It’s been a good 18 months for Atlanta-based Christian band Third Day.

Last summer the group released its 13th album, “Revelation,” which peaked at No. 6 on Billboard. Since then the band, which formed in Marietta in the early ’90s, has been touring the album, making stops along the way to “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” and “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.”

Last month, Third Day was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. The three-time Grammy-winning group has 27 No. 1 singles, 24 Dove awards.

On Saturday night the band comes home with a family picnic concert in Alpharetta.

FM Static will open the show, followed by This Beautiful Republic, B Reith, Audio Unplugged, Thousand Foot Krutch, African Children’s Choir, Glory Revealed, Jars of Clay and finally Third Day. The celebration kicks off at Saturday at 5 p.m. at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, 2200 Encore Parkway in Alpharetta. Tickets are $21 to $76 at Ticketmaster.

The band will donate $1 from each ticket …

Continue reading Third Day to perform at Verizon Amphitheater Saturday »

By Bo Emerson

“Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles” at the Fox Theatre, is an enjoyable evening of music and nostalgia, a time trip and a celebration of the rock and roll canon.

The Beatles in their "Ed Sullivan Show" phase. Curatolo (left) Castelli and Bithorn.

No one is fooled that the four bewigged mop-tops on stage  – Joey Curatolo as Paul McCartney, Joe Bithorn as George Harrison, Ralph Castelli as Ringo Starr and Steve Landes as John Lennon — are anything but clever actors and talented musicians.

But sometimes instinct kicks in.

“Yes! I screamed!” admitted Laura Millisor proudly, chatting about the first act during intermission. The Cumming law office administrator came to the Fox show to drink martinis, holler out tunes and have a ball with three of her pals.

Millisor, 55, just missed seeing the genuine article – she was in grammar school when the real Beatles stopped touring – but made up for it later, catching every Paul McCartney show she could, and even …

Continue reading Review: “Rain” summons Beatles’ sound »

Missing from the scene for nearly five years, popular pop punkers blink-182 played to over 14,000 fans Wednesday night at Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood along with Asher Roth and Valencia. The show was rescheduled from a few weeks ago due to the death of DJ AM and his friendship with blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. The two were the only survivors of a plane crash last September. This was the last show of the 2009 concert season at Aaron’s.

(From Wiki): Blink-182 (often stylized as blink-182) is an American rock band from Poway, California that predominantly plays pop punk music. The band was formed in 1992 as “Blink” with members Tom DeLonge (vocals, guitar), Mark Hoppus (vocals, bass) and Scott Raynor (drums). In 1998, midway through a U.S. tour, drummer Travis Barker replaced Raynor. DeLonge left the group in early 2005, initiating an indefinite hiatus. DeLonge went on to form Angels & Airwaves, while Hoppus and Barker continued playing music together in +44. On February …

Continue reading blink-182 Reunites at Aaron’s Amphitheatre »

Steep Canyon Rangers

FRIDAY
Steve Martin with the Steep Canyon Rangers
North Carolina’s Steep Canyon Rangers were the International Bluegrass Music Association’s 2006 Emerging Artists of the Year. They’ll be joined by famed comedian and actor (and accomplished banjo picker) Martin for “An Evening of Bluegrass & Banjo.”
8 p.m. Oct. 9. $38.50-$53.50. Chastain Park Amphitheater, 4469 Stella Drive N.W. 404-233-2227. www.chastainseries.com.

FRIDAY
Chris Cagle
Cagle obviously listened to Southern rock growing up, and there’s a touch of Charlie Daniels Band in his rollicking up-tempo tracks. But songs like his hit ballad “I Breathe In, I Breathe Out” are his strong suit, showing his soft side to good advantage. His fourth album, “My Life Is a Country Song,” was released in 2008. It contained the Top 5 country track “What Kinda Gone.”
10:30 p.m. Oct. 9. $10-$30. Cowboys, 1750 N. Roberts Road N.W., Kennesaw. 770-426-5006, www.cowboysatl.com.

Brandi Carlile. …

Continue reading Live Music Picks, Oct. 9-16 »

By Bo Emerson

Caroline Syverson, 14, was eating a sandwich, late Tuesday afternoon, before going to her first U2 concert, with her friend and her stepfather and her stepfather’s girlfriend. “I just want to see if Bono is wearing sunglasses,” she said. “And if he’s going to take them off.”

Just after “Beautiful Day,” four songs into a thunderous, nearly sold-out show at the Georgia Dome, Bono took off his sunglasses. Beads of sweat dotted his face –  a vein stood out in  his temple. “Thank you all,” he told the audience, “for helping us build this—madness.”

And then he gestured up. Above him, all around him, was the 170-ton, four-pronged stage, looking like a metal claw from the Planet of Giant Robot Crabs.

“Really, we built it to get closer to you,” Bono said.

Joke? Hard to know. Because the massive stage was engineered for stadiums and halls big enough to generate their own weather. How do you get close to 65,000 people at a time?

On the …

Continue reading U2 lifts off in Atlanta »

Note: Check out the  AJC’s review here.

CHECK OUT THE ONLINE PHOTO GALLERY: 

U2 fills the Georgia Dome (w/ Muse)(AJC.com)(10-6-09)

What an amazing sight to see 65,000 plus rock fans inside the Georgia Dome Tuesday night with the world’s largest concert stage and production! I’m posting 20 photos I shot during the first 3 songs U2 performed and the dynamic opening set from Muse. You guys tell the story below. 

(Photo Credit: Robb D. Cohen/ www.robbsphotos.com)

For other concert photography linked to Access Atlanta, please visit for Atlanta Concert Photography Galleries. by Atlanta Photographer Robb Cohen www.RobbsPhotos.com

SO DID THIS U2 SHOW LIVE UP TO THE HYPE?  

SO DID THIS U2 SHOW LIVE UP TO THE HYPE?

Continue reading U2 and Muse Sell Out Georgia Dome in Memorable Rock Concert »

David Cook will play at the Tabernacle on Nov. 23. Credit: Frank Micelotta/Fox

LN = Live Nation, 1-877-598-8698, www.livenation.com
TM = Ticketmaster, 404-249-6400, www.ticketmaster.com
TA = Ticketalternative, 1-877-725-8849, www.ticketalternative.com

ON SALE OCT. 7
Avett Brothers. Jan. 1. Fox Theatre. E-mail presale begins Oct. 7; general presale begins Oct. 8. More information available on the Avett Brothers’ Web site.
Throwdown. 6 p.m. Nov. 24. Masquerade. $13 advance. TM.

ON SALE OCT. 9
Cage the Elephant. 9 p.m. Nov. 21. Center Stage. $15. TM.
Imogen Heap. 8 p.m. Nov. 22. Variety Playhouse. $25. TM.
Corey Smith. 8 p.m. Nov. 27. The Tabernacle. $25. LN.
Anvil — The Anvil Experience. 8 p.m. Jan. 20. Variety Playhouse. $20; $16.50 advance. TM.

ON SALE OCT. 10
Eric Benet and Mint Condition. 8 p.m. Oct. 31. Fox Theatre. $44.75-$67.75. TM.
David Cook with The Script. 7 p.m. Nov. 23. The Tabernacle. $26.50-$32.50. LN.

UPCOMING SHOWS
U2 — 360 Tour. 7 p.m. Oct. 6. Georgia …

Continue reading Hot tickets 10/6 »

Wearing sunglasses, a tailored black suit, crisp white shirt and tie, he strutted onstage as cool as a cucumber to “DanceWitMe.” But within mere seconds, Maxwell was turning up the heat — running up and down stairs on the set, sliding across the floor, and sweating as he described later “like a pig.” (See photo gallery)

For the sold-out crowd at Philips Arena Monday night, the temperature couldn’t get hot enough as the R&B singer showed fans just what they’d been missing during his almost eight-year hiatus, especially for fans who didn’t get to see his sold-out show at the Atlanta Civic Center last year.

“Atlanta, I love you baby,” he said. “Y’all didn’t let me go by the wayside.”

For one hour and forty-five minutes, the 36-year-old from Brooklyn was 20-something again, taking fans on his earlier neo soul journey with “Sumthin’ Sumthin’” and “Ascension,” the 1996 hit single that put his debut album “Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite,” on the map.

Some of the stops along the way also …

Continue reading Maxwell show at Philips hot, sexy »

VIEW  THE  FULL  ONLINE  GALLERY:  Metallica plays Philips Arena (w/ Lamb of God, Gojira)(AJC.com)(10-4-09)

Heavy metal icons Metallica brought their World Magnetic Tour to a nearly full Philips Arena Sunday night, October 4, 2009. The openers included Lamb of God and Gojira. I want to get these photos online quickly, so sorry for the brief remarks.

HOW DID THIS SHOW COMPARE TO METALLICA CONCERTS YOU’VE SEEN BEFORE? SHARE SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS WITH US.

(Photo Credit: Robb D. Cohen/ www.robbsphotos.com)

For other concert photography linked to Access Atlanta, please visit for Atlanta Concert Photography Galleries. by Atlanta Photographer Robb Cohen www.RobbsPhotos.com

Continue reading Metallica Rocks Philips Arena Sunday Night »

The Dead Weather, Jack White’s new project, played the Tabernacle Friday night, October 2, with Imaad Wasif opening.

(From Wiki): The Dead Weather is an American alternative rock supergroup formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2009. Comprised of Alison Mosshart (of The Kills and Discount), Jack White (of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs), Dean Fertita (of Queens of the Stone Age) and Jack Lawrence (of The Raconteurs and The Greenhornes). The Dead Weather debuted at the opening of Third Man Records’ Nashville headquarters on March 11, 2009. The band performed live for the first time at the event, immediately before releasing their debut single “Hang You from the Heavens”.

In January 2009, Mosshart, Fertita, Lawrence, and White got together for an impromptu jam at White’s Third Man studio. The session was followed by two-and-a-half weeks of song writing and recording, during which the Dead Weather formed. Said White: “Things just started to happen. We didn’t have a direction. …

Continue reading Jack White’s The Dead Weather Play Tabernacle »