Items filtered by date: November 2007

Joining Xiu Xiu for his tour was a surprising treat called Tune-yards.  Consisting of multi-instrumentalist Merrill Garbus, with some help from a bassist, Tune-yards exhibited some of the most impressive live looping and song creation that I've ever seen.  Garbus' voice alone was an incredible talent.  Using several different styles, often in the same song, she conquered the range of throaty yells, fluttering falsettos, powerful belts, even a unique type of yodeling.  On top of vocal duties Garbus also operated the looping device, creating rhythms and voice harmonies right before your eyes and triggering them during the songs.  She situated herself between a floor tom and a snare, using the rims and mic stands percussively in developing beats.  When she wasn't banging the tom and snare she was playing what appeared to be an electric ukulele.

In my excitement I did purchase Tune-yards' CD, but unfortunately the album does not do justice to what I had witnessed.  While it works as a nice reminder of their performance, it lacks the entrancing grip that their live demonstration provides.  The album, titled Bird-brains, is a pleasant and intimate listen but with a lo-fi quality that dampens the expectations I pulled from the show.  The sound in Lincoln Hall was fantastic, and all aspects of the songs shined.  While there are a few songs on the CD that I can still enjoy(such as Sunlight and Hatari) and many that are downright relaxing, this act is best in the flesh.

Xiu Xiu took the stage quietly and began with a gentle opener.  Employing his trademark near-tremble sing, Jamie Stewart imparted a somber song: “My father was the second man to be inside you...” His vocals are passionate, confession-like utterings, teetering with intensity and often breaking into emotional outbursts.  Beside Stewart's voice and guitar was Angela Seo, who would tinker with the many backing electronic devices and controls.  In contrast to the simplicity of Tune-yards' setup, Xiu Xiu surrounded themselves with tall cymbal stands and various percussion, along with a large table cluttered with visible wires and knobs.  The toys are not superfluous either, this being especially clear when your ears are under assault from the noise avalanches that occur within half of Xiu Xiu's repertoire.  Both members have a go at the equipment, operating the many dials and gizmos laid about like surgical utensils.

The music of Xiu Xiu is a difficult thing to describe.  Albums will usually run the range of overloaded sound experimentation to delicate acoustic numbers.  Lyrics, when discernible, primarily will wield a sort of depressing if not disturbing weight.  Some of the audience will laugh at certain lines of dark humor, while others may get turned off or even genuinely concerned with how acutely Jamie Stewart delivers his themes.  If they are funny it's because they are so piercingly sharp that if you weren't laughing you'd be crying.  One thing I did not anticipate at a Xiu Xiu show was dancing, but this night the set was very beat heavy.  Don't let that mislead you into thinking it was upbeat and bright, as it could hardly be considered as such with lyrics like “Dear god I hate myself, dear god I hate myself...” 

I highly recommend seeing this show if you get the chance.  Xiu Xiu and Tune-yards possess fine performance abilities, and despite having little similarities in sound their coupling provided for quite the enjoyable evening.  Remaining dates on this tour can be found on Xiu Xiu's website:

http://www.xiuxiu.org/

You can also check out Tune-yards' website here:

www.tune-yards.com

Joining Xiu Xiu for his tour was a surprising treat called Tune-yards.  Consisting of multi-instrumentalist Merrill Garbus, with some help from a bassist, Tune-yards exhibited some of the most impressive live looping and song creation that I've ever seen.  Garbus' voice alone was an incredible talent.  Using several different styles, often in the same song, she conquered the range of throaty yells, fluttering falsettos, powerful belts, even a unique type of yodeling.  On top of vocal duties Garbus also operated the looping device, creating rhythms and voice harmonies right before your eyes and triggering them during the songs.  She situated herself between a floor tom and a snare, using the rims and mic stands percussively in developing beats.  When she wasn't banging the tom and snare she was playing what appeared to be an electric ukulele.

In my excitement I did purchase Tune-yards' CD, but unfortunately the album does not do justice to what I had witnessed.  While it works as a nice reminder of their performance, it lacks the entrancing grip that their live demonstration provides.  The album, titled Bird-brains, is a pleasant and intimate listen but with a lo-fi quality that dampens the expectations I pulled from the show.  The sound in Lincoln Hall was fantastic, and all aspects of the songs shined.  While there are a few songs on the CD that I can still enjoy(such as Sunlight and Hatari) and many that are downright relaxing, this act is best in the flesh.

Xiu Xiu took the stage quietly and began with a gentle opener.  Employing his trademark near-tremble sing, Jamie Stewart imparted a somber song: “My father was the second man to be inside you...” His vocals are passionate, confession-like utterings, teetering with intensity and often breaking into emotional outbursts.  Beside Stewart's voice and guitar was Angela Seo, who would tinker with the many backing electronic devices and controls.  In contrast to the simplicity of Tune-yards' setup, Xiu Xiu surrounded themselves with tall cymbal stands and various percussion, along with a large table cluttered with visible wires and knobs.  The toys are not superfluous either, this being especially clear when your ears are under assault from the noise avalanches that occur within half of Xiu Xiu's repertoire.  Both members have a go at the equipment, operating the many dials and gizmos laid about like surgical utensils.

The music of Xiu Xiu is a difficult thing to describe.  Albums will usually run the range of overloaded sound experimentation to delicate acoustic numbers.  Lyrics, when discernible, primarily will wield a sort of depressing if not disturbing weight.  Some of the audience will laugh at certain lines of dark humor, while others may get turned off or even genuinely concerned with how acutely Jamie Stewart delivers his themes.  If they are funny it's because they are so piercingly sharp that if you weren't laughing you'd be crying.  One thing I did not anticipate at a Xiu Xiu show was dancing, but this night the set was very beat heavy.  Don't let that mislead you into thinking it was upbeat and bright, as it could hardly be considered as such with lyrics like “Dear god I hate myself, dear god I hate myself...”

I highly recommend seeing this show if you get the chance.  Xiu Xiu and Tune-yards possess fine performance abilities, and despite having little similarities in sound their coupling provided for quite the enjoyable evening.  Remaining dates on this tour can be found on Xiu Xiu's website:

http://www.xiuxiu.org/

You can also check out Tune-yards' website here:

www.tune-yards.com

Am I the only person who cries during Beauty and the Beast?

Not when Belle and the Beast get together - but when Belle trades her life to save her quirky, inventor father from the Beast’s cold dungeon. I just love this story for little girls. Of all the popular fairy tales offering up Princesses saved by the handsome Prince to young people today, only Beauty and the beast extols the virtues of being a common girl with more book-loving brains that the common folk can stand to appreciate.

I loved seeing all the little girls in the audience thrilling to this colorful and lavish production that really encourages them to be courageous and unique and not settle for either the macho town cutie in Gaston or the brutish untransformed Beast that is unable to express his love for her in a considerate, loving way.

Liz Shivener, as Belle, was lovely in the role with just the right amount of imperious defiance. Justin Glaser, as the Beast had a nice stage presence but seemed a little too nice and not quite princely enough to make us want him to win Belle.

He had some tough competition from Nathaniel Hackman who really stole the show with his very funny, sexy Gaston, the town bully. Hackman, who has solid physical comedy skills under his belt also has a standout singing voice and is definitely a musical theater star in the making.

All of the supporting characters, were quite funny, and warmly played, particularly Sabina Petra's Mrs. Potts.  Some of the great ensemble dance numbers like “Be Our Guest” literally exploded into the excited young audience with canons shooting metallic streamers.  You really can’t miss by taking your kids to see this lavish magical and uplifting production of a classic fairy tale about a smart young girl whose true beauty comes from her brains and deeply unselfish loving nature.

Riding a wave of buzz created by their excellent third LP, Teen Dream, Baltimore’s Beach House visited Chicago Friday night for a sold-out show at Metro. The night began with a solid set of fuzzy indie-electro by New Zealand’s Bachelorette (aka Annabel Alpers). The crowd sufficiently warmed up and packed onto Metro’s overcrowded-as-always main floor, Beach House took the stage at precisely 10:15. The duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally was joined on stage by drummer Daniel Franz, and played a set that covered most of Teen Dream as well as a smattering of tunes from the group’s self-titled debut and 2008’s breakthrough Devotion.

The energy in the crowd was high, especially given the generally understated sound of the headlining act, and the audience was treated to a strong, surprisingly loud show. Concerns that Beach House’s cavernous recorded sound would be difficult to reproduce in a live setting were allayed by the pristine mix at Metro. The band’s albums are intricately layered with echo and subtle instrumentation, and each sonic facet was clear and defined. Scally’s guitar provided a nice skeletal framework for songs like Teen Dream’s epic opener “Zebra” and “Ten Mile Stereo,” and added the occasional riff as on Devotion fan favorite “Gila.” Legrand, aside from being the group’s lead vocalist and de facto spokesperson, augmented the sound with tasteful keyboard textures and what could be assumed was a pre-programmed bass track. Franz was a welcome addition throughout the set, his pounding percussion adding a dimension that is occasionally missing from the band’s dreamy, swirling recordings. 

The stage show was a surprise, and was apparently themed as a Teen Dream of sorts. An amused onlooker noted that the stage “look(ed) like a goddamned high school prom,” and the assessment wasn’t far off. Garlands of metallic pompons bordered both sides of the stage, and giant reflective diamond-shaped piñata-like objects stood on crude motion-activated platforms at various points. The band’s dark, cheap-chic lighting seemed designed specifically to light the diamonds rather than the musicians, and for most of the show the musicians were only sort of visible amongst the shining stage adornments and the thick dry ice haze that hung about them for the duration of the set. Adding to the feel of an 80s semi-formal dance was a white suit jacket worn by Legrand that strongly recalled James Spader’s Steff character in “Pretty In Pink.”

Without disregarding the energy of the crowd, wonderful instrumental accompaniment, and ambitious stage setup, the undisputed star of the show was Legrand’s voice. Though compelling on record, nothing could prepare the listener for the power and beauty of the singer’s live performance. Teen Dream standout “Silversoul” served as a particularly fitting showcase for Legrand’s multifaceted ability, her voice taking on a booming quality and filling the entire venue during the song’s swells and displaying surprising vulnerability during quieter moments. Legrand’s focus was evident as she stayed mostly still during vocal sections of Beach House’s songs, and her delivery was rewarded with rapt attention from the audience. Her flawless in-song execution was accompanied by levity - remarking on the heightened energy in the venue perhaps brought on by the first days of spring in Chicago, Legrand announced that it was “baby-making time.”

Clocking in at just over an hour and ten minutes, the set was brief. While this could potentially be cause for complaint about a headlining act, it made sense in this circumstance. There is a hazy similarity to most of the group’s songs, and an overlong set would run the risk of detracting from each tune’s impact. Beach House chose to mold their performance in the spirit of the “teen dream” invoked by the group’s album title – fleeting, perhaps, but no less memorable and powerful.

It is a chilly Irish seaside town, he loves her, and   she loves him but he drives her away with his chilly intellectual life view and marries a more compliant version of her, and she marries a more life loving but less intelligent version of him. Forty years later he is told he only has a few months to live and tries to mend and make sense of the life he chose.

The casting of “A life” is absolutely perfect with John Mahoney turning in another razor sharp portrayal of an Irish mind fraught with both pride and regret in the character Desmond Drumm.  Linda Kimbrough plays Mary, the woman he should have married and allowed to conquer his fears with a feisty, uncompromising intelligence.

The entire cast was wonderful. I was especially impressed with the “young Mary” and Desmond portrayed by Matt Schwader and Melanie Keller. They not only looked like a young Mahoney and Kimbrough, you really got the sense, as is crucial to the play that you were indeed actually watching a flashback from their lives forty years prior.

My only suggestion is to slow down the pace of the first act. The rapid fire pace is hard to keep up with and took away a little bit of the sense that one is eavesdropping on a small town rap session that I so enjoyed later on in the show.

As always, John Mahoney’s work is a pleasure to watch and anchors the show with a gritty realism that only he can deliver.

"A Life" is playing at Northlight Theatre through April 25th. For more information, visit www.northlight.org.

The Lifeline, who recently played an amazing show at Chicago's Lakeshore Theater, is a band that is an eclectic mix of inspiration and
creativity. They perform with no apologies and are able to produce
everything heard on their album in a live setting. Ryan Hope can sing
like an angel. And Rebecca Faber is able to play the violin
brilliantly, while wearing a pair of leopard print heels that could
make any female jealous. They’re extremely passionate about their
craft and want to open your ears to it.

The Lifeline creates a recipe of music that makes you wonder if you’ll
even like it. But they prove that all it takes is one small bite to
get hooked by their delicious melodies and appetizing emotion. I was
able to interview Ryan and Rebecca and ask how they perfected their
recipe of beautiful music.

Buzz: It’s good to meet you guys. I have to ask, just because of one
my old bands had a female singer: Rebecca, are there still gigs where
security thinks that you are a girlfriend of the band?

Rebecca: Oh, just earlier they didn’t want to let me in. It seriously
happens quite a bit. So, I just said I was in the band.

Buzz: Then they just let you go right through, right?

Rebecca: Yeah, you know they aren’t as nice in certain places. Because
they don’t respect the women that hang with the band guys. They think
I am a groupie or something like that.

Ryan: Tell you what though, as soon as they see her play, they change
their story.

Rebecca: Yeah, you learn to ignore it.

Buzz: That’s cool to hear. Who’s idea was it to have Rebecca play the
violin or to even have a violin player in the band?

Rebecca: It was my idea. [laughter from Rebecca and Ryan]

Buzz: Really? That is awesome! So was it like, “Hey guys I want to be
in a band. Hire me.”?

Rebecca: No, we were friends. After being friends for a while, I heard
a recording of him in his first band and it was so good, it was so
cute. He wanted to get in a different band and a different musical
situation. We just started playing and then I knew the talent that was
in front of me. So then I told myself, “I definitely want to play with
that.”

Buzz: So what made you decide on the violin rather than an instrument
like the electric cello?

Rebecca: This is my instrument since I was 9.

Buzz: So then is it a Stradivarius?

Rebecca: I wish, but no. I actually take around cheaper equipment on
tour because it gets damaged so easily, and that’s why I leave the
nice stuff at home.

Buzz: That would make sense. One thing that you guys do really well is
orchestration. Bands like Metallica are able to take one album and
incorporate parts of the orchestra with every song, but you guys
incorporate string orchestrations on every single song. How do you
guys orchestrate multi-layered stringed instruments with the premise
of a rock band? Does it ever get difficult?

Rebecca: Some songs are more challenging than others.

Ryan: It depends on how we write it.

Rebecca: Yes, especially if we write it with heavy guitars, which make
it harder to incorporate strings and do it tastefully. But most of the
time, I some how make it work. And we sometimes don’t write the songs
the same way either.

Ryan: Yeah and sometimes she’ll come to me with a pretty involved
violin concept. Then we are just able to take that concept and mold
the guitar and drum parts around that. It depends on how the song idea
was conceived.

Buzz: That explains how your song “Romeo and Juliet” was made. You
took a hook from Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet and made it into a
rock song. Are there any other classical pieces that inspire you like
that one has?

Rebecca: That is the most direct way I have taken a classical piece
and really inspired a song. All of my parts are inspired by classical
music, mainly because I love classical music. It’s only natural that I
will incorporate that with our style of a band.

Buzz: What is it about a piece of music that makes you go: “That’s the
song I want to put on our album.”?

Rebecca: For me, it’s two things: how my ears like it and how my heart
likes it. Because, emotionally, I have to connect to the song in order
to really, really love it. Whether I am listening to another band or
whether it’s our own music.

Ryan: I would have to agree with her on that. I mean, for me, I think
the moment where I can say, “That’s it!” is when the hairs on the back
of my neck stand up. You know, when we hit that high note or that peak
of the song, usually that’s what does it for me. I totally agree with
Rebecca. It’s how it touches me emotionally. My lyrics can be pretty
personal. It’s kind of a combination between how the music touches me
emotionally and how the words and everything just come together in the
end.

Buzz: What is the constant inspiration that enthuses your creativity
in writing such great music?

Ryan: Probably each other. We’ve been friends and we’ve played music
together for so long that when it comes down to it, we put our heads
together as a team. I think that’s when we get most inspired. I always
have different bands and movies that I can go back to and get inspired
from. Really, what it comes down to, is that it’s really the two of us
that make this band what it really is. I think that Rebecca is
definitely my inspiration.

Rebecca: That’s very sweet.

Ryan: I mean it.

Rebecca: I always go back to classical music whenever I need
inspiration. There’s such a large amount of it and so much of it so
emotionally charged, that it makes it difficult to write from the
standpoint of a classical piece. It’s easier to feel more emotion from
the classical piece, and use that emotion toward the writing in the
band.

Ryan: Movies really do it for me. Like, The Dark Knight.

Rebecca: I love Hans Zimmer.

Ryan: We even have a song called “Why So Serious” that was inspired
after the Joker theme. Everything about that movie; visually, the
sounds, everything was really inspiring to me. Some of my other
favorites are Good Will Hunting and The Pursuit of Happiness. Movies
are definitely an inspiration for me.

I enter the Congress Theater and the smell of marijuana hits my
nostrils like a right hook from Mike Tyson. My nose takes a few
moments to recover and I continue to walk closer to the stage. The
sea of people awaiting a performance from Slightly Stoopid remind me
of Dory from Finding Nemo, they are able to talk but can’t remember
what they were specifically talking about. The lights go down and
Del the Funky Homosapien comes on stage. Del, with his DJ and
hypeman, are able to hype a crowd better than people chasing a $300
laptop at Wal-mart. He performs hits like Mistadoblina and closes his
set with Clint Eastwood. The crowd is energized and ready for
anything. Slightly Stoopid come on stage and the energy drops like a
lead balloon. The audience is happy to see them, but aren’t waving
their hands in the air as if they don’t care. Granted, Slightly
Stoopid is a different style of music than Del.

The hardest part of Slightly Stoopid is they can’t determine if they
are a fast punk band or a southern California dub band. Between Miles
Doughty and Kyle McDonald switching instruments just about every song
and the band performance becoming sloppier as the show progressed, I
had a hard time distinguishing between just what their identity was.
With that being said, when they performed each song individually, they
perform them well. Drummer Rymo plays at a solid tempo that doesn’t
let go. Slightly Stoopid definitely has strong chemistry with each
other. They play well and they know how to follow each other’s lead.
Overall, Slightly Stoopid knows how to do their job. They provide
music and entertainment to the masses. They allow people to leave
their troubles at the door and don’t allow their negativity to enter
the room.

“Hello Chicago!” A bald Moby look-alike deejay from XRT yells into
the microphone and preps the audience for the first of two sold-out
performances at the Riviera. The crowd is excited and can’t wait to
start. The security guards prep for crowd surfing and place their
silverback gorilla-like force against the barricade. Preparing their
muscle-bound minds for an Armageddon, they are clearly not prepared
for what is about to happen.

The lights go out and a black curtain falls to reveal the cover of the
album Contra. Vampire Weekend arrives on stage within reach of their
instruments in the same way they execute their musicianship: in a shy
and genius way. They aren’t afraid to explore any options or
instrument. They’re quite possibly the only pop rock band from America
that can show elements of Massive Attack and Paul Simon’s Rhythm of
the Saints all in one song.

Vampire Weekend opens their set with the crowd favorite “White Sky.”
The crowd sings along while security seems utterly confused, unsure
what to make of the situation. After that song I am reminded of a 60s
protest—visualizing the security as a strong MP force and the people
are placing flowers in their rifles. The crowd continues to sing along
with every note that escapes Ezra Koenig’s lips. His performance is a
reminder of why the band’s album debuted at number one in Billboard
magazine.

Vampire Weekend has a gentle-yet-confident appearance to the stage.
They remind me of the smart, quiet kids in high school; the type of
student who may not talk a lot, but are able to wow the class with
every word they say. This band is humble and smart with musicianship
similar to that of an orchestra. Even though each musician plays their
part, the song would sound horrific if you were to take out any of
their parts. Each note and sound is played at the perfect moment of
every piece; with drummer Chris Tomson acting as conductor, there
isn’t a note that is ever played out of time. When Vampire Weekend
announces their next tour, get your tickets. You will not be disappointed!

There have been musicians and artists who showcase their talent by surpassing the quality of their album with their live performances, but when a show creates so much excitement you feel like a child again it’s one of the most cherished gifts a musician can give to their audience. Wednesday March 24^th at the Metro, Australian band The Temper Trap created such an excitement and giddiness among its audience you would have thought you were at the coolest birthday party of the year.

The Temper Trap’s five-piece Danish openers, The Kissaway Trail, were a great way to start such a first-rate show. The two lead vocalists contribute a lot of the unique sound that the Kissaway Trail has become known for. They are not just another band with a keyboard or drum-kit. To pigeon-hole this band into a specific genre like indie rock would be a travesty because their sound is so out of the box and cannot be categorized as just one sound due to the many eclectic tunes they create. Not being entirely familiar with this band of course Wikipedia and iTunes came in handy when trying to learn more about them, but the more I kept looking the clearer it became that this band is not something you can simply write a wikipage about and be satisfied with what you know, this is a band you want to know more about and want to listen to even more.

In the theme of unique bands that rattle the musical soul, The Temper Trap has an effect on their fans that reminds you of Jimi Hendrix’s effect when a guitar is put in his hands and he begins to play- they all freak out. As the set changed ended, as the lights dimmed and as the band walked on stage the audience was moved beyond coherent words and moved more towards screams and what might be described as interpretive dance, all relating their obvious excitement for what was to come next. As they played all of the songs from their debut album, Conditions, like “Love Lost.” “Sweet Disposition,” “Down River” and all of the rest the audience somehow found a way to be even more enthusiastic about the performance. Lead vocalists Dougie Mandagi’s ability to move and channel a soft hybrid of Elvis and James Brown may have been a contributing factor to the excitement. I have seen a musician actually move on stage with such a quality of rhythm and sense of joy since I watched the Monterey Pop festival in my high school history class.

As the show sadly came to an end the band was not through with the audience quite yet, performing “Science of Fear” all members of the band (Dougie Mandagi, Jonathon Aherne, Lorenzo Sillitto, and Toby Dundas) went wild. With Mandagi on a single drum, in the middle of him performing he suddenly grabbed an open water bottle, poured the water on the drum and went banging away like he was a part of the Blue Man Group, but much cooler, and somehow found away to rouse the audience even more. One might think that they would have ended on such a grand note as that one, but no they had just one more treat before they left everyone with the memories of the show. As a finale the Temper Trap debuted a new song that they have been working on for their next album, “Battle On.” Just as the title is so properly named the song made you feel like you were marching along in a desert not quite sure of the destination, it gave a slight similarity to Kate Bush’s “Army Dreamers” although not as eery.

All in all the show was a bit on the short side, but that was to be expected seeing as the band only has one album out. Either way, the Kissaway Trail and the Temper Trap gave a show that I am more than proud to have attended and next time either band is in town I will be there no matter what.

You can't always tell a book by its cover when it comes to the Chicago scene.

We've got it all, by the thousands! Same old same old constantly. Saturation beyond compare.

A city rich in metal and pop as well as blues. But after all the noise is gone, what's left?

An empty spirit? An angry soul yearning for more sweet more!!!

Yet there is a more "natural" listerning tier who favors incredible feel-good bands like Mr. Blotto, The Giving Tree Band, Stone Free, and Umphrey's McGee of course.

They appreciate great musicianship, the fun of a musical journey, and the trip of revolving colors only very strong songsters can provide. And after all the hype clears from the "scene", some bright stars well over the dropping horizon!

Another more important part of this admiration comes from luxurious harmonies that way too many bands never figure out. Life is all about harmony anyway, isn't it? This is why these bands stand tall over the human soul and spirit.

And the energy from bands like Phish, Rusted Root, and The Greatful Dead still beat honorably in the hearts of this dedicated quality music-driven populous. Throw in a little dash of Jason Falkner and you have a modern music approach that seamlessly ties all of the virtues of touching music and their origins together so fruitfully.

The great thing about bands like Umphrey's McGee and Mr. Blotto are that they incorporate very charming orchestrations that take the bouncing soul to warm and fuzzy places.

Coming this May 8th at the Lincoln Hall in Chicagoland,  Jeff Austin of Yonder Mountain String Band and Brendan Bayliss of Chicago-based Umphrey's McGee will be performing a very rich variety of songs from their cache of pleasantries.

Known to have performed back at Schuba's a while back, the duo 30 db. has spent some time putting together many songs. And they're bringing this reminiscent sound to Brendan's home town next month. Love great guitar? Mandolin? Then you're in for one heck of a treat.

And the distinguishable vocals by popular lyricist and singer Brendan Bayliss will sing to the hearts of its admirers on many familiar and forward levels. Accompanied by Jeff Austin's beautiful Mandolin expressions, you're mind will be glad you treated it to this show!

The album will be released on May 11th by Jeff and Brendan. The show on May 8th will be a very unique opportunity to get close to the magic that is a great album release by two very romantic and serious song creators.

Stay tuned for more from the Umphrey's family.

A Buzz Pick for Shows To See in May.