blues, crafting a stirring hybrid in the process. 

Justin Adams & Mauro Durante.

It was Adams’ work with Gambian master musician Julien Camara, a trance-inducing blend of African and American blues hybrids, that brought the guitarist to the attention of Robert Plant, and led to the formation of both Strange Sensation and The Sensational Spaceshifters, Plant-led bands that featured Adams’ playing, production and influence prominently. Those bands toured abundantly, and released a string of albums that feature among Plant’s finest-ever, in the form of Dreamland, Mighty ReArranger, Lullaby and the Ceaseless Roar and Carry Fire. Not only did these albums represent a later-career renaissance for Plant, they pushed the envelope of culture-spanning rock-based eclecticism, and number among the most ambitious and deeply moving releases of the last 20-plus years. 

Adams’ creative wanderlust has continued unabated, with collaborations and solo efforts galore. His most recent project finds him joined with the Italian violinist and erstwhile leader of the band Canzoniere Grecanico Valentino, Mauro Durante. Adams and Durante released the soul-stirring Still Moving in 2021. Their current road jaunt rather fortuitously includes a stop at Marcato, on the lower floor of Kleinhans Music Hall. If you’re fan of Plant’s work with Strange Sensation and The Sensational Shape Shifters, Daniel Lanois’ solo work, or Khraungbin, you owe it to yourself to catch this rare gem of a show. 

Also worth your time, attention, and a swipe of your credit card… 

Papadosio & Tauk

Thursday, February 15, 8 p.m. at the Town Ballroom, Buffalo, NY. $20/$25

Stress Dolls, Kasador, T.T.T.T.

Thursday, February 8, 8 p.m. at the 9th Ward, Babeville, Buffalo, NY. $10

Jimkata with Eberwine & Friends

Saturday, February 17, 8 p.m. at Buffalo Iron Works, Buffalo, NY. $15/$20

Static-X and Sevendust

Saturday, February 17, 5:30 p.m. at Buffalo RiverWorks, Buffalo, NY. $39.50 

That 1 Guy

Friday, February 16, 8 p.m. at Mohawk Place, Buffalo, NY. $15/$20