November gets plenty of credit for turkey, football and the annual rush to buy a slightly larger television. The record stores deserve a little attention, too. From Nirvana unplugging to Wu-Tang kicking the door in, this month has delivered an impressive pile of albums and plenty of ways to drown out Thanksgiving arguments. Here’s one for every day.
November 1: Nirvana, MTV Unplugged in New York (1994, DGC Records). MTV once put musicians on television and let them play entire songs. Imagine. Nirvana used the opportunity to sidestep the obvious hits and lean on David Bowie, Lead Belly and the Meat Puppets. Kurt Cobain’s final howl in “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” makes the usual unplugged-session chatter about intimacy seem rather inadequate. Also: Megadeth, Youthanasia (1994); The Cure, Songs of a Lost World (2024).
Pitbull will get the party started as the Friday night headliner when the ninth edition of Innings Festival returns to Tempe Beach Park & Arts Park February 26–28, 2027.
Mr. Worldwide has spent much of this year on his I’m Back Tour with Lil Jon, which launched in West Palm Beach (5/14) and reached the Hollywood Bowl two weeks later.
Sick New World brought its noise to deep in the heart of Fort Worth on Saturday (10/24), spreading 50 loud acts to around the Texas Motor Speedway for its first Texas edition.
Amsterdam’s Paradiso was built for people looking for salvation. Since 1968, it has become the city's oldest religious meetinghouse turned rock landmark. Perfectly situated near bustling Leidseplein, the former church has has welcomed generations of musicians and music lovers.
The main hall holds 1,500 people, making it intimate for the stadium acts that either want a warm up gig or a reminder of what it was like to see all the fans straight in their eyes. Upstairs, a separate 210-capacity room gives newer artists a safe space to work out the kinks.
This year Amazon is really trying hard to get people to watch Thursday Night Football. So instead of trying to squeeze the artists into performing a 15-minute halftime set, they air a recent show after the NFL game.
Previously the streamer has broadcast Noah Kahan’s Seattle finale at T-Mobile Park (8/31), Don Toliver’s Barclays Center concert in Brooklyn (9/6), and Lainey Wilson’s Mohegan Sun Arena show (10/10) in Uncasville, Connecticut.
It took The Strokes 28 years to get to Newcastle and 20 to get back to Manchester, but fans at the Utilita Arena on Sunday (10/25) and Monday (10/26) at the Co-op Live left satisfied if not giddy.
It's not like the Strokes have been strangers to England this whole time. They've played shows or festivals in seven separate years since 2006: 2010, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023.
My Chemical Romance brought The Black Parade (2006) to the Hollywood Bowl last week with enough faux gunfire, pyro, political satire and theatrical bloodshed to completely satisfy a trio of sold out audiences on their way to break a record at the historic venue.
Their eye-opening production also seems to have attracted the attention of the lawyers of the most iconic cheerleader outfit in the land.
Turnstile concluded the second leg of their North American Never Enough tour in true punk rock fashion: with a free benefit concert near the Washington Monument in Washington, DC.
The critically acclaimed and rightfully beloved Baltimore band turned their victory lap into an opportunity to help others, drawing roughly 60,000 people Saturday (10/24) to raise money and awareness for humanitarian relief.
The Smashing Pumpkins gave Charlotte a release-day surprise on Friday (10/16), performing “Black Stars” live for the first time.
The new song made it into their setlist during the second half of their set which kicked off with 16 tracks from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and then 14 tunes from their glorious catalog.
November 1: Nirvana, MTV Unplugged in New York (1994, DGC Records). MTV once put musicians on television and let them play entire songs. Imagine. Nirvana used the opportunity to sidestep the obvious hits and lean on David Bowie, Lead Belly and the Meat Puppets. Kurt Cobain’s final howl in “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” makes the usual unplugged-session chatter about intimacy seem rather inadequate. Also: Megadeth, Youthanasia (1994); The Cure, Songs of a Lost World (2024).
