The Fixx

If you’ve never seen The Fixx live you are really missing out on a great show. While their recorded music is top-notch it is in the live show where the band truly shines. Cy Curnin is very animated onstage; just watching his spirited gestures and antics is more than worth the price of admission. Add to that Jaime West-Orem’s intense guitar solos, Rupert Greenall’s keyboard action, and the steadfast rhythms courtesy of Adam Woods on drums and newly returned Dan Brown on bass and you have a combination that can’t be beat.

It must be a daunting task to pick a set list from their huge catalogue of songs, but someone does a wonderful job. There always seems to be just the right combination of the big hits, new songs and some old gems rarely heard live. The set list from the Orlando show had of course “Red Skies” and “Saved By Zero,” but also included new songs “Everyone Believes In Something” and “Life Goes On,” and gems of the past “The Flow” and “Question.”

You get very spoiled by Velvet Sessions shows; they are more intimate, like a concert in your living room rather than a big show. There is usually great interaction with the band onstage and afterwards, most band members come out to “hang out” after the show, meet the fans, and have a few drinks at the bar.

Check out what's new with The Fixx at their My Space page:
[url]http://www.myspace.com/thefixx[url]

More pictures on my Flickr page.

Caught the Junior Doctor CD release show at BackBooth June 7th with A Cover Story, My Complex Island, and Karrigan, really good show! With that line up the all ages show was packed with screaming teenage girls.

My Complex Island opened the show. I wasn’t really looking forward to their set since their FMF show really didn’t impress me much, but this time around they were much better. The band’s punk influenced high-energy rock made it appear cramped on the stage, but they made it work.


http://www.myspace.com/mycomplexisland

I went primarily to see A Cover Story since I had liked their show at FMF – a band well worth seeing live - very high energy power pop, catchy lyrics, great interaction between the band members and the audience. I really like Jonathan Carrillo’s voice, just listen to “She’s Only Sixteen” and “Watch The Cities.” The crowd of screaming teenagers went wild for their cover of “Umbrella.” I can’t wait to get a copy of their CD.


http://www.myspace.com/acoverstory

Karrigan was up next, their indie pop songs alternated lead vocals between Austin O'Laughlin and Chase Williams. I’m not too familiar with their music but the gaggle of screaming girls were.


http://www.myspace.com/karriganrocks

Junior Doctor closed out the night, with their set of high-energy power pop. They played several songs from their new CD “Take The Pain” as well as a cover of the Genesis song “Invisible Touch.” At one point during the show guitarist Thomas J. DeSiena threw himself out into the crowd and body surfed back to the stage.


http://www.myspace.com/jrdrmusic

Follow my Flickr link to see the rest of the photos from that night.

Florida Music Festival Day 3

Finally getting to posting about the last day.

Karrigan
(Pop/Rock)
Since it was early Saturday, it was a really sparse crowd for the Karrigan show at Wall Street Plaza, but the area in front of the stage was full of die hard fans wearing the bands t-shirts.

http://www.myspace.com/karriganrocks

A Cover Story

(Power pop/Rock)
Another band I was very impressed by, so much so that I recently went to another show of theirs. They always look like they are having a great time on stage, and interact constantly with the crowd (and their shows always seem to have a crowd!).

http://www.myspace.com/acoverstory

My Complex Island
(Rock/Punk)
I really wasn’t impressed with them at FMF but I recently caught them again and they were much better. They power through a set with a ton of energy and really seem to be having fun up there.

http://www.myspace.com/mycomplexisland

Woodale

(Pop/Rock)
Woodale plays some really good piano based pop/rock. I had wanted to see them live for awhile and was glad to finally get the chance. I look forward to catching another show of theirs.

http://www.myspace.com/woodale

Derek Stroker
(Blues/Rock)
I had heard about Derek earlier in the day so I made a point to check out his show. Great show! Some really good songs and terrific jazz flavored blues jams, and of course the place was packed for his show. I recently received a copy of his CD “Take A Picture, Make A Promise” and have been enjoying listening to it.

http://www.myspace.com/derekstroker


Dagnese

(Rock/Pop)
I have seen Chris D’Agnese several times as a solo or duo acoustic act, but FMF was the first time I had seen him performing as part of a four piece band. He had two showcases this year, one the night before at Café Annie and then this show at The City Arts Factory. Both were really good shows.

http://www.myspace.com/chrisdagnese

Thomas Wynn and the Believers

(Southern Rock)
There’s nothing like the hard-hitting dual guitars common to good Southern rock and Thomas Wynn is carrying on well in the family tradition. The band is currently recording a CD; I can’t wait to hear it. Watching his band’s terrific performance was a great way to end the festival.

http://www.myspace.com/thomaswynnandthebelievers

This was just a sampling of the great bands playing this year at FMF. Make sure you check my link to my Flickr page for lots more pictures from all the shows.

As always look for some good music among the many indie bands out there - so much good music to choose from.

Florida Music Festival Day 2

Day 2


I ran around like a crazy person trying to see all the bands I wanted to see.


Chris Burns


(Rock/Pop/Blues/Acoustic)
I’ve seen Chris live before, and knew it would be a fun set. He’s a solo acoustic performer and puts on a very entertaining show, with his animated playing and use of live loops. He played several songs from his CD “CB Radio.” His song (hopefully on the next CD) “Dirty Jim” is a rousing ditty about a boss we all love to hate.

Willtown
(Rock/Southern Rock)
The Southern fried rock of Willtown was new to me, but yet another I certainly want to see again. I picked up a copy of their CD at the show and have been enjoying it ever since.

No Circus


(Rock/Blues)
This band was probably the most impressive of the bands I saw. James Killgallon’s powerful vocals and guitar mastery were an awesome combination; the other musicians in the audience stood in awe of his performance.

Ambertone
(Rock)
I have seen Ambertone before and they always put on a good show, this show was just as good, and the packed crowd at Wall Street Plaza was certainly into it.

Robbie Carrico



(Southern Rock)
I don’t watch “American Idol” so I hadn’t heard of Robbie before, but I really enjoyed his set and look forward to many more of his shows. (I bet it was fun signing all those autographs with a broken hand!)

Plain Jane Automobile
(Rock)
I have seen The Janes many times live – they are never a disappointment. The Social was packed for their set, most of which I managed to miss unfortunately (dang those schedules).

John Frank
(Rock/Pop)
John Frank is another band I have seen many times before and always look forward to seeing any chance I can. I have really been enjoying his latest CD “The Spaces Between.”

Megaphone


(Hard Rock)
Megaphone is yet another band I try to see regularly. They vow to rock your socks off at every show and never fail to do so. Their recent CD “for cryin out loud” is frequently in my CD player.

Vonray
(Rock/Southern Rock)
The night’s headliner, Vonray had left the scene for awhile so I have only seen them once before, and they are certainly worth seeing every chance you can get, the rest of the crowd in attendance must have agreed as they were chanting for the band to take the stage. The guitarist in Megaphone, Paul Smith, is also the guitarist for Vonray so he got to pull double duty that night. Robbie Carrico joined them onstage for their song “Drifted Away.”