Dark Star Orchestra came “high-stepping” into Eugene (Ore.) last Monday night and fulfilled their bold promise to “continue the Grateful Dead concert experience” which is no easy feat. A substantial, multi-generational crowd of familiar faces gathered to glow wild and celebrate the reawakening.

Midnight North on February 10 delivered a powerful and endearing three-hour show, dubbed “Experience CSN&Y,” that included a long and powerful set of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young material. Phil Lesh and Eric Krasno guested on big chunks of the proceedings, which took place at Phil’s venerable Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, California.

"You're in a different place.  It's very sensual . . . It satisfies that thing of going to space. You can go into the water and pet eels and octopuses and things.  I really love it; it's an amazing experience."  Jerry Garcia

I ask for a lot. Usually, when it comes to music, all I do is ask. “Can we afford a Phish festival this year?”, “Can we take the kids to this show?” and most importantly “Mike, can you get me into this show?” For those of you reading this after its won the Pulitzer and was picked up by the AP, let me set the stage. Mike Moran is the owner, founder, and editor of gratefulweb.com. It’s his pull that gets me into the shows. Our relationship is based solely on me asking and him obliging. But once in a great while, he does ask me to cover a show.

Live music lovers in the North Bay Area know Mill Valley’s Sweetwater Music Hall as a hotbed for unexpected collaborations and special one-off celebratory performances. Not surprising considering the primary investors behind the intimate café/venue in the music savvy Marin County town are rock ‘n’ roll investors (Bob Weir and Sammy Hagar namely) bringing in one-of-a-kind collaborations.

We see live music not to hear the same music we can easily hear at home, but to experience something we otherwise never could.  Whether that difference is an artist’s speech, surrounding ourselves with the energy of a positive crowd, or hearing a unique rendition of a song that has never been recorded in a studio, live music gives us something our headphones just can’t, and hometown shows always have a way of giving us just a little bit more.  Saturday, February 3rd Stick Figure performed to a sold-out crowd at Oaklan

Longtime Santa Barbara County resident Alan Parsons brought his latest incarnation of The Alan Parsons Project to a full house of adoring fans in the Samala showroom of the Chumash Casino Resort, the last weekend of January. Parsons, a legendary music producer and one of the most potent forces in the progressive rock movement of the 1970’s has only recently returned to more extensive touring.

Revelator Hill’s new album, Live By The Creek, offers a personal invitation to experience their magnetic musical alchemy up-close. Recorded at the Lubber Run Amphitheater in Virginia, it captures the elusive lightning in a bottle that makes for the greatest live albums, and you can still feel the flames that ignited the show.

The harmonic sisters of Sweden’s First Aid Kit started their early 2018 American tour in impressive fashion at the ornate Fox Theater in Oakland, California, on January 24. In front of a plethora of varying video backdrops, the show was filled with lush layers of dreampop mixed with elements of alt-country/folk/rock.

The Devil Makes Three are one of those bands that seemed to emerge out the gate with their vision cast in concrete. There were no hidden tricks up their sleeves, no gimmicks to lure in some hip audience. From the get-go, they’ve managed to invigorate the old soul of bluegrass music with the kind of youthful spirit it seems it was always meant to possess, and in turn, the group has found themselves to be a shining light in the 21st-century scene.