Reviews
Rage Against the Machine Kick Off Five-Night Stand at Madison Square Garden: Recap + Photos
Rage Against the Machine have embarked on their “Public Service Announcement Tour,” which the quartet launched last month at the Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconsin. Marking the band’s first live shows in 11 years, the ongoing trek was originally scheduled to ignite in 2020, but was postponed twice due to the global pandemic. The first leg is winding down with a five-night stand at New York City’s famed Madison Square Garden, which began with a show on Monday night (August 8th). A UK/European run begins later this month, plus a second leg of US and Canadian shows is set for early 2023, with tickets available here. Monday night’s show at MSG saw Rage Against the Machine playing to a completely sold-out crowd. Still healing from a leg injury sustained during the band’s Chicag...
Better Call Saul Review: The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Better Call Saul, Season 6 Episode 12, “Waterworks.”] As we reach the finish line on Better Call Saul, a theme has emerged from these final episodes: How tragic it is, and the tragedies that can result, when someone lives in fear. That at least seems to be Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn)’s takeaway from the last several years of her life, as we see how making contact with her ex-husband Jimmy/Saul/Gene (Bob Odenkirk) caused her to return to the scene of her crimes — even if she may not end up actually having to pay the price for them. Written and directed by Vince Gilligan, “Waterworks” is a masterclass in making the mundane seem both important and suspenseful. The action begins with a tour through Kim’s black-and-white state of existence — a n...
Lady Gaga Finally Kicks Off North American Tour After Years of Delays: “This Bitch Has Been to the Grave and Back!”
Seated at a piano made of thorns in the middle of a rapt sold-out audience at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Lady Gaga confessed that there was a point in her life when she wasn’t sure if she’d ever make it back to a stage like this again. Indeed, a lot has happened to both Gaga and the world since she was last able to tour. “Severe physical pain” due to fibromyalgia forced her to postpone and eventually cancel the final leg of her Joanne World Tour in 2018. The “Chromatica Ball” stadium tour (grab tickets here), originally slated for 2020, was postponed twice for COVID concerns. The release date for the album she was planning to tour in support of, Chromatica, was briefly pushed back due to the pandemic, too. Or as the singer/actress/performance artist herself put it with a mix of humor, r...
They/Them Review: Kevin Bacon-Starring Slasher Proves Hollow
The Pitch: Conversion therapy is the pseudo-scientific process of trying to change a person’s sexuality or gender identity through manipulation, abuse and torture. Generally operated by religious groups who claim to be doing their victims a favour, this practice is generally carried out in isolated retreats on groups of young people. The new horror film They/Them attempts to frame this specific real-world evil through a likely more familiar horror movie iconography. After all, the idyllic American summer camp has been a home for terror for decades, in the form of brutal murders and/or adolescent awkwardness. A nice trip to the woods offers young people a place of freedom, disconnected from who you’ve been before — while the offer to serial killers is simply a place, disconnected. Most famo...
The Sandman Review: Netflix Brings Neil Gaiman’s Dream to Life
The Pitch: What if amorphous concepts like Desire, Despair, and Death had anthropomorphic representations, and had realms over which they ruled? What if, amongst them, one of the most powerful was Dream (Tom Sturridge), who oversaw the land to which all living creatures come when their eyes slip shut and their minds take flight? That’s perhaps the simplest place to start when describing the premise for The Sandman, Netflix’s highly anticipated adaptation of the graphic novel series written by Neil Gaiman, with artists including Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Jill Thompson, Shawn McManus, Marc Hempel, Bryan Talbot, and Michael Zulli. Perhaps one of the most iconic examples of “sequential art” ever created, the ten-volume graphic novel series, despite many attempts over the decades by Hollywoo...
Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 Captures Unknown Horrors of the Three-Day Disaster: Review
The Pitch: The world of documentary film seems to believe in one thing: Why have just one documentary covering a disastrous music festival when you can have two? Unlike the paired Netflix and Hulu documentaries which investigated the wildness of Fyre Fest, though, Netflix’s new docuseries Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 at least has a good year or so of distance from HBO’s Woodstock ’99, while rehashing much of the same material. It’s Not a Three-Hour Movie: Trainwreck (previously known as Clusterfuck, and streaming today on Netflix), does have a distinct advantage over the HBO doc — rather than compressing the full breadth of the three-day disaster into one 110-minute film, the series consists of three episodes, structured to mirror the three days of the actual festival. While the episodic stru...
Better Call Saul Review: The Past Is Present
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Better Call Saul, Season 6 Episode 11, “Breaking Bad.”] On April 26th, 2009, a television show called Breaking Bad aired an episode called “Better Call Saul.” Thirteen years later, a television show called Better Call Saul aired an episode called “Breaking Bad.” Here we are at a full-circle moment for one of television’s great creative achievements, and yet the significance of Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul’s long-promised return as the iconic Walter White and Jesse Pinkman manages not to overshadow the action just now revving up in Omaha, Nebraska. The elegance of this new episode’s name choice, which is split between two very different periods of time for one Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman/Gene Takovic (Bob Odenkirk), cannot be overstated, es...
Osheaga Festival 2022 Recap: After Two Years Off, Arcade Fire, Dua Lipa, and More Heat Up Montreal
Of all the times to be visiting Montreal, this past weekend (July 29th-31st) was the one: not only was the annual comedy festival Just For Laughs wrapping up at various venues throughout the city, Osheaga Festival was making its grand return at the Parc Jean Drapeu for the first time since 2019. These events, along with near-perfect weather and a summertime spirit, saw thousands flocking to the city, with musicians, comedians, and lovers of both enjoying all that Montreal has to offer. Osheaga is more than just a typical city festival — over the last several years, Osheaga has gotten all the more curated, with many festival exclusives, local favorites, and some undeniable stars gracing their many stages. This year, which marked the 15th anniversary of the festival, was no different, but th...
Lollapalooza 2022 Day Four Recap and Photos: Green Day, j-hope, Blackstarkids, and More
Day four of Lollapalooza 2022 went down on July 31st, wrapping up the legendary Chicago festival. The day featured towering sets from headliners Green Day and j-hope, the latter of which making history as the first South Korean to headline a main stage at a major American music festival. Other notable sets came by way of Maneskin, Blackstarkids, Porno for Pyros, and Beach Bunny, as well as DJO, BANKS, and Buffalo Nichols. Check out action shots of such artists in our Lollapalooza day four photo gallery below, courtesy of photographer Josh Druding, who was on the ground for Consequence all weekend long. You can also revisit day one, day two, and day three, as well as a full review and gallery from j-hope‘s set. Related Video Advertisement [flexi-common-toolbar] [flexi-form class=”flex...
Lollapalooza 2022: j-hope Kicks Off a New Era for BTS: Recap, Photos + Setlist
“I’m j-hope from BTS,” he told the Lollapalooza crowd, doing nothing more than introducing himself and nothing less than making history. BTS are perhaps the most overwhelming musical force the world has ever known, having conquered the globe with an ARMY bigger than Beatlemania. The septet became such an institution that when they announced a “hiatus,” to pursue solo projects, the resulting panic cost their management label HYBE $1.7 billion in market cap in just two days. “We are not disbanding,” the group clarified. j-hope said it in a different way under the banner of Chicago’s skyline in Grant Park Sunday night: “I’m j-hope from BTS.” Advertisement Related Video He’s a lot more than that. With this appearance at Lollapalooza 2022, j-hope became not just the first of...
Lollapalooza 2022 Day Three Recap and Photos: J. Cole, Turnstile, Dashboard Confessional & More
Day three of Lollapalooza 2022 took place on Saturday, July 30th, with more incredible acts taking the stages at Grant Park. Headlined by J. Cole, the day saw acts like Big Sean, Turnstile, Wallows, and Dashboard Confessional rock the crowd. Also performing on Saturday were the likes of Fletcher, Alexander 23, and Meet Me @ The Altar. Advertisement If you missed all the action, you can relive it vicariously through our extensive Lollapalooza day three photo gallery below. Revisit our recaps from day one and day two, and stay tuned for our full coverage of the remainder of the festival. Advertisement [flexi-common-toolbar] [flexi-form class=”flexi_form_style” title=”Submit to Flexi” name=”my_form” ajax=”true”][flexi-form-tag type=”post_t...
Arcade Fire Kick Off Tour with Heart and Soul at Montreal’s Osheaga Festival: Review
Arcade Fire pick and choose their moments very carefully. It’s fitting that the Montreal band decided to release their first album in five years, the ambitious and heartfelt WE, in a pandemic-affected universe, urging us to relish in the fact that we are still, in fact, alive. It’s even more fitting that Arcade Fire began their extensive WE tour in Montreal, the band’s birthplace, at Osheaga Festival, which is celebrating its first year back since 2019. However, Arcade Fire’s appearance at Osheaga on Friday night (July 29th) was a stroke of good and bad luck: originally scheduled to headline were Foo Fighters, who cancelled all their tour dates after the untimely death of drummer Taylor Hawkins. But nabbing Arcade Fire as a replacement headliner is an excellent booking, and their pres...
