Obviously there were a bunch of actual winners at the 54th annualGrammy Awards and dozens of artists have shiny, new gramophone-shaped statuettes to prove it. However, between bold, superstar-affirming appearances and misguided performance concepts, the night as a whole was a big triumph - and a major fail - for only a select few. Check out the highs and lows of this year's show.

HIGHS

Adele

Months after getting her vocal chords fixed up at Massachusetts General Hospital, the songstress slayed the crowd with a straightforward version of "Rolling in the Deep" that proved her vocal might was intact. Oh, and she swept all of her categories, rolling home with six awards, including Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Album of the Year.

Jennifer Hudson

The songstress inadvertently stole the show with her tear-jerking tribute to the late Whitney Houston. Belting an abbreviated but still stunning version of Houston's signature show-stopper, "I Will Always Love You," Hudson gave her musical idol a powerful tribute, elegant in its simplicity, that got the audience on its feet and reminded fans of the scope of the loss.

Foo Fighters

The Foo Fighters not only raked in the Grammy gold, taking home five awards, but they also took the stage three times throughout the night, rocking twice from the outdoor, Grammy cage thing where all the dance music artists performed, and helping to close the show with a rock-god, riff-packed finale alongside Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, and Bob Seger. Frontman Dave Grohl even gave us a little controversy when he was cut off by that "wrap it up" awards show music after he suggested that actually playing instruments - versus, say, pressing a button marked "Auto-Tune" in a tricked-out studio - is what music is all about.

Glen Campbell

Actually, both the Recording Academy and country great Glen Campbell won by letting the singer, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, perform on the big stage. Teaming with newbies the Band Perry and hitmaker Blake Shelton, Campbell was able to engage in a tribute that honored his legacy and allowed him to do what he loves. It was a beautiful moment that demonstrates the ethos of Bruce Springsteen's show-opening song and the RIAA president Neil Portnow's mid-show speech: "We Take Care of Our Own."

LOWS

Nicki Minaj

The hip-hop starlet's performance checked off all the "We don't get it" boxes. The elaborate exorcism-themed performance, which she alluded to when she arrived on the red carpet with a fellow dressed as a clergyman, came off as overproduced. After Minaj "confessed" (screamed at, really) to the priest on stage, the screen cut to a way-too-long video of Minaj as her possessed alter ego Roman Zolanski, looking like she's about to chomp into a tube of lipstick. When the camera returned to the stage, Minaj debuted her new song "Roman's Holiday," rapping in restraints on the cathedral-themed set above dancers backing it up monk robes. Three minutes later, after a choir sang "O Come All Ye Faithful" and Minaj was hoisted into the air after her pretend mental breakdown, most of the audience just seemed thankful to have survived ... whatever that was.

Foster the People

These California lads have carved out a buzzed-about career with their plucky, sunny love songs, so having the trio contribute to a Beach Boys tribute makes a ton of sense. However, that logic goes out the window when the seemingly nervous lead singer has the stiff, bug-eyed stage presence of one of those animatronic children on the "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland.

Katy Perry

Another pop starlet who bites the "What was that?" dust. Like Minaj, Perry clearly wanted to break the mold with a game-changing performance, so she kicked things off with a decoy pop star lip-syncing to her hit "E.T." The real poptress then appeared in a giant, clear box with frizzy blue hair and some shiny latex getup that recalled a superhero who has been forced into stripping. Also like Minaj, she debuted a new song, "Part of Me," sprinting back and forth across the stage beneath sculptures of beefy male specimens as flames shot through the air. The fiery revenge track appears to rip apart her soon-to-be-ex husband, Russell Brand, but the performance made Perry look like the nut job former flame.

See more Grammy highlights here

Read more from the Boston Globe: "Big wins, big loss"

The rumble of the bass line, the crack of the finger snaps, the thump of dozens of beefy guys in breastplates marching across the field, and there she is: Madonna. Pulled along in a litter carriage and heralded by dancers who are presumably less than half of her 53 years, she's giving us Cleopatra realness and -- as we always expect -- an epic spectacle.

After years of trying to idiot-proof the halftime show in the post-"Boobgate" era with a lineup of graying rockers who have been safely confined to pop-culture's sidelines, Madonna's high-energy medley of dance floor fillers from "Vogue" to LMFAO's gleefully brainless "Party Rock Anthem" was a much-needed spurt of well-choreographed yet still freewheeling fun -- especially for the under-30 set.

The pop veteran went into the show with the elaborate game plan of a star with a preternatural knack for both pleasing crowds and getting into trouble. With 30 years of hits to her name, Madonna could have "Vogue"-ed in, crooned "Hung Up," clapped to "Holiday" under some jets of pyro and called it a night.

Instead, she enlisted younger stars like hip-pop hitmaker Nicki Minaj and electro agitator M.I.A., whose middle-finger salute the press is trying to make into a thing. She also smartly nestled a bit of LMFAO's club smash into her twitchy disco track "Music," very likely aware that she hasn't had a new song on the charts since the 2008 release of Hard Candy. She also used the 100 million-viewer audience for the first live performance of her unabashedly peppy single "Give Me All Your Luvin,' " a risky move that hasn't been attempted in recent memory.

Sure, she was a little rickety on those pins, but athletic nonetheless, pulling off a decent leg extension, doing back walkovers with the Cirque Du Soleil dancers, busting out a whole bunch of whatever this move is, hopping onto the shoulders of LMFAO's RedFoo and later wriggling into some handstand twist maneuver as he gripped her ankle. And in case you didn't want to see her do all the crazy footwork, she had tons of dancers working rhythmic wizardry, including that insanely agile and adventurous tightrope acrobat.

For those who think she was good for her age, consider if you would expect this level of theatricality from say, Rihanna or Katy Perry. And yes, she definitely appeared to lip-sync the whole thing, but really, who buys a Madonna record for her voice? But if you really wanted to see Madonna at least try to sing, she trotted out a choir, donned on a glam, beaded Givenchy robe, and got on her knees to belt out "Like A Prayer," with Cee Lo riffing away in his own fabulous beaded gown.

If you're not into her music or image, that's fine, but this is the Super Bowl. It's a moment of excess, pageantry, guts, will, and triumph -- all in a wholesome, Disney-movie way, of course. Madonna brought it, corralling two female rappers, a circus act, gladiators, cheerleaders, a choir, and more for a seriously exhilarating 12 minutes. She also found ways to invigorate 26-year-old tracks like "Open Your Heart" by throwing a marching band in the mix. And on top of all of that she looked like she was having a ball. With that performance, the real Super Bowl winner is arguably Team Madonna.

Read: "Madonna was the Super Bowl's real champion" (The Angle)

Survey: Your thoughts on the halftime show

Pictures: Halftime highlights and star sightings

Etta James, the force of nature whose version of "At Last" became one of the most iconic songs of the 20th century, has left us. According to her longtime manager, the powerhouse singer died today from complications brought on by leukemia. She was 73.

James had also suffered from dementia and hepatitis C, but she was a fighter till the end. Her last performance in Boston was at the House of Blues in May 2009, which Sarah Rodman reviewed.

James's reach was vast, influencing everyone from Dusty Springfield and Bonnie Raitt all the way up to Adele, Christina Aguilera, and Beyoncé (who portrayed James in the 2008 film "Cadillac Records").

More to come. In the meantime, watch this live performance of "I'd Rather Go Blind," featuring a cowering Dr. John, and dare to tell me the world hasn't lost one of its most heart-stopping performers. This levels me every time.

(Photo: Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff )

Next weekend Boston-based rockers Buffalo Tom celebrate 25 years together with three shows at Brighton Music Hall. The Globe asked BT superfan Mike O'Malley to have a chat with the band for a piece in today's paper.

Since calling on the trio of singer-guitarist Bill Janovitz, drummer Tom Maginnis, and bassist-singer Chris Colbourn to write the theme song for his eponymous 1999 sitcom, which lasted two episodes, the four men have become friends. They've kept in touch through the course of the band's subsequent albums and O'Malley's ever-brightening career, first on "Yes, Dear" and currently as a co-star on "Glee," and as a writer for the Showtime series "Shameless."

O'Malley, Janovitz, and Maginnis convened at Eastern Standard last week. (Colbourn, who was missed, had a family commitment.) The following are a few more edited and condensed excerpts from their conversation.

Buffalo Tom plays Brighton Music Hall Nov. 25-27 at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $22 at Ticketmaster.

 

FULL ENTRY

Dave Grohl, foreground, and the Foo Fighters perform at the IZOD center in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Monday night. CREDIT: Karsten Moran for The New York Times

By Marc Hirsh, Globe Correspondent

It's hard to think of a band that's been more consistent over the last 15 years than Dave Grohl's Foo Fighters. The group's popularity has never really flagged, and its albums have never really strayed very far from their basic sound, while still avoiding the trap of repetition

That's probably why newer songs like “Bridge Burning” and “Arlandria” didn't disrupt the flow of the nonstop barrage of Foos classics the band delivered last night at TD Garden: They were, in all respects, cut from the same cloth. “Bridge Burning” kicked things off by surging right from the start, while “Arlandria” alternated moments of heavy grace with full-brunt power chording. Next to the floating momentum of “Breakout” and the sledgehammer impact of “The Pretender,” they maintained the band's strengths without a hiccup.

By the end of the night (45 minutes past the Garden's curfew), Grohl was as energetic and buoyant as “Everlong” wound down as he was at the start of the show, so animated throughout that he looked like he might fly apart. At one point, he asked the audience, “Why you gotta make me work so [gosh darn] hard?” As if Grohl looked for a second like any of it was work.

Read Marc Hirsh's full review of the show in Friday's Globe.

Marc Hirsh can be reached at officialmarc@gmail.com.

Madonna: Give Me All Your Love (Full Demo) by hardcandymusic

After mysteriously upbeat snippets were sprinkled across the Internets like so much Madge-manna, what appears to be a full-blown new Madonna song (that, if you ask Sound Effects' humble opinion, could still use some mixing) has emerged.

Of course Perez is freaking out. As is MTV -- who've identified the Stefani-esque cheerleading up front to be the work of Nicki Minaj.

Sound Effects will merely rock back and forth in its desk chair in a generally positive way until this thing's realness and doneness can be verified. For instance, 2:16 - 2:36 sounds like some unfinished loft space that she may or may not be trying to rent out to, say, Rusko. For a "demo" it's actually kind of awesome. (One humble request to Her Madgesty: lean more toward the dub- and less toward the -step when finishing this one up.)

UPDATE: The Internet seems to have withdrawn its gift, as the leaked track has been swiftly sucked away by the Brawny towel of copyright enforcement. Oh, "Give Me All Your Love," we hardly knew ye...

Cate Le Bon, tonight at Royale with St. Vincent. Photo: Force Field PR

If you're one of the lucky ticket-holders heading out to see Annie Clark (a.k.a. St. Vincent) tonight at Royale, consider grabbing that parking spot a little early.

We're going to guess that Edrych yn Llygaid Ceffyl Benthyg wasn't on your shortlst of favorite records from 2008, but the EP was a stunning little introduction to Welsh songstress Cate Le Bon. Since then, she's collaborated with the likes of Gruff Rhys, Boom Bip, and Megan Childs of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. Despite her biggish peeps, she keeps to a smallish sound -- one that reminds us that intimacy is never that far from discomfort.

Fans of Camera Obscura and/or certain formulas of Robitussin will delight in the slack autumnal pop of "Puts Me To Work," an early charmer off of CYRK, her sophomore effort, due January 17, 2012.

Cate Le Bon "Puts Me To Work" by Controlgroupco

Cate Le Bon plays a sold-out show at Royale tonight with St. Vincent.

Video still of Peace, Loving and the Metal & Glass Ensemble at First Church in Jamaica Plain. Video: whitehausfamily.

By Anna Marden, Globe Correspondent

Tonight, the artists of the Whitehaus collective in Jamaica Plain will host a sleepover, where attendees will be treated to an intimate all-night drone concert. Pillows, blankets, couches, and other cushions will be available, and some refreshments, including hot beverages and snacks, will be served, but guests are encouraged to bring whatever supplies will keep them coziest.

This eight-hour concert was planned by Matt Samolis, leader of the Boston-based group, Metal & Glass Ensemble. Tonight’s show only features the metal aspect of the group’s sound-scape (just to be clear, we’re not talking heavy metal -- quite the opposite). Members of the Metal & Glass ensemble will play bowed cymbals and tuned steel rods all night, and Whitehaus Family Records’ group Peace, Loving will chime in at moonset (1:20 a.m.) Additionally, guest soloists playing strings, brass, and reeds will join periodically throughout the night and play along with the slow drone. Samolis chatted with us about the event.

Q. Can you describe the sound of the music and the instrumentation?
A. What we’ll be presenting on Friday night is the sound of bowed cymbals and tuned steel rods that are all bolted to an apparatus that helps amplify amplify the sound and make it resonant, by using a stainless steel sheet. It’s taking rigid pieces of metal and getting them to vibrate using a bow. That sound is fed into a resonating sheet that amplifies and puts a lot of plate reverb on it. It’s all done acoustically. There’s a running joke in the band that the sound is not unlike the spirit of a chanting monk trapped inside a WWII war plane. It’s sort of like the humming of a motor combined with a vocal quality. It’s somewhat mechanistic and organic simultaneously.

Q. Why did you decide to play an all night concert?
A. Essentially the foundation [of The Metal & Glass Ensemble] is to explore sound in an extended type of presentation. And the typical component is that we play music so slowly that the progression of melody is often imperceptible. The group is always challenging themselves and each other to see if we can slow it down even more. A logical extension of that is to see how long of a concert we can present.

FULL ENTRY

Church, a popular live music venue and restaurant on Kilmarnock St. in the Fenway, announced today that the age limit of all scheduled shows would be upped from 18-plus to 21-plus, until a dispute with the city is resolved at a November 28 hearing. Church booking agent Nick Blakey sent out a statement to bands and press this afternoon:

Tuesday night we received a cease and desist from the City of Boston. Because of this citation, we cannot host any 18+ or All Ages shows until further notice. This is to due to an ordinance (or thereof) - we have been informed - handed down by the city that all 18+ shows must be approved in writing beforehand by the city.

The policy will apply not only to bands, but their guests as well. Shows will proceed as scheduled with the new age limits, and customers under 21 who have purchased tickets can claim refunds from the club.

If you're not one of the lucky ones cramming in to see Pokey LaFarge tonight at Passim [see James Reed's preview here], or riding the snake to the ancient lake with psychsplorers Dead Meadow and the Black Angels at the Middle East (the former of whom just released a feature-film-slash-album worth...vibing out to), consider tonight an opportunity to get familiar with Boston's own Destry.

Formed when guitarist/vocalist Michelle DaRosa left behind prolix post-punk-popsters Straylight Run to go solo, Destry finds DaRosa teaming with longtime chum Tyler Odom (of Cassino), as well as Sam Means of The Format, Nico Childrey (also of Cassino), and DaRosa's Straylight bandmate, bassist Shaun Cooper.

The result is crisp, clean, indie-folk that more people ought to hear pronto. "Leave the Light On" is DaRosa in a rollicking mode; "Don't Break My Heart" finds her as convincingly seductive as sunshiney. "Into The Rain" -- a live version of which is above -- is sad like a sad song should be ("I'm a tree selling leaves to pay the rent"), but satisfying and warm like a freshly ironed sheet.

You can check out songs from "Waiting on an Island" at Destry's bandcamp page; or catch them tonight with Chicago's Empires, opening for Oxford, Mississippi's revered Colour Revolt.

[Great Scott, 1222 Commonwealth Ave., Allston, 9 p.m. Tickets: $10. 617-566-9014, www.greatscottboston.com]

New Zealand's The Naked and Famous play the Paradise tonight.

By Maria Oliver, Globe Correspondent

“It’s pretty peculiar to be seen as a popular band in New Zealand,” says Thom Powers of Auckland’s The Naked and Famous. “We don’t really have celebrity culture like you guys do here in the States.”

Of course, that success is only peculiar if you’re in a band full of New Zealanders. As the first native band to top that nation’s charts in three whole years, Powers doesn’t take their success lightly.

“We’d never even thought it was possible to leave the country and play around the world and we still made the album we made,” he says.

Led by Powers and vocalist Alisa Xayalith, the Naked and Famous specialize in fast paced, synth-heavy power ballads that mix dream pop, 80s teen angst, and the head-bouncing appeal of bands like MGMT or Passion Pit. Its debut album, “Passive Me, Aggressive You” -- produced by Powers with bandmate Aaron Short --- garnered them six nominations at the 2011 New Zealand Music Awards, thanks, in large part, to songs like their hit, “Young Blood”

Tonight, the band plays the Paradise with Denver psych-punks The Chain Gang of 1974 and promising L.A. electro-pop group White Arrows.

And as the band's momentum gains, Powers is only letting some of it go to his head: “It’s nice to make enough money to go see the dentist once in a while.”

Paradise Rock Club, tonight. Tickets: $20. 18+ 617-562-8800, www.thedise.com

Maria Oliver can be reached at mariatoliver@gmail.com.

It's the closest, most monstrous music festival for Boston music acts to partake in -- and for local fans to commute to. It's the College Music Journal Music Marathon
(CMJ) and it kicks off on Tuesday.

Here's a sampling of Boston artists playing in the Big Apple during the 5-day fest.

Berklee CMJ Music Marathon 2011 Showcase

Sarah RabDAU and the Self-Employed Assassins

A prominent display of local talent at CMJ, the Berklee showcase is in its 5th year at the festival, and displays some of the school's best talent. Here's the lineup:

6:35 Da'Rayia
7:15 Particle Zoo
8:00 Julia Easterlin
8:40 Electric Touch
9:20 Bleu
10:05 Sarah RabDAU and Self-Employed Assassins
10:50 Endangered Speeches

[Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, Friday, 6:30 p.m. - 11:30 p.m. Tickets: $10, free with CMJ badge.]

The Outlaw Roadshow

Gentlemen Hall

This locally booked unofficial showcase is hosted by the Boston-based music blog Ryan's Smashing Life, along with publicity companies AnnieRock and Green Light Go, and indie label Tyrannosaurus Records. Bands from across the country are booked for this lineup, including two from Boston: indie dance rock band, Gentlemen Hall(who recently won the Billboard & Chevy Battle of the Bands), and "old soul rock n' roll" act Oldjack.

[Arlene’s Grocery, 95 Stanton St. Friday, 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. Free.]

Other Boston bands to watch out for at CMJ:

Gem Club - Twins from Gem Club on Vimeo.

Gem Club

The Boston-based minimalist pop band Gem Club will play Lame Fest II: Eclectic Boogaloo (presented by Sub Pop and Hardly Art Records) on Thursday night.

[Mercury Lounge, 217 E. Houston St. Thursday, 8 p.m.]

Bearstronaut

Boston based electro-pop group Bearstronaut plays its official CMJ Showcase on Saturday.

[Kenny's Castaways, 157 Bleecker St., Saturday. 8 p.m.]

Mercies

Connecticut-based pop duo Mercies, made up of former members of the Dear Hunter, will play the Big Picture Media Showcase on Friday night, along with Boston solo rock act Grygiel.

[Sullivan Hall, 124 Sullivan Street. Friday, 8:05 p.m. Tickets: $10, free with CMJ badge]

For full official showcase schedule, check out the CMJ Music Marathon website.

To find out about other CMJ unofficial showcases, check out this list compiled by myfreeconcert.com.

- ANNA MARDEN

Bert Jansch, the supremely influential Scottish guitarist and songwriter whose reach was vast among folk and rock musicians, has died after a battle with lung cancer. He was 67.

Jansch, a founding member of the British folk-rock band Pentangle in the late 1960s, went on to an even more revered career as a solo artist. He was the quintessential cult hero: beloved by the likes of Neil Young, Jimmy Page, and Paul Simon and yet hardly known to a general audience.

His music continued to speak to contemporary musicians, too. Devendra Banhart and Beth Orton were disciples, even appearing on Jansch's final studio record, 2006's "The Black Swan." Indie rocker Kurt Vile has said his new album was inspired by Jansch's "Birthday Blues" from 1969. This song, in particular, had a profound impact on Vile.

While Jansch may not have been an expansive talker, as I learned from a heartfelt interview with him this past April, his acoustic playing spoke volumes, at once fluid and labyrinthine. He gave the impression that, after all those years, he was still finding intricate ways to interpret shopworn classics like "Blackwater Side" and Jackson C. Frank's "Blues Run the Game."

Young, who once famously called Jansch "the best acoustic guitarist; he’s my favorite, anyway," took Jansch on the road with him a few times, including a stop at the Citi Wang Theatre back in April. In recent years, Jansch had also given rousing and assured performances to small but rapt audiences at the Museum of Fine Arts (2007) and Johnny D's (2010).

When we spoke in April, Jansch said he had been feeling fine and had hoped to start recording a new album this year. He admitted he was never especially fond of looking back on his career or dissecting his influence on others: "I can only live with the present," he said.

JEFF MANGUM
With ACME (American Contemporary Music Ensemble)
At: Sanders Theatre, last night (repeats tonight at Jordan Hall)

By Marc Hirsh
Globe Correspondent

CAMBRIDGE -- Operating under the moniker Neutral Milk Hotel, Jeff Mangum recorded two albums – one of which, “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,” rapidly revealed itself as one of the best of its era and well beyond – and then vanished for a dozen years.

As a result, all Mangum has to do to wring fervent applause out of his devoted cult following is walk on stage. That’s precisely what happened last night at Sanders Theatre, where a sold-out crowd that included fellow musical explorer Amanda Palmer gave Mangum a hero’s welcome just for showing up.

But despite a set list limited to those two albums and a cover of Roky Erickson’s simple and sweet “I Love the Living You,” Mangum (who plays another sold-out performance tonight at Jordan Hall) wasn’t simply coasting on his legend. That was clear from the start, when he grabbed a guitar and played “Oh Comely” with a dark and deliberate intensity that made it seem like his disappearing act never happened.

Mangum kept that intensity up, staring with laser focus at the back wall as he sang in his declamatory, full-throated yelp. But he softened enough to flash brief, earnest smiles with every round of applause, and when his microphone failed during “A Baby for Pree,” he casually stepped out of his chair and kneeled at the lip of the stage, all while continuing the song without amplification.

Since “Aeroplane” is, at its core, just a man with an acoustic guitar, the material didn’t require much simplification for a solo concert. Even so, he occasionally encouraged the audience to sing along, turning “The King of Carrot Flowers” and “Holland, 1945” into cracked hootenannies.

After quietly ending “Engine,” Mangum left with a gracious “Thank you, good night.” The house lights came up, the doors opened... and after a five-minute standing ovation, Mangum returned for a concert rarity: a genuine, unplanned encore. Off-mike once more, he launched into the frantic strumming of “Two-Headed Boy” as the audience sang softly along until the aching slowdown at the end. That was left to Mangum alone.

String quartet American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) opened. Three Erik Satie pieces set the tone, with “Gymnopédies” providing a slow, delicate rise and fall, and Gavin Bryars’s “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet” was stunning, using heavy repetition to transform a street person’s a cappella song into mournful but transcendent ecstasy.

Marc Hirsh can be reached at officialmarc@gmail.com.

 

Synth pop duo Erasure return to Boston tomorrow night for a show at the House of Blues.  We expect that they'll play plenty of their classics, like "A Little Respect" above, as well as tunes from their forthcoming album "Tomorrow's World." Frontman Andy Bell sent us this list of five songs he considers inspirational.

Check out Erasure's website and on Facebook and Twitter.

Miss Kittin & The Hacker - "Frank Sinatra"

"This song just hooked me instantly and made me a Kittin fan. Her humour is very acerbic and wry and she seems to sum up the whole celeb culture in a couple of sentences."

Blondie - "Dreaming"

"A Blondie track that you don't get to hear very often.  Full of energy and drive and (drummer) Clem (Burke's) furious almost techno drum rolls. As soon as this came on when I was about 15 I'd rush to the dance floor and do the windmill, i.e. spin my arms at breakneck speed."

Donna Summer - "I Feel Love"

"What can I say, this song spawned a million or more gay men to come out."

Lene Lovich - "Bird Song"

"Spooky, haunting, and kooky in a fashion that only Lene could ever pull off."

Japan - "Quiet Life"

"It said in NME magazine that Dave Sylvian was the most beautiful man in the world and I believed that he and Debbie Harry would have made a perfect designer rock baby."

Pop heartthrobs Jay Sean and Joe Jonas kicked off their 18-city fall tour, which also features Foxborough-bred songstress JoJo, in Boston on Sept. 6. As the trio hits the road, Boston.com caught up via phone last week with Sean, the British crooner behind party-starting megahits like “Down,” “Do You Remember,” and “2012 (It Ain’t The End).” The crooner spoke candidly about his sultry new mixtape, The Mistress, not letting a natural disaster screw up his hair, teaming with Joe and JoJo, and Lil Wayne’s infamous jeggings.

FULL ENTRY

(MATTHEW J. LEE/GLOBE STAFF)

KENNY CHESNEY
With Zac Brown Band
At: Gillette Stadium, last night (show repeats tonight)

By Stuart Munro
Globe Correspondent

FOXBOROUGH -- Aside from Jimmy Buffett, is there any musical artist for whom tropical weather is more topical than Kenny Chesney?

Chesney has built his entire career on singing about island life, moving from being a standard-issue hat act to a stadium-sized megaforce on the strength of "the sea and the sand, and a glass in your hand," and similar celebrations and ruminations. So if a hurricane was going to disrupt anyone's concert, it makes some kind of weird sense that it would be his.

That's exactly what happened this weekend. After a year off to recharge his batteries, the country superstar hit the concert trail again this summer, and sold-out shows Saturday and Sunday at Gillette Stadium were the final stops on his "Goin' Coastal" tour. But once a direct hit by Hurricane Irene became a possibility, the decision was made to move Sunday's concert to last night.

Given the massive amount of time, resources, and preparation involved in putting on the sort of spectacle that Chesney offers his fans, that was no small decision. But the production went off without a hitch; in fact, its main visible effect appeared to be a slightly diminished attendance last night.

Chesney, of course, sings about the pleasures of tropical life, not its occasional downsides, so it was only a matter of time before he instructed the crowd to treat the show like a hurricane party. And -- after he entered on a chair, suspended by wires, that moved back and forth over the crowd before depositing him on a cross-shaped catwalk -- he provided the perfect soundtrack, from the anthems "Summertime” and “Beer in Mexico” to the relaxed swing of "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem.” On "When the Sun Goes Down," the crowd sang along in a full-throated roar.

Along with those standard components, Chesney played other favorites (the vaguely Stonesy "Big Star") and stock-in-trade nostalgia trips ("Young," "I Go Back"). He also sprinkled in five songs from last year's "Hemingway's Whiskey." A solo acoustic rendition of "You and Tequila" provided a nice change of pace. And he took a new tack to close the pre- encore portion of the show via his football romance, "The Boys of Fall" (with video of a string of coaches -- Madden, Parcells, and Dungy, among them -- offering pearls of wisdom over the song's extended lead-out).

Chesney added a bit of a twist to the encore, too, by bringing the Zac Brown Band onstage to help close the show. Brown and company played an extended set of their own that at times -- like on the beach-bumming "Toes," for example -- mirrored the predilections of the headliner. But the band also added jammy, fiddle- laced country, breakneck cowpunk, Southern rock, and rootsy pop songs evocative of Hootie and the Blowfish.

Together, Chesney and Zac Brown Band ran through Alabama's "Dixieland Delight" and an old Chesney favorite, "The Joker," and culminated in Tom Petty's "Running Down a Dream." Chesney has shown this sort of generosity toward openers in the past, but sharing the stage for virtually all of the encore, including its finale? He must really like these guys.

Stuart Munro can be reached at sj.munro@verizon.net.

Beyonce's new visual for "1+1" is as straightforward as the passionate power ballad itself, with the pop supernova's sultry sex appeal souped up to a maximum.

The video begins with a glistening B sporting delicately tousled blond locks and crooning directly to the camera. As the clip progresses, the diva gives us bedroom eyes under a cascade of artificially produced rain and vamps it up in slow motion as those flaxen tresses blow in the artificially produced wind.

FULL ENTRY

Kenny Chesney performs at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, June 2011. Photo by Scott Lewis for the Boston Globe.

Due to hurricane warnings Kenny Chesney has decided to move his show scheduled for Sunday Aug. 28 up to Friday Aug. 26. The start time-- 5 p.m.-- and line-up-- co-headliner Zac Brown Band and special guest Billy Currington-- remain the same.

In a statement released this morning Chesney said, "I want the last weekend of the 'Goin' Coastal' Tour to be a great experience for everybody. But I also want it to be the safest experience for everyone. I've always said Foxboro is a highlight of our tour, because the fans are ready for a great night of music and fun no matter what night it is!"

More information can be found on the Gillette Stadium website.

For fans who can't attend the rescheduled date on Friday, refunds will be available at point of purchase.

Caveat: As of this moment, after about 7 minutes on hold, the Ticketmaster agent I spoke to hadn't received updated information and referred me to customer service for a refund. Customer service can be reached at 800-653-8000. A supervisor also didn't have updated info yet so it may be a little while before the refund process is streamlined.

 

*UPDATE: The Ticketmaster website has been updated for this show.

Ben Folds is getting the old band back together!

Folds was in Los Angeles yesterday at the Television Critics Association press tour to promote the upcoming season of "The Sing-Off." We caught up with him at the NBC All Star party at the Bazaar at the SLS Hotel and he told us: "I'm going to record a record with Ben Folds Five in December."

Folds says he plans to hit the studio with Robert Sledge and Darren Jessee after he completes production work on fellow "Sing-Off" judge Sara Bareilles' upcoming EP in September. (Folds and Bareilles were hanging together at the party and fellow "Sing-Off" judge Shawn Stockman was also making the rounds). 

It will be the first full-length studio album from the trio since 1999's "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner." It won't, however, be the first time the group has reconvened in the studio. Folds is releasing a career retrospective October 11 and it will include three new recordings with his BFF bandmates, including a take on "Stumblin' Home Winter Blues," originally recorded by Jessee's post-BFF project Hotel Lights.  "I always loved that song and wanted to do it with Robert and Darren so we did it live," said Folds.

As far as any potential touring goes, Folds said "I don't know, one step at a time."

Tour or no tour, this is good news indeed.

Folds said he also still has plans to work on a musical with recent collaborator, novelist Nick Hornby, but finding time in their busy schedules is proving a challenge.

"The Sing-Off" returns to NBC on Sept. 19.