It’s Showtime Music Critics Pick Their Favorites Of This Year’s Concerts

The Inland Northwest’s year in concerts was dominated by a massive oval shape on the skyline: The Spokane Arena, which opened in September.

Which makes it all the more surprising how many of the 1995 concert highlights took place in much more modest surroundings.

There was a jazz concert on a mountaintop, a pop diva on the shores of a lake, a Bach revelation in a church, and a certified legend in a Riverfront Park meadow. As well as a few memorable moments in the new Arena.

We asked each of our music critics to pick the best concerts they attended this year. Here’s what they came up with:

Don Adair

Sandpoint Institute Jazz Faculty and Students, Aug. 19, Festival at Sandpoint: Joe Lovano, Kenny Werner, Ed Schuller and Billy Hart joined institute students in a series of three stunning public concerts that were capped by an informal Saturday morning show that raged and wailed and transported listeners to magical places.

Bob Dylan, June 7, Riverfront Park: Dylan proved he’s still relevant - and that he still rocks. This show, played before boomers and GenXers alike on a cool June evening, highlighted redrawn classics from the master’s 30-year-plus career, along with lesser-know gems.

Alison Krauss and Union Station, July 28, Festival at Sandpoint: What a voice, what a band, what a night! Krauss and Union Station coax symphonies of acoustic sound from simple hill-country instruments, and Krauss tops it off with a voice of pure crystal. If there’s an angel band in heaven, they’re holding a spot for Krauss.

Vince Gill, April 20, Beasley Coliseum, Pullman: Gill is the best musician of the current country crop, a gifted singer and miraculous guitarist. This year, two drummers drove his sound, crackling like chicken in the frypan, as Gill and company ran through an extended set of rootsy but contemporary country hits.

Reba McEntire, Dec. 10, Spokane Arena: McEntire gets the nod over contenders Willie Nelson and Bonnie Raitt because her show so elegantly marries entertainment with content. She champions the cause of the modern women in a performance that’s part Vegas revue, part Rolling Stones stadium blitz. (The new building sounded great, too!)

Travis Rivers

“St. Matthew Passion,” Northwest Bach Festival, Jan. 20 and 22, First Presbyterian Church: A towering performance in which Gunther Schuller guided two orchestras, three choruses and 10 soloists in Bach’s operatic oratorio with the skill of a master pilot docking a great ocean liner. The effect was a dramatic reverence that only baroque composers seemed comfortable in aiming for.

Steven Drury’s Tribute to Margaret Saunders Ott, May 25, The Met: Piano recitals, even fine piano recitals, used to be fairly common. They are rare nowadays. Stephen Drury honored his teacher Margaret Saunders Ott with an outstanding recital of works by Beethoven, Chopin, Ravel and Cage together with a specially commissioned work, Lee Hyla’s “Basic Training.” Drury’s playing masterfully combines a virtuoso technique, intellectual thoughtfulness, and a commanding sense of the piano’s tone colors.

Spokane Symphony, May 12 and Sept. 23, Spokane Opera House: Both the end of the Spokane Symphony’s 49th season, with a deeply moving performance of Britten’s “War Requiem,” and the inaugural concert of the orchestra’s golden anniversary year, with its return of former music directors Donald Thulean and Gunther Schuller, proved what a great treasure we have in this orchestra - high achievement and even greater potential.

Joe Ehrbar

Lollapalooza, July 4, The Gorge: The yearly traveling pseudoalternative festival was bombarded with criticism this year mainly because of its non-commercial lineup. However, the bill, featuring truly cutting edge bands like Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth and Doo Rag, made Lollapalooza a winner.

Solid performances were delivered by many, including the aforementioned bands and the Jesus Lizard, Poster Children and Sinead O’Connor.

R.E.M., May 21, The Gorge: After a five-year absence from the road, R.E.M.’s show was a return to form and then some. The band was bigger, brawnier and more animated than it was on its “Green” Tour in 1989.

Second guitarist Scott McCaughey (leader of Seattle’s quirky pop band the Young Fresh Fellows) added a truly energetic punch to the night. The lanky Michael Stipe rendered a staggering performance.

NoMeansNo, Oct. 20, Knights of Columbus: Since its inception in early ‘80s, Vancouver, B.C.’s NoMeansNo has been one of planet’s most underrated bands. The ground-breaking jazz punk band weaved in and out of muscular, rhythmic punk blasts and crafty, jazz-accented songs.

White Zombie, the Melvins and Babes In Toyland, June 22, Spokane Convention Center: This bill was hands down the hardest-hitting show to come to the area this year. During its set, the Melvins educated the young, head-banging audience with the aggressive, sludgy tones that shaped Seattle’s infamous grunge scene.

White Zombie used B-movie films, horrific stage props and a cemetery set to help propel its demonic, chunk-a-riffic assault.

Black Uhuru, Oct. 1, Masonic Temple: Two of Black Uhuru’s three original members, Don Carlos and Garth Dennis, put forth a dazzling roots-conscious reggae display.

Though the two were absent during the band’s peak years, the 1980s, their contributions were substantial enough to make for a great show.

Jim Kershner

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, May 7, The Gorge: The rain was slashing down, but Petty heated up the capacity crowd with great songs from “Wildflowers,” as well as many of his big hits, played to perfection.

A perfect show for soaking in the wild, grand atmosphere of The Gorge.

Natalie Cole, Aug. 18, Festival at Sandpoint: This show was the next best thing to time-traveling back to a Big Band nightclub in the 1940s. Natalie has developed into a scat-singer to rival Ella Fitzgerald, and she has a mastery of phrasing to rival her father’s.

John Denver, July 23, Riverfront Park: OK, so the guy isn’t hip like Dylan. But he proved even to us doubters that his voice is stronger and more expressive than in his glory days. Let’s face it, the guy knows how to sing (and write) a love song.

A perfect summer evening for sitting on a blanket with your arm around your honey.

William Berry

Spokane String Quartet, May 14, The Met: There was energy and control to spare as they sailed through Bartok’s Quartet No. 5. Pianist Janet Goodman Guggenheim joined the SSQ for the Brahms Piano Quartet, Op. 25, and the team wrung every bit of emotion out this, too, for an exciting evening.

Allegro, Oct. 10, The Met: Combining well researched and lesser known treats from the Spanish Baroque with modern Spanish and Spanish-influenced compositions made for a concert of bon-bons that was over all too soon.

Tim McGraw and Martina McBride, Sept. 10, Interstate Fairgrounds: The best of the new country sound. McGraw strutted big stuff, showing why he deserved the title “Best New Male Vocalist.”

McBride was an opener but could have been a headliner, coming up the charts with anthems like “My Baby Loves Me Just the Way That I Am.”

Spokane Jazz Orchestra, Oct. 8, The Met: The first concert under the new director, Dr. Dan Keberle, was a memorable event. The tour of the Americas, covering Mexico, Cuba, Brazil and some Latin-influenced tunes from North America, was hot, hot, hot.

The band played great and swung hard and felt ready to usher in a new era.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 color photos