Latest Posts

The Front Bottoms at Water Street Music Hall (10/22/15)

Here’s the thing about this band: every time you think you’ve seen enough or are burnt out on listening to their stuff, you come back for more. I’ve been to a total of five Front Bottom shows now and am somehow still unremittingly drawn to them. For the same reason I tend to always order a medium iced coffee with cream and caramel swirl when I roll through the Dunkin’ Donuts drive thru, I always try to snag a ticket if they’re in the area because I know what I’m getting into at a Front Bottoms show, and I know it’ll be real damn good. Last night’s Rochester show at Water Street stuck out to me among all of my past TFB show escapades. With a set list that included eight songs from their newest release, Back On Top, three songs from the Rose EP, five songs from Talon of the Hawk and four[...]

The Front Bottoms

The Front Bottoms carry the unique ability to put listeners through the emotional wringer and have them come out on the other side embracing a limitlessly carefree attitude. Through charm, wit, innuendo, pointed imagery and melodies that nest themselves neatly in your ears for a seemingly infinite amount of time, this four piece has been able to use that ability to develop into a captivating indie-pop force. The band’s recent full length release, Back On Top, is somewhat of a power statement. It’s undoubtedly different than previous releases but it still retains the same characteristics mentioned above. Even people who initially expressed reservation toward the album have come to love it in some way — in almost an exclusive, “this album was written for me” type of way. Tunes like “West Virginia” and “Cough It Out” showcase the creative risks the band is taking instrumentally and melodically, but there’s still this inherent somber hopefulness[...]

The War on Drugs

After releasing one of 2014’s finest records in Lost in the Dream, Philadelphia’s The War on Drugs has extended its victory lap into the summer with a return engagement to the WNY area, this time at Rochester’s Water Street Music Hall. The hazy heartland rockers showed up on nearly every best of lists last year, hit the late night circuit hard, and with festival season upon us, tonight’s gig at Water Street should be a nice test run before the group hits Bonaroo later this week. Tickets are still available to purchase for $26 online and most likely at the door, which is set to open at 7pm, as well. New Jersey rockers, The Everyman, are set to open.