Concert Reviews category

Walking into PPG Paints Arena on Sunday night, I heard a woman behind me say, “This isn’t like going to a show in your 20s, it’s going to a show in your 50s. It’s a different vibe.” That was a pretty good thesis statement for a concert that included icons...

Not a whole lot of performances at Heinz Hall end with spectators, sousaphones, melodicas and percussion instruments spilling out onto Penn Avenue. Then again, not a whole lot of performers are Jon Batiste. Batiste has cemented his place in the modern American music pantheon, with nearly 20 Grammy Award nominations...

Pittsburgh’s folk music fans are having a banner week. On Thursday night, the Carnegie Music Hall of Oakland hosted an excellent one-two punch of women in folk, Rickie Lee Jones and Patty Griffin. With going on a combined century of experience, half a dozen Grammy Awards and 27 studio albums,...

Many would say that Mumford & Sons heralded the rebirth of popular folk rock in the early 2010s, and deservedly so. The much-loved and acclaimed British band fronted by Marcus Mumford strummed their way to seveal No. 1 records and an Album of the Year Grammy Award in 2013 for...

I’ll admit that I wasn’t alive for the 1980s, but some music can make you feel nostalgic for things you’ve never experienced. So it was with the Psychedelic Furs at Carnegie Music Hall of Oakland on Wednesday night. The new wave band joyfully served up their ’80s hits in a...

When it strode onto the scene in 2013, the pop song “Royals” defiantly took over the Billboard Hot 100 and changed the face of that decade’s popular music. New Zealand artist Lorde won two Grammys as a result of the song’s rule, an incredible feat considering she was still in...

Fresh off scoring a brand new No. 1 album on Billboard’s charts, rock-rap-pop-duo Twenty One Pilots brought a blowout of a show to The Pavilion at Star Lake on Sunday night. The Columbus, Ohio, pair was nearly literally on fire during the intense two-hour show, which felt like it was...

Building a concert setlist is an art in itself. By no means has every touring act perfected it. There’s a lot of balance involved: upbeat and downbeat songs, ballads and party anthems, deep cuts and crowd pleasers all have to find their place. Indie rock singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus displayed many...

A metal band may seem like an odd fit in a setting like Downtown Pittsburgh’s Benedum Center, typically home to musicals and ballets. But Dream Theater — shaped and honed by four decades of recording and performing — provided plenty of theatricality to match the stage at Thursday night’s concert....

Are you the type of person who goes to a concert hoping to hear 50 songs in one night? Well, you should have been at Stage AE on Friday. In the course of about four hours, three acts jetted their way through dozens of tunes with the efficiency of an...

There was a palpable sense of joy throughout Stage AE’s packed outdoor venue on Tuesday night among fans seeing a favorite band back together after nearly a decade. Alabama Shakes rose onto the scene like a rocket in the early 2010s, a retro-styled band with a fresh sound and the...

On Friday night, a sold-out crowd assembled at Stage AE on the North Shore to raise money for women’s health — and to celebrate women in music. And Jessica Simpson’s return to music is certainly worth celebrating. The longtime pop star took an extended break from the studio and stage,...

It’s always great to hear some no-frills great music played live, and Gary Clark Jr. delivered just that on Tuesday night at Stage AE on the North Shore. Not only is Clark a terrific singer, songwriter and guitarist, he’s a Grammy Award winner in two different genres, showing a versatility...

Some weird combinations just make sense once you experience them. Like peanut butter and pickles. Or like indie rock bands Modest Mouse and The Flaming Lips. The two tried-and-true acts, along with opener Friko, proved to be a thrilling bill at Stage AE on Pittsburgh’s North Shore on Saturday night,...

In some ways, Downtown Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall is the perfect venue for indie rock band Wilco. With 30 years of experimentation, evolution and inspiration under their belt, the band could be the modern popular equivalent of classical music, in many ways. Fronted by singer and guitarist Jeff Tweedy, the sextet...

Nas is a legendary rapper for a reason. The New York-born MC has been rocking the mic for more than 30 years, easily cementing his place as one of the best rappers of all time. His first album, “Illmatic,” earned its spot at No. 44 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest...

The past month has given the Pittsburgh area a chance to rock out with a whole buffet of 1990s bands. Lucky us. The latest entry in this summer of late-20th-century rock was Live, a band from York, Pa., with a handful of enigmatic alternative radio hits, many from their 1994...