High Water Festival (2025)

When I saw this High Water Festival lineup, I immediately started dreaming up a road trip to get me there - and accomplished it!  After a brief camping and hiking stop in North Carolina, I made it to Charleston, SC for this High Water Music Festival!  I couldn’t have asked for better experience, and Charleston was charming!

A few quick standouts… I”m SO GLAD to have been introduced to Evan Honer.  I was lucky to catch the Julien Baker & TORRES perform before they canceled their tour. Waxahatchee cementer her status as a FAVORITE.  Counting Crows were meh.  Arcade Fire was every bit as dramatic as I was hoping they’d be!

Here’s the list of bands I saw, most of them appear in the above video.

Evan Honer
Medium Build
Joy Oladokun
Julien Baker & TORRES
Mt. Joy
The Backstreet Lovers
Goldie Boutilier
Ethan Tasch
Wild Rivers
Trampled By Turtles
Waxahatchee
Counting Crows
Flipturn
Arcade Fire

Basia Bułat (4/4/25)

I was traveling to Minneapolis for a work conference and was ELATED to see Basia Bulat would be performing at The Cedar Cultural Center, supporting her newest album!  I’ve been anxiously awaiting new music and a tour, and she hit all the notes.  Such a personable and authentic performer - and a great venue too!  I would have taken more photos, but I was too busy taking video!  Now I just hope for a second leg of the tour where she comes to Cleveland!

Maia Friedman opened.

Occidental Gypsy (3/28/25)

I’ve heard great things about BLU Jazz+ in Akron for years, and finally made it happen!  Made this into a fancy night out in Akron, stopping at the Diamond Grille for a great meal and then BLU Social for a cocktail before the show.  Occidental Gypsy was a treat.  Classy and fabulous, all the way around.  Looking forward to doing it all again.

Martha Wainwright (3/22/25)

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Ann Arbor, and probably even longer since I’ve seen a show at The Ark.  I’ve always appreciated their business model, and I was even more excited to see Martha Wainwright was doing a 20th anniversary tour of her self-titled release!   I saw her ON that tour back in 2005 at the Beachland Tavern - one of my all time favorite shows.   Performance this night at The Ark completely lived up to it.  I had a great seat for the show, but that also meant that it wasn’t really appropriate to capture any video of the show - so photos will have to do.

M3F Festival 2025

This year I headed West to escape some of Ohio’s winter - and see one of the best lineups I've seen in a 2 festival!  M3F Fest had an list of artists and I’ll include everyone I saw below.  I won’t review each one, but the video is a collection of my favorite 15 seconds (or so) from each performance of the weekend.  Seeing Phoenix was great too!  Definitely want to go back:

Here’s who I saw!

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (DJ Set)
LP Giobbi
Alvvays
LCD Soundsystem
Monster Rally
Confidence Man
Doss
Leisure
Mindchatter
Sylvan Esso
BAYNK
Girl Talk
Justice

Alisa Amador (12/10/24)

For the second show on my Washington DC trip, I stopped by DC9 to catch Eliza Edens’ who’s album I had already in my music library.  She was opening for Alisa Amador who I also really enjoyed (and added to my music library).

Eliza was every bit as charming and enjoyable as I had hoped.  I look forward to seeing both of these artists again!

Abby Sage (12/9/24)

Another work trip to Washington DC, and another chance to catch some concerts down there.  My first night I saw Abby Sage at the Sonbyrd Music House.  She has a cool, sharp edge to her pop sound and songwriting, which I enjoyed.  

I was really hoping to also get to see ave.noelle on the bill, but seemed to have missed her performance.  I also really enjoyed catching Ruqqiyah’s soulful opening performance.

Alfie Templeman (10/11/24)

Knowing I was seeing Empress of the previous night, I was looking for a show for my second night in DC.  I discovered Aflie Templeman who seemed like he might be a lot of fun.  However, after my 2nd full day of traveling and biking all over Washington DC, I was pretty tired by the time I made it to The Atlantis.  I hope Alfie didn’t mind, I didn’t stay for the whole show.

Your Neighbors opened the night.

Empress of (10/10/24)

Empress of has been one of my FAVORITE pop stars lately, and her latest album has just been playing non-stop for me. 

Amtrac (7/20/24)

I was thrilled to also see that Amtrac would be performing at Sound Nightclub in Los Angeles during my stay in Los Angeles.  I’ve been to this venue before, which is a great space to dance.

 

Strand of Oaks (7/13/24)

I was awarded a Fellowship out at UCLA for most of July and of course hit a couple concerts while I was out there.  Seeing Strand of Oaks playing at Zebulon was a welcomed sight.  After the odessy of LA buses to get out to the venue, I was hoping for a bit more of a show.  He causally walked up, played some (always great) songs, and then ended relatively early. Probably because they seemed to quickly transition the venu over to a dance party.  Great venue btw!

Joe Pug (6/19/24)

Always happy to see Joe Pug perform, despite being a week night at Akron’s Musica.  Bonus points for being on Juneteenth and having the rest of the week off!   He’s always the consummate performer on stage.

The real bonus of the night was getting familiar with Dustin Mayle!

Laura Gibson (5/22/24)

I’ve been waiting to Laura Gibson at a concert, after her amazing performance at Nelsonville Music Festival back in 2019.  I became a little concerned when I saw the dates scheduled (Columbus / Akron) overlapped a camping trip I had already scheduled.  Luckily schedules aligned and I was able to bring a friend along to the Columbus show, on our way camping (thanks Cassie!).

The house and the host were both delightful.  Laura brought us all into the den area with only like 8-10 folks in attendance for an incredibly intimate experience (hence no video).  Her songwriting, storytelling, and overal presence was designed for a house concert.  This one will go down as one of my favorite performances of all time.

Tyler Ramsey (3/26/24)

Another Spring, another work conference trip - back to San Diego!  This time I was able to check out the venerable Casbah music venue, a space that I would say is very equivalent to the Beachland Ballroom in size, vibe, and authenticity.  Would definitely go back.

I’d been catching back up with Tyler Ramsey (former lead guitarist of Band of Horses), and fell in love with his most recent album.  More subtle and spacious than I’d generally appreciate, but I was drawn in to his great songwriting (and bummed I missed his recent Cleveland visit).  Check it out.

Opening was Leslie Stevens.  A new-to-me performer, but a great talent.  Sporting a little quiver and a slight southern draw in her voice, she echoed Stevie Nicks and Janis Joplin(’s lighter side).

Noah Reid (1/18/24)

First concert of 2024, first concert in well over a month, and I even traveled to Cincinnati for it!   Of course I discovered Noah Reid through is appearance in Schitt’s Creek, but I’ve really enjoyed all three of his albums and figured he’d be deligthful on stage.  Of course he was… 

View the full album.

Meta4 Quartet (10/18/23)

While I was in Washington DC, I was thrilled to finally catch a concert performance at the Library of Congress, which was the this excellent Meta4 performance!

KAIJA SAARIAHO/ Terra Memoria
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH / String Quartet no. 4 in D major, op. 83
JEAN SIBELIUS / String Quartet “Voces Intimae,” op. 56

More info here.

Jessie Ware (10/16/23)

Jessie ware released her dancefloor banger What’s Your Pleasure during the pandemic which killed any chance of seeing her tour that album, but luckily her recent That Feels Good! album is a delightful extention of that dace party.  So thrilled I was able to catch her sold out performce at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC.

Black Swamp Arts Festival 2023

I got to swing by the Black Swamp Arts Festival both Friday & Saturday nights while home visiting family.  The first night I was excited to catch the renown Ruthie Foster perform!

Then on Saturday night I was thrilled to finally get to see Amythyst Kiah live!

Full Photo Album:

Honcho Campout 2023

Honcho Campout 2023

Full Photo Album: