Photos by DEREK BRAD Last night the Flaming Lips unveiled the more-awesome-than-you-could-possibly-imagine reboot of their stage show, which replaces the happy-happy-joy-joy bliss rallies they’ve been staging for the past decade. Gone are the balloons and blood and bubble-walking and the dancing Santa Clauses and the big hands that shoot lasers. In its place — well, fact is it defies words, you really had to be there — but calling it H.R. Giger meets Hanna-Barbera on the dark side of the moonhenge isn’t that far from accurate. Frizzy-brained frontman Wayne Coyne conducted the proceedings from high atop a lumpy mound-like perch […]

Photo by PETE TROSHAK Last night, reggae legend and Rock n’ Roll Hall of Famer Jimmy Cliff and his merry six piece band filled the Keswick Theatre in support of 2012’s aptly-titled Rebirth, his first proper album in more than a decade. Opening with “Bongo Man” and segueing into “Rivers Of Bablyon, Cliff and his band proceeded to deliver, a 23-song testament to his career sequenced in chronological order. With a newsboy cap pulled down over his eyes and his guitar slung upside down and left handed, Cliff appeared younger than his 65 years. He strutted and danced joyously like […]

Photo by PETE TROSHAK Neko Case and her magic band took the stage Wednesday night to the pinging sound of submarine sonar and launched into a shimmering “Where Did I Leave That Fire.” Behind them was a green backdrop of an underwater scene featuring electric eels and an assortment of pointy weapons aimed at the Fiona Apple-esque title of her new album, The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You.” Case wore a hoodie, jeans and a t-shirt and when she grabbed the mic she showed off recent forearm tattoos that […]

Photo by DEREK BRAD “Yeah, you know, it’s the band with Thom Yorke from Radiohead, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and some other guys.” This was a direct quote I overhead while waiting in line to enter the Liacouras Center, where Atoms For Peace kicked off its first U.S. tour last night in support of their debut LP, Amok.  Formed in 2009, Atoms for Peace is a supergroup created by Yorke and longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Goodrich. Last night the line-up was rounded out by Flea on bass and go-to-guy Joey Waronker (Beck, REM) on drums. Yorke seemed […]

Photo by PETE TROSHAK Lucinda Williams planted some seeds of the Alt-Country movement with her influential 1988 self-titled debut album. Williams and her band rolled into the Keswick Theatre on Saturday night to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of that album and her future. She took the stage dressed in a tight black outfit and leather boots and kicked the show off with a sunny but yearning “I Just Wanted To See You So Bad.” The rest of her debut was played in order, sounding even better than the original versions due to some stellar guitar work from Wallflowers’ guitarist Stuart […]

Jonsi, Sigur Ros, @ The Mann last night by DEREK BRAD Like the last 10 minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but for two hours. All I could do was smile. — JONATHAN VALANIA

Photo by DEREK BRAD So I’ve literally played rock shows all over the world and I am here to tell you that as indie-rock venues go, the Skyline Stage at the Mann is peerless in terms of bookings, comfort, price, amenities (food trucks, craft beer, squeaky clean bathrooms with no lines) and mellowed-out asshole-free security. Last night was another enchanted, splendor-in-the-grass evening at the Mann’s Skyline Stage: A cool, clear night, an incandescent harvest moon, an arresting view of the Philly skyline, a Sierra Nevada in hand, snuggling with your baby on a blanket while Vampire Weekend — whose remarkable […]