Kelsea Ballerini and her four-member band played a sold-out show at Showbox SoDo. It was the second to the last stop on her Unapologetically Tour, supporting her new album of the same name. She began the show by playing the album start to finish, then followed up with songs from her previous record. The evening ended with only Kelsea onstage for an acoustic version of her Platinum-selling “Love Me Like You Mean It.”
Kelsea Ballerini
Real Estate & Bedouine @ Neumos, 2/21/18
Photos by Lisa Hagen Glynn
Real Estate‘s Martin Courtney
In February 2018, New Jersey quintet Real Estate played the top of the bill at Neumos. In addition to releasing a new album, In Mind, last year, the now-New York-based band had their own shoes made! How many bands have done that? I don’t think that many. Fans who love merchandise will adore them. (Disclaimer: No one asked us to mention the shoes). International singer Bedouine opened.
Real Estate
Bedouine
Regina Spektor @ the Paramount, 4/3/17
Photos by Kirsey Sutton
Memory Lane Series, part 30
Regina Spektor
Wonderful pianist and singer-songwriter Regina Spektor headlined the Paramount Theatre for a spring show in April, 2017. The Russian-born artist’s most recent album, 2016’s Remember Us to Life, included an incredible group of string artists, from cellists to violinists to double bassists. Some of those string players were onstage with her. Lovely! Cute side note for 2018: Spektor’s, husband, musician Jack Dishel, appeared in his second full-length movie, Wanderland, this year.
Regina Spektor
Judas Priest @ ShoWare Center, Kent – 4/15/18
Review & Photos by John Rudolph
Judas Priest
Wow, Judas Priest absolutely tore up the stage to a sold-out crowd at the ShoWare Center in Kent. Yes, singer Rob Halford’s voice was still great. He’s still “Screaming for Vengeance” with the best of them.
Saturday night’s concert was a reunion of sorts, not only for the musicians but for my friends and my wife. We have all enjoyed Judas Priest since we were kids, and seeing them again was fantastic. The crowd was super excited right from the first note of “Firepower.” We all loved “Living After Midnight” and “Hell Bent for Leather,” which they played incredibly, and the new record, Firepower, brings Priest back to the sounds that we love.
At the start of my shoot, I noticed guitarist Richie Faulkner standing at the side of the stage. He looked over at us photographers and he saluted. That was a nice touch, which is exactly what Judas Priest is known for.
Right on cue, Rob Halford rode his Harley onto the stage at the start of “Hell Bent for Leather.” The crowd erupted with applause.
Ian Hill and Scott Travis have anchored this band for more than 30 years; Ian for more than 40 years. Don’t ask Ian how he’s done it for nearly 50 years! I asked him once during an interview in 2011. He jokingly gave me a hard time.
The concert finished with a real treat: Glenn Tipton, who recently retired from touring for health reasons. It was great seeing him play during the encore.
Judas Priest
After spending the past four days driving the equipment van from Nashville, Crystal Bowersox headlined at the Triple Door on the first night of her seven-city west coast tour. Backed by Derek Louis (drums) and Andrew Brown (bass), the runner-up on season 9 of American Idol in 2010, played material from her three albums including the most recent, Alive. After a two song encore, Crystal folded her set list into a paper airplane and launched it into the audience. Earlier in the day, I spent some time with Crystal near the Seattle waterfront for portraits.
Crystal Bowersox