Dwight Yoakam @ Save On Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, British Columbia, Jan. 12 – “The honky-tonk veteran turned 60 in October, but he sang with the power of a young buck on Thursday night, his long-awaited debut in the market.” – Mike Devlin / Times Colonist
David Conger/ DavidConger.com – Dwight Yoakam
Watershed Festival, Gorge Amphitheatre, Quincy, Wash.
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings @ the Tivoli Theatre in Chattanooga, Tenn., Dec. 30 – “If there was ever a concert to make a case for the range and viability of the acoustic guitar, this was it.” – Joshua Pickard / Nooga.com
AP Photo – R. Kelly
2010 Soul Train Awards, Atlanta, Ga.
R. Kelly @ Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Ga., Atlanta, Ga., Dec. 27 – “But this Kelly, who strode onstage with a microphone in one hand and a stogie in the other, declared early that he was ‘drunk as hell,’ used a bounty of expletives during his incessant talking between and during songs and, for the first hour of the show, concentrated on sex-obsessed grooves including ‘The Zoo,’ ‘Strip for You’ and ‘Feelin’ on Yo Booty.’” – Melissa Ruggieri / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Yoshiki of X Japan @ Carnegie Hall in New York, N.Y., Jan. 12 – “The two best pieces of the first half were ‘Forever Love,’ his theme for Rintaro’s X (1996), and ‘La Venus.’ The second song was when the show stopped feeling like a classical recital and started evolving its own identity.” – Nathanael Hood / TheYoungFolks.com
AP Photo – Snoop Dogg
Performing during the taping of the BET Hip Hop Awards.
Snoop Dogg @ Comerica Theatre in Phoenix, Ariz., Dec. 29 – “Snoop hopped back and forth in time through his huge catalog of hits. He paced across the stage with the same easy grace as a gecko scuttling on a wall. He brought on a pair of backup dancers to do their thing during ‘Beautiful,’ and later brought Kurupt and Warren G back onstage for a few tunes.” – Ashley Naftule / Phoenix New Times