Indian Ensemble on March 24, 23 @ 8:00PM, Wortham Center/Cullen Theater Tickets: IAAHouston.org. Contact 832.315.6586 for Group discounts Student 20% discount with checkout code "IAABIE20". About Berklee Indian Ensemble: The Ensemble was founded in 2011 by Annette Philip, the first Indian music faculty member at the Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA). It is a world renowned collective known for honoring its Indian roots while boldly experimenting with a cross-pollination of genres, and multi-disciplinary art. The ensemble boasts over 300 million YouTube views and has organically transitioned from a university ensemble to a professional band.
Featuring over 400 students and alumni from 52 nations, the ensemble has collaborated with some of the world’s most celebrated musicians such as Pt. Zakir Hussain and A.R. Rahman.
Grammy-nominated and Latin Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Carla Morrison definitely has dedicated fanbase up in Northeast United States. This tour comes as Morrison breaks into the Billboard Hot 100 with collaborative feature on Karol G's latest album and title track "Mañana Será Bonito." Knowing how accomplished she is and having interviewed her (see here), I was intrigued and curious to see her perform live.
Morrison’s opening act was sister duo Reyna, a synth-pop/electro-pop act with Latin influence. Their youthful energy served as an interesting foil to Morrison’s emotional maturity, making it feel like I saw two shows that night. I liked how they would quip with the audience and introduce songs by talking about the inspiration behind them (like “a toxic ex”), and I look forward to adding a few of their songs to my playlist.
With a full band accompanying her, she began the night with “Eres Tu,” a fun, light-hearted preview of what the night would offer. Morrison has a voice with such clarity that really hits you in the heart, and her performance was a fantastic blend of catharsis and celebration, as could be observed with how joyous the audience was. The crowd enthusiastically sang along with Carla and frequently expressed their joy with calls of “¡Te amo!” all night. Some even danced out of their seat, and by the end of the night, audience members left their seats to rush to the stage front to dance along with her for her final song, “Diamantes.” Even with a language barrier for me, I felt the sincerity throughout the night whenever she spoke or sang, and I left the venue that night feeling refreshed, optimistic, and eager to write this review.
Whoever crafted the lineup for the New Haven stop of Eric Bellinger’s Obsession Tour had their finger on the pulse of pop culture – all the artists are talented multihyphenates, and the common thread was their R&B discography.
The night at Toad’s Place started with a warmup with Melody Shari. She performed her whole discography – which consists of 2 songs as of the writing of this article. Though it did seem disjointed from the rest of the night’s lineup stylistically and timewise, I still enjoyed her set.
The next performer is not new to the music scene, but hadn’t released her own music until recently. Even if her bright red suit or her signature blue hair didn’t catch your eye, GoGo Morrow’s vocal performance commanded your attention. The songstress struck a nice balance between slow jams and punchy tracks, with energetic backup dancers enhancing the performance. With a long list of accomplishments as a performer under her belt, she’s got the making for a strong artist in wherever she wants to go. I hope to have the privilege to see her live again and see how she grows.
Trevor Jackson brought the heat up a notch from the moment he entered on stage. As if he hadn’t already mesmerized the crowd with his performance, later in the set he jumped the barricade and joined the audience for part of his performance, exciting the crowd with the surprise visit. With how well known he is, it was refreshing to see how much he trusted his audience and rewarded them with his up-close presence.
Before the man of the night came out, a crew set up three giant picture frames as props on stage – perhaps as a nod to his affinity for trilogies? The setup had a nice framing effect of the three musical elements on stage: the DJ, the guitarist, and Bellinger himself. Bellinger has such a rich discography to pull from, and he made great use of it when executing his setlist. Starting off the night with “Obsession,” a track from his latest album, 1(800)HIT-EAZY: Line 2, he weaved his way through his discography, performing songs from his discography as early as The Rebirth.
Initially when I saw that Bellinger was coming to New Haven to perform at the local dance club/small concerts venue, I admit that I was a little perplexed, considering how big of a name he is. After seeing what the team did with the show, I’m beginning to understand the decision to choose a smaller venue in order to create an intimate version of a tour stop. From the get-go fans had connected with Bellinger, matching his energy and singing the verses word-for-word, even on tracks that were only recently released. Until the very end he had his audience enthralled. It truly was a treat to watch an artist who has perfected his craft early in his career, and yet he will continue to soar. Not even the sky is the limit for Eric Bellinger.
I saw Show Me the Body at Warehouse live this weekend, February 19th.
Show Me the Body believes in the DIY ethos. They've built their own record label, a recording studio, and community outreach programs through their CORPUS community. Their sound is also made from the ground up. A drum, bass, banjo fiddle punk trio is unique enough, but each member further contorts their instrument into something distorted, angular, and monolithic and almost unrecognizable. Unlike some bands that wield massive noise haphazardly, SMtB expertly allows for some quiet and empty space that allows their sonic pummeling to maintain its punch the whole show. Most of their songs have a rich dynamic range from quiet and slow to fast and loud that keeps the listener on a steady rise in energy culminating in the band thrashing around the stage.
The energy on stage was matched in the pit. This is not the first time I've seen SMtB pull a passionate crowd of young punks to the show. Given their surprising sound, it is at first glance surprising their innovative sound has found so many eager ears. That would be to mistake their singular sound for an insular sound, while SMtB has an inclusive message and sound. They wield their noise for the disenfranchised with their charged lyrics. Both times I've seen the band, they've created a lineup of punk, hip-hop, and metal bands in support. This created a great pit with all the angry young people in town, which was special.
Show Me the Body is defining their own space in the punk sound while generating the sense of solidarity and community the genre is about. See them some time on their busy touring schedule!
Margo Price is a singer/songwriter out of Nashville. That's the short description I gave people when they asked me who I saw play at White Oak Music Hall on February 2nd. It's true that Margo Price has recorded at the Grand Ole Opry, but her sound is too wide-ranging for the Music City label to convey.
So here's the long-form description.
I saw Margo Price touring behind her most recent album, "Strays," the product of a mushroom trip and collaborations with songstress Sharon Van Etten, indie pop group Lucius, and Tom Petty guitarist Mike Campbell. A formula that hints at the album's expansive sound: there's a grandness to the textures and themes that will even catch the ear of listeners who "hate country music."
The sound was big live, too. Her backing band, The Pricetags, kept their sound guy busy mixing and tuning a whole host of guitars in between songs. There were five guitars on stage at times: a bass and a combination of acoustics and electrics. All this shredding didn't drown out Price in the least; it just set the scene at a necessary scale for her singing. Her voice was majestic, despairing, wistful, or spiteful as the song or line or word demanded. It all swirled together for a tempest of a show ranging from wet-eyed ballads to thunderous rockers.
This nuance is lost in classifying the show as country. It doesn't work to say she's a country artist gone rock, either. The crowd had more cowboy boots than Doc Martens. Even beyond the lines about Tennessee, tequila, and farms, Margo Price works with the same core themes as other country artists. Margo Price drives the lonesome, ornery, and mean country highways but with a rockin' restlessness and a sexiness.
You could probably call it cosmic American music or some other made-up word, but I'll end by saying that she's a country artist who can (and if you're as lucky as me, will) hop on the drums for a cover of Elvis Costello's pump it up at the end of the set.
I went into P1Harmony’s January 26th show having only heard a few of their songs and been to one kpop show before. When I got to the show, there was a long line to enter with tons of fans lined up, excited for the coming concert. Employees of the venue handed out photo cards of the band members on the way in, a nice touch to give concert-goers a physical souvenir beyond photos and videos. 713 Music Hall is a very open venue and the floor GA had a great view of the stage.
The show began with P1Harmony coming out onto an elevated platform on the stage with matching outfits after a video introduction. They began with the high energy track “Do It Like This,” performing with smooth choreography and strong group chemistry.
P1Harmony truly facilitated audience engagement with many breaks in the set to talk to the crowd and make sure that everyone was enjoying the show. This type of structure is common in kpop performances, but is not often seen to this extent in American concerts. Every few songs, the band talked directly to the audience, which made the show feel personal, even for people like me who had not followed the band in the past. The band’s chemistry and humor really showed through in these breaks.
One of the most energetic tracks of the night was “Back Down,” a song that I had been listening to before the show. It’s expression of confidence showcased the power of the group and got the crowd moving.
Another unique element of the show (as compared to American concerts), was the use of video interludes. Some of them were music videos, used during breaks, but the longest video was of the group playing a game that involved members being challenged to do different things like dances. The video had a very silly and campy tone that made for a fun and lighthearted break from the show.
The band also broke off into solo stages that showcased each member’s abilities. The highlight of the solo stage section for me was a unit of Soul, Keeho, and Jiung covering Michael Jackson’s “Love Never Felt So Good.” Beginning with a quick tribute to MJ’s style and dancing, the song exuded a confident and happy energy that enveloped the audience. There was also an interesting segment with two of the group’s members rapping over the beat for Kanye West’s song “Black Skinhead.”
Later in the show, P1Harmony played their, as of now, unreleased track “Secret Sauce,” debuting it for the audience. The song talks about the ingredients that make the band work well together and fuse them as a group.
At the end of the show, the band came back for encore and said goodbyes and thank yous to the audience, showing a deep thankfulness for the audience engagement throughout the concert and with their music and promising to return to Houston soon. As seems to be the norm for kpop groups, they returned to the stage wearing their tour merch, which no doubt inspired some audience members to purchase some for themselves. Even after their encore and goodbyes, P1Harmony came back and played more songs.
Although I did not know much of their music in advance of the show, P1Harmony was a great and energetic live act that kept my attention and enjoyment throughout their performance.
Hailing from Perth, Western Australia, Spacey Jane was a long way from home when they found themselves at Warehouse Live in Houston Texas as part of their Here Comes Everybody International Tour. As soon as the band stepped on stage the set opened with “Sitting Up”, with the fitting line “how’s that for an intro?”. It was an excellent intro according to the crowd, who roared with cheers, giving the Aussie band a classic Texan welcome. RIght off the get go, guitarist Ashton Hardman-Le Cornu set the tone for the high energy show, flipping his long curls back and forth as he played. As a fellow long curly-haired person, part of me thought this was mostly due to the lack of peripheral vision that inevitably comes from rocking the curls, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. After the second song, “Lunchtime”, lead singer Caleb Harper stated “We’re gonna be playing for the next hour or so, and just try to fit as much as possible in”, this proved an accurate description as the show progressed with little to no breaks between tracks.
Throughout the first half of the show, Spacey Jane did a great job of keeping the energy up, with an ample amount of bouncing and rocking across the stage which the crowd naturally fed off of. This continued until around halfway through the show when both the band and the crowd got a break as the opening of “Bothers Me” played. A majority of the themes within Spacey Jane’s music deal with processing emotions and life experiences and this was evident as the crowd sang the words back to the melancholy song. The intimate venue fostered this sense of connection that was beautifully compatible with the music being played.
The show continued with much of the higher energy from before, especially with the track “Feeding the Family” which originally jump started the bands early career. Ending the show with an encore featuring “Booster Seat”, Spacey Jane wished us farewell. Houston marked a near end of the US part of their international tour with only two stops following it. After this, Spacey Jane will take a stop in Mexico City before hitting Europe for the rest of their international tour.
Never listened to Spacey Jane? Songs I’d recommend:
Beabadoobee has a sound that can range from indie pop to shoegazy alternative rock. This contrast makes for a great dynamism in performance that keeps the audience engaged throughout the show.
I got to the venue after the opener, shortly before Beabadoobee performed to see a packed house. I’d only previously been to White Oak’s outdoor venue before the show, but this show took place in the indoor part of the venue, which contained both a lower level, close to the stage and a raised upper level. I was on the lower level and slowly moved forward through the crowded room to find a good viewing spot.
It was a very different crowd than I am used to, filled with excited high schoolers who videoed the majority of the songs throughout the night. While this had some downsides with visibility, and comfort in general, it was nice to see such an engaged crowd that sang along with every word for a number of tracks throughout the night.
One of the highlights of the show was Beabadoobee’s guitarist, who excelled at a range of styles and really stole the show at times.Additionally, Bea’s vocals were impressive to see live, varying between confessional bedroom-pop and angsty alt-rock.
Her setlist, culled from her discography with an emphasis on her most recent album, included many of my favorite tracks of hers, such as “The Perfect Pair” and “Charlie Brown,” along with many others that I had forgotten about or not heard for a while.
Overall, it was a great show that proved that she will be a good opener for Taylor Swift’s upcoming tour and provided a great balance of acoustic and electric music to escape to.
The first standout was The Chicks’ incredible headliner performance on Friday night. I’ve been listening to a lot of The Chicks recently, so finally hearing them live was pure joy. By the time they came onstage, the sun had gone down and the stars were out - a perfect backdrop for the music to come. The Chicks were sure to include their biggest hits in their set. "Wide Open Spaces" and "Cowboy Take Me Away" were fantastic performances, with Martie Maguire’s fiddle and Emily Strayer’s banjo truly shining. These were some of my favorite songs all weekend; lead singer Natalie Maine’s sweet, sincere delivery of lyrics like “I wanna sleep on the hard ground/In the comfort of your arms/On a pillow of bluebonnets/In a blanket made of stars” blended perfectly with the warm Texas night air. These beautiful words resonated with the whole audience- everyone was swaying and singing their hearts out, especially me.
Another exceptional performance from Saturday was Habibi, a five-member, all-female band with origins from Brooklyn and Detroit. They attracted a sizable crowd, but we were able to snag a spot for our picnic blanket near the front. With their cool black sunglasses and simple red costuming, their stage presence was down-to-earth with a fun, fiery spirit. It was clear that all five members were truly connected with their instruments. I could admire up-close how lead singer Rahill Jamalifard moved with this self-assured energy and how guitarist Lenaya Lynch shredded her electric guitar with such intensity. Overall, Habibi’s sound shone with influences of surf rock and psychedelic rock, with some Middle Eastern melodic elements mixed in. Some song highlights included "I Got the Moves," "Sweetest Talk," and "Come my Habibi." All of these featured fun, bass-driven melodies that were very conducive to happy head-bobbing in the Austin sun (very much appreciated).
Next was Tai Verdes. I immediately noticed the incredible charisma of his stage presence. He interacted with the audience in a way that was friendly yet snarky and confident yet authentic, making him stand out from other acts of the weekend. His performance style was highly engaging; he’d conduct the audience in his choruses and urge everyone to wave their arms in sync. Even as someone who had never heard his music before, he had me smiling and sing-screaming during infectiously fun songs like "A-OK" and "Let’s Go to Hell." He incorporated lots of joking and storytelling in his set too; before performing the hit "sheluvme" from his newest album HDTV, he painted a playful picture of showing the song to your date in the car - “one hand on the wheel, so she knows you’re cool.” Overall, his music had an easygoing feel and was extremely easy to enjoy, but songs like "Solamente" still made clear that his confident stage persona didn’t compromise more introspective, low-key styles of lyricism and performance. Tai Verdes ended his set with an energetic performance of "LAst dAy oN EaRTh," which was as much of a motivational speech as it was a memorable closer. He urged us - almost Shia LaBeouf “Just-Do-It” style - to go home and change our lives in the way we’ve always wanted to. It was amusing and endearing and heartfelt all at the same time - a perfect end to the concert.
Finally, Lil Nas X: this set was spectacular, showstopping, life-changing, an absolute standout. My favorite all weekend. Lil Nas X possessed this intense charisma and laser-focused confidence that made his performance absolutely shine. His performance style was more detached from the audience; instead, he was fully dedicated to transforming the stage into an immersive visual spectacle. I also loved the unapologetic energy he brought to the stage - he joyfully stated that his performance was a place to be “feminine.” Between his pink bejeweled costumes, shirtless backup dancers, and theatrical displays of onstage physical intimacy, I think he surely was successful in challenging the hyper-masculine stereotypes of rap and hip-hop music. In short, as a live performer, he was absolutely unforgettable. In addition to the sheer talent that Lil Nas X displayed, his set was incredibly elaborate and well-produced. It was organized in a three-act structure that reflected the themes present in his 2021 album MONTERO, and it was filled with conflict, drama, and more costume changes that I could keep track of. The audience energy was incredibly high throughout the whole set, erupting at hits like "INDUSTRY BABY" and, of course, "Old Town Road." Lil Nas X is undoubtedly one of the standout artists of this generation, and I’m so grateful I got to experience his theatrical energy live.
The sound was big live, too. Her backing band, The Pricetags, kept their sound guy busy mixing and tuning a whole host of guitars in between songs. There were five guitars on stage at times: a bass and a combination of acoustics and electrics. All this shredding didn't drown out Price in the least; it just set the scene at a necessary scale for her singing. Her voice was majestic, despairing, wistful, or spiteful as the song or line or word demanded. It all swirled together for a tempest of a show ranging from wet-eyed ballads to thunderous rockers.
I went into P1Harmony’s January 26th show having only heard a few of their songs and been to one kpop show before. When I got to the show, there was a long line to enter with tons of fans lined up, excited for the coming concert. Employees of the venue handed out photo cards of the band members on the way in, a nice touch to give concert-goers a physical souvenir beyond photos and videos. 713 Music Hall is a very open venue and the floor GA had a great view of the stage.
The band also broke off into solo stages that showcased each member’s abilities. The highlight of the solo stage section for me was a unit of Soul, Keeho, and Jiung covering Michael Jackson’s “Love Never Felt So Good.” Beginning with a quick tribute to MJ’s style and dancing, the song exuded a confident and happy energy that enveloped the audience. There was also an interesting segment with two of the group’s members rapping over the beat for Kanye West’s song “Black Skinhead.”
