Concert Gallery: Cut Copy @ Royal Oak Music Theater

Concert Review & Gallery: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Prussia, Danny Brown

Saturday night the Ferndale duo of Josh Epstein and Daniel Zott , better known as Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. returned home to usher in the release of their debut album It's A Corporate World. If you're unfamiliar with the Jr. Jr. then check out MT Arts & Culture Editor Travis R. Wright's profile of the band heading out west last November. The Saturday show also featured two other of Detroit's best, indie rockers Prussia and rapper Danny Brown, who also have seen some ink here at MT, and seem to get better each show.

For their return to Detroit, just as they have this whole tour, Jr. Jr. came out and shed their Nascar jumpsuits for the slick corporate look to accompany the new album, which they played almost all of. Early highlights were the opening drones of "Morning Thought" to kick the show off and the smooth transition of their original "If It Wasn't You" into Dolly Parton's (or more famously Whitney Houston's) "I Will Always Love You" complete with a sax solo from Epstein.

Other covers included the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" and a slamming run through of Gil-Scott Heron's "We Almost Lost Detroit" that featured a few bars from SelfSays. Joining for "Skeletons" were MT cover couple Phantasmagoria, who added some percussion to the bouncy drum-heavy tune.

After about an hour, the duo came back for a loving encore, starting with a crowd pleasing rendition of Steve Winwood's "Higher Love" and closing with their own "Nothing But Our Love."

Jr. Jr. will hit Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza later this summer.

Check the video below of "Vocal Chords" from guyzeyez and listen to a run through of the Winwood jam from earlier this year in New York.

To view pictures from Saturday's show click the diagonals for a full screen view.

Concert Gallery: Hall & Oates @ Motor City Casino

Concert Gallery: R. Stevie Moore @ The Magic Stick

Roger Waters @ The Palace of Auburn Hills

Sunday night Roger Waters brought his elaborate re-imagining of The Wall to the Palace of Auburn Hills. The current tour marks the 30th anniversary of the original Wall tour which lasted from February of 1980 to July of 1981. Check out “Outside The Wall” in the video below. Much like the classic 1980s tour, the current tour featured a two set theatrical performance of the classic Floyd album which featured a larger than life plane crash, inflatables floats of the cartoonish teacher, preying mantis vagina woman, a floating blimp pig and of course the gigantic wall.

At points the stage seemed a bit barren with only Waters at the forefront. Points standing in front of the large wall turned video screen which stretched the width of the Palace. In guitar heavy songs it would be an awkward two man replacement of Waters former partner in crime, David Gilmour, as a spotlight would show the replacement singer taking Gilmour’s vocal lead atop the wall only to dim and pop back up on the guitarist ripping through the solo of “Comfortably Numb.” However, Waters throughout the show was noticeably excited throwing his 67-year-old arms in the air hyping the sold out crow. The band among others featured Waters' son Harry on keyboards, as well as former Pink Floyd collaborator Jon Carin and the somehow still around G.E. Smith. I thought when Saturday Night Live reruns went off the air so did he, ah well at least you couldn't see his faces soloing... Check below to watch a collection put together by a Floyd fan on youtube and see photos from last night in the slideshow.




This is our third installment in The New Psychedelic. The new is old and the old is new. . Read earlier interviews with Umphrey's McGee's Jake Cinninger and Dr. Dog's Scott McMicken.

Jon Carin

Gorillaz @ The Fox Theater Detroit

Last night found the world's biggest virtual band at the ornate Fox Theater. MT Music Blog was there for former Blur frontman Damon Albarn's latest incarnation of The Gorillaz which featured Mick Jones & Paul Simonen of The Clash. After the opening N.E.R.D, Albarn lead the charge of the massive band that included the eight-piece Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Swedish dream-pop outfit Little Dragon, De La Soul and Bobby Womack along with a seven-piece symphonic backing and six Arab-American musicians for a few tunes.

Womack brought his soul punch on "Stylo" early in the show and Little Dragon joined on the churning of "Empire Ants." Throughout the long set Albarn took time to sit back and revel in not only the slews of different musicians sharing the stage, but the ornate Fox Theater telling the Detroit crowd that they had "quite the thea-ate-er here." With an encore of a few Gorillaz favorites both "Feel Good Inc." (which someone already threw a youtube video up below) and "Clint Eastwood" sent the Fox Theater crowd back into the rainy streets with a smile. While Gorillaz performances this tour are vastly different from years past--the massive screens blocking the musicians are gone-- the full band was truly a sight to behold as the rich textures created on the album exploded onstage with the gigantic band.

Check it out below for pictures and video from last night's show. Click the diagonal arrows for a fullscreen view and click a picture to begin a slideshow.



"Glitter Freeze"


"Feel Good Inc."

of Montreal & Janelle Monae @ ROMT Royal Oak

So every once in a while you think you've seen almost everything. But I can honestly say that before last night, I had never seen a crossdressing man dry hump and molest a woman in a pig mask while paper-mache fire-headed guards hold back her pig husband. So. Yea. Cross that shit off the bucket list after of Montreal last night at The Royal Oak Music Theater.

In addition to the quasi beastiality weirdness and overally theatricality of the two acts, it's clear that Janelle Monae is firing on all cylinders from her fiery hour long opening set. If you haven't heard Ms. Monae yet, get on it, this is a young singer in her prime. of Montreal's roughly two-hour set showcased much of the material from their most recent False Priest, and a crowd sing-a-long encore of a Michael Jackson medley of "Thriller>Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'>Pretty Young Thing" as Monae and her band joined as well. Hit after the jump for pictures and a video from a steady concert goer on the youtubes. We here at MT had a chance to talk with frontman Kevin Barnes about growing up outside Detroit and the record last week check it here.

Click the diagonal arrows for a fullscreen immersive PicLens photowall, and click an image to enlarge and hit the play button to begin a slideshow.



MJ Medley

Eminem & Jay-Z In Detroit

As the first half of Eminem and Jay-Z's four night "Home & Home Tour" wrapped up last night here in Detroit, we here at The Metro Times Music Blog bring you some photos from the groundbreaking hip-hop showcase. Fans flocked to the city from all over the globe, Norway, Miami and Afghanistan...and that was just a 10 person section in the front row. To say that it was a major event downtown would be an understatement.

After being away for a bit, Eminem is seemingly back and recharged, as he almost stomped a hole through the stage jumping ferociously through the two nights. It was a look of childlike satisfaction painted on his face whenever he took a step back to gaze out at the pulsing crowd. That look of pure joy slapped across his face looking onto his hometown.

The list of guest appearances started to look like a laundry list of hip-hop as Dr. Dre, the remaining members of D12, Young Jeezy, 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Detroit's own Trick Trick and opening acts B.O.B & Liz Rodriguez all found their way onstage in the star studded two-nights. The stadium was abuzz with celebrities and athletes, my personal highlight was sighting none other than motherfuckin' Dave Coulier. Bam! Gaga, you ain't got shit on Coulier.

The duo finishes up next week in New York City with two nights at Yankee Stadium on September 13th and 14th. Head down after the jump for some for pictures from Eminem and Jay-Z historic concerts at Comerica Park. Click here to view the slideshow in full screen or feel free to view as the photowall by clicking the two arrows in the bottom right corner for a fullscreen immersive PicLens.

Click the video for the panoramic phone view of Comerica Park before the show...^

Click the two arrows in the bottom right corner for fullscreen view.


Police trying to move people standing outside on Montcalm looking into Comerica Park...they didn't have much luck as people shut out from the show peered in through every side of the Comerica Park gates.

Please leave a comment to share your experiences or any pictures from these two historic nights in Detroit.

Julian Casablancas at St. Andrew's Hall

To say that Julian Casablancas has had a conventional rock and roll road would be a bit of a stretch. With no number off hand, it’s probably fairly safe to say the total of models turned rock lead singers are few and far between. The Strokes lead singer came to Detroit’s St. Andrew’s Hall with his solo band on a humid Monday night and his the show would prove to be anything but ordinary, whether or not that is a good thing can be your decision.

Casablancas opened up his show in dark, aside from a sparse blue can aimed down around the back of the stage it would remain fairly dark throughout the roughly 45-minute set. Casablancas sauntered on stage drink in had as he wavered back and forth during the swirling noise of the six-piece band behind him before going into “Ludlow Street,” to open the show. Casablancas’ band featured a drummer and percussionist, two guitarists, and two keyboard players, both of whom occasionally played guitars as well. Casablancas who took only vocal duties ala The Strokes, but this still made for a wall of sound coming from the dark stage, which wasn’t always a good thing. Some of the nuances of the album were lost as the occasional trio of guitars wouldn’t always mesh with the pinpoint accuracy they had on the album. The short set, only 8 songs, was taken from Casablancas’ recently released Phazes for The Young, save a take on The Strokes “Hard to Explain” which had the crowd thrashing up and down, and a slow keyboard duo of the B-side “I’ll Try Anything Once.”

The set closed with “Left & Right In The Dark” which characterized the short set, guitars and synthesizers mashing over one and other, occasionally syncing up but mostly overpowering each other in a hot mess with some raspy effect laden from Casablancas before he walked off stage letting he band slam to the end of the song. For an encore the band returned for the slow crashes of “4 Chords of The Apocalypse,” which actually had to be restarted from the drum break, but what followed was a bizarre ending to a show. A cover Casablancas has done before of Saturday Night Live’s “I Wish It Was Christmas Today.” Before starting the odd tune, Casablancas seemed poise to explain it’s placement, that he had recorded it previously, but instead brushed his hair back joking, “I’m not going to do my schpiel, I’m just going to act like it’s no big deal to do a Christmas song.” He then ran off stage again and the house lights sent the crowd out just as quickly the front man had bolted off stage.

The show was short, bizarre and visually unentertaining because it was so dark, none of which really seemed to match the airy bounce of the synthesizers and harmonized guitars that were so heavy throughout the album versions of Phazes. Maybe some effort into a stage show, possibly more than one light may help. Casablancas voice was fairly good, when he wasn’t mumbling or stumbling around the stage, but the set barely got going before it was over. It was also a bit odd to leave the crowd with a goofball cover after playing under an hour of music, seems like a kush gig.

Casablancas could potentially capture the depressed dance floor saunter he goes for on the album, the feel of the 1980’s house party movie band, think Oingo Boingo with “It’s A Dead Man’s Party” crooning while Rodney Dangerfield straightens his longfellow in a hot tub. A load of synthesizers, an implied self-aura of holier than thou trendiness, coupled with a cold snarl and some sort of Indian tail dangley-down, Casablancas could have the potential to guide you through that bar fight scene with Robert Downey’s mohawk, but he needs to actually put on a live performance that is worth a shit before he attempts the Triple Lundy. Feels great to work that reference in there so fuck you if you don't like it. Maybe the latest revival of The Strokes will spark a fire under Casablancas with a slot at Lollapalooza.

Hiromi at The Detroit Institute of Arts

Hiromi can’t be happier as she talks about her family’s actual “Green Tea Farm” in Shizuoka, Japan. “I’m not trying to push my family business on you. But green tea is very good for you,” she laughs before she starts the soothing song of the same name. Hiromi stayed mostly with material off of her newest album Place To Be, which attempt to create the various places the lifelong pianist has encountered to get to where she is today among jazz’s elite. Now 30, Hiromi did a few recital shows before she embarks on a long summer. The next few months will find Hiromi with an 18-show cross country tour with Stanly Clark, a stint at the Marciac Jazz Festival in Paris, and a residency at The Blue Note in New York.
Hiromi came to one of Detroit’s best places to be for art, as The Detroit Institute of Arts welcomed Hiromi to their cathedral style showroom, Kresge Court.

The late show of the evening kept with mostly songs from Hiromi’s latest, but also ventured to her first album with “Old castle, by the river, in the middle of the forest.” She joked before the song, saying a painting of the same name had inspired the song, so she just couldn’t bear to change the name.
A closing trio of songs showed Hiromi’s musical depth as it hopped styles and paces frantically. Hiromi’s Vegas suite featured three sections of 24-hours in the desert balm of Las Vegas. “Show city, Show girl” bounces from a playful jitter, spreading melodies as we stumble backstage through a seedy casino show. Sleek and slithering desert tappings gaze up at the circus that surrounds you churning from every angle. Slowly it bleeds into the sun stroked midday, which slows the playfulness into a crawl under the beating sun. A spinning klink of the lights and buzzes leads back into “The Gambler” and their resulting wins or loses with a suspenseful musical jackpot or bankruptcy. Frantic chases up and down the keyboard find Hiromi’s hands battling each other, tearing across the grand piano meandering the hotel maze as she throws her tiny frame into the gigantic piano. A light dancing around “The Tom and Jerry Theme” leaves Hiromi grinning ear to ear as she romps across her keys.

Her energy borderline summons Elaine Bene’s crazy legs, beaming in her seat, “limbs flailing, arms akimbo, feet kicking up dust…” Now, let’s not get things confused here, Elaine lacked any musical semblance, Hiromi’s musical voice exudes through every movement that went through body and out her fingertips into the piano. She plays with the reckless abandon like nobody is watching, having the time of her life, but still remains disciplined to execute her complex chases with beautiful precision. Her fingers and palms slam on the ivories as much as her elbows, as at one point in the night she reached inside the piano strumming and slapping the strings. Hiromi’s energy is contagious as she creates these vivid landscapes of sound with only her piano filling the entire room.
Hiromi has definitely found her place in jazz’s elite, and this summer will be yet another chance for her to showcase it to the world and continue to push herself. After showcasing what she can do with merely a grand piano, it will definitely be another task to see her with a full arsenal of keyboards.

by Pietro C. Truba

click to enlarge or view the SLIDESHOW HERE...

RJD2 wsg Adam Dietch’s Break Science at The Magic Stick, Detroit, Mi

“That’s what I love about Detroit. You don’t care if it’s electro, hip-hop, funk or rock. You just want to get down.” RJD2 said following his set at The Magic Stick in Detroit, last week.
RJD2, Ramble John "RJ" Krohn, has built quite a unique following. His music has found multiple niches in snowboarding feature films, in the live music scene playing opening sets for Umphrey’s McGee and The Disco Biscuits and with hip-hop emcees. After more than a decade, he now has own label and with all his collaborations and mixes has more than 15 albums and EP’s. Playing live as both a more traditional DJ and a full band, his live shows bring out the diversity and the breadth of his musical palette. He came to Detroit, the self-proclaimed birthplace of techno, and it was a sweaty sold out dance party in Motown on a Friday night.
Opening the evening was New York’s Break Science featuring drummer Adam Dietch and keyboard player Borahm Lee. Dietch and Lee’s resumes read like a who’s who of recent stars in hip-hop and pop-art. Break Science earned a solid foothold in Michigan with brain-melting late night set at Rothbury’s Tripolee Dome last year and they would provide a raucous opening set for the sold out crowd. Their set started with a bit of Lee Scratch Perry, but ran the gamut all over jazz, psychedelia, techno and onto hip-hop with homage to one Detroit’s greatest producers, the late J-Dilla. Break Science toyed around playing “Lightworks” and a few other nuggets from Dilla’s Donuts to rile the Detroit crowd with a hometown hero. Lee and Dietch lock in perfectly as Dietch’s schizophrenic drum changing is matched by Lee’s arsenal of keyboard abilities. Break Science is definitely hard to pin down, but that makes them all the more interesting as they sonically roll around inside your head.
RJD2 then took the stage to the now feisty crowd as “Commissioner Crotchbuttons.” A bejeweled jumpsuit completely with a crotch mounted wireless pad. See him explain it here. RJD2 channeled his inner MacGyver as he slapped an old Lazy Susan together with an MPC, (Music/Midi Production Center) and attached them both at his crotch of the wireless suit. RJ gets all Daft Punk on everybody’s ass, as a robotic voice in his welding mask echoes to froth the packed crowd before jumping back to his turntable set ups to start the show.
The whole night would transition from RJD2 in his “Commissioner” suit to his more traditional DJ set up with a mix with his four piece live band with drummer Sam Brown, and multi-instrumentalists Derek Dicenzo and Happy Chincester. Sometimes he would be behind the turntables with one or two of his band mates, sometimes alone. He wouldn’t stay in one place for too long as he bounced grinning ear to ear from his electric guitar, to bass and back to his turntable set up as he blended music from across his mounting catalogue including his recently re-released first album, Your Face or Your Kneecaps, a soulful trip through vintage funk, and his latest The Colossus.
RJD2 takes his varied material, funk, jazz, hip-hop, electronic and all in between, and slashes it apart to rebuild it live. Production laden DJ numbers are changed and thrown to full band instrumentation, and vice versa, for a motley and unrestrained take on his material.
The closing medley provides a glimpse into the night as loud thunderous builds came from older production heavy songs like “The Horror>Ghostwriter,” are then balanced by calmer material from the full band with three part harmonies. The sirens and samples crashing through “The Horror” are soon bottomed out, as RJ slides from behind the turntables and a soft acoustic guitar strum from Chinchester starts “Ghostwriter.” The full band slowly builds to a slamming climax horn section with the return to “Ghostwriter” as RJ, dressed in his Commissioner Crotchbutton’s attire, crashes through the ending of the song.
The slow crawl of the encore “Making Days Longer” slowed things down for a bit but soon RJ brought things to a thrashing close with a wide-eyed grin as he ripped his final guitar solo. The wavy ups and downs of the evening were also mirrored on a movie screen onstage speckled with various eye candy for the crowd to enjoy.
RJD2 is on tour supporting The Colossus, and is well worth heading to check out, with most shows under $20, including smoking openers Break Science for the next two Midwest shows before heading to Colorado and out west. Break Science will also be touring with throughout the south with The Pnuma Trio.

by Pietro C. Truba

click to enlarge or view the SLIDESHOW HERE...