Concert Central

just really terrible, bad 90s alternative rock lite, all unusually short as well

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Rockboy was all enthused about this band now that he is officially a member of the anything-rootsy scene in Austin, I was bored silly by this band initially – western swing but it sounded like lounge music to me, and lounge music basically takes good songs and sucks the character out of them, BUT as [...]

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some amalgam of the Weary Boys, Weary Boys are super popular in Austin but have always struck me as a little too audience-pleasing, I enjoyed this group though, five or six people on stage playing in jam-fashion on a variety of instruments, Grateful Dead with a little more bluegrass

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had bad memories of this band and they were reconfirmed, he was a dead ringer for Townes looks-wise but was just an average country singer, quiet voice and unremarkable music

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Rob Thomas promised to play until they were thrown off the stage, and launched into a raucous two-hour set that was backed the entire night by a crowd singalong. The set was a mix of more obscure tracks and well-worn hits, but they shrewdly avoided making this a purely greatest hits outing. Their [...]

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Okay, I love Alanis. Love her. After years away from the concert set (we are conveniently ignoring her dreadful Jagged Little Pill Acoustic phase) Alanis took her place for a 45-minutes on Matchbox Twenty’s Exile tour. She busted out a set that was heavy on favorites with some interesting diversions along the [...]

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Mute Math “from New Orleans!” put on a decent 20 minute opening set ahead of Alanis and Matchbox Twenty that was high on theatrics. Taking their musical cue from The Police (and even some vocal stylings reminiscent of Sting) each song was stretched and distorted, taking away their arena-rock cred but keeping the [...]

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sadly a return to the low-talent not-going-to-try-too-hard brand of bands, though a much different flavor than Karate Kids: more sleazy Frank Sinatra attitude with lots of alcohol fueling them, lead singer was surly and sunglassed and didn’t sing too well, guy who had previously been MCing in his all pink and red outfit (and well—he was funny) was playing the pedal steel, bluesy rock, maybe it was just an off night

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so good that I was in continuous state of body prickles and it wasn’t only because of the horror of the previous band, one of the most charming and engaging bands I have seen in a long time, in large part due to the charismatic lead singer – a pug girl with a shock of [...]

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the costumes were fantastic – every band member had a rigged costume that allowed them to play instruments with the real rams and fake limbs to maintain arms-raised one-leg-crooked-in-preparation – this gave them a perpetually hyped appearance which was the only relief, an insufficient relief, from their inane tacky boring music, less talented and less [...]

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