On Tour currently across the US, two piano (among other instruments) virtuosos stopped in NYC for a pair of shows last week. The first night was a crowded affair, and delivered some of the best live music I’ve ever witnessed.

Starting with the opening act, Missy Higgins, I heard it best at the show. “Her beauty in both looks and voice can’t possibly be contained on a recording.” I’ve been a fan of Missy for about a year now, having first heard her single “Where I Stood” at the end of an episode of Smallville. She played that song late in her set, which was a healthy mix of her current album “On a Clear Night” and her older EP. Whether standing with a guitar or sitting behind a piano, the unique and angelic voice filled the entire stage and the entire concert hall. This is a voice that can make problems disappear, and seemed to for everyone there. Songs that I’ve heard a thousand times sounded brand new in person, and her complete humility comes off as genuine and adorable. This alone would have been worth the cost of a ticket, and then Ben Folds took the stage.

Folds did two complete sets and an encore. That alone should give an idea of his reception by fans. He has a reputation for being a bit funny, a bit crazy, and loving audience participation, and that was evident here. Big fans know that two versions of his new album, “Way to Normal,” have been released. First, he “leaked” a fake version of the album onto the internet over the summer. This had a mix of actual songs from the album and “fake” songs bearing the same or similar names to the announced titles. These were conceived, written, recorded, and published in the space of 72 hours while on tour in Europe. They are also better than 95% of pop music out today. His immense talent shined as he and his band played a mix of “real” and “fake” new songs for the first set. Missy Higgins joined him on stage for “You Don’t Know Me,” as the recorded version includes vocals by Regina Spektor. The playful attitude between these new friends was an early highlight of a great show. After the first set, Ben and band came back on stage, and he told the audience that some fans seemed upset in early shows that he played all new songs. he then proceded to play virtually all his classics, from “Battle of Who Could Care Less” to “Army” and even reaching all the way back to “Philosophy.” Being a long time fan, it was thrilling to hear him play these songs live, and even hear some of the songs I heard the first time I saw him, nearly 12 years ago. There really wasn’t a down moment in the entire two sets.

Fans of music, fun, hapiness, and beautiful girls singing beautifully should get out to see this show as it comes to your nearest town. Feel free to sit, as this isn’t exactly rowdy dance music, but these two shouldn’t be missed. I imagine this will be Missy Higgins’ last “opening act” tour, as a talent like that is destineed to be headlining soon.

Dark Daze will no longer be only about game reviews because honestly I’m doing more gaming online now than anything else. I’m changing it up a bit to just reflect things I find cool fun and interesting such as games, music, theater, casting calls (for those actors/actresses out there), and fashion. This past Saturday I went out and had such a great time with people of multiple ages and I just had to promote my friends next gig if you missed this one!

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This year’s most nostalgic alt-rock parade, held at Grant Park in Chicago, took a more subtle note from years’ past with a lineup that spoke more to fan loyalty and longevity than emerging buzz and bombast. Iggy and The Stooges, Pearl Jam and Modest Mouse all spoke to their respective die-hard collectives, but as far as sporting the best rookies, the lineup fell a bit short. Last year’s festival capitalized on the most electric acts of 2006 with Gnarls Barkley, Editors, Mates of State, The Raconteurs and Panic! at the Disco. While Kings of Leon, The Black Keys, The Hold Steady and Polyphonic Spree helped to continue that trend, artists such as Explosions in the Sky, Brazilian Girls, Shiny Toy Guns, Rufus Wainwright, Junior Boys, Lily Allen and Patrick Wolf were sorely missed, not to mention Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails and the reassembled Rage Against the Machine, who all broke their teeth touring with the festival in the early 90s.

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I’ve ranted and roared about Great Big Sea’s albums before, so it should come as no surprise that I had high expectations for Saturday’s live show at the Music Mill.

Ladies and gentlemen, I was not disappointed.

Saturday night was their last show of the tour, and they did not hold anything back, through two one-hour sets and two encores.  Both the band and the sold-out crowd were bouncing up and down by the end of the night; everyone in the room was obviously having a wonderful time. Every single member of the band was rock-solid, even if one or two were a bit rough around the edges after the long haul. Each one of them still managed a lot of eye contact and interaction with the crowd. Of course, in a venue when you can come right up to the edge of the stage, it’s hardly surprising, but I was far off to one side and near the back, and couldn’t have been more involved if I were front and center.

We got songs from almost every album, as well as “Walk on the Moon,” which will be on the next album. (And I assure you, I’ll be first in line at amazon to buy it.) We had songs about pirates (as Alan said, what concert is complete without a song about a pirate), dead horses, berry-picking, and nagging wives. We had slow love songs and fast drinking songs.

I can only hope that they’ll come back to Indy when the next album comes out. If they do, that’ll be my elbow in your ribs as I cut in line for tickets. 

Allow me to tell you, dear readers, of a little something that happened while I was on a trip to New York for the College Media Advisers Conference this year. It was a Thursday, still warm, but cold weather was looming. A friend and I were headed toward Times Square to meet with another member of our group when I looked up and stopped dead. I’d never been so thankful for being a tourist as I was at that moment: I saw “THE COMMITMENTS” in red on the marquee over BB King’s.

As a former member of Mr. Troy Brownfield’s Irish Culture class at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (it’s a good one!), I was familiar with the film, featuring such musical talents as Andrew Strong, the entire membership of the Corrs, and a bunch of crazy men who claimed that Elvis was a Cajun.

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There’s a longer review coming later, but for now, a three-line review of the Saviors of Soul’s recent show:

Awesome: Getting a last-minute ticket to a sold-out show in the middle of Manhattan on the weekend of St. Patrick’s Day.
Ironic: There was only one band member playing that was in the original film.
Awesome AND Ironic: It was the drummer.

More later.

Greetings and welcome to the new ShotgunReviews.com. Since 1999, we’ve done our best to give you worthwhile (and often funny) reviews and columns, and it’s time to shake off the rust and do it a little differently. We’ve kicked around a few ideas regarding how we’d do this new thing, and we hope you like what you see.

The new design comes to us from Barb Hallock, a student of mine with the appropriate attitude for this place (that is, bad). The more bloggish format puts us more on par with the current landscape. After all, we’ve been doing this almost eight full years. It was time for a big change. I think that you’ll agree that the new format, with a huge list of categories and easy searching, is a good one.

As part of that big change, we’ve brought in an influx of new talent from a variety of places. The entirety of our Best Shots team, responsible for the Best Shots column that runs every Monday at Newsarama.com, is now operating here in several capacities. You’ll also meet several talented young writers, including Barb herself, who will be tackling a variety of topics.

However, if you’re one of the rare folks that has read us since 1999, don’t get too worried. Shawn Delaney will still grace us with terrific music reviews, as will Jonathan Birdsong and the Lyrical Lounge crew. The Russ is back on wrestling coverage in full force. L.I. Rapkin’s already kicking in some culture. Eric Barker’s already opened the film vaults. And they aren’t the only familiar faces lurking around.

In the next few days and weeks, you’ll see the roster expand a little more and you’ll see some new recurring columns and features that we hope will become favorites. If you want to check out the old stuff, the old site currently still exists in its full glory under the archive button. If you want to talk about any of the stuff, old or new, visit our newly established forums.

So there’s my big speech. Enjoy yourselves, express yourselves, and invite friends. ShotgunReviews.com never went away, but we are most certainly back. Thanks for your time.