Article updated September 6, 2019 by Dave Read Bob Dylan’s song from the Basement Tapes, Too Much of Nothing, comes to mind while reflecting on my last visit to the Koussevitsky Music Shed at Tanglewood during the 2019 season, ironically, because both headliners that day delivered an evening’s worth of entertainment, and I could’ve gone […]
Continue reading Trombone Shorty, Ben Harpur double bill stuns Tanglewood throngTop Ten
Top Ten what? Top ten concert pieces we've published here since the late 1990s, when we started writing about concerts for the web. Most of them happened at Tanglewood, but not all, as you'll see...
Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma at Tanglewood
Aug. 7, 2016 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read The Silk Road Ensemble, with Yo-Yo Ma, used the Koussevitsky Music Shed at Tanglewood like a high school during their Aug. 7, 2016 performance, presenting both lessons in social studies and the senior assembly. Eighteen years since being co-founded by Yo-yo Ma at Ozawa Hall, the […]
Continue reading Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma at TanglewoodBob Dylan at Tanglewood July 2, 2016
July 2, 2016 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read It was a night of biblical proportions at Tanglewood, a concert by Bob Dylan that was a revelation, following a set by Mavis Staples that was a revival. The revelation is that some 55 years into his career, by remaining true and not wavering from his […]
Continue reading Bob Dylan at Tanglewood July 2, 20162015 A Prairie Home Companion at Tanglewood
June 19, 2015 performance reviewed by Dave Read The sixteenth Tanglewood broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion, with Garrison Keillor, took place Saturday June 27, 2015; it was the penultimate show of their 2014-15 season, and probably the penultimate show in the series that began in 2000 when Keillor instituted an instant Tanglewood tradition at […]
Continue reading 2015 A Prairie Home Companion at TanglewoodBlind Boys of Alabama, The Holmes Brothers in concert at the Mahaiwe in the Berkshires.
February 10, 2002 performance reviewed by Dave Read The Blind Boys of Alabama and The Holmes Brothers inaugurated the W.E.B. DuBois concert series with thrilling shows in the Mahaiwe Theatre on February 10, 2002. Whether or not the town of Great Barrington ever decides to embrace the memory of its native son DuBois, it owes […]
Continue reading Blind Boys of Alabama, The Holmes Brothers in concert at the Mahaiwe in the Berkshires.Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis at Tanglewood
June 27, 2003 Article by Dave Read The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis gave a spell-binding concert in the Shed at Tanglewood for an audience of 5,378; two sets with the whole contingent, 15 brilliant jazz players duded up in matching Brooks Brothers suits, followed by a mini-gig featuring Mr. Marsalis accompanied by […]
Continue reading Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis at TanglewoodDave Brubeck at 2002 Tanglewood Jazz Festival
September 1, 2002 performance review by Dave Read Three tunes into his 2½ hour 2002 Tanglewood Jazz Festival concert, Dave Brubeck said, “I like to introduce new stuff when I play here because the audience is so kind.” Makes you wonder if “here” referred to the seven year old Ozawa Hall where tonight’s gig was, […]
Continue reading Dave Brubeck at 2002 Tanglewood Jazz FestivalSonny Rollins at Tanglewood Jazz Festival
September 2, 2001 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read Calling them “world-class people, all of them,” Sonny Rollins introduced his band to the audience right at the start of his Sunday afternoon concert, and then went on to turn Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood into world headquarters of jazz for about 2½ hours. Coursing through a […]
Continue reading Sonny Rollins at Tanglewood Jazz FestivalBob Dylan concert review – Newport Folk Festival, Aug. 3, 2002
Bob Dylan’s return to the Newport Folk Festival in 2002, 37 years after “going electric” and shocking folk music “purists” was marked by his appearance wearing a crazy wig and fake beard, a stellar setlist, but only a routine performance.
Continue reading Bob Dylan concert review – Newport Folk Festival, Aug. 3, 2002Yo-Yo Ma’s Brazil at Tanglewood
August 3, 2003 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read The esteem for Yo Yo Ma is widespread, extending even to the climate gods, who transformed Tanglewood into a rain forest August 3 to accommodate the five Brazilian, one Cuban, and one British musician who collaborated with him in the Koussevitsky Music Shed for a concert […]
Continue reading Yo-Yo Ma’s Brazil at Tanglewood