Eric Benét graced the stage at the legendary music hall, The Birchmere, in Alexandria, VA on Thursday, September 27th. While there was rain outside, Benét entertained his fans with a 90-minute set performing songs from his seven albums. Benet opened the show with 2001’s “Love Don’t Love Me”, which still sounds just as fresh as seventeen years later.
On Tuesday September 4th, I saw Chris Isaak in concert at one of my favorite concert venues in the area, The Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. I have been a fan of Chris Isaak since as with a lot of people, his song “Wicked Games” in the David Lynch movie of the same name.
Chris Isaak has an amazing voice. He has been compared to a few of my favorite artists of all times, Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley. I love the beautiful, yet eerie at times voice of Roy Orbison. Not many performers can sing in the manner of Roy Orbison, but Chris Isaak sure can. He also is great with Elvis’ songs, not as great as Roy’s songs in my opinion but still very good. But Chris Isaak covering Roy Orbison or Elvis songs is not the reason I like Chris Isaak. He is a masterful songwriter. He has written hit songs for other artists and has had good success with his music doing well also.
On Saturday August 25th, Dave Mason and Steve Cropper performed at the Baltimore Soundstage. Opening the night, the Dave Mason Band, sans Dave Mason and Steve Cropper came on stage to warm up the crowd. As one of them said, they really needed to warm us up since they had the AC cranked down to 65. It was cool, but not bad. Once the stage lights came on and the band started to play, that changed quickly!
Dave Mason’s band, played for about 30 minutes to warm up the audience. The resume of the Dave Mason band is impressive.
Sunday August 12th, the beautiful R&B songstress Algebra Blessett graced the City Winery stage with blessings for all. Stepping onto a florally decorated stage, the set began with an upbeat version of “U Do It for Me” from her debut album “Purpose”. This was the song that turned me on to her music and my personal favorite to date. Algebra then issued the “make yourself at home” ground rule. She told the crowd, “pretend you’re at my house”, and then asked if she could perform a new song. The crowd approved and she went in with “Feels So Good”, from her upcoming album. It was cool to hear new material as her last album was released in 2013.
Photos by CCP Photos
This Thursday July 26th, Hip Hop O.G. group Brand Nubian fell through D.C. to spread love the NYC way. Hitting the City Winery stage at 8:00 p.m., they led off with the classic “Don’t Let It Go To Your Head”. I appreciated them just going in instead of trying to hype up the crowd like some acts. Never being a group to rely on gimmicks, they had a simple set up. The 3 veteran MCs and a DJ. As a group from the early foundation of Hip Hop, the’ve always put rhyme skills and content over jumping around on stage.
Photos by Ari Strauss
For those that have never had the pleasure of a real New Orleans live show, its not your “sit down and enjoy” type of event. I say event because that’s exactly what it is, an Event! Performers from the Crescent City don’t know how to do small. That in mind, on Saturday June 23rd the perfectly named “Big Sam’s Funky Nation” showed up, and showed out.
On Friday, June 23, 2018 Richard Marx came to Annapolis MD to the Maryland Hall of the Creative Arts. I have been a fan of Richard Marx since his first album. Loved his album so much that I had to take the CD back to the store three time to exchange it because there was an issue with the CD. In the late 80’s I saw Richard Marx in concert when he opened for The Hooters for a Toys for Tots concert. I am fans of both, but think I was more excited to see Richard Marx than the Hooters.
On Monday, June 11th, the pop-rock and soul duo Hall & Oates performed at the Capital One Arena. Looking around the arena, there were not a lot of empty seats.
Greta Van Fleet has been hailed by Sir Elton John as “the best rock and roll I’ve heard in 20 f**king years.” It’s no wonder each one of Greta Van Fleet’s 2018 tour dates have sold out in advance. They also made an April 13th appearance at Coachella. Tonight they crashed Rams Head Live in Baltimore and were joined with Dorothy.
