All Entries Related to "Music"

July 29, 2007

Concert Review: The Police at Fenway Park

Police T-ShirtIf you believe the worst of the rumors, the members of the Police spend most of their downtime on the tour bus smashing bottles and going after one another with the jagged glass. But whatever happens offstage, it doesn't seem to affect the show. The Police reunion tour hit Fenway Park for the first of two nights, and they've hardly lost a step.

The best part of a reunion that nobody thought would ever happen is that there's no new album in the works, and none of the concert is devoted to trying out new stuff. The Police know their hits, they know the fans want to hear the hits, and the hits are what they play. They launched right into it, blasting out "Message In A Bottle" and "Synchronicity II", followed by a mellow "Walking On the Moon" (with a bit of celestial assistance, as the moon hung large and red over the right field roof boxes).

There was some criticism early in this tour that the band was getting a little too experimental, letting songs drift off into unfamiliar directions. Not so much at Fenway; sure, they played around with "Roxanne" a bit, but they always do that. The biggest disappointment of the night was probably "Don't Stand So Close To Me"; Sting doesn't reach for the high notes anymore that really kick that song into high gear, and for that one song, he sounded suspiciously like a 55-year-old man.

But he more than made up for it with fantastic performances of "Invisible Sun" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger" (which included Stewart Copeland, more animated than drummers usually are, really exploring the space). When they cranked the rock back on for "Can't Stand Losing You", the mood was so good that we might have even caught Sting and guitarist Andy Summers smiling at one another.

The encore had even more good vibes, as the Police rocked out "King Of Pain", "So Lonely" and "Every Breath You Take" (punctuated by some nitwits trying to spend some time on the fenced-off infield; we know how disappointed Joe Castiglione would be). The second encore was a no-nonsense "Next To You", and the band was definitely smiling as they took their final bows. Who knows if the good feeling will last until tomorrow.

Fiction Plane opened the show with a nice set. Lead singer Joe Sumner may or may not want to be constantly compared to his dad (better known as Sting), but the similarities are too obvious to be ignored. Maybe Joe could have come out and helped Pop with some of the higher notes.

(as seen @ Bostonist and BostonNOW.)

Posted by Michael at 12:24 AM | Comments (2)

June 03, 2007

When Radio DJs Miss The Point

This is paraphrased.

WBOS DJ: The great thing about this city is there's so much good music happening here. Lots of great indie bands, and lots of places to see live music. Almost [sic] every night, you can go in a club and see a great young local band. Coming up next, we've got Bob Dylan, The Clash, and Fountains of Wayne.

Here's Exploit Boston! Radio: your real source for Boston music.

Posted by Michael at 01:59 PM | Comments (0)

May 22, 2007

Oh My God

My prospects for a great summer just turned around in a hurry.

Posted by Michael at 12:01 AM | Comments (2)

March 24, 2007

Seven Songs

Sooz has given me the "7 songs" baton. Like her, my favorite songs change every 20 minutes, but these are ones I've been listening to a lot and/or have in my head at the moment:

Most of the people I know who would be all into this don't have websites (a point I keep meaning to bring up with them) so if you're one of them consider yourself tagged and reply in the comments.

(* - Shoot the Moon is doing a residency at Abbey Lounge in Inman Square, every Tuesday night in April. I wholeheartedly recommend checking them out.)

Posted by Michael at 07:37 PM | Comments (1)

March 23, 2007

You Provide the Content: Baseball Music

So Jon and I have decided we need to start a letter-writing campaign to make Soul Coughing's "Super Bon Bon" the official song they play at Fenway when Papelbon comes in from the bullpen.

So I'll throw this out to the panel: what's your walk-up song? What do you want to hear the PA blaring when you come up to bat or out of the 'pen?

I'll throw a few of mine out: "The Mountain Song" by Jane's Addiction; "Waiting Room" by Fugazi; "Lounge Fly" by Stone Temple Pilots (even if it was used for MTV News); or "Go" by Pearl Jam.

Your turn; maybe we can at least come up with something to help David Wright.

Posted by Michael at 10:50 AM | Comments (3)

June 19, 2005

Tom Petty Concert Review

Short review: It was awesome. Petty's always been one of my favorite artists, but I'd never seen him live until Saturday night. And I wasn't a bit disappointed.

Longer review is up at Exploit Boston. Sooz has some terrific photos as well. I'll be doing a lot of event listings and reviews for EB; if anyone reading this is involved in, or knows about, cool happenings around town, forward them to me or straight to EB!.

Posted by Michael at 11:37 PM | Comments (0)