CNY Shows

September 29, 2010 - 8:35pm
Indie rock veterans will bring their characteristic sound to the Westcott on Thursday.

Matt Pond PA are not the same band they were when they started. In the 12 years since their formation, the band found a new homebase, altered their line-up many times and released albums on several different record labels. Yet throughout all these changes, Matt Pond PA has managed to keep a consistent sound thanks to the architect and one permanent fixture of the band – Matt Pond himself.

Pond and company will bring that sound to Syracuse this Thursday when they perform at the Westcott Theater.

September 28, 2010 - 10:29pm
The upstate heroes played a lighthearted, often nostalgic show at the OnCenter Tuesday night.

John Rzeznik pointed to a girl in the crowd as the music died down and the lights dimmed. He waved his hand toward his chest, brushing his large golden necklace, signaling for the girl to pass up her big, blinking sign. “Let me see that,” he said. The crowd parted and formed an assembly line across the rows, sending the white sign Rzeznik’s way. It read “biggest fan” in large, blue letters with a row of blinking white swirls underneath. “This is a technological marvel,” he said, gawking at the flashing poster. “Do you want it back?”

September 26, 2010 - 10:11pm
Review: Marsalis' classic quartet played jazz, swing and bebop to a full house on Sunday.

The Branford Marsalis Quartet brought the swanky vibes of good old-fashioned Harlem jazz clubs to nearly 1,500 Syracuse University parents and students in the Schine Student Center on Sunday.

The Quartet set the tone of their performance with a track composed the night before the show. The four musicians had been jamming on the hotel piano, then grabbed a taxi to campus and sneaked into one of the music practice rooms. There, they developed a track composed by pianist Joey Calderazzo.

September 26, 2010 - 12:35pm
Review: Several years after their heyday, Rogue Wave attempt relevancy at the Westcott.

It’s nearing 11 p.m. at the Westcott Theater and Rogue Wave frontman Zach Schwartz is starting to look sheepish.

“Play – what?” He says languidly, squinting into the blue-toned stage lights. “Play the entire soundtrack?”

There’s a high-pitched, feminine cry from the front of the tiny crowd.

The O.C.?” Schwartz grumbles again. “Is that show still on?”

September 25, 2010 - 5:33pm
Upstate favorites the Goo Goo Dolls finally bring their long-anticipated ninth album to Syracuse

If everything had gone according to plan, the Goo Goo Dolls would have been showing off tracks from their latest album, Something For the Rest of Us, last September. A decision to push the release date back, however, led the group to mix, edit and re-record the songs and produce a freshly polished album. The band hits the OnCenter in Syracuse Tuesday night as part of its extensive nationwide tour to promote that release.

September 25, 2010 - 2:46pm
Canadian indie rock collective put on a singularly emotional, two-hour show.

Kevin Drew started the night off by letting the audience know the exact atmosphere he wanted to create.

“It’s a Friday night, let’s pretend we’re all at a basement party somewhere in Ohio.” He paused and took in the scene at the Ithaca State Theater, “At least it is a Friday night.”

September 24, 2010 - 2:56pm
Marsalis brings his brand of Coltrane-influenced jazz to the Schine Student Center on Sunday.

A jive “cat” with a cosmopolitan spirit and a broad musical scope, saxophonist Brandford Marsalis plays anything, (from jazz, blues and funk to classical music) and anywhere, (from small jazz clubs to the world’s largest concert halls). It’s no wonder this New Orleans native is a three-time Grammy award winner.

September 23, 2010 - 10:51am
The Canadian indie rock giants kicked off their fall tour with a powerful live show.

Stars frontman Torquil Campbell raised his plastic cup to the crowd with a smirk as he sauntered onto the stage at Rochester’s Water Street Music Hall Wednesday night. Someone needs to find out what was in that cup.

September 22, 2010 - 11:58pm
Midlake and Peter Wolf Crier are well worth a listen, even if Rogue Wave have passed their peak.

There’s a reason Rogue Wave is playing the Westcott this Saturday, and it has nothing to do with Syracuse’s love of mid-tempo indie rock or the proximity of Alto Cinco.

September 22, 2010 - 6:03pm
The producer and celebrity DJ will bring his hip-grinding beats to Schine on October 11.

Whether you know it or not, you’ve already seen him: in the video game NBA 2K9, perhaps, or next to Lindsay Lohan at a DJ booth. He’s made the rounds with his sister, actress and model Devon Aoki, and guest-starred – as the DJ, naturally – in the video for Cobra Starship’s “Send My Love to the Dancefloor, I’ll See You in Hell.”