Lucinda WIlliams is one of the best songwriters in the Americana – country landscape for the last 20 years. She has won three Grammys and has been nominated for 12 more. Her commercial break through came as late as 1998 with Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. From that CD she has been up there as one of the leading female artists in the the landscape between country, rock and Americana.
Josh Homme is 40 years old today, May 17th. He is one of the leading musical artists on the newer hard rock and stoner rock scene, with present and former membership in bands like Kyuss, Eagles Of Death Metal, Queens Of The Stone Age and Them Crooked Vultures. Here are some pictures of Josh Homme from different live concerts.
One of the concerts I enjoyed the best at SXSW this year, was with The Zombies. The band started out 51 years ago, but hasn’t been together for many years. But the last twenty years they have played together off and on, and this year they delighted a packed venue at SXSW with their songs.
Denmark have had their own showcase festival, Spot, for some years now, just like Norway have by:Larm and the US have SXSW. The festival was held in its home town Aarhus this wekend, and many talented bands performed. The idea about festivals like this is to attract both the best talent and also the music business, to see if there might be any possibilities for both parties to luck out. This means that the festivals have a seminar program at daytime and many concerts at night. All the bands play 40 minutes shows, enough to get a feel of their repertoire and for them to show what they are worth. (Picture above: Kristine Stubbe Teglbjaerg)
Shining recently released their CD, One One One to good critics. Some critics didn’t like their new direction, but the general consensus was that this is another great album from the band. These days the band is on a tour to promote the CD, and Saturday night they played at Byscenen in Trondheim.
Last night Bruce Springsteen played the Telenor Arena in Oslo with his band. For five months they have played with Tom Morello instead of Little Steven, since he has been busy filming the second season of the TV series Lillyhammer. What I saw during the three first songs we were allowed to photograph told me this would be a top Springsteen concert. Here are some pictures from the concert.
Nidaros Blues Festival is one of Norway’s many local blues festival, but it is also one of the best organized. I have attended the festival for several years, and I have always liked the festival. It is held at a hotel with four stages, a congress hall, one restaurant, beside the lobby and in the night club downstairs. (Picture above: Nikki Hill) Continue reading
If you haven’t heard or seen Hedvig Mollestad Trio before, do it as soon as you get the opportunity! She combines guitar playing in the tradition of Jimi Hendrix and other rock heroes with advanced jazz rhythms and phrasings. Saturday night she played Byscenen in Trondheim, and I saw part of her show.
The Paladins were formed in 1980, when rockabilly was a novelty, due to among others, the Stray Cats. The Paladins mixed rockabilly, country and a touch of punk in their music, and they soon became a hit in their hometown of San Diego. They also got a reputation as a hard working live band, with tours all over USA and in Europe and Australia. In 2004 the band went on a hiatus, but a couple of years ago they started playing an touring again. I am glad they did!
If you have never seen Bigbang live before, you have definitely missed out on one of Norway’s best live bands. Last night they played at Oslo Spektrum to an audience of almost 5000. They delivered a performance with all the ingredients you expect, plus some more – great songs, great playing, interesting guests, high jumps and a stage dive with guitar.
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