Where the Bands Are: This Week in Live Music and Concert News
New show announcements, Coldwave Music Festival, Jason Vieaux, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Red Baraat and more
The concert announcements keep rolling in… or, more accurately, since the collapse of the conventional publicity food chain is fully upon us, they keep sneaking in, via social media, by word of mouth, or through your humble reporter snooping around.
It’s a strange landscape for someone who spent a few decades at a daily newspaper, most of it during an era when concert promoters and venues would send off press releases and practically beg you to write about their show announcements.
But it is what it is! Things change. Our hunger for live music remains the same, however.
In case you didn’t notice, things are heating up at Buffalo’s Outer Harbor, where the freshly constructed Terminal B Amphitheater will be home to what is already an impressive lineup of shows - one that, off-the-record mutterings suggest, is going to be at least tripled in roster length, when all is said and done.
So far, we’ve got a killer bill with Primus, Coheeed & Cambria and Fishbone (!) on Friday, August 9; the Sad Summer Festival featuring Mayday Parade, the Maine, the Wonder Years, We the Kings, Real Friends, Knuckle Puck, Hot Milk, Daisy Grenade and Diva Beach on Tuesday, August 6; Moe with Daniel Donato’a Cosmic Country on Wednesday, July 17; Brothers Osborne with Stephen Wilson, Jr. on Friday June 14; and Chappell Roan on Friday, May 24.
That’s a relatively diverse lineup spanning alternative, indie, country, jam band and pop-punk. A promising start.
Save Live’s new venue, Electric City, formerly the site of the Tralf Music Hall, announced a homecoming gig for Buffalo - er, actually, Kenmore, if we’re being picky - bassist and true rock legend Billy Sheehan, who will bring Mr. Big to the new venue on June 6. They’ve also got the mighty Big Wreck, who killed it at the Town Ballroom last summer, on May 31. Equally impressive is a Buffalo-based band mini-fest featuring Tugboat Annie, Aircraft, Mule and Roger Bryan & the Orphans on May 25. A date with Matthew Sweet on April 12 also popped up without fanfare. Things kick off at the new venue this week with a flurry of shows - Big Big Train on March 6, Sammy Rae & the Friends (who made their regional debut at the Borderland Music & Arts Festival in September) on March 10, and the iconoclastic awesomeness that is Meshell Ndegeocello in concert, presented by WBFO the Bridge on March 12.
Artpark continues dropping incredible new show announcements on us. Last week, it was the Flaming Lips. This week, its Tedeschi Trucks Band with guest Margo Price, coming to the MainStage Theater on August 20, and Cage the Elephant with Young the Giant and Bakar on September 7. I’m starting to think it might be a good idea to rent an Airbnb in Lewiston for the summer…
Finally, Live Nation announced a date for the Outlaw Music Festival, with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp, on September 17. That’s an awful lotta legends on one bill…
Meanwhile…
St Paul & The Broken Bones with Sugadaisy
Thursday, Feb 29, 8 p.m. at Asbury Hall, Babeville, Buffalo, NY. $35/$40
It’s a special band that’s able to open for the Rolling Stones and come away from the experience with hosts of new fans. But that’s exactly what happened with Alabama-born soul/funk powerhouse ensemble St. Paul & the Broken Bones, so strong was the impression they made on Stones fans in an opening slot that, let’s face it, isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be, as single-minded and ramped up for their heroes as Stones crowds tend to be.
The band returns to town this week with material from last year’s excellent Angels in Science Fiction to perform, and even fans who’ve been on board for a while might be surprised by the depth and variety on offer. Envelope-pushing folk-based duo Sugadaisy opens.
Buffalo International Guitar Festival presents Jason Vieaux
Saturday, March 9, 7:30pm at Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, University at Buffalo North Campus. $20.
In 2021, Pat Metheny released an album called Road To the Sun. This is an unusual entry in the maestro’s canon, for Metheny himself barely appears on the album, most of which is given over to performances by Jason Vieaux and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. Notably, Vieaux, a Buffalo native, and the LAGQ were not just appearing as guest artists - they were performing pieces that Metheny wrote specifically for them. As far as musical honors go, this is surely a major one.
Vieaux will include the Buffalo premier of Four Paths of Light, which Metheny wrote for (and dedicated to) him, when he returns to town as part of the Buffalo International Guitar Festival on March 9. His program will also encompass works by J.S. Bach and Leo Brouwer.
“I am super excited for this festival,” says event curator Sungmin Shin, associate professor of Guitar Performance at UB. “While there have been various guitar festivals in Buffalo over the years, this will be the first one taking place at UB. “
Shin is well-versed in Vieaux’s genius.
“I first met Jason in 2010 ,when I studied in a masterclass with him at a guitar festival in Cleveland during my student days, and have stayed connected. The classical guitar world is a relatively small pond, so we tend to run into each other at events now and then. Jason’s visit to Buffalo this time will be extra special as he has not given a full solo recital back home here in over a decade… (He’s) an absolute powerhouse guitarist and consummate artist who continues to push the boundaries of classical guitar performance.”
The Coldwave Music Festival
March 2, 2 p.m. at the Town Ballroom, Buffalo, NY. $20
This year’s installment of the regional music bacchanal will include performances by Free Music Party, Pro Social, Johnny and the Man Kids, Miss Cactus, Mailli, Mother of Earl, Still and the High Tides, Sekou, Rasai, Neftali, Hanarlo, and a DJ set from North Star, spread across both the MainStage and lobby areas of the Town Ballroom. That’s an awful of bang for your 20 bucks.
Red Baraat
Monday, March 3, 7 p.m., Mary Seaton Room at Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, NY. $15-$37
I’m not sure the hallowed Mary Seaton Room in Kleinahns Music Hall has ever seen the likes of what’s slated to go down on Monday evening, when Brooklyn-born, genre-bending ensemble Red Baraat comes to town.
This truly groundbreaking band has been invading hearts and elevating minds for the past decade with its simultaneously jubilant and in-your-face marriage of North Indian bhangra, jazz, punk, r&b, hip-hop, folk, and whatever else the members can get their hands on and their heads around.
Bring an open mind and a comfortable pair of shoes, because I doubt any of us are going to be able to sit still while this cross-cultural throw-down is taking place.
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Through March 24, MusicalFare Theatre in Daemen University, Amherst, NY. $20/$30/$55. 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Friday, 3;30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday.
Under the direction of Randall Kramer and Music Director Theresa Quinn, with Maria Pedro as Carole King, and book by Douglas McGrath.
Sugadaisy performed an excellent set opening up for St Paul, Really engaged the Babeville audience. A band that should be checked out.