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Bruce
Springsteen and the E Street Band
Times
Union Center, Thursday
It’s always good to see a young, up-and-comer buck the system
and find success on his or her own terms, totally DIY. Also
good: Bruce Springsteen. The Boss may be the voice of the
working class, but he’s also been working for the Sony corporation
for two decades, so, grain of salt. Still, even as he nears
Social Security age, he puts on one hell of a live show—dude’s
holding up remarkably well, as those lucky enough to get general
admission “pit” tickets to tonight’s show will surely attest.
So leave your indie cred in the glove box and get your arena-rock
workout with Max, Stevie, the Big Man, and the rest of the
E Street gang. Don’t have tickets? We hear the secondary ticketing
market is booming. (May 14, 7:30 PM, $67-$97, 51 S. Pearl
St., Albany, 800-30-EVENT)
The
Bruise Brothers
Northern
Lights, Friday
We joke and we kid about the cyclical nature of nostalgia,
but it truly, really exists. A swarm of grunge revivalists
passed through the area last year; Third Eye Blind just headlined
Tulip Festival; No Doubt was on this week’s Gossip Girl;
Limp Bizkit are threatening to tour. All that’s left is for
the short-lived ’90s swing movement to make its slight return,
and . . . well, this isn’t quite that. But Albany’s own “swingcore”
band the Bruise Brothers did have a pretty successful run
around the turn of the aughts with their mix of heavy rock
and swing-inspired grooves. They’re reuniting for their first
show in five years this week, and they’ll be joined by an
array of acts that all represent bits of their unique sound:
hard-rockers Karma’s Army, rapper Shyste, rap-metal band Dead-Lift,
and roots-rockabilly boys Slick Fitty. (May 15, 7 PM, $12,
1208 Route 146, Clifton Park, 371-0012)
Natalie
MacMaster
The
Egg, Saturday
We’re willing to bet that the most popular video game in Halifax
these days is Cape Breton Fiddle Hero. It’s not that Nova
Scotia kids don’t love the six-string, but with a cultural
export like fiddler/step-dancer Natalie MacMaster on their
hands, there’s got to be a craze going. The preeminent name
in Cape Breton fiddle music, MacMaster has won a number of
Canadian music awards, played with the likes of Allison Kraus,
Carlos Santana and Yo-Yo Ma, and has been inducted into the
Order of Canada, Canada’s highest civilian honor. This one’s
going to deliver all the jigs, reels, waltzs, and elusive
strathspeys you can handle. (May 16, 7:30 PM, $28, Empire
Plaza, Albany, 473-1845)
Joe
Jencks
The
Eighth Step At Proctors, Saturday
It’s a good time to be a folk sin ger in the upstate. Pete
Seeger just turned 90, the Hudson’s about to get its dredge
on, and Eighth Step keeps hosting the good stuff. After a
rousing performance at last year’s Old Songs Festival, Seattle-based
performer Joe Jencks brings his warm, inviting voice and a
suitcase of story-songs to Proctors. The Candle and the
Flame is his latest release and critics are calling it
his strongest yet. Jencks claims to specialize in “ministering
to the human spirit”; see if you can feel your soul being
touched Saturday night. (May 16, 7:30 PM, 432 State St.,
Schenectady, 346-6204)
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| Fireworks |
Fireworks,
Last Minute Letter, We Are the Union
Jan’s
Roadhouse, Saturday
It’s
always good to see a young, up-and-comer buck the system and
find success on his or her own terms, totally DIY. And looky
here: A quintet with a combined age of one of Springsteen’s
band members! Of course the term DIY is a bit misleading when
applied to Fireworks—technically, the Detroit band have had
some help, namely from emo heroes New Found Glory, who recently
invited them out on tour, and whose Chad Gilbert produced
band’s debut full-length, All I Have to Offer is My Own
Confusion. But Fireworks’ music has all the youthful energy
that made the punk-rock scene of the pre-Green Day era so
exciting and unpredictable. And they’re playing in Burnt Hills,
which could be the next Berkeley, Calif. You never know! (May
16, 5:30 PM, $5, 658 Saratoga Road, Burnt Hills, 399-4261)
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| Also
Noted |
|
Dash
Rip Rock are celebrating
a quarter-century in the rock & roll business;
catch the New Orleans legends—at least, to us,
they are—at Valentine’s tonight (Thursday) for
a Springsteen after-party with guests the Tern
Rounders (9 PM, $8, 432-6572). . . . A man
whose legend is well- documented, David Bromberg,
returns to the area with his eight-piece band
tomorrow (Friday) for a show at the Egg (8 PM,
$29.50, 473-1845). . . . Also Friday, NYC-based
singer-songwriter Lisa Bianco plays Bread
and Jam Café in Cohoes, in support of her recently
released Post Data disc (8 PM, free, 326-2275).
. . . Kick out the jams with Timbre Coup
and Mirk and the New Familiars at Tess’
Lark Tavern on Saturday (10 PM, $5, 463-9779).
. . . It’s all about the charitable causes this
Sunday afternoon: Area folk-rock quartet the Vicious
Cycle will reunite for the first time in more
than 30 years at the Blue Jay Tavern in Schenectady,
in a benefit for the American Diabetes Association
(1 PM, no cover, 382-9469); and at the Parting
Glass, the Wildwood School will get the all-star-benefit
treatment from acts like Sirsy, 28N,
Blackcat Elliot, and more (1 PM, $10, 583-1916).
. . . Ellis Paul will play two shows—one
for the kids, one for the grownups—Sunday at Caffe
Lena (3 PM, $10, $5 children; 7 PM, $20, 583-0022).
. . . At Valentine’s on Punk Rock Monday, it’s
the debut performance from ex-Public Access guys
the Slaughterhouse Chorus (8 PM, $5, 432-6572).
. . . The Delta Spirit will make up for
their cancelled February date at Valentine’s on
Tuesday (8 PM, $10, 432-6572). . . . Wednesday,
make the drive to Northampton, Mass. for an earful
of that one-of-a-kind guitar tone in a “classical”
setting with Bill Frisell’s 858 Quartet (7
PM, $28, 413-586-8686).
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