#marc millman

[thebowerypresents]

Brandi Carlile – Tilles Center – July 21, 2023

Sometimes it’s best to go it alone, and to that end, on Friday, Brandi Carlile, without a backing band, using just her voice and guitar, thrilled the adoring crowd at Tilles Center on Long Island, her first of two nights at the venue.

Photos courtesy of Marc Millman | www.marcmillmanphotos.com/music

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Snow Patrol – the Town Hall – March 3, 2022

Hailing from Scotland and Northern Ireland, Snow Patrol broke into the mainstream when their third studio album—and major-label debut—Final Straw, came out in 2003, charting across the world. Nearly two decades later, the five-piece is still going strong. In fact, on Thursday, their just-launched acoustic North American tour landed in Times Square for the first of two nights at the Town Hall.

(Snow Patrol play the Town Hall again tonight.)

Photos courtesy of Marc Millman | www.marcmillmanphotos.com/music

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A Day to Remember – Terminal 5 – November 19, 2019

Ahead of a new album’s release on Fueled by Ramen early next year, North Florida metalcore five-piece A Day to Remember’s Degenerates Tour rolled through Terminal 5 for a sold-out show on Tuesday night.

Photos courtesy of Marc Millman | www.marcmillmanphotos.com/music

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Yola Proves to Be a Star on the Rise at Music Hall of Williamsburg

Yola – Music Hall of Williamsburg – January 8, 2020

Yola opened her sold-out show at Music Hall of Williamsburg last night singing, “All I had is gone now.” It was the opening line to “Lonely the Night,” off her full-length debut, Walk Through Fire (produced by Dan Auerbach), which recently garnered four Grammy nominations for the British performer, and it was a line sung to a packed, adoring, mid-week crowd. All told, as convincingly as the lyrics sounded coming from her larger-than-life voice, it felt that, for Yola, the exact opposite was true: If she doesn’t quite have it all yet, she is well on her way. When that voice kicked it up a notch during the opening number and the crowded house responded with glee, she already owned the room with the rest of the show still in front of her.

The ensuing set saw Yola wearing multiple hats—metaphorical hats that is, I can’t imagine any hat fitting over that wonderfully skyscraping hair. She easily transformed from soul diva to ’70s classic-rock frontwoman to a country star with a backing band in matching coats that knew when to pop in and when to lay back and let her go, which was most of the time. “It Ain’t Easier” and “I Don’t Wanna Lie” had Yola in groovy over-the-top old-school soul mode. “Rock Me Gently” and the album’s title track had the band rocking perfectly, while “Ride Out the Country” and “What You Do” sounded like old alt-country Wilco B-sides—alt-country at its finest. Whatever the sound, Yola—her voice, her songwriting, her persona—fit it perfectly.

In between songs, everyone there was treated to delightful doses of her personality, absorbing storytelling and addictive giddiness and I-made-it empowerment in equal doses. The audience also got a musical primer in how a black woman from England became the next big thing in country music, Yola treating the room to some influence-revealing covers, like a powerful one-voice take on the Beach Boys’ “’Til I Die” and her take-ownership version of Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” The encore hit the trifecta of soul, rock and country with a couple more covers thrown in, as Yola led the band through the classic country energy of “Love All Night (Work All Day),” a raucous take on Auerbach’s “Stand by My Girl” and an unforgettable, star-making version of Ashford & Simpson’s “You're All I Need to Get By” (made famous by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell). She closed the show singing, “You’re all I need” to a crowd she had been laughing with, smiling at and thanking all night. And that, I can believe was true. —A. Stein | @Neddyo

Photos courtesy of Marc Millman | www.marcmillmanphotos.com/music

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Massive Attack Celebrate Album Milestone at Radio City Music Hall

Massive Attack – Radio City Music Hall – September 27, 2019

On Friday night Massive Attack performed the second of their two sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall, part of their Mezzanine XXI Tour, celebrating their much-beloved 1998 album. Massive Attack have spoken in the press about not wanting this tour to focus simply on nostalgia for the songs, but instead to reflect on the ways our world has changed in the past 20-plus years since the album was released.

A wall of sound and feedback gave way to the night’s opening number, a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “I Found a Reason” (a song sampled on Mezzanine) followed by the dub-inflected bass of “Risingson.” Projected onto the stage in large block letters was the statement: “Once upon a time data was going to set you free.” The video art by documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis accompanied the entirety of the show, punctuated by moody lights and disorienting strobes. In addition to stark text with ominous messages, Curtis’s films contained a barrage of imagery ranging from humorous to mundane to disturbing, and covering various cultural moments and political figures of the past two decade: George W. Bush, Princess Di, Trump, Britney Spears, Vladimir Putin, Michael Jackson. As the band performed “Dissolved Girl,” we watched as dozens of clichéd selfie-culture images interspersed with the word “HYPERINDIVIDUALISM” flashed by. When guest vocalist Horace Andy sang “See a Man’s Face,” propaganda-style slogans were displayed behind him, including “Country First” and “Leave Means Leave.”

A reprieve from the near-sensory overload came toward the show’s end. Guest vocalist Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins, whose vocals grace the song “Teardrop,” one of the most enduring Massive Attack songs from Mezzanine, stood center stage, surrounded by soothing pinwheels of white light and performed a pure, delicate version of the slow-burning, moody song. As if to snap us out of the calm (or complacency) generated by the moment, Massive Attack ended the show by projecting a cautionary message onstage: “We are caught in an endless loop/ It’s time to leave the ghosts behind/ And start imagining the future.” Given all the issues raised throughout the show—war, surveillance, conspiracies, fear—the future may be uncertain, although hopefully Massive Attack will be there to provide the appropriate soundtrack. —Alena Kastin | @AlenaK

Photos courtesy of Marc Millman | www.marcmillmanphotos.com/music

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Rachael & Vilray – Town Hall – November 18, 2025

Lake Street Dive vocalist Rachael Price and singer-songwriter-guitarist Vilray Bolles attended the New England Conservatory of Music together, and years later, teamed up as Rachael & Vilray to perform jazz, pop and swing music live and record together. Their third LP, the well-received West of Broadway, dropped this past summer, and the duo landed in Times Square on Tuesday night to close out their tour at the Town Hall.

Photos courtesy of Marc Millman | www.marcmillmanphotos.com

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Neal Francis – Webster Hall – March 27, 2025

Neal Francis makes crowd-pleasing music that’s a hodgepodge of rock, pop, funk, blues and New Orleans R&B. It’s a throwback sound that comes off as a modern take rather than a derivative sound. And on Thursday night, the Chicago singer-songwriter and pianist brought his terrific new album, Return to Zero, to Webster Hall.

(Neal Francis plays Union Transfer in Philadelphia tonight.)

Photos courtesy of Marc Millman | www.marcmillmanphotos.com

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Ocie Elliott – Webster Hall – November 22, 2024 

On the last week of their biggest tour yet — a two-month trip across North America — British Columbia duo Ocie Elliott filled Webster Hall with their winning brand of Americana and folk music on Friday.

Photos courtesy of Marc Millman | www.marcmillmanphotos.com