Faetooth @ The Bowery Ballroom (August 24, 2026)

 

Giving this concert a grade would probably be a bit unfair, as I wasn't terribly impressed. I'm not sure if it was the earplugs that I wore for most of the show (which turned out to be mostly unnecessary, as their "fairy doom" turned out not to be excessively loud; especially compared to the 5 minutes of the preceding act that I sorta caught from outside the door), the sound mix was bad, or Faetooth just doesn't reproduce their songs well live. I didn't do any "prep" before the show, so I actually mostly forgot what songs from their last album I liked; but I'm skeptical that would have helped. I couldn't really make out any of the elements that make their songs interesting on the record. Even their stand-out "October" was pretty meh. The songs sounded much better on a quick skim on the subway ride home.

The setlist may eventually show up here.

 --

 Rating: Oh well/5

Lupe Fiasco @ Pier 17 Rooftop (June 10, 2026)

This show was part of a short tour in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Lupe's debut / breakthrough album Food & Liquor. He played the album front-to-back, then added a few more songs. Lupe also brought a couple of friends onto the stage, including one who did some freestyling.

I arrived late, and missed the first few songs, but I don't really have any regrets about that. I wasn't particularly anticipating the concert, but thought it could be a decent time. The view of the bridges in the background was pretty cool.

--

Rating: Meh/5

James Blake @ Brooklyn Paramount (May 30, 2026)

This was my first time at this venue, which Fran described as cavernous. We arrived right as the first song was starting (we intentionally skipped the opener), and found a spot to stand by the end of it. Of note - the backing band has expanded by a couple of members.

I didn't enjoy the setlist (which appears incomplete at time of writing, and was loaded with new songs) quite as much as I did the last time that we saw James together, but there were still some good nuggets in there (including the aptly titled "Walk Out Music" as the opener). James had a lot of banter, though it was a bit difficult to understand sometimes due to a combination of mumbling and his accent. Fran really enjoyed the show (especially the dance-able parts) despite being less familiar with the music.

--

Rating: 4.3/5 

Jerry Seinfeld @ Beacon Theatre (January 10, 2026)

 

Jerry said that he was fine with phones at the show

Fran got us tickets to see a Seinfeld stand-up act as a Christmas present - she thought that it would be cool to see one of the icons of the genre. She wasn't wrong.

It wasn't the best stand-up show that I've seen, but it was also far from the worst. Notable points... He was (to me) surprisingly animated onstage for a 71 year old - glad to see that he's still got that. He also did some wordplay jokes a few times during the set - I forgot that was a thing that he does. The coolest part was that for an encore he took questions from the crowd for about 5 minutes - something that he apparently does quite frequently (even between shows like on this night - we saw the 5pm show, getting out a little before 7pm, and there was an 8pm show).

Louis CK @ Kings Theatre (November 22, 2025)

I was a bit surprised when I heard about this tour, as Louis had been cancelled for sexual misconduct many years ago. But it didn't deter me from wanting to see the show. Fran didn't know what she was getting into when she agreed to accompany me to the show (she had never heard of him before), and was reminded earlier that day by her brother about Louis' past. All that being said, it turned out to be an absolutely hilarious performance.

This was the first time I had seen Louis live. I wasn't sure whether to expect any sort of change in his style or content post-cancellation, and as far as I could tell there wasn't really any. He didn't address his misconduct in the material, nor do I think he needed to (as an aside, I later found out that he had previously put out a bunch of other material after the cancellation, so this wasn't really a comeback, even though it was his biggest tour since then). While definitely on the raunchier side, he has a rare ability to combine solid material at different philosophical levels. One minute he's joking about farts, another about satisfaction in life, and then later about pedophilia. And all the while leaving us all in stitches.

He had a couple of openers, whose names I can't remember or find at the moment. The first was a woman who wasn't very funny. The second was a Norwegian guy who played the awkward shtick to near perfection - I later found out that his name was Daniel Simonsen.

Radiohead @ Movistar Arena (November 8, 2025)

I was in disbelief when in September Radiohead announced their first tour in 7 years. Even though it was a European tour, I had already booked a vacation to Spain and Portugal with my mom and mother-in-law, so there was a slight chance that I might be able to see one of the shows. I had to do a triple-take when I saw that their last show in Madrid lined up with the day that the tour group would be arriving in Madrid. Even crazier, I later found out that the venue was less than a 5 minute walk from the hotel where we would be staying. Needless to say, I jumped at this opportunity, signed up for the ticket lottery, and got up at 5am to join the virtual queue the morning that the tickets went on sale. With a little payment help from Fran, I was able to score a "fast track" ticket for the show.

The fast track ticket didn't really give any special perks (I knew this going in), though purchasers received "exclusive items" designed by the band (this turned out to be a swag bag, with the most notable items being the bag itself and an umbrella). For me, the most important aspect about the ticket was getting a really good seat close to the floor. I also bought a long sleeve t-shirt from the merch stand, though it turned out to be a little too small.

There was no opening act - the band started promptly at 8:30p as advertised. They played until 10:35, with a single encore (as expected). About ten minutes before the band came onstage they started doing a kind of crowd warm-up where they would play some tones and light up different sections of the arena (at which point that section would scream).

This tour was the first time they played "in the round". The circular stage (including screens and lighting) was cool, and the band (particularly Thom and Ed) made decent use of it by moving around to different sections from time to time. During the early part of the performance the audio didn't sound quite right to my ear, but that improved as the show went on. One regression was that during "Optimistic" (which was played later in the main set) I could barely hear any of the drums.

The setlist spanned their catalog, with representation from every meaningful album (Pablo Honey doesn't count 😅). Standouts included "Reckoner", "Pyramid Song", "You and Whose Army?", and "Let Down". They also ended with my favorite closer, "Everything in Its Right Place".

All in all, the show was a good reminder (not that I needed one) why Radiohead is by far my favorite music artist. I don't know how much longer they'll be around (I didn't really expect them to ever tour or make new music before this tour was announced), but I very much appreciate them while they are.

--

Rating: 4.8/5

 

Grizzly Bear @ Brooklyn Steel (October 14, 2025)

This was the first concert I had been to in well over a year. Grizzly Bear isn't among my favorite artists, but I like a fair bit of their stuff. I don't think they have any new recent material, but this was apparently their second live show in six years - the first the day before at the same venue kicked off a brief tour with five shows there in 6 nights (and later dates next month).

Overall it was a solid show, and they played well. The setlist included a couple of my faves by them, but even the songs I was less familiar with sounded good. Not too much else to say besides that. It was good to be back at a live show.

--

Rating: 4.1/5