By Richard Burnett for Curtains Up @bugsburnett Some 6,000 of the faithful attended the March 17 concert by Texas boogie trio ZZ Top at the Bell Centre . But everybody was drinking and yakking so much – even during the songs – that the place felt more like a Mississippi juke joint. […]
Music
The B-Side: The Death of Tin Pan Alley and the Rebirth of the Great American Song by Ben Yagoda (Riverhead Books, $32.95)
By Andreas Kessaris for Curtains Up! (@AKessaris) “The songs were composed with sundry goals in mind, producing great art barley being one of them. But the songs – the best of them, anyway – took on lives of their own: it turned out they lent themselves to being interpreted in different styles and with different […]
Stevie Nicks: Visions, Dreams & Rumours by Zoë Howe (Overlook Omnibus, $32.95)
By Andreas Kessaris for Curtains Up! (@AKessaris) “Frankly, Stevie didn’t care what anyone else thought. It was her album, and she wasn’t interested in being trendy. This is one of the reasons Stevie Nicks has endued as an icon over the decades. She has always stayed true to her own heart; a strength necessary in […]
Big love for Fleetwood Mac in Montreal
By Jessica Dionne for Curtains Up (@maccajess) ‘The Mac is back!’ shouted Mick Fleetwood as the entire Bell Centre rose to their feet to applaud the over 3-hour performance by the iconic 70s rock ‘n’ roll band last night at the Bell Centre. Finally reunited with Christine McVie after a 16-year absence, Fleetwood Mac simply […]
McGill Chamber Orchestra Maestro Boris Brott remembers his mentor Leonard Bernstein
By Richard Burnett for Curtains Up @bugsburnett It is great fun to chat with Maestro Boris Brott of the McGill Chamber Orchestra because he is a great storyteller – and has mischievous eyes. The internationally-acclaimed and charismatic conductor has wowed audiences worldwide, from Carnegie Hall to Covent Garden, and will conduct the MCO and Atelier lyrique de […]
Sam Smith raises the roof at Montreal’s Bell Centre
By Richard Burnett for Curtains Up @bugsburnett Proudly out 22-year-old British pop star Sam Smith headlined the Bell Centre last night for one of Montreal’s most buzzed-about concerts. Smith was originally supposed to make his local debut at the tiny Le Belmont nightclub on The Main back in March 2014, but that show was cancelled […]
Jersey Boys in Montreal: Oh, what a night!
By Jessica Dionne for Curtains Up (@maccajess) Oh, what a night! Whether it was the first time you were seeing Jersey Boys or the tenth time, it was next to impossible not to fall in love with the story of how four young boys from Jersey used their voices to create an unbelievable sound, rose to fame […]
Repeat: Songs I haven’t been able to stop listening to in 2014
By Jessica Dionne for Curtains Up (@maccajess) I have over 12, 000 songs on my iPod and countless vinyls, yet most of the time I find myself listening to the same songs over and over, or I find myself on shuffle hitting next until I hit one of these songs. With the end of the […]
The 5 Best Concerts of 2014
By Jessica Dionne for Curtains Up (@maccajess) There’s little in life that can stir up my emotions as much as watching some of my favourite artists performing live. Whether it be in a crowded venue or the muddy fields of an outdoor festival, I’ve spent upwards of a hundred hours waiting in lines to see […]
The Book of Mormon
Written by: Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone Directed by Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker Who would have thought that the creators of the critically acclaimed and inappropriately funny TV show ‘South Park’ would have a Tony award winning hit on Broadway one day? The Book of Mormon is a satire that follows two young […]