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onstage U2 at the Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, May 2005
05/17/05
U2 has always been known for the grand gesture, most often thanks to its front man's gift of gab. Yet the start of the Irish quartet's show at Philadelphia's Wachovia Center tingled the spine before Bono uttered a word. The Edge's guitar shimmered like light made audible as curtains of reflectors draped the stage and huge hanging lamps burned red. While his band mates played the intro for "City of Blinding Lights," Bono appeared at the crown of the elliptical catwalk 30 or so rows into the crowd; he used the moment to just eye the ecstatic faces as the sound pealed all around and a burst of glittering confetti greeted him from above.
Posted by bradley bambarger
at 01:31:14 am
onstage Hopkinson Smith at Taplin Auditorium, Princeton, April 2005
04/28/05
Once upon a time, when the world was much quieter, the lute was the premier, princely instrumental voice -- intimate, complex and expressive, ideal for accompanying songs and dances or for playing solo. Not long after Bach and Vivaldi's day, though, the lute was overwhelmed by the noise of incipient modernity. Playing the lute today requires the soul of a poet and the curiosity of a scientist. It seemed apt that Hopkinson Smith, one of the world's rare masters of the lute, would perform at Fine Hall's Taplin Auditorium on the Princeton University Campus. Walking the Fine corridors at intermission, one could see blackboards filled with the equations of higher mathematics, as Greek to most people as the antique manuscripts Smith pores through for his repertoire. Cultured and confident in his way but shyly soft-spoken, the 58-year-old Smith seems every inch the poet-scientist. The New York-born, Harvard-trained sage of many archaic plucked instruments now resides in Switzerland, where he teaches at Basel's Schola Cantorum, a hallowed academy for early music. Smith's more than 20 solo recordings -- of Milan, Gallot, Weiss, Bach -- are like an illuminated manuscript in sound, articulating a whole world of ancient scores, abstruse techniques and deep, timeless emotions.
Posted by bradley bambarger
at 04:34:42 am
onstage Robert Plant at Irving Plaza, New York City, March 2005
04/28/05
Beyond good genes, aging gracefully in rock'n'roll entails imagination, the ability to look beyond the usual grist for fresh inspiration and context. As far as the solo careers of legendary rock front men go, former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant's path has never been more admirable in that respect. Plant's solo stage has lasted far longer than that of his original band by this point, and while he has never commanded the same sort of profile on his own, he has never succumbed to becoming an oldies act or a trend chaser. His appreciation for a wider world of music and flair for gathering younger musicians around him has lately yielded Strange Sensation, which played a rare club show at Manhattan's Irving Plaza.
Posted by bradley bambarger
at 04:33:07 am
artifact Elvis Costello, "King of America" (Rhino, 1986/2005) and "Club Date: Live in Memphis" (Eagle Vision, 2005)
04/28/05
As a Liverpudlian, Elvis Costello grew up on the banks of the Mersey, not the Mississippi. But his ear has long been attuned to the river-deep strains of the American South. Costello and his Attractions sought to inject the sound of Southern soul into such albums as Get Happy, and they collided with country on Almost Blue. Costello crowned his early Americana fixation with 1986's King of America, produced by T-Bone Burnett and featuring such players as ex-Elvis Presley guitarist James Burton. The album now comes remastered and refurbished with a 21-track bonus disc as the latest in Rhino's Costello reissue series. As usual, the deluxe package includes a revealing booklet essay by the artist himself.
Posted by bradley bambarger
at 04:12:09 am
onstage Elvis Costello at Avery Fisher Hall, New York, July 2004
04/28/05
For pop musicians, there is a fine line between artistic ambitions and pretension. What enables one to earn the tag of intrepid, while another is labeled a poser? A long litany of rock artists have sought to mature gracefully by composing "classical" music, whether or not they could actually orchestrate or even read music on paper. Unlike some of his illustrious peers, Elvis Costello took the trouble to learn skills that he could easily have done without as a successful singer/songwriter. Costello's first orchestral work, the ballet score Il Sogno ("The Dream"), garnered its North American premiere as the final panel in the 2004 Lincoln Center Festival's triptych devoted to his versatile muse and marking his 50th birthday. (On previous nights, he sang in front of a jazz orchestra and with his rock combo, the Imposters.) The piece brims with color and charm of a kind wholly distinct from Costello's pop music or even his classically oriented song cycle, The Juliet Letters.
Posted by bradley bambarger
at 04:10:49 am
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