Aimee Mann

The Jefferson Theater Thursday 6/19 You really have to hand it to someone who hit rock bottom multiple times across a career, yet consistently managed to dust off and get back to business. Aimee Mann weathered an early success comedown with ’80s outfit ‘Til Tuesday, stepped out on her own, and got the proverbial shaft from […]

Charlottesville Opera’s “Carmen”

The Paramount Theater 6/21–6/22 Man meets woman. Woman seduces man. Man leaves wife. Woman leaves man for a bullfighter. All hell breaks loose.  It’s a story as old as—well, as old as 1845, when Prosper Mérimée wrote a novella about it. Thirty years later, French composer Georges Bizet enlisted librettists Henri Meilhac and Lodovic Halévy […]

Septic Vomit, with Chezolangia, Lay Waste, and Aisle 19

Friday 5/23, Ace Biscuit & Barbecue Headlining a night of uncompromising sonics, self-described “minced-out billy gore” three-piece Septic Vomit unleashes its gross outtake on extreme metal-core at—where else?—a barbecue joint. Minute-long documentarian murder samples, overdriven detuned guitars, and blasting drums vie for conquest, clouding a vocal that brings new meaning to the word “guttural.”  If […]

The Fab Four—The Ultimate Tribute

Thursday 5/16, The Paramount Theater For many rock musicians, the idea of being in a cover band is about as low as you can sink: You’re running through someone else’s songs over and over, impersonating their look while aping their playing style, and, worst of all, there’s the potential for disappointing audiences so familiar with […]

Ships In The Night

Saturday 5/3, IX Art Park Ships In The Night, the one-gal, electronic, smoke-and-mirrors synth project of Charlottesville’s own Alethea Leventhal, descends from the ethereal mists for what local fans will recognize as a performance wrapped in a thematic event. SITN has a recurring habit of playing all manner of spookily framed balls, proms, raves, and […]

The War and Treaty

April 26, The Jefferson Theater A famous musician named Paul McCartney once sang, “You’d think that people would’ve had enough of silly love songs / But I look around me and I see it isn’t so.” That was in 1976 and the co-founder of The Beatles was in a new band, Wings, with his wife […]

La Luz with Color Green

Friday 4/18, The Southern Cafe and Music Hall With the release of News of the Universe in 2024, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Shana Cleveland led her band, La Luz, to deeper levels of previously staked-out musical terrain. What began in 2012 as a surfy, twanged-out Seattle quartet with ‘60s girl-group leanings has evolved into a […]

Cowboy Junkies

Tuesday 4/15 & Wednesday 4/16, The Jefferson Theater Any music act that’s been writing, recording, and touring over the course of 40 years deserves respect. For Cowboy Junkies, the unwavering dedication to their craft equates to more than 20 studio records and countless other contributions to a pioneering style of what jerks like me in […]

Dweezil Zappa plays Frank Zappa

Friday 4/11, The Paramount Theater Maybe it’s unfair to say that Dweezil Zappa has made a lifelong career of being the child of a legendary musician. At 55 years old, he has amassed a decent list of solo records and even won a Grammy for his guitar playing, a good deal of which he’s lent […]

José González

The Paramount Theater, March 21 Wistful and moving, José González’s soft voice and intricate finger-picking guitar elevate an otherwise indie rock formula with cavernous echoes of folk, classical, and quiet reflections of pop music. Originally finding some success with the outfit Junip, he has performed and recorded with a steady stream of collaborators ranging from […]