Kraftwerk’s ’70s electropop still sounds as modern as ever
Stepping into Stage AE on the North Shore on Friday night felt like taking a time machine back to the 1970s — just with way better sound and cooler visuals. Kraftwerk has been playing their revolutionary electronic music for more than five decades, and they’re probably the most influential band...
Tracii Guns on L.A. Guns’ new ‘Leopard Skin’ album: ‘It’s definitely not a metal record’Video
Asked to take a 10,000-foot view of L.A. Guns’ 40-plus-year career, guitarist/founder Tracii Guns offered a succinct description: “What a cluster(expletive),” he said with a laugh. Founded in 1983, the sleaze rock band has seen dozens of members (including Axl Rose), dueling lineups at times and a lifetime of drama....
Coldplay working with FIFA to produce first-ever World Cup final halftime show for 2026
DALLAS — Coldplay vocalist Chris Martin is working with FIFA to curate the first Super Bowl-style halftime show at the World Cup final next year. The MetLife Stadium in New Jersey — to be known as New York New Jersey Stadium for the World Cup — will host the final...
Joey Molland, a guitarist with 1970s Welsh pop-rock band Badfinger, dies at 77
EDINA, Minn. — Joey Molland, a guitarist with the Welsh pop-rock band Badfinger that was known for such 1970s hits as “No Matter What” and “Day After Day,” has died at age 77. Molland was the last to join and had been the last survivor from the most famous lineup...
Pittsburgh local band spotlight: Aliquid Novi
For Adam Levine, his new project, Aliquid Novi, allows him to channel vulnerability into stories told through songs, reinforcing positive feelings and providing an outlet for negative ones. His new album “HEAT” comes out on March 20, with a release party that night at the Funhouse at Mr. Smalls in...
Interview: Solas’ Seamus Egan on ending the Celtic band’s hiatus, timely covers ahead of Pittsburgh showVideo
After an eight-year break, the Celtic ensemble Solas is marking its 30th anniversary with a tour, but it took a little bit of time to get back into shape, according to multi-instrumentalist Seamus Egan. “This run for us is about five weeks which, having not been touring for so long,...
5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend: Feb. 28-March 2
We’re all ready to put winter in the rear view, and there’s some hope now that March is here. But there’s still a chill in the air, so here are some fun things to do on (hopefully) one of the last winter weekends for a while. Jurassic Quest For the...
Dormont musician to celebrate new record and the label that released it with VFW show
On March 15, Josh Oswald is set to take the stage, Roland-style drum machine and his trusty black-and-white Fender Jazzmaster guitar in tow, to make some noise at Dormont’s Veterans of Foreign Wars lodge. The live set will celebrate the area musician’s latest adventure under the nom de guerre Spacebastard,...
Kraftwerk, Donnie Iris, Tyler, the Creator among top March concerts in Pittsburgh
A Pittsburgh icon, electronic music pioneers and an enigmatic rapper are among the top concerts coming to the region in March: Top concerts March 1 and 15: Donnie Iris and the Cruisers at the Palace Theatre Pittsburgh rock luminary Donnie Iris will hit the stage at the Palace Theatre in...
Summer concert, car show set for Westmoreland Fairgrounds
Music fans, motorcycle lovers and car cruise enthusiasts are the target audience for a three-day extravaganza, June 27 to 29 at the Westmoreland Fairgrounds near Mutual. Eleven bands are scheduled to perform at the Whiskey Throttle Fair, which also will feature tattoo artists and food trucks, said Michael Morelli, 31,...
Sabrina Carpenter bringing Short N’ Sweet tour to Pittsburgh for 2 nightsVideo
Fresh off a pair of wins at the Grammys, pop singer Sabrina Carpenter will be giving Pittsburgh two chances to see her. The “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” singer announced a pair of shows, Oct. 23 and 24, at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, kicking off the new leg of...
Shaggy with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra? More natural than you’d think
Yes, that Shaggy. Mr. Boombastic himself. The reggae musician of the 1990s and 2000s who advised anyone caught cheating red-handed to declare “it wasn’t me.” Probably the last musician you’d expect to get onstage in front of a whole symphony orchestra and perform for 90 minutes. Well, he did it....
Interview: Singer-songwriter Ron Pope talks about his ‘American Man, American Music’ album ahead of Pittsburgh showVideo
Singer-songwriter Ron Pope will be back in Pittsburgh on Saturday, and it should be a more pleasant time than his most recent, albeit unintentional, stay. Pope joined several artists on Feb. 16 in Morgantown, W.Va., to record an episode of “Mountain Stage” for NPR radio stations, but weather conditions axed...
Tommy Castro and the Painkillers, touring in support of ‘lowdown blues’ album, heading to PittsburghVideo
Tommy Castro and the Painkillers might be more of a contemporary blues band with their original songs, but Castro really wanted to make an album that channeled his influences like Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Elmore James and Muddy Waters. “I love all that old funky stuff, and we kind of...
Roberta Flack, Grammy-winning singer with an intimate style, dies at 88
NEW YORK — Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer and pianist whose intimate vocal and musical style on “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and other hits made her one of the top recordings artists of the 1970s and an influential performer long...
Pantera opening tour with show at Pavilion at Star LakeVideo
Heavy metal veterans Pantera will open their U.S. summer tour with a date in the Pittsburgh area. Touted as “the heaviest tour of the summer,” Pantera will be joined by Swedish metal stalwarts Amon Amarth for a July 15 show at the Pavilion at Star Lake, with another opener still...
Pittsburgh area local band spotlight: Six Gun Sally
In mid-March, the Southern rock band Six Gun Sally will release their new album, “Stand Up” — featuring a mix of originals and covers like Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Second Hand News.” “It’s Six Gun Sally to the ‘T’ —a mix of classic rock, Southern...
Review: Country rocker Stephen Wilson Jr. shows why his star is on the rise in sold-out Pittsburgh concertVideo
As Stephen Wilson Jr. prepared to end his concert Saturday night, the self-described “Death Cab For Country”-style singer-songwriter shared an optimistic outlook. “I truly believe our better days are in front of us. I believe our best days are in front of them, prior to contrary belief,” Wilson said. “I...
George Thorogood and the Destroyers deliver a bluesy Saturday night show at Rivers Casino
Every Saturday night deserves a spin around the dance floor to the sounds of a rockin’ bar band, and George Thorogood and the Destroyers still fit the bill. At 74, Thorogood could hang it up after a fantastic career that includes 1980s blues rock hits such as “Bad to the...
Beyond: Microtonal Music Festival in Pittsburgh includes lengthy stringed instrumentVideo
The Beyond: Microtonal Music Festival returns to Pittsburgh this weekend. Microtonal music, according to festival organizers, “expands the possibilities of sound by using tuning systems beyond, or in addition to, the standard 12-note equal temperament common in Western classical and popular music.” One of the event’s highlights is Ellen Fullman’s...
Interview: Soul singer Joss Stone on touring while pregnant as Less is More tour heads to PittsburghVideo
English soul singer Joss Stone is on the rebound from an illness that forced her to postpone the opening night of her new tour in Nashville, and she was kicking herself for how it started. “I sounded like bloody Marge Simpson. It was awful. I couldn’t bloody believe it, and...
Journeys & Jazz celebrates Ahmad Jamal and Pittsburgh’s Jazz history
The legacy of Ahmad Jamal and Pittsburgh’s jazz roots were celebrated on Wednesday at the Community Engagement Center in Homewood at the Journeys & Jazz event. Jamal, a Homewood native whose career as a jazz pianist started as early as age 11, is having a collection of his work preserved...
Tate McRae bringing Miss Possessive tour to Pittsburgh this fallVideo
Canadian pop singer Tate McRae extended her global Miss Possessive tour, with a new date just added to Pittsburgh. McRae will play PPG Paints Arena on Oct. 15 with Alessi Rose opening the show. The “Greedy” and “She’s All I Wanna Be” singer on Friday will release her third studio...
Pittsburgh drummer Roger Humphries among recipients of new jazz fellowship offering unrestricted $100,000 grant
NEW YORK — Bertha Hope was only three years old when she started playing Brahms’ “Lullaby” on the piano just from hearing it on the radio. “How did you do that?” asked her shocked parents, both entertainers. “That’s when they really started paying attention to the fact that I had...
Phish’s summer tour includes Pittsburgh dateVideo
Improvisational masters Phish are coming to Pittsburgh on their summer tour. The Vermont quartet, nominated this year for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, will play June 24 at Petersen Events Center in Oakland. Phish’s summer tour, which opens with three nights in Manchester, New Hampshire, also includes multi-night...
