New York Concerts on Sale This Week: Jim Gaffigan, Julian Casablancas, Muse, Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck, and More

2010 is shaping up to be a great year for live music in the New York City area, if the first few months are any indication. Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck are returning to Madison Square Garden; Julian Casablancas of The Strokes is stepping out on his own; The Swell Season is back supporting its new album; and Alice in Chains are touring once again.

Here are some of the shows that have recently been announced recently or are going on sale this weekend, followed by concerts that are already on sale.

On Sale Fri, Dec 11:

Jim Gaffigan - January 23, Wellmont Theatre; Montclair, NJ - 9:30PM show added.

An Evening With YES - February 10, Wellmont Theatre; Montclair, NJ http://www.wellmonttheatre.com/event/3931

February 13 & 14, Town Hall

David Gray - April 1, Wellmont Theatre; Montclair, NJ

Julian Casablancas - January 14, Terminal 5

Editors and The Antlers - February 19, Terminal 5

Air - March 19, Terminal 5

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - April 8, Webster Hall

Yeasayer - May 4, Webster Hall

Dr. Dog - May 15, Terminal 5

On sale Sat., Dec. 12

Muse and Silversun Pickups - March 5, Madison Square Garden

On sale now:

Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck - February 18 & 19, Madison Square Garden

The Swell Season with special guest Josh Ritter - January 19, Radio City Music Hall

Celtic Woman "Songs From the Heart" -
February 26 & February 27, Radio City Music Hall

Alice In Chains - March 8 & 9, Terminal 5

The Donnas Spend the Night at Highline Ballroom

It had been a long time since The Donnas had played New York City, but the ladies from California made up for the absence with a high-energy show at the Highline Ballroom last week.

Their new album, "Bitchin,'" has a harder edge than their last few releases, reminiscent of Joan Jett in several songs, and this rougher sound comes off great in concert, where there are no overdubs or editing, but the unvarnished sound of the crunching guitar. Speaking of that guitar, this harder sound means that Allison Robertson, the band's lone guitarist, has to be on top of her game at all times, and she was up to the challenge.

Brett Anderson's voice was in fine form, as usual. And drummer Torrey Castellano, who has had problems in the past (and maybe still does) with wrist injuries from drumming, was wailing away on the skins with abandon, oftentimes practically jumping off of her stool. She's been a very enthusiastic and active drummer every time I've seen The Donnas, but she seemed to be even more revved up this time around. I wonder if her injuries have subsided, allowing her to whack on the drums harder, and enabling the band to pursue songs with a harder edge and a more driving beat.

As expected, the setlist included a number of songs from "Bitchin'" along with a collection of tunes from their last few albums. A couple of pleasant surprises were a song from one of their early albums, "Let's Go Mano," played during their encore, and a cover of the Ratt tune "Round and Round."

The only complaint I had about this show is the same one I have of every Donnas show I've attended: the band plays the shortest sets I've ever seen in a headlining band. I've seen The Donnas four or five times now and they've never played long than an hour, and sometimes the sets are closer to 50 minutes. I had sometimes suspected maybe this was due to Castellano's injured wrists--maybe they couldn't handle much more pounding than that on any given night--but she seems to be pounding the skins pretty hard these days.

Midtown NYC Gets New Live Rock Venue

Amid all the bad news about live rock music venues in New York City closing down, here's a bit of good news: a new concert space that holds 3,000 is set to open in midtown in October.

Terminal 5, as it will be called, is run by Bowery Presents, the same organization that puts on shows at Bowery Ballroom and Webster Hall, and is behind the recently opened Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Bowery Presents says that Terminal 5 (formerly the Exit dance club) is "the largest midtown venue to open in more than ten years."

Terminal 5 will be at 610 West 56th Street between 11th and 12th Aves.

So who's playing there? I got an email from Bowery Presents that mentions a number of shows at all their venues, including Terminal 5. Here's the "starting lineup" of live gigs for the latter:

OCTOBER
11: The National
19: M.I.A.
20: Justice
23-24: The Shins with Vetiver

NOVEMBER
1-2: The Decemberists
23: State Radio with The Beautiful Girls
30 - 12/1: Ween

Tickets for these shows will go on sale this Friday, August 17th or the next day at Ticketmaster. (I'm assuming you can also buy them at the Mercury Lounge, 214 E. Houston Street, but check the Bowery Presents Web site (below) for details.

Sounds like Terminal 5 will get off to a great start with that slate of shows. It's always good to have more live rock concert locations in the City... especially in places that are near mass transit or at least a short cab ride away.

Bowery Presents Web site: www.bowerypresents.com

Get Concert Dates with a Free iTunes Plug-In

Here's a great idea... this free download surveys the artists in your iTunes Library and shows you, in iTunes, when they're coming into your town (and other towns too, if you're traveling).

This personalized calendar is called iConcertCal, is available for both Windows and Mac OS X, and supports worldwide searches.

The recently released Version 2.0 provides a calendar of upcoming album release dates for artists in your library, links to pre-order upcoming albums, calendar sharing with friends, highlighting of shows you're most interested in.

I like it and find it pretty useful. I'd find it even more useful if I used it more often, but I keep forgetting it's there.

Reunited Squeeze Delights New York Audience

From Rage Against the Machine to The Police, this has been one of the biggest years for rock-band reunions in some time. This is not always a good thing, of course, but in the case of Squeeze it worked well.

Last night at New York City's Beacon Theater they played an hour and a half set that kicked off with "Take Me, I'm Yours" and briskly browsed through the band's most popular tunes. Consisting of originals Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, John Bentley on bass (who was with the band in the early '80s, and players from Tilbrook's touring band on keyboards and drums, Squeeze seemed to be genuinely enjoying the reunion concert.

The one complaint I had (or maybe it's more than one) was that the show was maybe a little too brisk. There was minimal chatter with the audience, and when one song ended the band launched right into the next one. And since most Squeeze songs are quite short, the tunes just flew by, which brings up another thing: I'd wished the band would have expanded some of their songs, playing longer solos or adding new elements. Basically the songs sounded just as they did on the original LPs (yes, Squeeze's heyday was back in the age of vinyl).

But it was definitely an enjoyable show, and the rest of the crowd was eating it up. And unlike many concerts I've been to with bands from the '70s or '80s, in which the audience was full of gray-haired baby boomers, this one had a large number of people in their 20s or 30s. I guess Squeeze's brand of bright uptempo pop has a lot of fans among the younger generations.

Michelle Shocked, Toshi Reagon in Free New York Show

The free summer concerts just a-keep on comin' in New York City. Last night Korn gave a free show at South Street Seaport; tonight the legendary Mavis Staples performs downtown as well, and there's more.

The folks at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater have just announced some free shows (and for-pay ones) at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, home of the Shakespeare in the Park festival (complete schedule). A free concert on Friday, Sept. 28 will feature Michelle Shocked, 
Toshi Reagon & BIGLovely, and John Boutte. And the week before the series will feature a 40th anniversary concert of the groundbreaking musical "Hair," which included a lot of great music.

Here are some of the shows that are NOT free, but sound good nonetheless:
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
Lesley Gore, Jill Sobule, and The New Standards 
 $40

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
Patty Griffin, Allen Toussaint, and the CMA Songwriters Series 
$50

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
Beirut, Balkan Beat Box, and NY Gypsy All-Stars 
Presented in association with The NY Gypsy Festival 
 $25

The Delacorte Theater is a beautiful venue for concerts; I saw a fantastic show there a few years ago featuring Jonatha Brooke and Suzanne Vega. I'm definitely going to try to go to a couple of the shows above.

Jonatha Brooke Rocks Weehawken Waterfront

Though it's accurate to call Jonatha Brooke a singer-songwriter, the term doesn't really do justice to her. Though she usually plays acoustic guitar on stage, she can rock out (and often does) on her CDs and especially in her concert appearances, as with her free performance on the Weehawken, New Jersey waterfront Wednesday night.

Brooke became known in the 1980s as part of the acclaimed folk-pop duo The Story (with Jennifer Kimball), which featured innovative variations on the tradition pop song. Brooke has been forging her own solo career over the course of more than a half-dozen albums. She puts on a great show, especially with her tight four-piece band. Catch her on tour if you can.... here is her upcoming schedule of U.S. gigs (all dates, including European shows, can be found at her Web site (above):

The Stephen Talkhouse / Amagansett, NY
08/02/2007, 8:00 PM / Band

Ridgefield Playhouse / Ridgefield, CT
08/03/2007, 8:00 PM / Band

Foy Hall - Moravian College / Bethlehem, PA
08/04/2007 / Solo

Copley Square / Boston, MA
08/16/2007, 5:00 PM / FREE!

U. Of Hartford, Millard Auditorium / Hartford, CT
09/07/2007, 7:30pm

Belcourt Theater / Nashville, TN
10/26/2007, 8:00 PM / Band

Varsity Theater / Minneapolis, MN
10/27/2007, 7:00 PM / Solo

The Tangier Cabaret / Akron, OH
11/03/2007, 9:00 PM / Solo

Lyric Theatre / Stuart, FL
11/04/2007, 8:00 PM / Solo

Tampa Bay Peforming Arts Center / Tampa, FL
11/05/2007, 7:30PM

Sellersville Theater 1894 / Sellersville, PA
11/10/2007, 8:00 PM

Rams Head / Annapolis, MD
11/14/2007, 8:00 PM

Barns at Wolftrap / Vienna, VA
11/15/2007, 8:00 PM

Rubin Museum of Art / New York, NY
11/16/2007, 'Naked Soul' acoustic un-amplified series

Tupelo Music Hall / Londonderry , NH
11/17/2007, 7:00 PM & 9:15 PM / Solo

Stone Mountain Arts Center / Brownfield, ME
11/18/2007, 8:00 PM / Solo

Joan Jett: Still Rocking After All These Years

If you remember the song "I Love Rock and Roll," then you know Joan Jett. What you may not know is that Jett is still rocking today, and touring, and recording, and she's sounding better than ever.

I've been a fan of hers since I got my copy of the "Bad Reputation" album when it came out in the '80s (on, um, cassette). I bought a few more of her albums, but never managed to see her in concert, though I wanted to.

Fast forward about 15 years, and it turns out she's playing an outdoor set for the runners in a race I'm running in, in New York's Central Park a couple of summers ago. Finally, my chance to see Joan Jett, and she didn't disappoint. She and the Blackhearts really DO love rock and roll, and even though us runners were sweating in shorts and t-shirts, there were Joan Jett and her bandmates staying true to their punk roots, rocking out on stage in black leather pants.

I've seen Joan Jett concerts three times since then, and she's never disappointed. She came out with a new album last year, "Sinner," and it's a good one. And at age 48 she's looking better than ever, looking buff and muscular, and rocking out to her songs, old and new. She's still touring, and if you'll be in New York City on June 28th, she'll be playing a free outdoor concert at Hudson River Park on Manhattan's west side. If past experience is any guide, it'll be a great show.