Check out critics’ reactions to Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ gig in Atlanta; Don Broco’s Denver performance; Jason Isbell in Roanoke, Va.; Red Hot Chili Peppers rockin’ Tampa; and Brantley Gilbert taking charge in Sioux City, Iowa.
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers @ Philips Arena in Atlanta, Ga., April 27 – “Performing on an expansive stage featuring a large video screen behind drummer Steve Ferrone and dotted with four screens facing fans on every side, Petty and the Heartbreakers made sure that if this is indeed their last big run, it would be memorable.’ – Melissa Ruggieri / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Scott Legato / RockStarProPhotography.com – Brantley Gilbert
DTE Energy Music Theatre, Clarkston, Mich.
Don Broco @ Summit Music Hall in Denver, Colo., April 14 – “Singer Rob Damiani strikes an imposing presence, tall, thin, and always moving; he’s also got a powerful set of pipes to rival the best of them (think Panic! at the Disco’s Brendon Urie, for example). He slips easily into falsetto and drives down the funk, especially on ‘What You Do to Me.’ But it’s not just him: I was equally enthralled with the harmonies and sometime leads delivered by the drummer and keyboardist, both of whose voices were pristine.” – Laura Hamlett / PlayBack:stl
Jason Isbell @ Berglund Performing Arts Theatre in Roanoke, Va, April 27 – “With new songs from upcoming record The Nashville Sound, Isbell has added more uptempo, biting rock to the repertoire. ‘Cumberland Gap’ was the show’s second tune, with the several-years-sober Isbell taking a hard look at a hard drinker in a dead town where the coal is gone. “Hope The High Road” found him having “heard enough of the white man’s blues” and tired of singing about himself. A third original, with which he opened a three-song encore, was a more fragile number, considering mortality over finger-picked resonator guitar.” Tad Dickens / The Roanoke Times
Red Hot Chili Peppers @ Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla., April 27 – “The group’s musical muses were all over the place, swerving from slick, danceable synth-funk like ‘Go Robot’ to the thundering Stooges- and Funkadelic-referencing ‘Detroit’ to the slinky psychedelia of underrated gem ‘Soul to Squeeze.’” – Jay Cridlin / Tampa BayTimes
Brantley Gilbert @ Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa, April 27 – “Dressed in a camouflage tank top, ever-present trucker hat and black jeans, Gilbert seemed like the common guy’s singer. Aldean, Eric Church and others play that card, too, but Gilbert really looked like he means it.” – Bruce Miller / Sioux City Journal