On Friday, July 27, the indie rock scene descended on Providence Medical Center Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, KS yet again to celebrate 96.5 The Buzz’s annual Beach Ball. Photographer Ashleigh Lee was on site, and she nabbed some incredible photos of AWOLNATION, Portugal. The Man, lovelytheband, and Joywave for us!
On July 11th, TOMI rocked The Mercury Lounge.
Filing in through the front door, the immediate rush of air conditioning was a relief on such a muggy summer evening. Fans made their way first to the bar, then into the stage area, filling the room. As TOMI walked through the crowd, cheers rippled through the audience, making their way from back to front. A magnetic performer, TOMI took possession of the room from the very first note, packing an almost unprecedented power into her wide-ranging vocals. Her music provides the perfect combination of rock and pop: some songs led the audience to dance, others to head-banging. The joy and abandon in the air was just as palpable as the outside heat, and radiated off the talkative TOMI, who spent time in-between songs sharing the stories behind them. Some of these were heartbreaking; she spoke of crying in a locker room at a yoga studio after a breakup, and a former friend suffering from addiction (she doesn’t think he ever heard the song she wrote about him, but she hopes he does at some point and recognizes it). Then, of course, there were some funnier ones, such as working a day job as a secretary in which she had to smile all the time. For her very last song, she delighted the crowd by debuting a new, sparkly guitar named Pam.
It’s clear that for TOMI, the Mercury Lounge and her latest EP, What Kind of Love, is only the beginning.
Ciaran Lavery, an Irish singer/songwriter, performed an intimate solo set at New York City’s Rockwood Music Hall on June 22nd.
Playing to a small, darkened room, a reverent silence took hold of the audience the moment Lavery began his first song. Switching back and forth between acoustic guitar and piano, his sparse accompaniments allowed his gentle, hushed voice to soar. With introspective, narrative lyrics, Lavery is a poetic storyteller. His ballads pull at your heartstrings, his words run the gamut of emotional experience. As a performer, he makes meaningful eye contact with each member of his audience, drawing his listeners further into his world.
In-between songs, Lavery continued his stories, revealing his sense of humor. Speaking of nervousness on an airplane, he once tried to relax by watching, as a dog lover, Marley and Me. He wasn’t, however, aware of the ending. Lavery also had a revelation while listening to the radio on a long drive, attempting to figure out the meaning of the genre “soft rock.” With a creeping sense of dread, he put it together: he is soft rock. Lavery easily pulled laughs from his listeners’ throats as he framed simple, universal experiences as ones of casual mirth.
More info about Lavery can be found here.
On June 21st, Aimee Mann and Superchunk entertained a large crowd at the Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival in New York. Photographer Christie McMenamin was on hand, and captured some stunning photos for us.
On June 21st, Caroline Rose entertained an enchanted crowd at Stubb’s in Austin, Texas. Photographer Erica Tello took a handful of photos to capture the ambiance of the evening.
Keep up with Caroline Rose here.
June 29th and 30th marked another year of Middle of The Map Fest in Kansas City, MO. Having morphed into several different versions of itself over the years, this year the festival narrowed its performance dates to two, and stepped up their local music offerings. Acts like Rachel Mallin & The Wild Type, Mess, Chloe Jacobson, and Other Americans tore up several stages in the Kansas City Crossroads during the day, despite the insane heat. Social Distortion, Built to Spill, Grizzly Bear, Spoon, and more were phenomenal headliners, and made it easy to forget the outside world. Urban magic. Ashleigh Lee nabbed some pictures for us during the two day event, so we thought it was time to share!
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If you can remember back to Boulevardia 2017, you may have been just as bummed out that you missed Guster due to the rain out as most. But — for those of us who didn’t chicken out and bail from heat exhaustion or thunderstorms — Guster regaled an infectiously energetic crowd in a parking garage. As immaculate as it was, it was amazing to have the band back in town for round two at Boulevardia 2018 so they could share their chops on stage with the masses. Thanks to Guster for making it back, and to Boulevardia for one insane weekend.
LANY riled up a growing crowd on Day 2 of Bonnaroo 2018. We got into their stage antics pretty quickly, and got a few photos for you to enjoy.
Lindsey Jordan is touring extensively this summer under her more familiar moniker, Snail Mail. The Maryland native is promoting her new album, Lush, which dropped June 8. Snail Mail played to a capacity crowd at Vaudeville Mews in Des Moines on June 18.
