In a divisive year, many found unity in music
Luminous cellphone lights outnumber flickering cigarette lighters 100:1 at concerts these days, but smartphone-friendly musicstreaming services have yet to replace the camaraderie at live concerts.
Whether sparking communal awe at extravagance on display (Janet Jackson) or a shared sense of intimacy (Chris Stapleton), this year’s shows created commonality in a year when there was little enough of it elsewhere.
Nothing brings people together faster than a good beat or a teary lyric, and an abundance of both filled the dance cards of local concertgoers this year.
Dispatch music reviewers Julia Oller, Margaret Quamme and Curtis Schieber share some of the highlights of 2017. Here are excerpts from their reviews and the performance dates:
■ Bash & Pop, Jan. 15, Big Room Bar: Bash & Pop, the vehicle for exReplacements Tommy Stinson’s restless rock 'n' roll spirit, showcased its first album in 24 years five days before it was released. The group’s fevered show suggested that five more days would have been way too long to wait for “Anything Could Happen,” a collection of trademark Stinson rockers delivered by his hot new band. Sassy local singing sensation Lydia Loveless joined for a duet. — Curtis Schieber
■ Lauryn Hill, Feb. 7, Palace Theatre: Known for arriving late or even cancelling shows, Hill came out swinging at
10:06 p.m with a frantic version of "Everything is Everything." Her voice, deep and strong throughout the performance, rasped on a few of the high notes, but her tongue-tripping rap skills proved why Hill still deserves a look after nearly two decades without new material. Hill might be a loose cannon, but the instrumentation of each song was as finely tuned as a bow string. — Julia Oller
■ Valerie June, Feb. 13, A&R Music Bar: Tennessee neo-psychedelic soul singer June rambled through a charming, hypnotic set in the A&R Music Bar, warming the February chill outside with a JULY 20: OCT. 19: Roger Waters performed an extensive catalog of music in Nationwide Arena. winning mix of spacey stage patter and gorgeously stoned songs. Citing inspiration from both Dolly Parton and Tina Turner for one tune, she delivered an insightful mix of North African boogie, Southern soul, country and smoldering psychedelia. — C.S.
■ Ariana Grande, March 9, Nationwide Arena: Channeling her style icon Audrey Hepburn, the diminutive singer punctuated the show with nods to 1950s culture, from her opening outfit a la "Breakfast at Tiffany's" to the balletic moves of her backup dancers. The former Disney Channel starlet proved her pop mettle with a well-oiled performance light on theatrics but heavy on vocal prowess. — J.O.
■ May 5, Express Live: Miserable weather didn't deter the British trio of Oliver Sim, Romy Madley Croft and Jamie xx from delivering moody electro-pop tunes from their January release "I See You." While they sometimes lacked emotional delivery of their emotional lyrics, they brought life to their songs through a well-crafted set list and enthusiastic musicality. — J.O.
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May 16, Nationwide Arena: The Chicago emcee turned his Tuesday-night rager into a Sunday-morning service by the end of a jubilant set filled with preaching and pyrotechnics. Backed
by a band full of longtime friends, Chance the Rapper presented his gospel-flavored hip-hop with a sincerity that veered toward sappy. But this year, we could have used more of his heavenly-minded outlook on Earth.
— J.O.
■ Buckeye Country Superfest, June 11, Ohio Stadium: On the second day of the familyfriendly, well-managed event, LANco's Brandon Lancaster played the role of the scruffy, cheerful younger brother in a fit, testosterone-heavy family, with Frankie Ballard as the misunderstood middle son — a bad boy with a heart of gold and heir apparent to the role of oldest son Billy Currington — inspiring singalongs to beerrelated songs. Miranda Lambert, the only sister to these bros, put on a show that made theirs look limited, with a fast-moving, electrifying set that delighted in the mercurial. — Margaret Quamme
■ Twenty One Pilots, June 20, the Basement: Columbus natives Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun returned to their hometown for a series of five sold-out shows. The first — at 300-person-capacity venue the Basement — was a sweaty, throbbing madhouse where middle-schoolers danced with unabashed joy. — J.O.
■ Roger Waters, July 20, Nationwide Arena: Pink Floyd frontman Waters’ longtime vision of a spiritually vacuous world, fueled by avarice and led by would-be fascists, continues uninterrupted. He illuminated that climate of dread and dysfunction — given new urgency in his new album by current events — with a breathtaking multimedia performance in Nationwide Arena. His and Floyd’s extensive catalog was delivered by a terrific band that never let the dazzle nor the pointed politics overwhelm the music. — C.S.
■ Kendrick Lamar, Aug. 22, Value City Arena: On a bare stage, the rapper presented a lonely figure, but his ability to keep quiet when others demand constant attention reflected the tension between pride and humility in his latest album "DAMN." His steadiness was such that not even the man who rushed the stage could faze him. — J.O.
■ Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, Sept. 7, Nationwide Arena:
Hill and McGraw, the first performers to play at Nationwide Arena when it opened in 2000, returned with a slickly designed production with enough bells and whistles to give patrons their money’s worth. Like any good marriage, the show moved between shared moments, when the singers worked together and supported each other, and periods of separation, when they went off in their own directions.
■ Katy Perry, Sept. 24, Value City Arena: Awe-inducing production value couldn't save the singer from the subpar quality of her most recent music. Despite — or maybe because of — her seasoned status, the lack of "oomph" seemed surprising. But not even glittery bodysuits, a giant screen shaped like an eye and an enthusiastic backing band can save a show that lacks real grit, offering saccharine heart instead. — J.O.
NOV. 28: Janet Jackson proved that she still has the moves during her performance at Value City Arena.
■ X, Sept. 27, Skully’s Music Diner: Crucial California punk band X celebrated 40 years of making music with a pile-driving set that had fans who had heard them in the old days forgetting the years between. The four original members clicked smooth as a fine old timepiece while revisiting a catalog that is a unique mix of rockabilly and California punk. Singers John Doe and Exene Cervenka ignored a lot of history to bring fresh energy to their trademark dual lead lines. — C.S.
■ Ed Sheeran, Oct. 3, Nationwide Arena: Even though many of his recordings are romantic schlock, through a magical force known commonly as charisma, Sheeran managed to keep a school-night crowd of teenagers (and their parents) on its feet for the entirety of the nearly two-hour show. Using only a guitar and an intricate system of loop pedals, he filled Nationwide with thick layers of beats, strums and harmonies. — J.O.
■ Gojira, Oct. 10, Newport Music Hall: The
one-of-a-kind French metal band invaded the Newport like the giant movie monster that is its namesake, laying waste to Tokyo. The performance was lit by simple, eye-melting stage effects, but it was the group’s unpredictable, organic songs and their precise delivery that left jaws on the floor at the end of the relentless attack. Code Orange impressed, as well, with a short, dramatic opening set. — C.S.
■ Jason Aldean, Oct. 19, Value City Arena: Nearly three weeks after a shooter curtailed his set at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, the country singer-guitarist skirted around the incident from the stage. He instead focused on his songs, musically steeped in classic rock and thematically dedicated to pride in his Southern roots. — J.O.
■ Chris Stapleton, Nationwide Arena, Nov. 3: If the "bro country" that dominates radio these days is the musical equivalent of beer — light, fizzy and unsubstantial — then Stapleton's music is the equivalent of the well-aged whiskey he celebrates and regrets in many of his songs.
Those songs are dark, smoky, intriguingly complex and intoxicatingly compressed. His material has deep roots not just in traditional country but in blues as well. — M.Q.
■ Janet Jackson, Value City Arena, Nov. 28: The polished, exuberant show started off somber, and then the party started. Her show — almost too physical to be called a concert — was cannily structured to disabuse any skeptics of the notion that Jackson, 51, no longer has the moves. She doesn't, like many singers, favor her early work and neglect the more recent, instead allowing it all to co-exist. — M.Q.
■ Dream Syndicate,
Dec. 3, Ace Of Cups: If the mid-1980s neopsychedelic revival seemed self-conscious back then — its “Paisley Underground” moniker a bit contrived — it sounded strangely fresh in the hands of one of its originators, California’s Dream Syndicate, during a triumphant return in Ace Of Cups. Singer/guitarist Steve Wynn and temporary axe-man Kirk Swan testified to the timeless appeal of a noisy guitar and a simple, nervous rock song. — C.S.