Live Music

A tale of two venues…HANABIE. proves ready for the world stage.

HANABIE., the unique and fast-rising metalcore band out of Tokyo, delivers the goods at two very different gigs, during their first overseas tour since the group formed in 2015: as openers in an intimate rock venue in a small southern city, and as headliners at a sold-out show in New York. Written by Jonathan Lane…

LIVE REVIEW AND PHOTO GALLERY: Nu Attraction at Knucklehead by Don Adkins

On Nov 28th, 2023 at Knucklehead, Hollywood Take a great hard rock band & mix in elements of a Helmut Newton photoshoot and you get the music group Nu Attraction. This band consists of a collection of really good LA musicians who perform in their own bands to create something totally different in the world…

LIVE REVIEW: From Ashes To New Blackout Tour Part 1

At The Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ on November 25th, 2023 with The Word Alive, Catch Your Breath and EKOH American rock band From Ashes To New has embarked on a 20 date fall tour Blackout Part 1 to support their latest album Blackout released in July of this year. They are supported by The…

Rock ‘n’ roll is alive and well in New Jersey – by Jonathan Lane

New Jersey is doing its part to keep kickass rock ‘n roll music alive, fresh and in front of music fans – recent proof: last month, three homegrown New Jersey bands filled the capacious Landis Theater with top tier original music and fresh takes on classics from the 70s to the present: Venture Out, The…

LIVE REVIEW AND PHOTO GALLERY: Armor For Sleep Dream To Make Believe Tour 2023

At The Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ on November 11th, 2023 North Jersey has always been the epicenter of Emo. With bands like My Chemical Romance, Senses Fail, Thursday, Major League, Midtown, The Early November, and of course, Armor For Sleep all hailing from Jersey. So when it was time for Armor For Sleep to…

LIVE REVIEW AND PHOTO GALLERY: The Glorious Sons The Glory Tour 2023

At the Abbotsford Centre in Abbotsford, BC, Canada ON November 10th, 2023 Juno and SiriusXM award winners The Glorious Sons visited Abbotsford BC on November 10, 2023. The Glorious Sons are a band that doesn’t fit into any one strictly defined, framed musical genre. Or even two. In the songs of the group you can hear rock, alternative rock, country,…

LA Music Scene series by Don Adkins

Ultimate Jam Night, Whisky-A-Go-Go, Hollywood On Nov 7th, 2023 Here are images from this week’s Ultimate Jam Night at the world famous Whisky-A-Go-Go in Hollywood. Spearheaded by Chuck Wright (Alice Cooper, Quiet Riot and more), this is the gold standard for jam events in SoCal taking place every 2 weeks on the Sunset Strip. Each…

LIVE REVIEW: TOOL The North America Fall 2023 Tour

At PPL center in Allentown, PA on November 7th, 2023 Legendary American band Tool is nearing the completion of their North American Fall 2023 tour and on Tuesday came to PPL Center in Allentown, PA for a splendid night of virtuoso performance. They are supported by Steel Beans, one man band (aka Jeremy DeBardi). Written…

LA Music Scene series by Don Adkins

Last Call Monday Night Jam event on October 30th, 2023 at The Last Call, Tarzana, CA Here in SoCal we have a handful of weekly jam events that features the best of an abundant collection of available music talent. These are evenings of music that are unrehearsed, everyone signs up for a particular sign via…

LIVE REVIEW: The Trilogy Tour 2023

Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, and Pitbull at Madison Square Garden in New York City on October 27th, 2023 Global Latin music powerhouses Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, and Pitbull who are known for their incredible blends and versatility of musical genres, joined forces with a one-of-a-kind arena run across North America this fall. For the first…

AZRA Performance At Hotel Cafe In Hollywood, CA

“Being Authentic is the true meaning of being Rebellious!”- AZRA The Queen of The 6th Dimension, AZRA performed a jam packed show 08.20.23 in Hollywood, CA at The Hotel Cafe. This was her first stop from her West Coast tour this past summer. The tour was called “THE CHRONICLES OF SUBSTANCE POP: The Rebellion EP…

LA Music Scene series by Don Adkins

Antigroupies, XYZPDQ, Side Chicks and Minor Strut at Club L in Anaheim, CA on October 20th, 2023 A relatively new entrant for a venue in the LA area is Club L in Anaheim. A Google search of the address reveals an automotive performance business in small industrial park, but this place actually exists as a…

LIVE REVIEW AND PHOTO GALLERY: The Dollyrots Album Release Show

At “Heaven Can Wait” in NYC On October 13th, 2023 Written by Stephen Moss / New Rock City “Never meet your heroes,” is a proverb that can be traced all the way back to Marcel Proust, a French Novelist from the early 1900s. That proverb is still echoed down to this day. Thankfully, there are…

LIVE REVIEW: Cavalera Conspiracy Morbid Devastation Tour 2023

At Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ on September 26th, 2023 Return where you started. All of us at least once in life go through that or anything resembling this thought. It is no different for musicians who like to revisit the good old days that started it all for them. Original founding members of Sepultura…

LIVE REVIEW: SACRED ACRE MUSIC FESTIVAL NINILCHIK, AK SEPTEMBER 8th-10th, 2023

Cold September rain did not deter 2000 people from meeting up in the woods in the small town of Ninilchik on the Kenai Peninsula in southern Alaska. Amid the rainy season in Alaska, people showed up ready to have a great time the weekend after Labor Day for the second-ever Sacred Acre Festival. While the festival…

LIVE REVIEW AND PHOTO GALLERY: Psycho Thunder North America 2023 tour

At Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ on September 17, 2023 Psycho Thunder tour is tearing and rumbling through North American cities as we speak, wreaking havoc in every city as they go. Or we can say that British rock luminaries Asking Alexandria and Mongolian rock sensation THE HU joined forces on a run across the…

LIVE REVIEW: BABYKLOK North America Tour 2023

At Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on September 15, 2023 The world is far from black or white, evil or benign. It is all mixed up.  And then you get things that are mashup by design getting mixed up too, and you get BABYKLOK. What is it? It is the heavy metal music tour…

LIVE REVIEW AND PHOTO GALLERY: PASSCODE at The Echo in Los Angeles, CA on September 7, 2023

Introducing, PASSCODE, a 4 piece Female Fronted Japanese music group with a band behind them. They came to America for their first U.S. Tour stopping in 3 different cities: New York, Dallas, and Los Angeles. I had the greatest opportunity to have covered, photographed, and captured some great moments of their first Live Performance in…

LIVE REVIEW: Blondshell My Home Is Your Playground Summer Tour 2023 at PhilaMOCA

Late last month indie rocker Blondshell (Sabrina Teitelbaum) packed Philadelphia’s PhilaMOCA performing arts venue with adoring fans. Written by Jonathan Lane Together with solid backup by her bandmates, Sabrina delivered a very satisfying 14-song set comprising tracks from her 2023 self-titled debut album and others, Rounding out the set were covers of a Sarnia and…

LIVE REVIEW: Steve Vai Inviolate Tour North America 2023

The final concert of the Canadian leg of Inviolate Tour North America 2023 took place on August 15th in Vancouver BC. Written by Arturs Feists The large line that wound down the street for the length of the block indicated that this evening was going to be hot, literally and figuratively. Heated by the hot…

LIVE REVIEW: Godsmack and Staind Co-headline Summer Tour 2023

PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ on July 29th As the summer heats up here in New Jersey the summer concert season does too. On the heels of New Jerseys’ first real summer’s heat wave, rock fans from all over the state flocked to the PNC Bank Arts Center to see the hard rock…

Live Review: Liliac Madness 2023 Tour at Landis Theater in Vineland, NJ on July 9th

The Family that rocks together …. ROCKS! There was a raging storm in Vineland, NJ on July 9. Yes, torrential showers rolled across the flats of South Jersey that evening, but the real thunder was on the stage of Vineland’s historic Landis Theatre. This thunder’s name is Liliac. Written by Jonathan Lane Liliac is a…

LIVE REVIEW: Destroy Boys Destroy Fest 2023 at The Irving Plaza, NYC on July 14th

Sacramento, California punk rock band Destroy Boys took their show to New York City’s Irving Plaza on July 14 where they headlined their own mini festival, DestroyFest, a new traveling festival with some of their favorite bands. Band performed together with Gully Boys & Jigsaw Youth. Written by Andris Jansons The punk rock band started…

AVATAR AT THEATRE OF LIVING ARTS IN PHILADELPHIA,PA ON MAY 26TH

Avatar serves Philly a Swedish Metal Sandwich with Dance Devil Dance Tour 2023 Heavy metal fans at Philadelphia’s Theater of the Living Arts (TLA) kicked off Memorial Day weekend together with a  trio of high-energy, banging bands: Heating up the crowd for headliner Avatar were Sweden’s Orbit Culture, who delivered a relentlessly heavy seven-song set.…

LIVE REVIEW: MOVEMENT MUSIC FESTIVAL 2023 DETROIT, MI ON MAY 27TH – 29TH

During the three-day Memorial Day weekend Electronic Music fans from around the world gathered in Detroit. Detroit has a bad reputation but that does not stop people from all around the globe from making the voyage to the home of techno each year for what some call “Techno Christmas.” It does not matter if Movement…

LIVE REVIEW: WDHA Rock The Rock Fest 2023.

Written by Andris Jansons andrisjansons.com For the second year in the row New Jersey’s rock station WDHA 105.5 organized a true rock fest at the biggest arena in New Jersey The Prudential Arena (nicknamed The Rock), home of the NHL team New Jersey Devils. For the second time they assembled killer lineup. This years bands…

Live Review: Pop Evil Skeletons Tour 2023

Pop Evil headed out on their Skeletons Tour headlining U.S. dates that started on March 17, 2023, in Sault St. Marie at Kewadin Casino and will be concluding on April 23, 2023, in Milwaukee at The Rave. This tour is in support of their latest and seventh studio album Skeletons. Pop Evil Tours with special…

Live Review: The Galaxy Has Eyes

The Galaxy Has Eyes is a young band from Pennsylvania, USA, who somehow have the poise and chemistry of a band who has been together for years and traveled the world. Written by Stephen Moss / New Rock City Their sound is raw, gritty, in your face punk. They check off all the boxes and…

LIVE REVIEW: Nemophila Seize The Fate US Tour 2023

One problem that J-Metal fans encounter is that they don’t get to see their favorite bands live too often. If anyone makes a trek stateside it is usually short and quick. This month it was time for all girl Japanese metal band Nemophila fans to rejoice. Band came to US for a quick trek across…

LIVE REVIEW: STEEL PANTHER ON THE PROWL TOUR 2023

There was no excess when it came to the glam metal. Drugs, alcohol, ladies, money and a lot of hair spray and tight spandex pants. I happened to grow up during that time, with my favorite records coming from bands like Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake and others. I did embrace the music, but not…

LIVE REVIEW: BLOODYWOOD RAKSHAK EUROPE/UK TOUR 2023

What band doesn’t love a sold-out show? Bloodywood started out their 2023 Rakshak Europe/UK tour with sellout after sellout. On the fourth night of the tour, they stopped in Stuttgart Germany for their fourth night of the tour. They have since kept the trend going with seemingly no end in sight to breaking their sold…

LIVE REVIEW: COLONY HOUSE THE CANNONBALLERS TOUR 2023

Indie Rock stars Colony House are in the midst of their 2023 The Cannonballers Tour across America. They are supported on this tour by indie rock newcomers little image from Texas. While little image are slated to release their debut album “Self-Titled” on May 12th of this year, Colony House released their fourth studio album…

LIVE REVIEW: ELUVIETIE NORTH AMERICA TOUR 2023

Eluveitie returned to North America for a 2023 headlining tour with Omnium Gatherum and Seven Spires. The tour which kicked off on March 2nd in Baltimore, MD and will run through April 1st in Richmond, VA made a stop yesterday in New York City’s The Gramercy Theatre. However just before the first show Eluveitie announced…

LIVE REVIEW: WE CAME AS ROMANS DARKBLOOM TOUR 2023

As is customary for We Came As Romans, they finished off their first tour of 2023 in Detroit, MI. They were out promoting their newest release, Darkbloom. In their first tour of the year they brought along ERRA and Brand of Sacrifice. Written by Jessica Trail The first band of the night was Brand of…

LIVE REVIEW: Flogging Molly 2023 Winter Tour

Irish American Celtic punk band Flogging Molly are in the midst of their North American Winter Tour 2023, with help from Skinny Lister and Anti-Flag. Ultimate punk rock party came to Montclair New Jersey on a beautiful but little chilly Saturday night. However, the amount of beer and dancing made outside cold irrelevant. Written by…

LIVE REVIEW: Our Lady Peace The Wonderful Future Tour 2023

One of the Canada’s marquee alt rock bands Our Lady Peace are in the midst of their The Wonderful Future Tour. This is the extension of last year’s run and includes only nine cities. They are supported on this run by These People, an alt rock band from Long Beach, NY. The night before Valentines…

LIVE REVIEW: Alter Bridge North American 2023 Pawns & Kings Tour

New Jersey legendary Rock Radio stations WDHA 105.5 FM 40 (something) Anniversary The 30-city tour that is split into two legs, in support of bands seventh studio album Pawns & Kings that was released last year on October 14th via Napalm Records, kicked off on January 25th in Tampa, FL and yesterday came to New…