Steve Leftridge

St. Louis Magazine music writer Steve Leftridge and concert photographer Carrie Zukoski spent the weekend in Grand Center capturing the people, performances, and party atmosphere at the fifth MATI festival and conference.

Last year was a challenging year for Evolution Festival, the two-day, three-stage music festival in Forest Park. In the festival’s second year, organizers hit a streak of tough luck. First, one of the weekend’s headliners, Blondie, dropped out after calling off their tour. (Fellow classic-rock icon Billy Idol was added in Blondie’s place.) Then, just […]

Day 1 of Evolution Festival this year found Langenberg Field dry and under warm, sunny skies, a pleasant change after last year’s mudfest. Structurally, the event saw some reorganizing of GA and VIP viewing areas, a new VIP “club” next to the main stage (the old VIP field across the bridge has gone the way […]

Local roots-rock sensations The Mighty Pines are gearing up for this Saturday’s Pines Fest, the fourth installment of their homegrown, daylong, multi-band, multi-stage music festival. This year, Pines Fest sees some big changes: a new venue, Atomic by Jamo (4140 Manchester), which will allow the festival to expand to three stages; an expanded festival lineup […]

In 2017, singer Brian Owens, one of St. Louis’s most celebrated artists, spearheaded a national tour of performing arts centers called The Marvin Gaye Experience. The tour was an extension of a series of well-received concerts at The Sheldon, during which Owens paid tribute to some of the all-time soul greats. “These are the soul […]

One of the more surprising cultural shifts in the musical world took place in about 2022 when legions of 18-to-24 year olds suddenly started screaming every word to songs by Americana singer-songwriters to whom these kids would have theretofore paid no attention at all. That Swiftie-style allegiance got a big boost when these young listeners […]