Having been away in Los Angeles for most of July, I thought I had missed my chance to see the Cleveland Museum of Art’s City Stages performances in Ohio City. Thankfully there was one remaining, after I returned. It was a gorgeous night, and an amazing story to hear about Bia Ferreira’s travel challenges. Apparently her band wasn’t able to arrive in time, so the organizers assembled a group of local musicians to quickly learn and fill in. It made for a unique and rewarding night.
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.
In what felt like an ideal Los Angeles experience, I was able to see Juan Wauters performing at El Cid. The venue is apparently both a restaurant and performance space. Quite cute. Juan Wauters was a bundle of energy on stage and was one of the most unique performers I’ve seen live. Thoroughly enjoyed his performance.
Tall Juan opened the show. I’m bummed I didn’t catch any video.
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!
I was fortunate enough to be offered a free ticket and backstage pass for this Brothers Osborne show. As you might imagine, they hadn’t really caught my attention until after T.J. Osborne came out as gay. While there was some push back, I’m happy to see that Brothers Osborne continue to succeed in the country music space. They put on a high energy show and T.J. knows how to play to his crowd. :-) A fun time indeed.
It’s going to be hard to beat seeing Mdou Moctar anywhere as good as their 2019 performance at Now That’s Class (now No Class). This night they sold out the Beachland Ballroom and they matched the heat outside. Another blistering performance.
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!
I was killing a little time before heading to crobar, so I decided to swing by and catch The Halluci Nation at The Aslyum at Masonic Auditorium. I had first caught up with this band back in 2012 with their A Tribe Called Red album, and was glad to see see them putting out music! Not a bad show, but was *really* glad I had my ear plugs for this one.
This show wasn’t originally on my agenda, until the $25 LiveNation special came about - and I had family coming into town to visit. It was a perfect opportunity to take my Sister and Niece to see a fun show at a great downtown music venue. We even scored floor access wristbands!
A friend put me on to A Beacon School, and another friend knew the opener Wish Queen. It was shaping up to be a great night of music and it didn’t dissapoint.
