In a year filled with a multitude of successes for Dogs In A Pile (DIAP), perhaps December 2023 will go down in band history as one of the most important stretches for the Asbury Park quintet. But we’ll get to that in a moment.

The Bay Area was awash with live music during the final days of 2023. During the week leading up to and including New Year’s Eve, live music fans in the region could choose The String Cheese Incident, LCD Soundsystem, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Les Claypool’s Bastard Jazz, Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew’s “Remain in Light” Talking Heads tribute, Charlie Musselwhite, and Jerry’s Middle Finger, among others. And of course, some folks stayed home to stream Phish.

Bob Weir & Wolf Bros, accompanied by the vibrant Wolfpack, delivered a spectacular New Year's Eve performance at Ft Lauderdale's Au-Rene Theater on Sunday evening.

Phish returned to the iconic Madison Square Garden in the heart of New York, NY on December 28, 2023, for their eightieth show at the famed arena. They also commenced their annual four-night New Year's run for a sold-out crowd of donut-clad individuals. Like a fine wine, this band only gets better with age, and the proof is in the pudding: a first night full of old favorites and a four-song encore.

December is for holidays, and this year was no exception. The rising jam rock band Dogs In A Pile put on an outstanding, sold-out show at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ on December 16, 2023, that included a visit by Mr. Grinch, as well as some stellar covers. This performance was part of a two-night stand at the legendary Jersey Shore venue in honor of the December holidays. Percussionist Adrian Tramontano (Twiddle) sat in for the second set.

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong returned to the Brooklyn Bowl Philadephia, PA with the flock on December 15, 2023. This bird band quartet played a pair of heaters in 2022 at this unique venue and raised the stakes.

Nat Keefe’s Concert Carnival came to town and performed “without a net” at The Independent on Sunday night, December 17, 2023. The venerable San Francisco club was full of talent, musical and otherwise, for the 18th annual fundraiser produced by Keefe (Hot Buttered Rum, BeatMower).

Guitar-master dexterity was on dazzling display at the sold-out Crest Theatre in Sacramento on December 13, headlined by one of the finest and most heralded guitarists in the land, Tommy Emmanuel. His set was preceded by a duet featuring dobro whiz and 32-time Grammy nominee Jerry Douglas along with Daniel Kimbro on double bass.

Please don’t murder me if you think this review of the acclaimed jam-fusion band Jazz Is Dead runs hard to the gushy side. But even after all these years – more than 50 years of concert-going – I’m still a pretty impressionable guy (It’s true. . .) and it was only my first time seeing them.  So there was a lot to take in.

Billy Strings performed in Wilkes Barre, PA, on Friday night in the penultimate show of his 2023 Fall Tour. The tour, which began in Buena Vista, CO, at the end of September, covered the West Coast and Midwest, barnstormed through Europe in November, and concluded with several East Coast dates in December.