By DAN AQUILANTE

December 19, 2008 - OASIS singer Liam Gal lagher and his guitarist brother Noel oozed pure cool throughout a tight two-hour gig at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. For all their bratty brotherly brawls and...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

December 18, 2008 - THE Harlem renais sance was in full bloom Tuesday when Tony Bennett drew a sold-out house that mixed hipsters and high society for a one-night performance at the Apollo Theater. The maestro, now...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

December 17, 2008 - GRANDPA Granola is forever Young. He's cantankerous onstage, yet under that crusty exterior Neil Young remains one of rock's most exciting acts whether he's strumming an acoustic...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

December 16, 2008 - CHICAGO quartet Fall Out Boy, once the quintessential emo band - angst-ridden and angry with punk pop grit - has reinvented itself for "Folie a Deux," a boldly orchestrated record...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

December 15, 2008 - IF it wasn't for prerecorded and electronically tuned vocals, Friday's Madison Square Garden Jingle Ball concert would have been a very silent night. PHOTOS: Katy Perry Designed as radio...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

December 6, 2008 - VAMPIRE Weekend couldn't have been better named. Not only does this young NYC quartet - one of the year's biggest buzz bands - suck its lifeblood from Paul Simon's greatest solo album...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

November 25, 2008 - WITH the release of his sixth studio disc, Southern rap sensation Ludacris is ready for his close-up. "Theater of the Mind," a lengthy 14-track disc, isn't as much a concept album as...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

November 24, 2008 - WHAT happens in Las Vegas stays in the music of the Killers. On their third studio album, "Day & Age," released today, there is a dis tinct feeling of place and intent. Through the...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

November 21, 2008 - YOU may have heard of genius rock like the Columbia University combo Vampire Weekend or more established Weezer, whose frontman, Rivers Cuomo, completed his studies at Harvard a couple of years ago...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

November 14, 2008 - AFTER being unplugged from the rock concert circuit for the last eight years, AC/DC was electrifying at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. The Aussie heavyweights made up for lost time with an...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

November 11, 2008 - T-Pain Thr33 Ringz HIP-HOP'S hookmaster general T-Pain has found inspiration under the big top for his third record "Thr33 Ringz." If the title weren't hint enough, then the...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

November 8, 2008 - SMASHING Pumpkins mastermind Billy Corgan has had a chip on his shoulder since the grungy old days, when his band played second fiddle to acts like Jane's Addiction, Nirvana and Pearl Jam...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

November 5, 2008 - BOUDOIR balladeer Usher flashed a smile at his female fans and then set up the ground rules of his Monday concert at Hammerstein Ballroom. "Ladies, I brought you here for one reason . . . a...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

October 29, 2008 - 'TIS the season when mature women inject a bit of whimsy into their lives with the help of cheap, sexy Halloween costumes. At Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, however, a full house of those...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

October 28, 2008 - IN the wake of her divorce from motocross racer Carey Hart, Pink has the blues. But the sassy pop singer isn't boo-hooing her way through a box of Kleenex - there are no tears on her tracks...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

October 17, 2008 - ALL was not always well at Wednesday's Webster Hall performance of the Cold War Kids, one of the better California garage bands to make it to the national stage. Their sound was muddy, the...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

October 11, 2008 - THE distance between Nashville and the Blue Note just got a lot shorter, thanks to a dobro player named Jerry Douglas. At the opening of his eight-show residency at the famed Village club on...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

October 10, 2008 - BECK is a stylistic chameleon whose musical colors can change from the blues to country to folk, to funk or hip-hop as easily as flipping a switch. At the United Palace Theatre on Wednesday, at...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

October 8, 2008 - IF you've ever hailed Death Cab for Cutie, you know the Seattle quartet usually gives a smooth albeit melancholy cruise in concert. But at Radio City Music Hall on Monday, they hit the gas to...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

October 7, 2008 - ANY Beatles lover who finds it remarkable how one band crafted so many songs that attached to the soul will appreciate Oasis' skill at making new music that smartly salutes them. It's easy...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

October 3, 2008 - ON the surface, Florida pop quintet the Black Kids and American singer/ songwriter Sonya Kitchell have little to do with one another musically - where they connect is their passion for the song...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

October 2, 2008 - BEN Folds? Yes he does, in two. At the first of a pair of Terminal 5 gigs, Folds played a divided concert that initially laid an egg with material off his just-released solo record "Way to...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

September 26, 2008 - WEEZER was greased and in top form for their Madison Square Garden debut Wednesday, but the playfully wacky quartet got even better with a little help from some musical New Yorkers. It was near...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

September 17, 2008 - AT Celine Dion's Monday night performance at Madison Square Garden, the skinny 40-year-old diva had no soul. She was all power without passion, mechanical and as unrelenting as a singing...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

September 9, 2008 - Jessica Simpson proves she's one of the smartest cookies in music with her country crossover album "Do You Know." Seriously. Country music has become one of the strongest sellers in the...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

August 28, 2008 - WITH all his major hits written and recorded more than 20 years ago, Billy Idol might seem like more of a rocking-chair guy than a rocker. Wrong. Tuesday at the Hammerstein Ballroom, the...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

August 16, 2008 - NEIL Diamond, who concludes his four-concert series at Madison Square Garden tonight, proved his greatest strength is also his most undermining weakness. The 67-year-old musical icon is loyal to a...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

August 15, 2008 - YOU didn't have to be a spiky-haired punk to understand Rancid - all you had to do was hear three of the band's most famous songs: "Roots Radicals," played early in the set, and...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

August 8, 2008 - ONE of rock 'n' roll's last bad boys, Scott Weiland, kicked sand in the face of critics at Jones Beach by totally nailing the Stone Temple Pilots' one-night stand there Wednesday...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

August 6, 2008 - FOR Eddie Vedder, stripping down his music to strum 'n' hum coffeehouse basics and facing an audience in a cavernous old New York movie house like the Palace has to be as bold and foolhardy...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

July 23, 2008 - IF you don't believe that absence makes the heart grow fonder, then you should have been at pop crooner George Michael's comeback concert at Madison Square Garden Monday. At the nearly...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

JOEL'S BIG SEND-OFF AT OLD SHEA

July 17, 2008 - NO MATTER how the rest of the season unfolds at Shea, the hit that will be remembered is last night's grand-slam concert home run by Billy Joel. PHOTO GALLERY: Billy Joel\'s Shea Concert In a...more >

By MACKENZIE DAWSON

July 16, 2008 - 'ARE YOU WITH ME, NEW YORK?" belted Jon Bon Jovi into the microphone at the beginning of his band's Monday night performance at Madison Square Garden. "I NEED TO KNOW YOU'RE...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

July 12, 2008 - AFTER years of making hit music that often didn't get the respect it deserved, John Mellencamp has become one of the eloquent elder statesmen of American rock. At his Jones Beach one-night...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

July 11, 2008 - NO mention of John Mayer is allowed in print without a reference to his current girlfriend, Jennifer Aniston, or his ex, Jessica Simpson - it's a journalism rule. So let's get it out of...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

July 10, 2008 - MOTLEY Crue lived up to its reputation for excess Tuesday at Jones Beach, headlining the hard-rock extravaganza tagged Crue Fest. The freewheeling seaside 90-minute concert had deafening volume...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

June 26, 2008 - PEARL Jam is old-school classic in its road warrior work ethic - and classy in attitude. Without the monetary motivation of a new album, the band is touring this summer just to sate their...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

June 25, 2008 - EVERY rock band labeled the next Beatles, Stones or, in the case of Coldplay, U2 should have to do a free rehearsal gig to bring them back to Earth. Monday, in front of 11,000 fans at Madison...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

June 21, 2008 - CALL their comeback concert at Madison Square Garden Thursday unR.E.M.arkable. Athens, Ga.'s favorite sons - who should be running at high revs on the power of "Accelerate," their...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

June 20, 2008 - RIGHT before Alicia Keys fired up her tune "Sure Looks Good to Me," the pretty R&B diva confided to her fans: "Everybody tries to tell me to shake it a little more, but sometimes...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

June 19, 2008 - TWO years ago, when Tom Petty last played Madison Square Garden to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Heartbreakers' breakthrough, the show was an anemic loser, with both man and band...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

June 13, 2008 - SOMETIMES it takes a warm-up band at a small club to remind you of the lure of rock 'n' roll. Ludo, a St. Louis quintet that made the Fillmore sizzle for headliners the Spill Canvas...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

June 12, 2008 - NOT since Bruce Springsteen sang a duet with opera great Leontyne Price (he singing "It's Now or Never," she crooning "O Sole Mio") has there been as unlikely a pair as...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

June 3, 2008 - WHEN you're the biggest hip-hop show on Earth, you gotta be more than just a concert - and Sunday's Hot 97 Summer Jam at Giants Stadium didn't fail the 50,000 fans who turned out and...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

May 30, 2008 - IT'S hard to soar with the Eagles when turkeys surround you. At the first of three NYC performances by the classic rock outfit - which continue tonight and tomorrow at Madison Square Garden -...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

May 27, 2008 - HAS marriage and fatherhood ruined Usher, R&B's biggest selling, most popular ladies man? Absolutely not. The house of Usher is still built on a foundation of smooth grooves and sexual feelings...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

May 19, 2008 - IN the concert shocker of the year, the teen star of the popular "Hannah Mon tana" TV series - Miley Cyrus - was totally naked under her clothes when she headlined Z-100's annual...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

May 17, 2008 - HE called it his rock 'n' roll revival show, but Kid Rock would have been more accurate if he tagged his four-hour extravaganza the history of rap 'n' roll. At a sold-out Madison...more >

By DAN AQUILANTE

May 10, 2008 - A youthful vibe reigned at the Honda Civic Tour at the Roseland Ballroom Thursday night as fresh- faced fans rocked out to optimistic music played by Motion City Soundtrack, Phantom Planet and...more >

By CLIVE BARNES

May 9, 2008 - LONG ago in a far-off land - actually, it was Broadway in 1960 - Lerner and Loewe's "Camelot" opened with a smashing cast: Julie Andrews, Richard Burton and the as-yet-unknown Robert...more >