The Galentine’s Day party kept on going at Lost & Found, with DJ Fearless, Keegan James, Shannon Tehya, and Hunter Frost.
Photography by Timothy Reidy.
“Galentine’s Day” @ September’s Too, 2/13/2026
September’s Too kicked off its Indie Whims music series with a Galentine’s Day-themed night of music featuring Shannon Tehya, Keegan James, and Areli.
Photography by Timothy Reidy.
NOTA Band @ Ophelia’s, 2/10/2026
On a freezing, blustery night, February 10, 2026, Ophelia’s on Broadway offered the perfect refuge-warm lights, cold coats piled high, and a small but game crowd glad to be out of the biting, sharp temperatures… Fans clustered together on one side of the room, but it didn’t matter: NOTA Band filled the entire venue with sound and spirit.
NOTA isn’t just a name, it’s a philosophy… “Not A” band in the conventional sense, but a collective built on connection, creativity, and the pure joy of playing live. Their set moved with a soulful, bluesy pulse and a focused jam energy that kept unfolding in real time—tight when it needed to be, expansive when it wanted to breathe. Bottom line: you can describe it, sure… but you really should go experience it yourself.
Photography by Stephanie J Bartik.
Olympics and Codpieces – The Weird Side of the Internet
Olympics and Codpieces – The Weird Side of the Internet – by Liam Sweeny.
The Winter Olympics. Italy. A country of romance and love. And if you’re a skier in competition, of the need for an edge. Or a lump, how you look like it.
There was a thing called “penisgate,” last year. The men were using hyaloronic acid to make their, well, “medal” bigger. I know it sounds stupid, and it is, but they weren’t doing it to bring back the codpiece. They were making their genital area bigger so they could score I bigger ski suit, which apparently gives them more lift. So this year, the Olympics are going ham on detection. They’re using digital imaging and measuring to know exactly what a male jumper’s penis size.
I don’t know. I get that no one should have an unfair advantage, but I kind of want to see just how big they can get their d*cks. I want to see someone basically whip themselves up a kickstand. Does that count as a third ski?
Another thing is that I have to wonder if it gets in the way of having sex. I’ve never heard of people using hyaloronic acid; I always thought that was a hair thing.
Which raises a question: how do the most in-shape, high intensity men and women deal with being in a tiny village together?
Bow-chicka…
But the Olympic Committee, ever the buzzkill, came to stem the carnal tide, with the provision of, get this, cardboard beds. Because who could think of any other place or way to have sex? I mean, isn’t it exercise, or is it like being a boxer and not having sex before a game? I can’t wait to see the Olympic homemade sex tapes. And we will, because in days, the athletes went through ten-thousand condoms given out by the Olympics,.
Actually I can wait because I don’t know anyone’s names and by the time it comes out, I’ll be just finishing up my viewing of airline fantasy porn.
“The Spring Thing” Returns to the Hangar on the Hudson May 2nd
THE SPRING THING is back for a second year at The Hangar on the Hudson in Troy on Saturday, May 2nd.
Everyone had so much fun last year at this event, we had to do it again. To celebrate the arrival of spring and kick-off outdoor music season, I’ve put together a mixed-genre eight band bill at The Hangar. Acts will alternate between the indoor stage and a stage in the back parking lot.
As you know, the Capital Region has an incredible music community that spans so many genres and styles of music. This event is a great opportunity for music fans to come out and support our local music community as a whole, connect with new people and maybe find a favorite new act they may not normally cross paths with.
Featuring: Rover, Mud Wasp (feat. Dylan Perillo), Stella & the Reptilians, Take Steps, Zan & the Winter Folk, Geoff Gordon feat. Troy Pohl, Kimono Dragons (first show in 4 years!), Brick Windows
Doors at 3pm / Music at 4pm / Event ends at 10pm
4PM START FOR REAL! We gotta run a tight ship with outdoor music curfew at 9pm.
4PM START FOR REAL! We gotta run a tight ship with outdoor music curfew at 9pm.
$20 advance / $25 day of show
Online ticket sales end at 10am the day of the show, after that they will be available at the door, cash only.
Ticket link: https://
18+ but kids accompanied by an adult are welcome, ages 12 & under are FREE.
Rain or shine.
Vendors:
The Ale House will be grilling up some burgers, dogs + more.
Two Tree Pie Co. is bringing their wood-fired pizza, including vegan and gluten free options.
Paper Moon is doing a pop-up with rare zines, books + local publications.
Iceman Dyes will be bringing his beautiful tie-dyed attire.
Julianna Joy: The Shape of Abstraction – Where Speaking Becomes Survivable
We’re really not effective as artists or activists if we’re not in tune with our emotional worlds.
This world doesn’t make way for the unbowed who embody the shape of abstraction. Instead, they must press forth on the outskirts of repression, bearing only conviction, fueling the will to radiate through regularity.
This philosophy first presented itself through a tactile creation by Julianna Joy, simply titled “The Work,” showcased at the Albany Center Gallery. At first sight, it brought me into a space reminiscent of a forgotten abandonment, grimy, yet strangely inhabitable. Transmuted by the encounter, I stood within the density of a room where starving air lay stagnant, its windows unsplit for years.
To describe the work, abrasion and scarring on the desecrated plyboard hold muddy browns and blacks, littered with nails, earth matter, a mousetrap, and a frozen explosion of shattered mirror shards shouting from within its nucleus. Reminiscent of something dragged through the dregs of trench warfare. Phrases scribed around the work, “What does it mean to be, to feel,” “Safe,” and “Touch Me,” form a spirit blend of emotional questioning, incoherence, and an invitation that doubles as a threat. It urges the viewer to endure a reality of pain deeply rooted in a paradox: the desire for safety in the wild is a lie.
“Alignment of body and mind is how I conceptualize the soul,” she said during our meeting, as we swam through the ripples of psychospiritual territory. Dressed in cold weather attire boasting a homemade feel, emitting tones of autumn, she sat to the left of me within the chilly but livable back hall of Stacks Espresso Bar in Troy, as I slouched in an upholstered armchair with my coffee planted beside me, gazing through the smokescreen from my THC pen. Speaking on place and community, she noted, “Living in Troy and this Capital Region is a massive privilege, because people uplift each other and do community work.”
But it’s not all confidence.
“There’s fear that I speak what I believe to be the truth, and yet everything around suggests it’s not safe to say that.”
I find further exploration of her fears in her poetry, not merely as a conceptual concern but often as a physical condition.
“…her nervous system screams…
each hand to either side of her abdomen…
it’s okay it’s okay it’s okay…”
Language gives way to regulation, with laughter and tears occupying the same breath.
“each hemisphere speaks in tandem “thank you” — “thank you”
In “the black hole of mind”, doubt becomes gravitational, tightening the chest and shortening the breath, pulling her inward towards a threshold of collapse: where a psychic spiral resolves with integration only as its conclusion.
“body and mind aligned, is soul as i so definte”
Elsewhere, intimacy is rendered as risk, refusing protection in deference to honesty—an acknowledgement that love both burns and sustains.
“…am i the flame or the candle”
What reads as madness across these works functions as a bridge rather than a breakdown, granting an emotional reference point so immediate it strips judgment of distance once accountability has already taken place. Meaning doesn’t arrive intact, or even guaranteed, but is rebuilt through repetition and conscious vulnerability, converging in an epochal realm where speaking becomes survivable.
What begins as an internal reckoning inevitably presses outward, asking what alignment demands once it exits the body and enters the world.
“As an artist, I think there’s a real danger in attracting people who appreciate you for the things you needed to embody, but need to move beyond. It’s hard to leave the past behind us. We get used to performing through familiar forms of fear and get a dopamine hit when we’re called courageous—but the work is always one step deeper.”
The conversation drifts toward Marxist theory as an ethical curiosity rather than political doctrine, circling classlessness as a condition that might relieve the psychic strain imposed by an unjust hierarchy. She reminds me, “We have agency,” illuminating that we each can present a disruption to power structures in our own way, holding an unwavering focus for social justice that I admire dearly.
Granted a sense of serenity at her intuitive comfortability given the depth of our dialogue, a feeling of genuine familiarity between two strangers grew. She’s protective of her energy, and witnessing her wings unfurl, I felt us constructing a pyramid, one ashlar at a time, with seeds of thought preserved within.
The excavation then amplified, placing the interface of the humanity center stage.
Her humanity.
RRX Interview: Julianna Joy
RRX: In your artworks, there’s a return to the body as a site of conflict and revelation. Do you feel the tension between safety and freedom playing out elsewhere in your life?
Julianna Joy: It’s funny to think of where I exist outside of art, because so much of my life is consumed with it at this point, and that’s intentional. I think the dance of art is the dance of my life. The space outside of art that connects most with safety and freedom is activism and social justice. I’m not nearly as active as many of the people I look up to, and a lot of that comes down to not having a secure income right now. I’ve been trying to figure out how to continue this journey of art while also making enough money to pay rent and take care of myself, and get to a place of stability where I can give back more.
I think the ways that I see myself engaging with resisting oppressive dynamics—capitalism and government forces—is where I feel that tension the most. Every time I take one step further into speaking out loud, there’s fear, because it feels like once something is said, there’s no going back.
RRX: In the poem, you describe the “black hole of mind” as a portal rather than an end. When did you begin to see your inner struggles not as something to escape, but as something that could transform you?
JJ: Probably about four years ago, when I was in another transitional part of my life. I was forcing myself to make creative work that wasn’t flowing, and I was in a relationship that needed to end. I remember sitting in a studio, completely spiraling, unable to do anything productive, and eventually just crying on the floor. I had met a very talented songwriter who let me use her apartment studio, and when she arrived and asked how it went, I couldn’t hide how broken I felt. I ended up crying on her floor, and she cooked me dinner and told me to have more breakdowns.
Around that time, I had my first mushroom trip and started learning about relational codependency and childhood trauma, which became a bridge from being lost in the void to understanding what it felt like to reach into dark places and come back a little more authentic. It’s been a process of engaging with places of hurt, some from childhood, some from later, and realizing that moving through those places doesn’t destroy me. It brings me back with more clarity.
RRX: I see a resistance to erasure—of feeling, of memory, of self. What parts of yourself have you actively protected from being made small by the world?
JJ: My struggle when it comes to acceptance around transness hasn’t been so much erasure as misunderstanding and mischaracterization. The way I understood transness, neurodivergence, and ADHD growing up was fundamentally unsound.
I didn’t realize it was possible that I didn’t understand myself, or that my body could tell me things before my mind did. I’ve had to protect myself from letting old habits erase who I am. It’s about staying open without giving up agency, and allowing curiosity to lead instead of fear.
RRX: You write about a spiritual war between “two tiny mes (masculine and feminine)”, certainty and doubt. Does this apparent conflict show up in your daily life?
JJ: There’s a part of my gender journey that engages with femininity as a way to change my relationship to masculinity. The archetype of masculinity I was given wasn’t something I wanted to accept.
As for certainty and doubt, I’ve moved away from needing certainty in order to move forward. I used to think I needed everything figured out before acting, but the best work doesn’t come from that place. I’ve learned to comfort the part of myself that thinks certainty is required. The more I do that, the more opens up.
RRX: I don’t think your work offers clean resolutions. It acknowledges fear while still moving forward. How do you personally define courage?
JJ: I see myself as courageous of love. Courage, for me, is the willingness to hold space for growth with other people…staying open even when it’s uncomfortable, and continuing to move towards connection instead of retreating into protection.
RRX: So healing isn’t linear, but recursive. How do you know when you’re revisiting a wound to understand it, rather than reopening it?
JJ: There’s a phrase that’s become part of my practice: feeling an emotion without becoming it. Healing happens when there’s an overarching structure of safety that allows the inner part to fully experience intensity and then return to center.
I used to just feel things and become the emotion. Now I’m learning how to feel grief or regret while still holding it as a whole person. The spiral is my favorite image for this. You pass the same point again, but you’re not in the same place. You’re moving forward.
RRX: There’s a quiet belief in what I’ve seen from you that insists meaning exists even in pain. What does it mean to you?
JJ: I think pain is more than just a sensation. It’s how our body and brain process information. Pain isn’t always helpful, but it’s always meaningful.
A lot of the hurt I’ve experienced came from unprocessed things, and it was the act of processing them—speaking, singing, embodying them—that allowed me to move forward. Pain becomes meaningful when it’s allowed to communicate instead of being dismissed.
RRX: You often work with materials, language, and imagery that carry a sense of prior use or history. Honoring what something has been. Does that shape the way you imagine what you and the art can become?
JJ: I hate unnecessary waste. There’s something deeply meaningful about taking an object that has a story and refusing to let that story end.
I’ve lived much of my life with a sense of failure, and taking something discarded and saying, ‘This is art now,’ is freeing. What makes it art is the care I give it. That process mirrors how I relate to myself and to other people.
RRX: When people encounter your work, they may project their own experiences onto it. How do you hold space for their interpretations without letting them overwrite your truth?
JJ: …I don’t think anything anyone can do will overwrite it for me. The work that I make is meant to be shared. That’s why I make it the way I do. I leave space intentionally.
I speak to emotions in a way that allows people to see themselves in it. It’s how I heal, and it’s how connection happens.
RRX: If your art and writing are acts of alignment—body, mind, and soul moving closer together—what parts of your life are still catching up to that clarity?
JJ: Spirituality is something on the horizon. It feels both real and totally made up at the same time. It’s real because we experience it, and made up because we all experience it differently.
Healing the wound between my intellect and my emotional life—learning to let them listen to each other—is where integration happens. Art is part of that, but real life is still catching up. I’m learning to move forward without resistance to myself.
The conversation doesn’t resolve so much as it returns, reframed. Like the black hole she describes, it compresses, transforms, and releases without offering a clean departure. What remains isn’t assurance, but an understanding of how to hold steady inside complexity without dissolving into disorientation. That’s the shape of abstraction. It’s a form that transcends arrival. It’s an ongoing practice that’s deliberate and irrevocably human, enacted in the steadiness of breath and presence, in the midst of a calculating institution of dehumanization.
Jukebox – Music News Cuts – 2/20.
Jukebox
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters’ 12th studio album, Your Favorite Toy, will be coming in April. It was the band’s first release with drummer Ilan Rubin. Adding to today’s announcement, the band released.
“‘Your Favorite Toy’ really was the key that unlocked the tone and energetic direction of the new album,” explained Dave Grohl. “We stumbled upon it after experimenting with different sounds and dynamics for over a year, and the day it took shape I knew that we had to follow its lead. It was the fuse to the powder keg of songs we wound up recording for this record. It feels new.”
U2
U2, ahead of their full length album coming at the end of the year, has released a six-song EP. The EP is described as “an immediate response to current events and inspired by the many extraordinary and courageous people fighting on the frontlines of freedom.”
Bono added this: “These EP tracks couldn’t wait; these songs were impatient to be out in the world,” he said. “They are songs of defiance and dismay, of lamentation.”
The EP also contains a one-time version of U2’s zine Propaganda.
Phish
Phish has announced a 2026 summer tour. The door has stops in Madison Square Gardenand Fenway park in Boston. Before the tour, the band will continue their residency at the Las Vegas Sphere.
Phish 2026 Tour Dates:
04/16 — Las Vegas, NV @ Sphere
04/17 — Las Vegas, NV @ Sphere
04/18 — Las Vegas, NV @ Sphere
04/23 — Las Vegas, NV @ Sphere
04/24 — Las Vegas, NV @ Sphere
04/25 — Las Vegas, NV @ Sphere
04/30 — Las Vegas, NV @ Sphere
05/01 — Las Vegas, NV @ Sphere
05/02 — Las Vegas, NV @ Sphere
07/07 — Madison, WI @ Kohl Center
07/08 — Madison, WI @ Kohl Center
07/10 — Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center
07/11 — Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center
07/12 — Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center
07/14 — Savannah, GA @ Enmarket Arena
07/15 — Savannah, GA @ Enmarket Arena
07/17 — Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
07/18 — Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
07/19 — Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
07/21 — Syracuse, NY @ Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview
07/22 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
07/24 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
07/25 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
07/27 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
07/29 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
07/31 — Boston, MA @ Fenway Park
08/01 — Boston, MA @ Fenway Park
09/04 — Commerce City, CO @ Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
09/05 — Commerce City, CO @ Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
09/06 — Commerce City, CO @ Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
Forever @ Ophelia’s, 2/7/2026
Forever played Ophelia’s on Metal Night, February 7.
Photography by Stephanie J Bartik.
More coverage of the show here …
Shawn Shreds @ Ophelia’s, 2/7/2026
Shawn Shreds, aka Shawn Shafran, at Metal Night at Ophelia’s.
Photography by Stephanie J Bartik.
Whassup in the 518? – Weekend Shows 2/20
Whassup in the 518?
Friday, February 20th
The Naked Magicians (18+), Proctors Theatre, Schenectady, 7:30pm
With a Las Vegas residency, a season on London’s West End, and seen in 250+ cities across the globe… Australia’s “The Naked Magicians” is undoubtedly the world’s funniest and naughtiest magic show!
Witnessed by over 50 million on TV (NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS), including “America’s Got Talent” and “Entertainment Tonight,” it’s the Aussie smash hit that’s taken the world by storm!
Perfect for date night or the ultimate girls night out, “The Naked Magicians” have performed – and undressed – for millions of fans in more than 300 cities worldwide making them the most successful Australian magic act in history. The two hot and hilarious performers deliver world-class magic and non-stop laughs while wearing nothing but a top hat and a smile.
Elise Trouw Presents: The Diary of Elon Lust Tour, Empire Underground, Empire Underground, Albany, 8pm
Heated Rivalry Night, Empire Live, Albany, 9pm
Total Mass Retain YES Tribute Band, Cohoes Music Hall, Cohoes, 7:30pm
TOTAL MASS RETAIN YES TRIBUTE BAND returns to Cohoes on Friday, February 20, 2026!!!
Performing two classic albums in full: The Yes Album + Close to the Edge
After they literally rocked the block at the Cohoes 2025 Summer Concert Series, and by immense demand from our community, the Cohoes Music Hall is proud to present the Officially Endorsed YES Tribute Band. Recognized by YES as the #1 YES Tribute Band, TMR delivers high energy and powerful renditions of YES fan favorites, classics, rarities, and epics.
Are.Sham.Bo, Rustic Barn Pub, Troy, 6:30pm-9:30pm
Are Sham Bo (Joe Archambeault) brings a solo acoustic set packed with rock, classics, and fun favorites everyone loves. Don’t miss this crowd-pleasing night of live music!
Happy Hour with Nymbis at The Eleven, Lark Hall, Albany, 6pm-8pm
Join us in welcoming Nymbis to The Eleven on Friday, February 20th at 6pm // FREE
Nymbis is a Capital Region band with Chuck Valentine on vocals and lead guitar, Brandon Wayletton drums, Austin Nicholsen on bass, Frankie McKinney on vocals and percussion, and Liz Conant on keyboards.
The Samples w/ Rob Beaulieu Band, Putnam Place, Saratoga, 8pm-11:45pm
The Samples, led by founding singer-songwriter Sean Kelly, have been blending rock, reggae, and folk into their signature melodic sound since emerging from Boulder, Colorado in the late ’80s. Best known for hits like “Nature,” “Did You Ever Look So Nice,” and “When It’s Raining,” the band built a devoted following through national touring, standout festival appearances, and their feel-good, harmony-rich live performances.
Heather Maloney with opener High Tea, Caffe Lena, Saratoga, 7pm-9pm
Massachusetts-based “writer song-singer” Heather Maloney creates music shaped by deep introspection, spiritual curiosity, and an unwavering devotion to storytelling. Before she was a touring musician, Maloney spent three years living and studying at a meditation center, days steeped in silence and the teachings of poets and seekers. That stillness shaped her artistic voice—one that combines the emotional depth of Joni Mitchell with the inward-looking precision of Rilke and the narrative resonance of Zen parables.
Hellseeker Goth Nite, No Fun, Troy, 8pm-11pm
From “Bar People.”
2/20 4:00 PM Nocturne wsg Keegan James- Keuka Winery Tasting Room
2/20 6:00 PM Christine Spero- The Wishing Well
2/20 6:00 PM Dan Dekalb- 677 Prime
2/20 6:00 PM Dan Sherwin- Treehouse Brewery
2/20 6:00 PM Dave Gleason Trio- Landing Hotel at Rivers Casino
2/20 6:00 PM Derrick Forget- Spa City Tap & Barrel
2/20 6:00 PM Drank The Gold- Cock & Bull
2/20 6:00 PM John Stack- Carsons Woodside Tavern
2/20 6:00 PM Mike & Alex- Quarters
2/20 6:00 PM Pat Decker- The Scarlet Knife
2/20 6:00 PM Peter Pashoukos- Inn at Saratoga
2/20 6:00 PM Russ Kennedy- Hilton Garden Inn,,, 30Park
2/20 6:00 PM Ryan Clark- Hank Hudson Brewing
2/20 6:00 PM Stef Solo- Saratoga Winery
2/20 6:00 PM String Drivers- Rail To River Brewing
2/20 6:00 PM Wayne & Joey- Elks Club in Wilton
2/20 6:30 PM Margo Macero- Artisanal Brew Works
2/20 6:30 PM Scot & Co.- Other One Brewery
2/20 6:30 PM Steve Candlen- DIamond Club at Embassy Suites
2/20 6:30pm Coverups Duo – Peddlers Bar & Bistro
2/20 7:00 PM Brendan Conley- Bunker Saratoga
2/20 7:00 PM CC Smokes- Bunker Clifton Park
2/20 7:00 PM EBlock Band- The Night Owl
2/20 7:00 PM Heather Maloney & High Tea- Caffe Lena
2/20 7:00 PM Jeff Walton- Principessa Elena
2/20 7:00 PM Joe’s Boys- The Bunker North Greenbush
2/20 7:00 PM Lifeline- Kraverie
2/20 7:00 PM Matty Finn- Dukes Chophouse At Rivers Casino
2/20 7:00 PM Papa Rich & The Wayward Souls- Parting Glass
2/20 8:00 PM DJ Eric Whin- Misfit
2/20 8:00 PM Ragged Company- Cooperstown Distilling Saratoga
2/20 8:00 PM Whiskey Creek- Van Slycks at Rivers Casino
2/20 8:30 PM Dead Mans Waltz- Putnam Place
2/20 8:30 PM Out Of Office- Frog Alley Brewing
2/20 9:00 PM Matt Niedbalski Group- Nine Maple
2/20 9:30 PM Hit n Run- Spa City Tap & Barrel
Saturday, February 21st
The 2026 Listen Up Awards, Cohoes Music Hall, Cohoes, 3pm
The Listen Up Awards is a people’s choice music award ceremony celebrating local talent in the Capital Region created by Mirth Films and Radio Radio X. Your Vote, Your Choice.
To go along with the awards, each year features multiple live performances. Even with this being a people’s choice style award show, we have gone even farther to keep things fair. Winners of a Listen Up award can not be nominated the next year (in the same category) and the live performers are always winners from the previous year.
The goal of the Listen Up awards is to bring people together and celebrate all the local talent we have throughout the region in a fun manner.
2026 marks the 5 year anniversary of The Listen Up Awards which is why we are celebrating with a two day event. Saturday Feb 21st will be dedicated to honoring the scene’s heroes and Sunday Feb 22nd will be the 2026 award show!
Life in the Fast Lane, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, 7:30pm
A tribute to the Eagles
It is without a doubt that LIFE IN THE FAST LANE® has brilliantly recreated the iconic sounds of the legendary Eagles. Blending 5 part harmonies and 3 guitars, they tightly execute the magical compositions of such songs as Best of My Love, Witchy Woman, Lyin Eyes, New Kid In Town, The Long Run, and the exquisitely layered “Hotel California.”
If you love the Eagles, then seeing Life in the Fast Lane perform is an absolute must! This tribute band doesn’t just play their songs—they live them. With a sound so close to the original, you’ll feel like you’ve stepped back in time to one of the Eagles’ iconic concerts. From the soaring harmonies of Hotel California to the easy grooves of Take It Easy, Life in the Fast Lane brings every classic hit to life in a way that’s both authentic and electrifying.
Girls Night: The Musical, Proctors Theatre, Schenectady, 8pm
GIRLS NIGHT: THE MUSICAL has been thrilling audiences and earning rave reviews since its sensational Off-Broadway debut. This touching and hilarious’ tell-it-like-it-is’ musical takes audiences on a journey into the lives of a group of female friends .Audience members can’t help but laugh, cry and sing and dance in the aisles! Follow five friends as they visit their past, celebrate their present, and look to the future on a wild and hilarious night out … and you’ll recognize yourself in each of them! Described as “Desperate Housewives meets Mamma Mia” (Applause Magazine), and “As funny and outrageous as Sex and the City!”(The Advocate).GIRLS NIGHT is bursting with energy and packed with hits “Lady Marmalade,” “It’s Raining Men,” “Man I Feel Like A Woman,” “I Will Survive” and more.
The Erotics, Empire Underground, Albany, 7pm
The Birthday Massacre, Empire Live, Albany, 7:30pm
Harmonic Duo, Rustic Barn Pub, Troy, 7pm-10pm
Experience the mesmerizing harmonies of the Harmonic Duo, with the sound of a full band!
Happy Hour at The Eleven with Monkey and The Crowbar Duo, Lark Hall, Albany, 6-8pm
Join us on 2/21/26 at The Eleven at Lark Hall with Monkey & the Crowbar Duo 6pm//FREE
Monkey and the Crowbar have been playing for years in the Mohawk Valley and Capital Region. Their acoustic vibe of originals and Grateful Dead adjacent tunes makes for a hoot of a time. Fronted by Todd Herringshaw(guitar, vocals), band members Tree Casullo(percussion, vocals), Joe Sinchak(fiddle, mandolin, vocals) and Sharon Charles(bass) give an old-timey spin to tunes we all know and love. For a special show, Todd and Tree will perform as acoustic Monkey-duo.
Haggis X-1 (ft: Members of Enter the Haggis), Putnam Place, Saratoga, 8pm
After 30 years of touring with acclaimed Celtic Rock band Enter the Haggis, Craig Downie knows how to entertain. Enter the Haggis focused on the fan experience, creating music with a perfect balance between innovation and tradition, and making the band a staple at PACs and festivals.
Haggis X-1 features Craig’s piping, vocals, songwriting and loveable sense of humor, surrounded by top-notch musicians including Tom Barraco and Trevor Lewington (Enter the Haggis) on drums and guitar/vocals, and Emily Yarascovitch (Tartan Terrors, Step Crew) on fiddle and step-dancing. Fans of Celtic Rock and longtime supporters of Enter the Haggis won’t want to miss this opportunity to experience Haggis X-1.
Mardi Gras Party with Nolanauts, Brass Machine & Glen David Andrews, Lost and Found, Albany, 2pm
Horse Grave / Vethaken / My So-Called Summer / We Used To Cut Grass, No Fun, Troy, 7pm-11pm
From “Bar People.”
2/21 10:00 AM Grateful Fred Scheier & Phil Shaver- Saratoga Farmers Market at Wilton Mall
2/21 10:00 AM Jeff Brisbin- Satatoga Senior Center- YMCA
2/21 3:00 PM Ron Comstock- Helderberg Mountain Brewing
2/21 5:00 PM Juniper- Artisanal Brew Works
2/21 5:00 PM Will Pedicone- Frog Alley Brewing
2/21 6:00 PM Ain’t No Strangers- Galley Bar
2/21 6:00 PM Chris Carey- The Scarlet Knife
2/21 6:00 PM Christine Spero- The Wishing Well
2/21 6:00 PM Dan Sherwin- Landing Hotel at Rivers Casino
2/21 6:00 PM Franklin Micare- 677 Prime
2/21 6:00 PM Jeff Walton … Candlelight Concert Series- The Hidaway
2/21 6:00 PM Jeffrey Halstead- Panza’s
2/21 6:00 PM Kilashandra- Rail To River Brewing
2/21 6:00 PM Marcus Ruggiero- Inn at Saratoga
2/21 6:00 PM Monkey & The Crowbar- Lark Hall
2/21 6:00 PM Pat Decker- Carsons Woodside Tavern
2/21 6:00 PM Rafa- Powers Pub
2/21 6:00 PM The Wasbes- S&S farm Brewery
2/21 6:00 PM Wide Awake Duo- Spa City Tap & Barrel
2/21 6:30 PM Jeff Brisbin- Diamond Club at Embassy Suites
2/21 6:30pm North Allen Duo- Peddlers Bar & Bistro
2/21 7:00 PM Coconut Telegraph- Parting Glass
2/21 7:00 PM Erin Powers- Forty One Sports Bar
2/21 7:00 PM Harmonic Duo- Rustic Barn Pub
2/21 7:00 PM Late Night Philosophers & DJ Biz- The Night Owl
2/21 7:00 PM On Tap Duo- Kraverie
2/21 7:00 PM Shannon Roy- Ameican Legion Wynanyskill
2/21 7:00 PM TBD- Bunker Saratoga
2/21 8:00 PM DJ Dillion Robert- Misfit
2/21 8:00 PM Haggis X-1- Putnam Place
2/21 8:00 PM In The Dust- Van Slycks at Rivers Casino
2/21 8:00 PM Mary Fahl- Caffe Lena
2/21 9:00 A MRob Forman- Troy Farmers Market
2/21 9:00 PM Terry Gordon Quartet- Nine Maple
2/21 9:30 PM The Schmooze- Spa City Tap & Barrel
Sunday, February 22nd
The 2026 Listen Up Awards , Cohoes Music Hall, Cohoes, 3pm
The Listen Up Awards is a people’s choice music award ceremony celebrating local talent in the Capital Region created by Mirth Films and Radio Radio X. Your Vote, Your Choice.
To go along with the awards, each year features multiple live performances. Even with this being a people’s choice style award show, we have gone even farther to keep things fair. Winners of a Listen Up award can not be nominated the next year (in the same category) and the live performers are always winners from the previous year.
The goal of the Listen Up awards is to bring people together and celebrate all the local talent we have throughout the region in a fun manner.
2026 marks the 5 year anniversary of The Listen Up Awards which is why we are celebrating with a two day event. Saturday Feb 21st will be dedicated to honoring the scene’s heroes and Sunday Feb 22nd will be the 2026 award show!
DIDO, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, 3pm
Schenectady-Saratoga Symphony Orchestra presents Judy Collins: Wildflowers in Concert, Proctors Theatre, Schenectady.
In her 6th decade as an artist—and as prolific as ever, having released her 55th album earlier this year—Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Judy Collins is taking a rare moment to look back on her landmark 1967 album, “Wildflowers.” The cultural icon will perform an exclusive series of shows, bringing to full bloom her chamber-folk masterwork supported by an orchestra.
The show will also feature Judy’s most beloved songs from her decades-spanning oeuvre. This program will also run nationwide on PBS as a pledge drive starting in June 2024 and will run through 2025.
Say She She Cut & Rewind Tour with Katzù Oso, Lark Hall, Albany, 8pm-11:30pm
Say She She are back and heading to Lark Hall on Sunday, February 22nd for their Cut & Rewind Tour. Doors 7pm//Show 8pm.
There’s nothing more resonant than the human voice. It contains timbres and textures no other instrument can replicate, but most importantly, it’s immensely powerful: One voice can spark an uprising, but many voices in unison create a movement. Nya Gazelle Brown, Sabrina Cunningham, and Piya Malik, the three women who front NYC punk-chic, discodelic band Say She She, understand how to wield such power. They soar above irresistible grooves, locking together in gorgeous three-part harmonies that cleverly disguise the feeling of righteous rebellion permeating their music. Theirs is a multi-pronged call to action: Move your body, expand your mind, and recognize your strength..
Balor / Tentacles / Verevaen / Morticide – 22 years of TENTACLES, No Fun, Troy, 5pm-11pm
From “Bar People.”
2/22 1:00 PM Jeff Grippin- Other One Brewery
2/22 3:30 PM Roseanna Grimaldi- Hank Hudson Brewing
2/22 5:00 PM Bobbie Van Detta- Charlton Tavern
2/22 5:00 PM Kidd Kyle & The Big Deal- Cock & Bull
2/22 6:00 PM Art n Shawna n Chris- Carsons Woodside Tavern
2/22 6:00 PM Sinatra And Friends- Panza’s
2/22 7:00 PM Sober Salon- Caffe Lena
2/22 8:00 PM Say She She Cut & Rewind Tour- Lark Hall