Jesus and Mary Chain played Houston, Denton, SXSW (setlist, video)

First shows since 2008.

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Bruce Springsteen @ NYC's Apollo Theater (video, setlist)

The Boss & Co. perform intimate NYC show.

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Jane's Addiction @ Terminal 5 (photos, setlist)

Jane's Addiction stopped by NYC's Terminal 5 last night, July 25th to play a private LG event.

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Bon Jovi @ Starland Ballroom 1.27.11

Bon Jovi @ Starland Ballroom (Photos by Joe Papeo)

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Bon Jovi played a benefit show for Parker Family Health Center this past Thursday, January 27th. The Red Bank based charity is a volunteer-based, free health care facility where Monmouth County residents without medical insurance can go for treatment. Tickets for the all will-call sold out show went for $250 a pop. The Sayreville native played a generous 23 song set made up of mostly covers, which ranged from The Beatles to Linda Ronstadt to Foundations. Bon Jovi's full Starland Ballroom setlist along with some videos of his performance can be found below. Tris McCall of The Star-Ledger wrote an in-depth review of the show. I highly recommend checking that out here. Excerpt of the write-up below.

The veteran rocker didn’t preach at the 90-minute Jon Bon Jovi and Friends concert. He simply told the audience what the Parker Family Medical Center means to him and to his family, praised a few doctors by name, and let the songs do the talking. Most of these were covers. Bon Jovi led a 17-piece band through enthusiastic renditions of rock standards ("Start Me Up," "So You Want to Be a Rock ’n’ Roll Star") and blues classics ("See See Rider," "634-5789"). Southside Johnny joined him for four numbers, including a convincing duet rendition of Sam and Dave’s "Hold on, I’m Comin.’ " A few of these interpretations were awkward — Bon Jovi’s industrial-strength pipes do not easily wrap around a song as sultry as "Oh, Pretty Woman." Others, like a boisterous version of "Glad All Over" by the Dave Clark Five, flashed a rare glimpse of Bon Jovi the pop geek. Only deep into the set did he turned his attention to his own material, performing hits such as "Prayer," "Wanted Dead or Alive" and "You Give Love a Bad Name." [Tris McCall]

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Less Than Jake @ Starland Ballroom 1.29.11

Less Than Jake (Photos by Jason Archbold)

Off With Their Heads (Photo by Jason Archbold)

Supervillians (Photo by Nicole Mago)

Transit (Photo by Nicole Mago)

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Less Than Jake stopped by Sayreville's Starland Ballroom this past Saturday, January 29th. The group was support by Off With Their Heads, The Supervillians and Transit. The show was apart of a long US tour the FL group just kicked off. After their US run ends February 22nd in Santa Cruz, CA the Ska act will then head over to Australia for a short stint. All of LTJ's upcoming tour dates can be found here. Less Than Jake's massive 21 song Starland Ballroom setlist can be found below. Videos from Saturday nights performance can be found below as well.

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Cymbals Eat Guitars, Charles Bissell (The Wrens), Escape Directors @ Maxwell's 1.23.11

Cymbals Eat Guitars (Photos by Chris Becker)

Charles Bissell (The Wrens)

Escape Directors

Carah Faye Charnow

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NJ/Staten Island's Cymbals Eat Guitars played a Project Matters benefit this past Sunday, January 23rd at Hoboken's Maxwell's. Charles Bissell of NJ indie-stalwarts, The Wrens performed a solo set. Bergen County piano-rock group, Escape Directors and songstress, Carah Faye Charnow opened the bill. After a busy 2010, Cymbals Eat Guitars only have two upcoming dates announced. The first will be at Philadelphia's Starlight Ballroom this Thursday where they will be opening for the newly reunited Dismemberment Plan. The 2nd date will be the very next night at UPenn. CEG will hopefully then be focusing on a follow-up to their 2009 critically acclaimed debut, Why There Are Mountains. Info on what Project Matters is all about can be found below. Even more info here.

TPM believes in the importance of music, music education and how the musical arts benefit all of society. The primary focus of TPM is to discover aspiring musicians 21 years of age and younger and provide them with, among other things: funding, business, legal, emotional support and educational opportunities. Currently, TPM is building a network of experienced musicians who can offer advice with touring, performance, production, post production and related subjects as the careers of our young musicians unfold.

Disturbed, Korn & Sevendust @ Monmouth University 1.22.11

Disturbed (Photos by Nicole Mago)

Korn

Sevendust

In This Moment

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Disturbed, Korn, Sevendust and In This Moment stopped by Monmouth University's The MAC. The Long Branch show was apart of a massive US arena tour, which is now in it's home stretch. The stacked run will return to New Jersey for it's final date this Sunday, January 30th at Atlantic City's House of Blues. Setlists from all of the bands that performed this past Saturday can be found below thanks to Setlist.fm. Videos from the Monmouth University show can be found below as well. The rest of the upcoming Disturbed, Korn, Sevendust tour dates can be found here.

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The Starting Line @ Starland Ballroom 1.7.11

Photo by Melissmeliss328

By: David Glynn

So tonight I’m gonna party like its 1999. That’s what played as The Starting Line walked on stage last night and I don’t think anything could have better described how each person in that crowd felt. I don’t think I was fully aware of it at the time but the more I think about it, every song that was played and every word that I sang meant as much to me as it did the first time sang it. I know I wasn’t alone. It’s rare that you get the chance to follow a band from conception to fruition, let alone over the course of 11 years. From where I stood, watching everyone go through the same euphoric experience, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you if I was 15 and watching them play to 30 kids at the Birch Hill right after the first beer of my life or if I was 25 and watching them play to a sold out crowd right after my first beer of the night. Although the faces may have been a little older and our amount of life experience infinitely greater, the way it all felt was exactly how I remembered; fully intact and untouched by responsibility, struggle or success.

Every song was the song I wanted to hear. The set list was comprehensive with songs from their first release “With Hopes of Starting Over” to their most recent “Direction”. Even with the lengthy hiatus, they were as tight as I’d ever seen. More importantly, they were having fun just like the rest of us. You could feel the exchange of emotion between the entertainment and the entertained. Just as I was looking back on the past 10 years, wondering “when did everything get so complicated’; they were doing the same. During the two song encore, to my surprise, they played a new song “Luck” that despite not knowing a single word, I really enjoyed.

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Glassjaw, Tidal Arms, These People @ Best Buy Theater 1.1.11

Glassjaw (Photos by Dan Bassini)

Tidal Arms

These People

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By Jason Stives

The night after one of New York City’s trashiest displays of decadence, the city streets turned to musical devotion as a sold out crowd of 3,500 marched into the Best Buy Theater in Time Square to see Long Island hardcore outfit Glassjaw start off the New Year right. As the crowd waited for the show to start I couldn’t help but worry about setting expectations into motion. Glassjaw has one of the most astounding fan bases I have seen in my almost 15 years of concert viewing as they can be easily alienated by the bands sudden disappearance for years on end but as always wait with anticipation for their return. For a band that hasn’t released an album in eight years, every performance is treated as a new beginning to the fans and upon seeing the crowd in attendance it was evident that that’s what mattered the most and that expectations mean nothing.

The show started off a bit sluggish as the first opener, Long Island quintet These People, left quite an air of mystery over their 6 song opening set. Untitled numbers and a rough mix of musical styles made the group a fitting opener for Glassjaw but not good enough for a repeat performance in the eyes of the eager crowd. 

While the first acts frantic pace kept the crowd interested if not confused, the somber opening of Brooklyn psych rockers Tidal Arms set left some fans murmuring in the crowd the words Kings of Leon. However these misjudgments in style were thwarted immediately as the band plowed through a thunderous and at time unimaginative display of poise and precision. For a band that has been together for a very short time the group demanded attention with fantastic performances from drummer Francis Mark and bassist Patrick Southern. Lead singer and guitarist Tom Tierney proved hypnotically frightening as he began the night with such gentle vocals only to crank it up a couple notches on each song to almost dark and brooding levels by the time the band left the stage to a respectable applause. 

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Fireworks, Man Overboard, The Wonder Years (surprise set) @ First Unitarian Church 12.30.10

Fireworks (Photos by Dan Bassini)

Man Overboard

Soupy of The Wonder Years

Vinnie Caruana

Transit

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Fireworks, Man Overboard, Transit, Vinnie Caruana, Hostage Calm and Balance & Composure played a special holiday show at Philadelphia's First Unitarian Church this past Thursday, December 30th. An almost identical lineup played the church back in September. Dan Bassini was also at that show and grabbed some great photos. During the pop-punk stacked show Philly's premier pop-punk group, The Wonder Years' played a surprise 3 song set. As you can see above, Soupy participated in some epic stage dives. The massive bill played to a at capacity crowd. Man Overboard do not have any upcoming shows, but for good reason! The NJ quartet are headed to LA to record their Rise Records debut. More details to come soon!

Passion Pit @ Wellmont Theatre New Year's Eve

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Passion Pit brought in the New Year with two Wellmont Theatre shows this past week. NJ's Titus Andronicus opened the sold out Thursday night date, while Philadelphia's Man Man filled in for Slick Rick on Friday, due to the veteran rapper's last minute cancellation. We were able to stop by Passion Pit's New Year's Eve performance and grab some photos. The Cambridge, MA group's setlist consisted mostly of material off their debut LP, Manners, but also included some songs of 2008's Chunk of Change EP and a cover of The Cranberries song "Dream". A video of singer, Michael Angelakos counting down to 2011 can be found below. Passion Pit did also mention that they will be taking some time off, which I'd assume would be to work on a new record. Let's hope so.

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Guided By Voices @ Maxwell's 12.30.10

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Guided By Voices played an intimate show at Hoboken's Maxwell's last night, December 30th. The Dayton, OH group reunited earlier this year for a classic lineup reunion tour, which included a sold out stop at NYC's Terminal 5. The indie-rock quintet played an extremely long set that wrapped up just after 1AM. The massive 46 song setlist from last night's show can be found below. GBV are set to play a sold out New Year's Eve show tonight at NYC's Irving Plaza. Videos from last night's special show can be found below as well. Ex Guided By Voices member, Doug Gillard opened the bill.

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Thursday, Four Year Strong @ Starland Ballroom 12.30.10

Thursday (Photos by Brian Reilly)

Four Year Strong

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Thursday made their return to Sayerville's Starland Ballroom last night, December 30th. The veteran NJ group played their most renowned album, Full Collapse in it's entirety. The group also encored with some other fan-favorites and a new song titled "Turnpike Divides". The full setlist from last night's show can be found below. MA's Four Year Strong were main support on the bill, which also included Acid Tiger and We Were Skeletons. Last year Thursday also played a Starland Ballroom holiday show, expect with Glassjaw and Dillinger Escape Plan. We also caught the last time Thursday played Full Collapse live, which was back in October of 2009 at NYC's Bowery Ballroom. Thursday are now set to head out on a massive US tour with Underoath come this January. All of those dates and tickets to those dates can be found here. Our Photo Editor, Brian Reilly 'reviewed' the show via tweets. Check it out below.

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Marcy Playground @ Mercury Lounge 12.18.10

By: Tina Bock

In 1997, Marcy Playground's “Sex and Candy” topped the billboard charts and became the band's breakthrough song. After falsely being named a “One Hit Wonder”, thirteen years later these guys are still kickin' and rocked the Mercury Lounge on Saturday night. Brooklyn Based pop group Mammal of Paradise opened and played tracks off their newly released debut album Mammal of Paradise. Marcy Playground opened with the soft rock tune “All The Lights Went Out” followed by “Poppies” from their self-titled debut album Marcy Playground.The band included hits off their first album like “St. Joe On The School Bus”, “Sherry Frasier”, and“Opium”. Off of their sophomore album Shapeshifter, the band included “Saturday”, “Wave Motion Gun” and even the devious “Secret Squirrel”. John Wozniak gave us “Punk Rock Superstar” off MP3 and also included “Star Baby” and “Devil Woman” off their recently released album Leaving Wonderland... in a fit of rage. Marcy Playground definitely didn't forget to invite all the ladies on stage to dance to “Sex and Candy”, and surprised the audience by not ending with “Vampires of New York”, but covering Leonard Cohen “Hallelujah”. 

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Atlas Sound @ Maxwell's 12.10.10. Photos, setlist, review.

Atlas Sound (Photos by Kenny Shin)

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By: Kiani Angus-Torres

Atlas Sound, the solo project of Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox, brought his pixilated, lo-fi, sweet shoe-gazing sound to Maxwell’s in Hoboken on Friday, December 10.  This was one of only two last minute performances by Atlas Sound in the NYC area, following last month’s controversial release of his Bedroom Databank series, consisting of four albums recorded in Cox’s home over the past few months and then made available for free download on his website.  

On acoustic guitar, Cox created an intricate maze of self-sampling, layering and articulating each new set of chords in a manner both perplexing and genteel.  Cox’s harmonies and acoustics can likened to those of John Lennon in his solo years, an association easily made in the wake of the 40th anniversary of his passing.  But what distinguishes Atlas Sound is his meditative process during a live performance, immersing the audience in each layer of imagination and guiding them into a trance-like journey. Each pedal has a purposeful melodic trajectory, while his graceful vocals and harmonica offer a sublime sway to his songs. He played each song continuously, from one to the next, breaking only once or twice for applause.

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River City Extension, Brick + Mortar @ The Stone Pony 11.24.10

Brick + Mortar

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River City Extension played their biggest headlining show to date this past Wednesday at Asbury Park's The Stone Pony. The Thanksgiving Eve show was the group's first local date since July, when they opened for Gogol Bordello at Starland Ballroom. The venue was packed to capacity and also showcased the talents of Brick + Mortar, Soft Black and more. River City Extension's 15 song setlist from Wednesday's performance can be found below. The group are set to play a sold out acoustic show with Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio) tonight at NYC's Mercury Lounge. After the holidays and a couple dates with Dashboard Confessional, the 8 piece folk-rock group will head out on what just might be their biggest tour yet, a run with The Get Up Kids and Steel Train. All of River City's upcoming tour dates can be found here.

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Senses Fail, Bayside, Title Fight, Balance & Composure @ Starland Ballroom 11.24.10 (more photos!)

Senses Fail (Photos by Jeffrey K. Liu)

Bayside

Title Fight

Balance and Composure

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Senses Fail, Bayside, Title Fight and Balance and Composure stopped by Sayreville's Starland Ballroom this past Wednesday aka Thanksgiving Eve. The package have been on the road together for over a month and are now in the tour's home stretch. You can find a great write-up (and more awesome photos) on Wednesday night's show here. of the  If you missed it, we recently posted an interview with Title Fight. A few months back we also interviewed Bayside.

Senses Fail, Bayside, Title Fight, Balance & Composure @ Starland Ballroom 11.24.10

Senses Fail (Photos by Dan Bassini)

Bayside

Title Fight

Balance and Composure

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By Jason Stives

On the eve of another Thanksgiving, the packed crowd at the Starland Ballroom was thankful for great times listening to great music as they waited to see duel headliners Senses Fail and Bayside. While the crowd rode heavily in favor of the two main headliners, the night’s openers had the unenviable task of setting the crowd up for the kill. Balance & Composure started out the night sending thumping bass lines and fuzzy guitar logic into the crowd. The Doylestown natives looked a bit uneasy in front of a restless crowd but shone brightly with tracks like “Kaleidoscope” and “Burden” which encompassed the all too brief but thrilling set.

Following a stirring start up, Kingston, PA natives Title fight took to the stage with a third of the crowd holding up their work boots with support. The school yard charm of their youthful appearance paled in comparison to their energetic stage show which featured tracks like “Western Haikus,” “Loud and Clear,” and fan favorite “Memorial Field.” The lead singer left enough innocence in the set to tie his shoe as the band closed out their performance. As they exited the stage, the band’s post show glow reminded me why I should’ve stuck to playing guitar in high school.

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Nevershoutnever, The Maine @ Paramount Theatre 11.19.10

Nevershoutnever

The Maine

Etc.

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Nevershoutnever & The Maine stopped by Asbury Park's Paramount Theatre last night, November 19th. The two groups have been out on the road together for the past month and will bring their joint tour, which also includes I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody's Business and Carter Hulsey, to an end next Saturday in Chicago. The groups are then to set to play some sporadic dates (seperately) before running into each other again in Australia at Soundwave Festival. The Maine's setlist from last night's sold out show can be found below. Christopher Drew & Co. are out in support of their latest (Butch Vig produced) record Harmony, which dropped this past August via Warner Bros. Records. The Maine are out in support of their 2nd LP Black and White, which also came out this past Summer on Warner Bros. Records. All of Nevershoutnever and The Maine's upcoming tour dates can be found here and here. 

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Reel Big Fish, The Aquabats @ Starland Ballroom 11.18.10

Reel Big Fish (Photos by Brian Reilly)

The Aquabats

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Reel Big Fish and The Aquabats stopped by Sayreville's Starland Ballroom this past Thurday, November 18th. The legendary ska groups are slightly past the midway point of their two week run together. If you missed the Starland Ballroom date (and NYC date) then you may want to check out their show tonight at Philadelphia's Theatre of Living Arts. After the tour wraps up this Monday in DC, Reel Big Fish are then set to head over to Australia for a short stint. The Huntington Beach group are currently out in support of their recently released greatest hits compilation titled A Best Of Us For The Rest Of US. If you missed it, The Aquabats were involved in some controversy this past week. Both bands Starland Ballroom setlists can be found below.

Reel Big Fish - She Has a Girlfriend Now

The Aquabats - Pool Party

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