Event Reviews

The Kills

Feb 8, 2012

Ten years of The Kills may not mean much to some, but to many -- Jen Cray included -- it means a decade's worth of killer music that's worth celebrating.

Mannheim Steamroller

Jan 13, 2012

The holiday music of Mannheim Steamroller reverberates, even as we take our unwanted Christmas sweaters back to Target.

The Airborne Toxic Event

Dec 15, 2011

Three bands (including The Airborne Toxic Event), six bars -- what more could Carl F Gauze want? Oh, yeah, legible sound.

Family Force 5

Dec 14, 2011

Hundreds of salivating teenaged females (and one creepy old guy named Christopher Long) recently packed into Orlando's hotspot, The Social, for the opening night of Family Force 5's Solid Gold Tour.

Orlando Calling Festival

Dec 12, 2011

The first ever Orlando Calling Festival set up camp on a picture-perfect Central Florida fall day. Jen Cray parked it on the lawn amid tens of thousands of music fans and absorbed.

They Might Be Giants

Dec 9, 2011

They Might Be Giants are still a band and touring after nearly 30 years. Jeff Schweers submerged himself in their pop music flood.

Anthrax

Dec 1, 2011

Orlando fans went metal-thrashing mad when the Anthrax/Testament tour recently decimated the House of Blues. Christopher Long was deep in the pit of it.

Capitol Steps

Nov 17, 2011

Nobody can dish the political dirt like insiders, Capitol Steps. Carl F Gauze tries to keep up with all of the costume changes.

Social Distortion

Nov 15, 2011

Another sold-out Social Distortion show satisfies both Orlando and über fan Jen Cray.

Dan Sartain

Nov 14, 2011

Dan Sartain doesn't really care if you know his name, or any of the songs he plays. He just came to remind you that rock 'n' roll can still be unsettling... and Matthew Moyer LOVES it.

Guns N' Roses

Nov 8, 2011

Guns N' Roses... well, sort of... arrive "fashionably" late to their first US show in over five years. Jen Cray is still trying to decide if Axl Rose can shoulder the legendary metal band on his own.

Bush

Nov 2, 2011

After nearly a decade's hiatus, Gavin Rossdale has relaunched BUSH, and a super sold-out show in Orlando lets Jen Cray know that she's not the only one excited to see this band back together.

New Found Glory

Oct 27, 2011

Pop Punk's Not Dead on New Found Glory's fall tour, but that doesn't mean that Jen Cray is as blindly accepting of the modern day take on the genre as some.

The Sounds

Oct 26, 2011

The Sounds strut back through Orlando and Jen Cray is part of the small but devoted crowd that welcomes them.

Cut Copy

Oct 14, 2011

Cut Copy, a band too skilled to be discarded as just another dance band, blanketed Orlando's Firestone Live with an aura of awesome, according to Jen Cray and about a thousand others.

Atmosphere

Oct 10, 2011

Atmosphere taps into the psyche of self doubt of twentysomethings, Matthew Moyer discovered at a sold-out Jacksonville show, where the powerhouse rhymes were so hot they broke the air conditioner.

Frank Turner

Oct 5, 2011

Jen Cray and a horde of bodies mosh to Frank Turner's odes to life, love, and music at his headlining Orlando show -- finally.

Atari Teenage Riot

Oct 4, 2011

Atari Teenage Riot came to Firestone Live to pound out the techno into a modern political landscape where the people rise above totalitarian and authoritarian control. It's the kind of futuristic idealism that local scribe Eric Donath can't miss, and to ice that cake is Otto von Schirach, a bass-heavy freak with street-cred like a rap-sheet symphony.

Foster the People

Sep 27, 2011

Foster the People caught a lucky break with their first single, but prove to be more than just the flavor of the month at a recent Orlando show that made a believer out of Jen Cray.