Tag: Performance

Bobby Carter | August 25, 2026 Isaiah Rashad put everything into this Tiny Desk. And in the weeks leading up to the show, we came together to define what “everything” meant for this occasion. So much has happened since The Sun’s Tirade in 2016, and through the music, Rashad wanted to talk about it all. As a result, the pride of Chattanooga crafts a performance that feels like a debut for longtime fans and newcomers alike. Rashad’s music comprises just as much blues as hip-hop, and his strength lies in raw vulnerability, which he consistently expresses through honest songwriting. Album [See More…]

Stephen Thompson | August 20, 2026 For “Weird Al” Yankovic — pop parodist, comedy lifer, occasional movie and TV star, and improver of countless adolescences — coming up with a fresh set of songs for the Tiny Desk was never going to be an issue. The singer and should-be Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has a massive arsenal of parodies, pastiches and originals at his disposal. And the band he’s brought to the Tiny Desk has grown from the lean, unplugged configuration that graced our stage in 2010 to a high-spirited and electrified crowd of players. Yankovic focused on [See More…]

Robin Hilton | August 11, 2026 Death Cab for Cutie has always had a gift for making the ordinary feel breathtaking, bringing clarity to complicated feelings in plainspoken and universal ways, with a sound that is singularly its own. For this performance, the band’s second at the Tiny Desk, the members recreate that sound almost entirely on acoustic instruments, including a nearly 100-year old zither. The band opens with “Pep Talk” and “Stone Over Water” from Death Cab’s latest album, I Built You a Tower, both stirring reflections on aging and surviving regret, before turning to two older cuts: “Title [See More…]

Ashley Pointer | August 4, 2026 Charlie Puth walked into the Tiny Desk and turned it into a jazz club. Known for crafting some of the biggest pop records of the last decade, Puth approaches the Desk less like a hitmaker and more like a bandleader, reimagining familiar songs with fresh arrangements that spotlight the musicianship at his core. With effortless precision — and plenty of spontaneity — he guideshis band through each song, shaping dynamics in real time like a professor leading a masterclass. “We Don’t Talk Anymore” opens with a colorful vamp before unfolding into what Puth jokingly [See More…]

Tom Huizenga | July 30, 2026 My favorite artists are the restless ones — those who enjoy, even thrive on, working outside their comfort zones, refusing to be confined to any convenient pigeonhole. Banjo magus Béla Fleck might be the poster boy for such musical curiosity. The 18-time Grammy-winner is fluent in bluegrass, newgrass (which he helped define), jazz, rock, Indian classical and various other traditions from around the globe. Opera superstar Renée Fleming also enjoys a boundary-defying inquisitive streak. While she’s one of the finest, most celebrated, sopranos of her generation, Fleming has stepped into surprising places, including a [See More…]

Lars Gotrich | July 28, 2026 ELUCID and billy woods have pounded the pavement for over two decades, which can feel like several lifetimes in underground rap years. Together as Armand Hammer, and separately on their own, the catalog runs deep. But even as more co-signs, features and bigger-name producers take note, a deep undercurrent remains: They reflect and refract the horrors and joys of the world, creating a kind of kaleidoscopic healing. As my colleague Rodney Carmichael puts it: The more complicated the times get, the easier it is to understand them. But this ain’t just for the heads; [See More…]

Bobby Carter | July 21, 2026 Following the second song of his set, Vince Staples does a call out. “I just wanna see something. If you know who George Jackson is, in the crowd, raise your hand!” The Long Beach emcee goes on: “What about Bobby Hutton?” No one raises their hand. He continues saying the names of slain members of the Black Panther Party, also mentioning Larry Kimmons, who was shot and killed by a Pepperdine University security guard in 1969. The song “Go! Go! Gorilla,” details the Black community’s fear of law enforcement. It was a tense moment [See More…]