Review: The Redwalls, The Wall to Wall Sessions EP*

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By Kimberly Egolf, Editor
2007.06

Stir together a tablespoon each of The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Supremes, and Fats Domino, add a dash of Etta James, and flavor to taste with Bob Dylan. Presto, you’ve whipped up your very own Redwalls.

For over half of their young lives, this Chicago-based band has been remaking the great music they love. Though they never got the chance to see these acts in their heyday, the band has spent its first two albums (Universal Blues and De Nova) channeling the spirit and the voice of generations past. And this has kept them largely in the shadow of the musical greats they emulate, inspiring either adulation or ire – and not much in-between – for their efforts.

But the recently-released Wall to Wall Sessions EP (so called because it was recorded in Chicago’s Wall to Wall studios), indicates that the band are ready to step into the spotlight for themselves and out of the shadows in which they have been lurking for ten long years. The four-song EP showcases the best of what The Redwalls do – tightly composed songs, superb vocal harmonies, grand political statements – and begins to show what they are capable of doing – that is, seamlessly blending contemporary genres into their distinctively retro sound.

“Memories,” the first song on the EP, features a laid-back reggae groove driven by Justin Baren’s bass and Ben Greeno’s drums. The song switches interestingly from a minor key on the verses to a major key for the chorus, alternately conjuring nightmarish and violent memories and soothing them through sweet vocal harmonies.

“Edge of the Night” is an epic song which might have been ripped from the ‘60s – think the Shangri-Las’ “Leader of the Pack” or The Cavaliers’ “Last Kiss.” The song is a charming ode to running away and starting over again: “Hey man, I think it’s time for a change/ It’s not that hard to pack up and start over again,” Logan Baren sings with conviction. As the slow, rolling melody and drumbeat fade out, one can almost picture him walking into the sunset, suitcase in hand, ready to make a change.

And a change comes for the band on the delightfully unexpected “Song #1.” The innocuous title disguises a Bloc Party-like opening filled with chiming guitars and heavy drums. Instead of the expected indie rock disillusionment and distance, however, “Song #1” quickly reveals itself to be a soulful rock anthem. The band raises its voice to call for change and engagement: “Our time is now upon us/ We must outgrow our fathers,” they sing. This is an anthem for a new generation of people who want to change the world.

The fourth and last song on the EP, “Maria,” is a tender ballad of youthful love. Complete with mournful harmonica solo and extended jam, the song shows the softer side of the band, a side previously shown on second album De Nova with the single “Thank You.”

The Wall to Wall Sessions EP reveals that the basic recipe for The Redwalls hasn’t changed, but a few intriguing new seasonings have been thrown in which just might allow the band to step into the spotlight it deserves.

The Redwalls’ new album, produced by Tore Johansson (OK Go, Franz Ferdinand) is scheduled to be released later this year.

For more information about The Redwalls and for upcoming tour dates, please visit their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/theredwalls.

Review: Nelly Furtado Gets “Loose” in Denver, Colorado, June 15, 2007*

By Matt Anderson
2007.06

Nelly Furtado is hot. That’s a given. But she’s even hotter when she straps on her white jumbo acoustic guitar. She’s hotter yet when it’s her white electric guitar. But then she also steps behind the drums and provides back up to her own lead drummer. En fuego.

It’s always a pleasure to see this multi-talented artist do her thing. After bursting onto the scene back in 2000 with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, and her first single, “I’m Like a Bird,” Nelly has carved out a niche for herself and there’s every reason to believe that niche will keep getting bigger thanks to the catchy, groovy tunes on her latest album, Loose.

Now, a mere seven years after her big debut, Nelly has three relatively diverse albums to her credit and those albums provide more than enough material for Nelly to stage a show that offers many highlights.

(Photo Credit: Matt Anderson)

On her latest tour, in support of Loose, Nelly has many reasons to strut. Thanks in part to ubiquitous Verizon commercials last summer, Loose has received much more attention than her overlooked and extremely underrated second album, Folklore. And, after more than several years in the industry, she’s been able to steer clear of the tabloids and paparazzi in favor of building a solid music catalog all her own.

Stepping right up to the concert highlights, arguably the most unique and energetic moment came courtesy of that hidden gem, Folklore. Sporting a Colorado Rapids jersey with “Furtado 07” stitched on the back, Nelly introduced the anthemic “Forca” with a little bit of trivia: “forca” means “strength” in Portuguese and she wrote the tune in tribute to the sport of soccer (aka futbol). At the same time, her four stage dancers began throwing inflatable soccer balls into the crowd, whipping up a frenzy in the process.

Ah. Then she autographed an official soccer ball and pumped her arm to launch it into the crowd. Unfortunately, it must be said, Nelly throws like a girl.

The aforementioned “I’m Like a Bird” also hit a highlight. This time Nelly amped up the tune, allowing it to fit right in with her glossy Timbaland-produced hits like “Promiscuous” and “Maneater.”

Those two were also barnburners, further heating up the already hot-to-the-point-of-stuffy Fillmore.

As for the show itself, a three-tiered stage provided the setting for Nelly’s six-piece band and backup dancers. The dancers (two female and two male) cavorted in movements that ranged from borderline ballet and interpretive to full-on synchronized, choreographed pop dance more akin to the stage work of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

(Photo Credit: Matt Anderson)

Those dance bits offered a cover under which Nelly could go back stage and perform numerous outfit changes. None of her outfits (five of them, to be precise) would rate as anything near scandalous. Nonetheless, as relatively conservative as the outfits might have been, especially in comparison to the scanty piffles of cloth that adorned the two female dancers, it’s hardly a stretch to say Nelly makes tight black leather and denim tres chic.

But enough about the glam; the show was about the music. And Nelly knows music, smoothly segueing from “Glow” to an uncanny cover of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” and back again.

Throw in a mix of tunes from all three albums, including “Party,” “Try,” “Turn Off the Light,” “Wait for You,” “All Good Things,” “Te Busque,” and “Showtime,” and the end result is an impressive performance from an artist with real talent. For good measure, throw in a little craziness courtesy of Gnarls Barkley.

By closing out the show with “Maneater,” complete with some licks on that electric guitar and backup work on those drums, Nelly once again proved herself a quadruple threat: singer, songwriter, guitarist, and drummer.

Perhaps it’s to her advantage that, unlike Spears, Aguilera, and Fergie, The Mickey Mouse Club is not on her rèsumè. Nelly’s work, featuring wide-ranging musical and cultural influences, outshines the best that the House That Mick Built has to offer.

For more information about Nelly Furtado, please visit her official website at http://www.nellyfurtado.com/.

U2: A History in Gigs No.4 – St. Patty’s in New York, March 17th,1982*

By Kenneth MacLellan
2007.06

“There’s one thing that always bothers me, and it’s about what the Americans thought about the Irish. I thought that they had this cartoon image of the Irishman that he either had a bottle in his hand or a shillelagh… it’s not true. And the other one people have is that they think every Irishman has a petrol bomb in his hand and that’s not true either.” — Bono, onstage at The Ritz, New York, March 17th, 1982

According to Into the Heart, during U2’s first tour of America, some members of the band woke up with the sudden realization that they were Irish. With raised eyebrow, the sardonic may proffer a comment along the lines of “What took them so long?” or “Didn’t they look at their own passports?,” but the on-the-road epiphany relates to a tangle of issues more personal and complex than customs stamps or visa applications. Touring had held up a mirror to each member of the band, making them reflect internally about their own Irish-ness, and it also made them contemplate the Ireland they had become unofficial ambassadors for.

That the issue of U2’s nationality came to the fore in the United States should be of no surprise. Not only did touring the US hold up a mirror to the national identity of each member of the band, but the presence of the Dublin band held up a mirror to the thoughts and attitudes of the Irish communities they encountered in the US.

Crossing the Atlantic again, this time in support of the October album, U2 began to define who they were, where they came from, and what they represented more clearly to the American audiences. Looking back at the St. Patrick’s Day show in New York on that tour, the broadening of the band’s purpose and goals is evident – albeit tentative. U2 was growing into itself as a band, and the ideas and beliefs that they formed or had challenged during this period, such as nationality, came to inspire the band’s first major statement, War.

“There seems to be a lot more people here than there was the last time. Some of you must have very big mouths!” — Bono, onstage at The Ritz, March 17th, 1982

1981 had been a year in which the very existence of U2 had been in question. The threat had been twofold, both internal and external. Bono, The Edge and Larry Mullen Jr. had become more involved, more committed to the Christian group, Shalom, since the release of Boy. This had led to the unintentional isolation of Adam Clayton within the framework of U2.

Back in Ireland at the end of the tour, Bono, The Edge and Larry Mullen had many discussions with their fellow parishioners who questioned whether life as a musician, as a rock n’ roll musician, could be squared with a credible faith. Uncertainty over the band’s future lingered for a number of weeks. At one point it looked as if both Bono and The Edge were out of the band. After further thought, they decided they could pursue music and reconcile their rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle with their Christian beliefs.

However, the internal instability within U2 fed through to the music the band was creating. Rushed and unfocused, the decisions made by the singer, guitarist and drummer over continuing with U2 were almost moot when the album was presented to Island Records.

Boy, the band’s debut disc, had been well received by the music press and the resultant buzz was confirmed and continued by the ragged passion of the band’s early live shows and support slots. The strategy to break U2 internationally agreed upon by the band, Paul McGuiness and Island Records centered on touring and the construction of a solid and loyal fan base. The approach was suitable to the character of the band. With make-up and hype and flashy videos all out, the importance of a marketable album was clear.

However, as is often the case with sophomore albums, the momentum of a long-term marketing strategy and the time needed to make an album of considered quality came into conflict. Mix in the mindset of the band members, the loss of Bono’s briefcase of lyrics and notes three months prior to its recording, and the expectations of those who had heard Boy, and the dissatisfaction with October comes into context. To the casual listener, the album is about as sticky as a second album gets. Island Records had grave reservations over how it could be sold. There were meetings. There were questions. Eventually McGuiness and U2 persuaded the record company that they could make the album work on the road. Had the fledgling band been in this situation twenty-five years later, they would have almost certainly been dropped from the label.

Despite the mixed response to October, the sales and chart positions in Ireland, the UK, and Europe for the album and its singles were encouraging. But as is often the case for any band from Europe, the prospect of breaking into the American market remained a key objective. To U2, the USA would soon come to mean more than a lucrative market. Likewise, U2 would come to be one of the nation’s most cherished bands – especially among the sizable Irish-American community. But the love affair between the band and the USA has had its moments of difficulty.

Growing up as they did in Dublin, the band couldn’t escape knowledge of the generations of Irish who had crossed the Atlantic in search of the opportunities America offered. It had been a practice that been going on for hundred of years. In the Ireland of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s emigration was on the rise. For many the destination was the United States. The reason was for leaving was simple. It was a dire time for the Irish economy, with mass employment and its effects filtering through the country. And, across the border, in Northern Ireland, “the Troubles” were still very much a going concern. This meant there was plenty the American Irish wanted to discuss with U2 when the band was in town.

Incredible as it may seem from the perspective of the 21st Century, there was a time when U2 was not synonymous with advocating political and social justice. While topics such as politics, war and religion were never going to be taboo with Bono around, U2’s vocal position on contentious subjects came about through a process of evolution. Barely into their twenties, the band was still finding out who they were as individuals. Waking up and suddenly realizing they were Irish is just one example of this. But life on the road, and the myriad newspaper and radio interviews the band did, quickened the process.

Establishing what they were and were not about was complicated in the USA because of the band’s nationality. Distanced by time, ignorance or the obvious geography, there were a number of Irish-Americans who were out of touch with the day to day reality of the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland, who romanticized the glory of the continuing struggle to liberate Ireland from the clutches of the British. Touring brought these misapprehensions within earshot of U2.

Proud as they were of being Irish, they were keen not to be associated with the campaign of violence perpetrated in the North by the republican group, the IRA. The wish to distance themselves went deeper than cheap, careerist ends. Aside from the fact that peace is as fundamental to Christianity as sound is to song, one of the ways in which Bono, The Edge and Larry Mullen had been able to reconcile being in a rock band with their beliefs had been the idea of using their music to do good. An overt promotion of peace and the rejection of Nationalism was a logical, even necessary, next step for the band.

It was also the starting point and theme of the album they’d start work on later in 1982, War. This approach is particularly evident in the album’s opening track, “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” a song that would be introduced live with the disclaimer that it was ‘not a rebel song’ and would see Bono wave a white flag during its performance, reinforcing a sentiment he expressed during the show at The Ritz:

“There’s only one part of the Irish flag that really concerns me and that’s the middle, that’s the white bit. Okay?” — Bono, onstage at The Ritz, New York, March 17th, 1982

As well as setting the musical and lyrical agenda for War, U2’s thinking around this time would lead them to the activism that they’d become known for as much as music. From here you can trace a thread through the band’s involvement with causes that go beyond the boundaries of national borders such as Band Aid, Live Aid, and Amnesty International; Sanctuary, Greenpeace, and War Child; DATA, Make Poverty History, and Music Rising.

The most recent of those causes, Music Rising, aims to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. It is one of the ways in which U2 has given something back to the people of the United States, a country that has been very good to the band over the years.

Aside from the revenue of the millions of albums and concert tickets purchased by American fans, or the record number of Grammy’s the band has won, America has given something else to U2, something intangible but no less important – inspiration. And without it, there would’ve been no Joshua Tree. According to Rolling Stone magazine, Bono described that album as “dismantling the mythology of America.” But before the Irish rockers could do that, they had to dismantle the mythology of themselves, and, by extension, that of their native Ireland for its American audience.

One of the earliest ways the band attempted this was by closing the concert at The Ritz with a snippet of John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance,” disarming the image of the Irishman with a bomb. But as appropriate as the song’s message is, it only hints at the band U2 would become: give peace a chance would not be all U2 would be saying when global popularity offered it the platform to contribute on important issues.

Preview: Eleven picks to take us to Bonnaroo heaven*

By Andy Smith, Editor
2007.06

While the best thing about Bonnaroo for some may be the addition of the seven dollar showers in general camping, most will agree that it’s the line-up’s potential for pure levitation. The only bad thing about the ‘roo—besides the heat—is that you can never see all the shows you want, no matter how hard you try. Here are eleven shows I sure hope to catch, although when I write again on this site next week, it may be a very different itinerary I share. For more detailed dispatches from Manchester and digressions of a cultural variety, consider reading my Blogaroo at
http://blogonaroo.blogspot.com/

Thursday, June 14, 2007

The Black Angels
This Tent (8:30 – 9:30)
What makes this music so psychedelic? “It’s not just one thing; it’s everything. It’s the sound, the layers,” maintains lead singer Alex Maas. But it could be the guitars. Plastering the wall of sound from a bucket of muddy tricks, versatile axeman Christian Bland is a prophet of the pedals who does for growling guitar effects what Darth Maul did for the light saber. From wah-wah to fuzz to the “thick and creamy,” he works it with his feet and fingers, jacking your ear into the bloody machine where synapses melt on a sacrificial pyre. An animated ex-advertising major who left grad school for the nomad’s life, he’s endearing and amicable in person. But once onstage, Bland builds blisters on the brain, dosing up the ambiance of Alex Maas’s howling Jim Morrisson-meets-Gibby Haynes testimonials. Perfect for kicking Bonnaroo into gear.

Dubconscious
Troo Music Lounge (11:45 – 12:45)
A recent radical and refreshingly positive discovery, Dubconscious provide a dance-friendly focus to welcome the first midnight of the festival. Hailing from Athens, Georgia, this band drops infectious reggae grooves to shake the bones before the brain even realizes it’s reciting lyrics about an enlightened and loving approach to social transformation.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Drops of Water (eco folk music)
Solar Stage (10:30 – 11:15)
The crunchy ethics of Planet Roo have never sounded so sweet. Have your morning coffee (fair trade, of course) when Ashley Ironwood takes the stage and witness the quiet revolution.

Gillian Welch
The Other Tent (3:45 – 5:15)
I finally got to see Gillian Welch and David Rawlings last month, opening up for Bright Eyes at the Ryman. The voice of the goddess made mainstream on the O Brother Where Out Thou soundtrack

The Nightwatchman
That Tent (4:30 – 5:45)

Tom Morello Rages On! With the One Man Revolution, our former Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello isn’t doing anything that hasn’t already been done by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, Steve Earle, Utah Phillips, or Casey Neill. Of course, most rage fans don’t follow politico-fueled folk, and for them, Morello will hopefully be a gateway drug.

Just as much as some headbanging rebels need agit-folk, the folk scene needs that hard edge. In that spirit, we’ve rarely seen the rock star likes of Morello lay down his plan for universalist upheaval via songwriting soul in such spirited fire to join the cause of the oppressed to the call of popular music. Recently, Bruce Springsteen got close with the Seeger sessions, but those were cover songs and not that political.

Every picture I’ve seen of Tom Morello in recent years—here’s always wearing the IWW cap. How many fans at Bonnaroo this week have ever heard of the Industrial Workers of the World? May Tom teach us some radical labor history that we need for the present!

Manu Chao Radio Bemba Sound System
Which Stage (6:30 – 8:00)
Late afternoon is the perfect time a day for such agit-salsa dancefloor subversion Made for the ‘roo, this set will surely have the people dancing into dusk.

Tool
What Stage (9:00 – 11:30)
Some of the hippies are scared. Some people just don’t get it. The rest of us will immerse ourselves in a swirling baptism of bass, guitars, and drums, seeking psychedelic, prog-metal solace in an ear-bleeding symphony, a sweeping ocean of noise.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

The Flaming Lips
Which Stage (12:00 – 2:30)
The whole line-up is like a dream, and when I heard that the dream would come true back in February, I had to wonder which late-night set would steal the festival and become the stuff of legend. While some people are putting their money on John Paul Jones and the “Super Jam,” I’m sticking with Wayne’s world. Without sounding too derivative or dated, the Lips ride a holy thread made of streamers and confetti, craftily connecting the dots between the legacies left by the musical likes of Pink Floyd and the culture-jamming social mischief of Merry Pranksters. A perfect Bonnaroo band, the Lips pack humor and doubt with mythic decibels and convey earnest artsy ambition with a communal and convivial spirit.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Mavis Staples
The Other Tent (1:00 – 2:00)
Let Mavis Staples be your Sunday services as her soulful wails of redemption and resistance kick off our last day on the Manchester farm.

Elvis Perkins in Dearland
This Tent (3:00 – 4:00)
Earlier this year, I saw Elvis Perkins in Dearland open up for My Morning Jacket in Denver, Colorado and witnessed mellow magic. At times sounding like Nick Drake’s proxy from the great beyond, the lyrically sad son of Anthony Perkins could put out the sun with his dark narratives, but with Dearland and Dear fans, we can keep the body above water and beyond wanton blues.

Check out the complete Bonnaroo schedule and so much more at http://bonnaroo.com.

Review: The Best Come Out for Boston’s WFNX/Phoenix Best Music Poll 2007*

By Kimberly Egolf, Editor
2007.06

Bloc Party and Bang Camaro steal the show as fourteen bands play on Boston’s famous Lansdowne Street.

After three days of rain and a couple of Red Sox losses to arch-nemesis the New York Yankees, Bostonians were notably pessimistic as a cloudy and chilly Wednesday, June 6th dawned over the city. Yet midday, as roadies and sponsors prepared for the WFNX/Phoenix Best Music Poll 2007, fate smiled as the sun came out over Fenway Park and neighboring Lansdowne Street.

For each of the past nineteen years, listeners of Boston’s WFNX radio station and readers of the Boston Phoenix have been invited to vote on the best local and national bands. The winners and runners-up are invited to the stage at what has become Boston’s best (not only in name) music revue. The marathon party on Lansdowne Street – which houses a tight row of clubs and bars – ushers in the summer music season and allows Bostonians a chance to experience festival-style concert going.

Promptly at five o’clock, the gates opened to the eager line of people already stretching down the street. A bit of the pessimism returned as these fans were greeted with the news that the Kings of Leon – touted as one of the headlining acts on the main stage – would not be performing due to the lead singer’s illness. Instead, Glaswegian-bred The Cinematics were bumped from their 12:30 am slot at the Avalon to the opening spot on the main stage.

A good crowd had gathered around the stage as the band performed a largely nondescript, though clearly heartfelt, set of indie-rock anthems, including their hit single “Keep Forgetting” and the catchy “Maybe Someday.”

The Cinematics (Photo credit: Kimberly Egolf)

After a short set change, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! appeared onstage to warble out a mixture of songs from their debut album and their sophomore effort Some Loud Thunder, released earlier this year. Called “the hardest working band in rock ‘n’ roll” by the ‘FNX DJ who introduced them, the band had to work hard to hold the attention of the crowd, who seemed easily distracted from the set by the abundance of celebrity band members innocuously roaming the streets.

Around 8:20 pm, however, all eyes were concentrated on the main stage as the sold-out crowd packed in to see one of the most anticipated acts of the evening. Bloc Party burst onto the stage and launched right into their hit single “I Still Remember” from second album “A Weekend in the City.”

Lead singer Kele Okereke expertly riled the crowd throughout the hour-long set by repeatedly exhorting them to sing along with popular tracks like “Positive Tension,” “Banquet,” and “This Modern Love.”

As the sun set over Boston, Bloc Party brought the conviction of soaring vocal arrangements, chiming guitars, and driving beats to counter the disillusionment often expressed in their lyrics. On “The Prayer” – a track from the new album featuring heavy tribal beats and chanting – the band prays to be made unstoppable. And with Bostonians along the street pogoing to the last song of the set (the frantic “Like Eating Glass”) the band achieved their goal.

As the set ended and the night turned cooler, the music continued inside the assortment of small bars and clubs lining Lansdowne Street. Bill’s Bar hosted popular local acts World’s Greatest Sinners – known for their inspired R&B stylings, Snowden, and Bon Savants (Best Music Poll runners-up for Favorite Local Album). Axis gathered together the country stylings of Girls Guns and Glory and the indie stylings of Say Anything and Silversun Pickups. Other bars along the street hosted local DJs spinning collections of great dance music. An abundance of excellent music in almost every genre could be had if one cared to walk a few steps down the road.

By far the most popular, not to mention the largest, venue of the evening was the Avalon, which played host to Bang Camaro, the most hyped local band of the evening, whose song “Push Push (Lady Lightning)” can currently be heard on the popular video game Guitar Hero II. Not less than sixteen lead vocalists led a not-so-hostile music takeover of Boston’s Avalon stage just as Bloc Party finished their mainstage set. Yanking the audience directly back to the big hair and big guitar days of ‘80s metal, the band crashed through a hard-rocking half-hour set complete with rock fingers, headbanging, and lots of air guitar playing from audience and band alike.

The set revealed that there’s nothing particularly new or complicated about Bang Camaro, and that’s perfectly alright. Their simple lyrics are easy to chant, their riffs threaten to stick interminably in the brain, and the abundance of people onstage makes you feel that just about anyone can be a rock star. Add in the most fun you’ll have at a rock show this year and you’ve got a band on its way to greatness. Watch out, because these boys go to 11.

Carah Faye Charnow of Shiny Toy Guns (Photo credit: Kimberly Egolf)

Shiny Toy Guns were up next, propelled by whirling synthesizers and heavy drums (played with flair by a heavily made-up Mikey Martin). This sound worked perfectly to stir the manic atmosphere created by Bang Camaro. Throwing in shout-outs to Boston, Bloc Party, and glow sticks, the band played a high-energy set which included popular hit and iTunes Single of the Week “Le Disko,” as well as a Depeche Mode cover, and two songs destined to be singles in the US and UK (“Rainy Monday” and “You’re the One”).

Around midnight (and now seven hours into the party), The Bravery ascended the stage in front of the still-packed Avalon. Though they seemed distracted through the first three songs, the band – longtime ‘FNX favorites and adopted Bostonians – finally hit their musical stride, looping dizzying synthesizer and guitar riffs around soaring vocal harmonies.

Confetti explosions drove the crowd into a frenzy as The Bravery raced through a selection of songs from their popular first album and their recently-released second album, The Sun and the Moon. Additionally, fans in attendance were treated to a new song called “The Dandy Rock” and an impromptu cover of Oasis mega-hit “Wonderwall” (for which ‘FNX Music Director Paul Driscoll was invited onstage to play drums).

At almost one in the morning, with beer-sticky shoes, confetti-strewn hair, and a persistent ringing in the ears, what was left of the huge crowd stumbled out into the cool Boston night. Strangers shared stories as they walked to their cars, telling tales of a fantastic and eventful evening of Boston’s best live music and wondering what the rest of the summer will hold.

For more information on WFNX, please visit http://www.fnxradio.com.
For more information on The Phoenix, please visit http://thephoenix.com.

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