Calvin Theatre: Northampton, MA
(updated as of 8/22/12 at 12:44 AM)
Here’s our list of who to see at the Calvin Theatre (10 King St.) in Northampton, Massachusetts. Tickets are available at www.nbotickets.com. You can view the entire schedule of shows at www.iheg.com.
9/7 – O.A.R.
w/ Foxtrot Zulu 8:00 PM 40 + fees
O.A.R.’s Wind-up Records debut album, King, marks a new beginning for the band, while also paying homage to their past. It is the seventh studio effort in a career that began with their high school recording, The Wanderer. Bringing back the title character from their first album, O.A.R. takes the listener on a journey to discover that what the Wanderer, and the band members themselves, had been searching for all along, was there from the beginning. As the closing song on the new disc states, a return “Back to One.
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9/14 – Steve Vai
w/ Beverly McClellan 8:00 PM 45/35/25 + fees
While many musicians fit easily into a single category, Steve Vai’s unique musical vision remains unclassifiable. After more than 20 years, Vai continues to use unbridled guitar virtuosity and soulful artistry to explore the spectrum of human emotion. Vai first stepped into the spotlight in 1980 as a guitarist in Frank Zappa’s band. But Vai’s indelible contribution to music came during his solo career, which includes combined sales of nearly six million albums. Vai creates a sound all his own by striking a balance between technical ability and poetic phrasing. “I make music to push my own buttons,” explains Vai. “I’ve always been driven by an addiction to create sounds that are unique – not better than what other people do, just different.”
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9/22 – Beats Antique
w/ LYNX 8:00 PM 21 + fees
San Francisco’s Beats Antique is the musical alliance of producers David Satori, Tommy Cappel and world-renowned belly dancer and producer Zoe Jakes. Satori and Cappel both trained classically before venturing to Bali, West Africa and Serbia. With extensive backgrounds in multicultural music production, they command the spectrum of live and digital instrumentation with skills born of hip-hop and jazz. Jakes adds a third dimension as the multi-cultural and disciplinary dance counterpart, with her professional experience in two major Bellydance troupes. All of this sets the scene for the group’s stage show which has impressed audiences at festivals including Bonnaroo, All Good, Wakarusa, EDC Las Vegas, Outside Lands and Electric Forest. Beats Antique is an innovative creature built from the cumulative heritage of the world’s music chasing its tail. Their 4th album Elektrafone drops October 4th, 2012.
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10/7 – Ben Harper (SOLD OUT)
Solo (acoustic) 8:00 PM 45/35 + fees
“I’ve never made a record that was such a timeline,” says Ben Harper of his new album, Give Till It’s Gone. “It’s a real extension of the last year and half in my life, and all these sounds are inspired by my experiences. It’s as honest a musical statement as I could make.” The recent past has certainly seen Harper at a creative peak, juggling several high-profile, far-flung projects. Yet somewhere amidst all this activity, he found the time and the focus to write a new set of songs that represents the most personal and diverse collection in his career.
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10/25 – Brandi Carlile
w/ Blitzen Trapper 8:00 PM 46/36/26 + fees
“If you start a band with me, I’ll get us signed and on the road within a year” said a tenacious 22-year-old Brandi Carlile to twin bothers Phil and Tim Hanseroth, “The Twins were local heroes to me, I used to go and watch them play live when they were in The Fighting Machinists, I thought they were cool but more importantly great singers and songwriters.” Carlile landed the prophesied record deal with Columbia Records one year later with producer Rick Rubin, they released their eponymous debut in early 2005.” Now, on the eve of Carlile’s 5th major label album release BEAR CREEK and after almost a decade of extensive touring, the trio and self-confessed “road dogs” and “dirty pioneers” are back with a bang.
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10/27 – State Radio
CAC Halloween Weekend 8:00 PM 26 + fees
State Radio plays their unique mix mix of rock, folk, punk and reggae with an emphasis on activism. Like Rage Against The Machine and System Of A Down before them, State Radio roll up their sleeves and practice what they preach as did Chadwick Stokes’ previous band, Dispatch.They’ll host the 4th Annual Northampton Halloween 5k on Saturday, October 27th, 2012 at 3:00pm. Registration is in the courtyard next to the John E Gare Parking Garage. Their organization, Calling All Crows, provides women in Afghanistan with shelter and educational opportunities.
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11/1 – Umphrey’s McGee
w/ The Bright Light Social Hour 8:00 PM 21 + fees
Playing music for over a decade Umphrey’s Mcgee has built themselves an extensive and loyal fan base from the US to Australia. This progressive rock group is constantly touring and gives their audience a show that is fun and always unexpected. They are known to improvise during their shows, which is why they make recordings of every live show they do. Through creativity with lights and their music this group’s shows are a guaranteed interesting and entertaining experience.
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11/10 – Barefoot Truth (FINAL SHOW)
w/ Woodford Way 8:00 PM 20 + fees
Since taking the band full time in 2007, Mystic, Connecticut’s Barefoot Truth earned spotlight attention on many levels, including an invitation to play at President Obama’s pre-debate rally in New York with Bruce Hornsby and Crosby and Nash. Several songs from their ‘Threads’ album were on the soundtrack to the internationally acclaimed film ‘Nature Propelled’, which they also did the score for. They played major festivals; Summerfest, 10,000 Lakes Festival, FloydFest, in addition to hundreds of high school ande college shows in the Northeast. The band recently announced that they were going to wrap up this chapter in their lives with a bittersweet letter to their fans announcing their break-up which you can read on their website so, sadly, this will be their final concert.
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11/18 – Dark Star Orchestra
8:00 PM 27 + fees
Dark Star Orchestra is simply the best Grateful Dead tribute act. Recreating entire Dead performances from decades past exactly, matching set lists and using era-correct instrumentation. The Dallas Morning News claims that the Orchestra is “the next best thing to being there,” while Rolling Stone raves about their “fanatical attention to detail.” The band is known to improvise during extended jams, making the legendary songs their own in the way the Grateful Dead improvised years ago, never playing the same song the same way twice.
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12/1 – Jake Shimabukuro
8:00PM 35/25 + fees
It’s been a defining year for “ukulele hero” (Rolling Stone) Jake Shimabukuro and on October 2nd 2012 he’ll release his most ambitious record to date, ‘More Ukulele,’ Jake is in the studio with Alan Parsons, engineer of the Beatles’ ‘Abbey Road’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon,’ working on an album that will not only take him to the next level, but will redefine the ukulele itself. On the new LP, Shimabukuro will infuse his “buoyant musicianship and brisk proficiency” (NY Times) with the rock and roll technique that has earned him the title of “Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele” (Guitar Player). Jake has defied the limitations of his 4-string, 2-octave instrument with his astonishing covers of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (10 million+ views on YouTube) and “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
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12/2 – Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
8:00 PM 26 + fees
Grace Potter & the Nocturnalsʼ self-made 2005 debut album, Nothing but the Water revealed a musically sophisticated young band inspired by the music of the late ʼ60s/ early ʼ70s and fronted by a then-21-year-old dynamo whose nuanced singing, organ playing and songwriting belied her age. The follow-up, 2007ʼs This Is Somewhere, confirmed that the band had no interest in following trends but was instead in pursuit of timeless expression as it forged its identity. On 2010ʼs self-titled third album, GPN, toughened by a half decade of nonstop roadwork, flexed their rock ʼnʼ roll muscles and confirmed that they were in it for the long haul. Now, seven years after hitting the radar, GPN take an exponential leap with the widescreen opus THE LION THE BEAST THE BEAT (Hollywood, June 12, 2012). With this musically combustible and conceptually dazzling work, the Vermont-based band forcefully takes its place alongside the best of its peers while building on the rich legacy of its inspirations.
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1/19 – Get the Led Out
8:00 PM 35/25 + fees
The songs remain impressively the same. Hammer as they might, other Led Zeppelin cover bands are over the hills and far away compared to Get The Led Out, Jimmy Page’s handpicked favorite Zep tribute band. (He booked them for a private fundraiser for his charity.) Get The Led Out is a group of professional musicians who are passionate about their love of the music of Led Zeppelin. It’s been their mission to bring the studio recordings of the mighty Zep to life on the big concert stage. Much as the Fab Faux represent the MUSIC of the Beatles, not their live show or physical attributes, GTLO is focused on the recorded versions of the music of Led Zeppelin.This is not an impersonator act but a group of musicians who were fans first, striving to do justice to one of the greatest bands in rock history. The others may aspire but they are trampled underfoot by Get The Led Out. They have an uncanny presence and will leave you dazed and delightfully confused.
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