Sunday, Oct. 21, was particularly long for Bonnie Raitt. The day before she and her band had headlined Magnoliafest in Live Oak, and she was hoping for a nice rest in Boca Raton before her show at the Mizner Park Amphitheater. Unfortunately for Raitt, the presidential debate had claimed every room in the neighborhood, so as she noted, they found a hotel “farther up the beach.” … [Read more...]
Still getting around: Beach Boys fire up Hard Rock
HOLLYWOOD ― “It was a rough night,” Mike D’Amico sighed as he poked through the offstage drapes to deliver a couple of passes to waiting friends at Seminole Hard Rock. No chance to explain, only to say before returning to his dressing room that he hoped to make it home to Lake Worth “sometime in September.” But any reason is plausible, since D’Amico is adopted: He’s a member … [Read more...]
Johnson’s friendly, green, intimate vibe not well-suited to Cruzan
It’s 6 p.m. The South Florida sun is still hot enough to cook eggs on the pavement. Most performers would be chilling in their tour buses or having dinner at the Four Seasons. Not Jack Johnson. Armed only with guitars, he and his old buddy G Love set up on his “village green” at Cruzan Amphitheatre and sang a few songs for the early arrivals. It’s a good move: He warms up a … [Read more...]
Winwood underwhelms, but Santana cooks at Cruzan
Both were boy wonders. Both were performing in public before they reached puberty. Both have kept the fires burning, enthralling, inspiring and enlightening audiences for more than five decades. But perhaps Sunday’s show at Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach explains why the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has inducted Carlos Santana as an individual artist, but Steve Winwood … [Read more...]
Allmans cook up blues-rock perfection at Seminole Hard Rock
The night belonged to Gregg Allman. He sits at his Hammond B-3 as if he's riding a chopped Harley, sometimes hunched over the keyboard as if he's looking for cops, sometimes laid so far back his foot barely reaches the pedal. On Melissa, he took a turn on acoustic guitar. But what really set the night apart was Gregg's vocals, an emphatic punctuation to the penultimate … [Read more...]
ArtsPreview 2009-10: The season in pop music
The Allman Brothers Band, Steve Miller, Roger Daltrey, Miley Cyrus, Leonard Cohen, and Lady Gaga. Those are some of the pop acts that will grace South Florida before the new year. Only one problem: All are playing in Broward County or way down in Miami. By comparison, the musical calendar in Palm Beach County is dotted with entertainers who can still remember when their … [Read more...]
Lennon ‘bed-in’ exhibit shows Beatle’s timelessness
Imagine. John Lennon would have turned 69 on Oct. 9. Would he still be writing songs? Would he again curl up with Yoko Ono, nude, for a retrospective of the Two Virgins album cover? Would he still live in Palm Beach? Would The Beatles have put aside their differences and staged a worldwide farewell tour? Maybe the Nobel Peace Prize? With four hollow-point bullets in the … [Read more...]
Senior-citizen CSN proves the best wine is vintage
Do, do, do-do, do, do, do-dah-do, do, do. Not a hint of Judy's blue eyes. No holding anyone close before the fire. Nothing about Chicago or Ohio or Woodstock. But with Crosby, Stills and Nash, so much water has moved underneath their bridges that no matter what or how many songs they performed at Seminole Hard Rock on Thursday night, it wouldn't be enough for the … [Read more...]
Dave Matthews shows who’s king of the anthill
Driving in on this highway All these cars and upon the sidewalk People in every direction And all the little ants are marching Red and black antennas waving They all do it the same They all do it the same way – from Ants Marching Not rain, nor heat, nor gloom of blight could deter the generation of ants that swarmed the … [Read more...]