live

I can’t remember the last time I saw a mosh pit at a show. And it’s not because I’m old or anything (although by punk standards I’m ancient), because I go to shows all the time. It must be the way things go in Boston because I’ve seen my fair share of “No Moshing” signs since moving to the city. I’ve almost begun to think they were a thing of past, until I saw Jeff Rosenstock at the Sinclair, because...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into a vinyl copy of David Live 2LP by David Bowie. It’s incredible how good, interesting, revealing and even informative an album can be, while simultaneously being critically abhorred. How such things happen is anyone’s guess, but they do – a perfect example is the live album that David Bowie released in 1974, David Live. David Live was Bowie’s first official live album. The album compiled tracks from a two-night stand at th...

White lung Brighton Music Hall – Boston, Massachusetts – July 30, 2016   There are many ways to describe a White Lung show: ferocious, loud, energetic, threatening, powerful, transfixing. I’ve seen this band three times now, and I’m extremely glad to report that they have not lost a single beat. White Lung are one of the best bands active today and one of the greatest live acts currently touring . Their albums have a tendency to contain the same song-writing...

Leftover Crack @ Once Ballroom – Somerville, MA – June 18, 2016 Who would have guessed that the reputation Leftover Crack would have this year in Boston is as the hottest show in town. Sure, they were playing the coolest new venue in Boston (as Stefon would say, “This place has everything!”), but I remember from Punk Rock Bowling in Vegas last month that their show was one of the first to sell out. Let’s be clear here, Leftover Crack...

Brooks Wheelan Middle East – Cambridge, Massachusetts – May 7, 2016 Frequent readers of Ground Control (as you should be) know my love for Brooks Wheelan’s stand-up debut “This is Cool, Right?” We listen to a lot of records here on Ground Control and they just keep coming, but as of late, it’s becoming that stand-up albums are coming out faster than ever. On last year’s Best-of lists, I carved out a space for best Stand-Up album, and you can...

  NOFX Live: 04-28-16 Venue: Paradise in Boston, MA Review: Ollie Ottoman Photo: Scott Murry Whenever I think of NOFX live shows, I do that Italian gesture of kissing my fingers and go, “MUA!” Seriously, I have seen NOFX in small clubs and large outdoor venues (yes, the Warped Tour), and have never in my life had a bad experience. Is it because they’re such consummate musicians or because they are simply so goddamned entertaining live? Maybe it’s both. We...

We dreamt about it; that night we fell in love at the Baths concert in San Francisco just 5 miles west of the ocean. A sold out show at the Independent on Divisidero in the middle of the city where the cool kids who spin vinyl stand in the front to have their drums blown out by the bass in the speakers created by the dynamic duo Baths. Duo? You must think I’m confused… but it’s true. One single man...

23 Live Sex Acts (Total Treble) There’s no easy way to review an Against Me album anymore; well, not in the conventional sense, anyway. Everyone knows why, so why no talk about it? It’s not easy to review an Against Me! album anymore because Tom Gabel was replaced on the mic by Laura Jane Grace. Does that really make so great a difference? It shouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t; the catch has everything to do with the gift...

The Soft Moon is a San Francisco based neo-post-punk band composed of Luis Vasquez(singer/songwriter/guitar/synthesizers), Justin Anastasi (bass), Damon Way (synthesizers) and Ron Robinson (visuals).Keven Tecon joined the band as a drummer in early 2012. The Soft Moon has taken cues from early synthpunk/post-punk bands such as Chrome, Suicide, Danse Society and The Units. The Soft Moon was founded by Luis Vasquez as a solo project in 2009. He released two singles, “Breathe the Fire” and “Parallels”, while working on his...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Gary Clark Jr.’s Live double album. Listening to Gary Clark Jr.’s Live album on vinyl, listeners will find themselves suddenly overcome by a wave of nostalgia. Images of Mick Jagger jumping next to a jackass (as he did on the cover of Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!) and Dylan at Royal Albert Hall, KISS shouting it out loud on Alive, At Budakan, Neil Young’s Rust Never Sleeps and The Who’s Live At Leeds...