Dan Aquilante is an award winning music critic who has written about the New York music scene for the Post since 1985. Over the years he has reviewed every major rock act to come to the city and he has interviewed music's legends from Paul McCartney, David Bowie and Pete Townshend to Jay-Z, Brian Wilson and Billy Joel. Aquilante was born in Bridgeport Connecticut and currently lives in the Rockaways.
For 30 years, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers have been running down their dream while holding on to their integrity -- classy, classic rockers who don't back down or compromise. At Madison Square Garden last night,...
July 29, 2010 12:00 AM
In a summer when Gaga made concert success with excess and Sting fattened his sound with a 45-piece symphony orchestra, the Black Keys — just the two of ’em — are a relief. At Central Park’s SummerStage concert series...
July 28, 2010 1:28 PM
FAT JOE "The Darkside, Vol. 1" *** FAT Joe, the hard-living, tough-talking saint of the South Bronx, swept his street clean of candy-rap litter on "The Darkside, Vol. 1," an old-school gansta disc. In his...
July 27, 2010 12:00 AM
Between his flip patter and the plastic ducks that lined the Bowery Ballroom stage Tuesday, it was hard to believe Neil Finn meant what he sang. The Crowded House frontman was affable enough, but, at 53, he lacks...
July 22, 2010 12:00 AM
RICK ROSS "Teflon Don" *** YOU can't help but get a little suspicious of a hip-hop artist who makes an album on which nearly every track features another artist who's a bigger, badder star. Miami rapper Rick...
July 20, 2010 12:00 AM
'Saturday Night Live" has lam pooned Jack Johnson's laid-back style, and there are entire Web forums devoted to explaining "why he sucks," but any of the 18,000 fans at Madison Square Garden Wednesday would tell...
July 16, 2010 12:00 AM
If there was ever a concert where Sting seemed small on stage, it was last night at the Metropolitan Opera, where he played for a sold-out house fronting the 45-member Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. The show...
July 14, 2010 12:00 AMAmong the mass of men in the Iron Maiden audience at Madison Square Garden, petite Elizabeth Lawry, a 23-year-old student from Stamford, Conn., seemed slightly out of place -- except for the black T-shirt emblazoned...
July 14, 2010 12:00 AM
M.I.A. "MAYA" *½ Maya Arulpragasam, known as M.I.A., was one of the biggest sensations in music a couple of years ago thanks to her hit single "Paper Planes." Disappointingly, she stumbles through her follow...
July 13, 2010 12:00 AM
OMG! Ringo Starr is 70! No way. Shocking as that might be for the world's most famous drummer, it also gave shivers to most of the audience at Radio City Music Hall last night. Ringo and the music of the Beatles...
July 08, 2010 12:00 AM
After all the headlines, I thought Lady Gaga was born to be wild, not mild. At Madison Square Garden last night, for the first of three performances, the reigning terror of pop music was so mainstream theatrical,...
July 07, 2010 12:00 AM
Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Smokey Robinson -- a Mount Rushmore of soul -- won't have to squeeze together to make room for Phil Collins. As much as Collins tried on their style at Roseland Wednesday...
June 25, 2010 12:00 AM
Anyone expecting a raunch 'n' roll concert from "American Idol" star Adam Lambert at the Nokia Theatre last night was sorely disappointed. The gay guy-doll who shocked America with his boy-on-boy kiss and simulated...
June 23, 2010 12:00 AM
CYNDI LAUPER "Memphis Blues" ***½ MENTION Cyndi Lauper, and you think "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" or "True Colors." What you'd never guess is her depth as a blues mama. On "Memphis Blues," Lauper covers...
June 22, 2010 12:00 AM
Once happy to be considered one of Brooklyn's top indie rock bands, the National sensation has gone global with last month's release of its fifth record, "High Violet." The band reportedly killed at its headlining gig...
June 18, 2010 12:00 AM
James Taylor and Carole King are like a frumpy flan nel shirt matched with rip ped blue jeans -- an ensemble that may be fine to wear around the house, but which you probably shouldn't wear in public. In the very...
June 17, 2010 12:00 AM
OZZY OSBOURNE "Scream" **** FORGET Ozzy Osbourne the dysfunctional, bumbling dad from reality TV. The real Oz is as sharp as a dagger and at the top of his headbanging skills for "Scream." His voice is clear...
June 15, 2010 12:00 AMNearly a year after Les Paul, the father of the electric gui tar, died, his pals -- guitar ace Jeff Beck, rockabilly great Brian Setzer, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews and sexy singer Imelda May with her band --...
June 11, 2010 12:00 AM
Simon and Garfunkel's music has often shattered the sound of silence in Central Park over the years. Last night, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel watched more than 30 musicians interpret their songbook during the...
June 09, 2010 12:00 AM
GRACE POTTER & THE NOCTURNALS "Grace Potter & the Nocturnals" **** ON their self-titled record, the Vermont-based band opens with a song they could retire on called "Paris (Ooh La La)," a driving blues...
June 08, 2010 12:00 AMCall it the taming of the crew. Hot 97's Summer Jam -- the 16th annual radio-come-to-life hip-hop extravaganza -- was a shockingly gentle event, with party-rapping performers replacing gangsta rappers of the past....
June 08, 2010 12:00 AM
It was hard to pin down exactly where the California quartet Chief was drawing its energy from Wednesday night — the download of their single "Night & Day" that’s sizzling on the Web, the international radio attention...
June 03, 2010 3:17 PM
The Post got a sneak preview of Reeve Carney, the star of "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark," the Broadway musical due to open this fall. But instead of singing on the Great White Way, Reeve, 27, spun a superhero...
June 03, 2010 12:00 AM
JACK JOHNSON "To the Sea" ***½ WE tightly wound, fast-walking, faster-talking New Yorkers might not immediately get the laid-back mellow melodies on Jack Johnson's latest, "To the Sea." On this, his fifth...
June 01, 2010 12:00 AM
With this week's an nouncement that the New Meadowlands Stadium would host the 2014 Super Bowl, Jon Bon Jovi knew he had to put on a powerful show not to be upstaged. At the first performance of the sold-out four...
May 27, 2010 12:00 AM
Once in a blue moon, genius spins out of a tornado of music, drugs and madness. Beach Boy Brian Wilson may be the best-known survivor of that perfect storm, but there are others, such as Texas musician and '60s...
May 27, 2010 12:00 AM
Whether you’re talking about her looks or her voice, there’s only one way to describe 66-year-old Diana Ross — timeless. Last night at Ross’ Radio City Music Hall concert, the Queen of Motown brightly chirped,...
May 20, 2010 9:00 AMDespite the leather-clad, spikyhaired lookalikes who peppered the audience at Terminal 5 last night, there is only one Johnny Rotten. Rotten, 54, who these days goes by his given name, John Lydon, is still the brash,...
May 19, 2010 9:11 AM
With more than 10 albums out today, it can be hard finding time to listen to everything. So, we've done the heavy lifting, picking some choice tracks. "Plundered My Soul" -- the Rolling Stones: This previously...
May 18, 2010 12:00 AM
THE DEAD WEATHER "Sea of Cowards" *** ON the Dead Weather's sophomore record, "Sea of Cowards," there's a spooky similarity to the howling-wind vocals of Jack White (Raconteurs, White Stripes) and Alison...
May 11, 2010 12:00 AM
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