Warren Haynes, Government Mule

Haynes at shredding best with Gov’t Mule at Palace

ALBANY — Nov. 15, 2014 -- For some, Warren Haynes lives in the shadow of the southern-rock guitar greats. For others, he casts his own shadow after years of playing with The Allman Brothers, Gov’t Mule and other projects.

The Mule came to the packed Palace on Friday night for its 20 Years Strong tour. A night of Haynes is a night of guitar shredding alongside hefty blues-rock that lies somewhere between Lynyrd Skynyrd and ’80s Allman Brothers. The four-man band played straight and solid throughout the show, enabling Haynes to do his thing out front. Haynes is a no-nonsense, hard-working rocker. For more than 21⁄2 hours, he sang with considerable effort and, rather than using a
rhythm guitarist for support, he carried all the guitar work himself.

John Mayer

Mayer offers masterful guitar work — and hits — at SPAC

BY DAVID SINGER For The Daily Gazette

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Under a clear, star-filled sky and chilled air that forced long pants and jackets, signaling the final days of summer at the Saratoga Performance Arts Center, John Mayer sang his hits for the 8,000-plus who came to hear him, and laid equally hard into his blues guitar through every song.

Singer Ryan Tedder of the opening act called Mayer, half-joking, a “sexy animal,” and the tabloids this week called him a “part-time guitarist and full-time raconteur.” The tabloids are dead wrong about Mayer’s playing. Mayer is a talented blues player who takes his guitar seriously on stage.

Carlos Santana, Derek Trucks

Great guitarists leave egos at the door for Albany show

ALBANY — Thursday night, an older Times Union Center crowd was treated to two world-class guitarists — one of legend, Carlos Santana, and one heading there, Derek Trucks.

The bigger Santana gets, the more humbler he plays. He scattered his show with video and vocal messages of peace, which permeated his playing, even at its most aggressive moments. Powered by an army of percussionists, he opened with the hopped-up “Jingo,” timbales, congas, bongos, maracas and more aligning a wall of drums to set the stage for Santana to ring out with his guitar. Only a handful of guitarists have a recognizable one-note tone: Santana is one of them.

Miley Cyrus

Montana/Cyrus something to scream about; Kids' enthusiasm adds excitement to Disney show

Thursday, January 10, 2008

David Singer

ALBANY — Underneath all the distractions of the night — the pyrotechnics, the incessant selling of Disney products, the high-priced ticket scalping, and the frantic screaming of young girls — Miley Cyrus showed she can hold a stage. She can probably sing too, but it was too loud to tell and the songs didn’t ask much of her.

Bruce Springsteen

Boss sings about love, loss, dust

BY DAVE SINGER For the Sunday Gazette

    ALBANY — Bruce Springsteen knows that his audience still wants to hear him sing about the Jersey boardwalk, promised lands, back streets, fortune tellers, Candy, Eddie, Rosalita and Sandy.
    To stand alone in front of 7,000 people Saturday night at the Pepsi Arena with only a guitar and harmonica, singing none of the above, requires confidence and a steeled nerve. 

Wynton Marsalis Quintet

Marsalis fills Troy Music Hall with saucy jazz

BY DAVE SINGER For The Daily Gazette

TROY — Few people can lead an entire genre into a new era while still steeped in its tradition. Wynton Marsalis continues to press jazz — specifically New Orleans swing (think Louis Armstrong) — into new, and even thrilling, music. 

   Wednesday night he played his favorite Capital Region jazz joint, the Troy Music Hall, where he blew his horn for a jam-packed house.