Reviews
Norm Macdonald’s Posthumous Nothing Special Is Unlike Any Other Comedy Performance — Review
It’s hard to imagine a comedy set like Norm Macdonald’s latest and last. Nothing Special, a title that manages the Norm-like feat of simultaneous irony and honesty, was recorded at Macdonald’s home, without an audience, during the pre-vaccine pandemic days of 2020. It’s performed in the style of a webcast; MacDonald has a microphone, but he’s sitting down, focusing mostly on his face, as if Zooming into his own special. The press materials boast that it was done in “one take,” which is both impressive, in that Macdonald appears to do 55 minutes of comedy more or less extemporaneously without any breaks for laughs, and obvious, in that he’s occasionally interrupted, by a ringing phone or a barking dog. The comic had been preparing material for his next Netflix special, but, as very few peop...
Metallica Take Over Napa Valley with BottleRock Set and Late-Night Covers Show: Recap, Photos + Video
Napa, California’s BottleRock Festival finally returned after a two-year absence this weekend, and with Metallica headlining day one on Friday (May 27th), it got off to head-banging start. As they usually do, the legendary metal band made the show an event for their fans, making sure that they would have maximum Metallica intake. One of the bands that performed prior to Metallica’s headlining set was Bastardane, a hard-rock trio that includes James Hefield’s son Castor on drums. Although the band has a thrash metal influence, they have their own unique sound that seemed to get a seal of approval from the Metallica fans watching the show. Also approving was James himself, who could be seen behind the wings of the stage watching and nodding along, but soon he would be on a much bigger stage....
Boston Calling 2022: Nine Inch Nails Deliver Blistering Headline Set in Place of Foo Fighters: Recap, Photos + Setlist
For the second time in a week, Nine Inch Nails played a festival headline slot that was initially intended for Foo Fighters. At both last weekend’s Welcome to Rockville and Friday’s Boston Calling kick off, Trent Reznor and co. served as last-minute replacements after the tragic loss of Foo drummer Taylor Hawkins. Festivals being forced to find fill-ins for canceled acts isn’t the rarest of things, but the circumstances around NIN adding these dates to their first tour in four years comes from uniquely sad circumstances. About an hour into their Boston Calling set, Reznor addressed the situation in a heartfelt statement from the stage. “We’re very happy to be here with you tonight and share this time with you,” he said. “And we’re very sorry for the conditions that led to us being here, wi...
David Cronenberg Plays the Fleshy Hits in the Evocative, Squicky Crimes of the Future: Review
The Pitch: In a near-future world where pollution and technological advancement have led human beings to develop “Accelerated Evolution Syndrome” (i.e. the spontaneous development of new organs and bodily configurations), bodily modifications are the norm and pain is virtually a thing of the past. Save, it seems, for Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen), a celebrity performance artist whose gimmick is tattooing, then surgically (and publicly) removing, the new organs his body generates in elaborate showcases with his creative partner/probably-lover Caprise (Léa Seydoux). He lives a life of constant pain, one which no number of bio-technological devices — floating orchid-like beds that attach fleshy tentacles to his limbs, living high chairs that rock him as he eats breakfast so he can keep h...
Love, Death, and Robots: The 15 Best Sci-Fi Shorts, Ranked
Netflix’s flagship animated anthology series Love, Death & Robots has often been a hard show to love. On the one hand, it’s a dazzling showcase for VFX artists at the top of their field, adapting some of science fiction’s most interesting short stories to a new medium (not unlike the Heavy Metal comics from which executive producers David Fincher and Tim Miller derived the premise). On the other, that same love of Heavy Metal extends to the exploitativeness of many of its stories — especially in its first season, which never met a woman it didn’t like to punish, hypersexualize, or exploit for gut-wrenching violence. Still, despite the Reddit-iness of it all, there are still quite a few gems to be found amongst the Call of Duty commercials and Starcraft cutscenes, especia...
Slipknot Crush Brooklyn’s Barclays Center for First NYC Show in 13 Years: Recap, Photos + Video
There’s a certain poignancy to Slipknot’s choice of pre-show piped-in track: AC/DC’s “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You).” That song was the emotional core of School of Rock for a reason. Amid the boredom and frustration and anxiety of daily life, it’s a sacred activity to transcend the B.S. with a healthy dose of heavy metal. And that’s exactly what thousands of dyed-hair suburban kids, up-for-anything parents and metal-loving weekend warriors did, packed into Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on the evening of May 20th. The mortar fire in the AC/DC tune gave way to actual pyrotechnics — to cheers. In an ironic twist, the track segued into country star Billie Jo Spears’ 1968 recording “Get Behind Me Satan and Push” — which locked onto the name “Satan” and seemed to melt. Devil’s...
Stranger Things Stretches Out the Upside Down For an Endearingly Familiar Season 4: Review
The Pitch: While it’s been three years (and an entire pandemic) since we last saw Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), and the rest of the denizens of Hawking, Indiana in the third season of Stranger Things, for them it’s only been six months. The Battle of Starcourt Mall kicked off a host of changes for our heroes, both young and old, with Eleven choosing to move to California with the Byerses, leaving Mike, Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and the others to struggle with the cliques and clashes of high school on their own. And growing up is hard, even for Demogorgon slayers — Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) has joined the basketball team in an attempt to shake off the nerd cred Mike and Dustin cling to, while Max (Sadie Sink) is still mourning the death of brother Billy last se...
Tears for Fears Debut Four New Songs Live at 2022 Tour Kickoff: Review, Photos and Setlist
Addressing the crowd on Friday (May 20th), the first night of their amphitheater tour with Garbage at Cincinnati’s Riverbend Music Center, Tears for Fears founding member Roland Orzabal pinpointed the band’s mood as “chuffed,” as in “deeply satisfied in a particularly British manner.” The band had brought out “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” three songs into their set, sounding just as pristine and cathartic now as it did when first recorded nearly 40 years ago. Conventional wisdom might be to save such an iconic hit for the latter half of the set or the encore. But Tears for Fears are not a mere legacy act capitalizing on Gen X-er nostalgia. You can identify the most popular songs by how many people start recording on their phones. But deeper cuts, like epic multi-parter “Bad Man’s Son...
Harry Styles Builds His Most Fun Full-Length on ‘Harry’s House’: 7 Essential Tracks
A lot has changed for Harry Styles in the two-and-a-half years between his second and third solo album releases — but perhaps most significantly, he now has smash hits. With 2019’s Fine Line, the One Direction standout synthesized the star-crossed classic rock ambitions of his 2017 self-titled debut into sumptuous, soft-edged pop, and achieved top 40 enormity with “Adore You” and “Watermelon Sugar,” the latter his first Hot 100 chart-topper. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Styles was already headlining arenas before those songs took off — the 1D diehards are both loyal and plentiful — but their crossover appeal solidified him as a cross-generational superstar, capable of making albums that get endlessly streamed by teens and hits that t...
Harry Styles’ Harry’s House Is a Beguiling Homage to ‘80s Pop Full of Romance and Regret
Since the release of his debut solo single “Sign of The Times,” Harry Styles has made it clear that the (one) direction he would be heavily inspired by classic rock. The McCartney-meets-Queen power ballad was just a jumping-off point—a marker of taste that was broader than his days as a One Directioner. All the while, he’s remained genre-fluid, experimenting with psych-pop, funk, folk and indie-rock, but maintaining a pop ethos that would make The Beatles proud. Evoking comparisons to a modern-day Mick Jagger (he even portrayed him on Saturday Night Live), Harry Styles has established himself as the gentleman rock star of the pop world. It’s not just his talent: His charm, swagger. and kindness sets him apart from predecessors like Justin Bieber and Justin Timberlake, who secured a followi...
Bauhaus Kick Off 2022 Tour In Portland With A Chaotic, Thrilling Performance
The tone for the evening was established early. Peter Murphy stormed the stage, scepter in hand, before the house lights could be dimmed. “Let’s get going,” he shouted at his bandmates. “Fuck the lights.” The occasion was the opening night of Bauhaus’ 2022 U.S. tour — a short run of dates that sticks to the West Coast during the month of May before the post-punk icons reconvene in September for a pair of shows in New York City — and the temperamental frontman was anxious to get things underway. Only two other members of Bauhaus — drummer Kevin Haskins and guitarist Daniel Ash — heeded Murphy’s call as they ambled through John Cale’s “Rosegarden Funeral of Sores.” The trio played for a good two minutes before bassist David J showed up. He threw his instrument on and spent the rest of the so...
Bauhaus Kick Off 2022 Tour In Portland With A Chaotic, Thrilling Performance
The tone for the evening was established early. Peter Murphy stormed the stage, scepter in hand, before the house lights could be dimmed. “Let’s get going,” he shouted at his bandmates. “Fuck the lights.” The occasion was the opening night of Bauhaus’ 2022 U.S. tour — a short run of dates that sticks to the West Coast during the month of May before the post-punk icons reconvene in September for a pair of shows in New York City — and the temperamental frontman was anxious to get things underway. Only two other members of Bauhaus — drummer Kevin Haskins and guitarist Daniel Ash — heeded Murphy’s call as they ambled through John Cale’s “Rosegarden Funeral of Sores.” The trio played for a good two minutes before bassist David J showed up. He threw his instrument on and spent the rest of the so...
