[ATTENDED: November 14, 2019] Charly Bliss [rescheduled from June 6]
I really liked the first Charly Bliss album and was pretty excited when they opened for Death Cab for Cutie back in 2018. They were hugely energetic, but they seemed dwarfed by the enormous stage (and from how far away we were). Nevertheless, they were so much fun that I knew I’d want to see them again.
So when they announced a show in Philly on June 6 at the Foundry, I grabbed a ticket right away assuming they’d sell out. And then a few weeks before the show, we received this email: “Due to scheduling conflict at The Foundry, Charly Bliss‘ 6/6 show at The Foundry has been postponed to November 14th.”
I’m not sure what kind of conflict could happen two months before a scheduled date, but during the show, singer Eva Hendricks suggested it was their fault and they were glad to have finally made it back to Philly.
Whatever the reason for the delay, it certainly didn’t dampen the quality or excitement of their show.
Hendricks came out on stage wearing a body suit covered in feathers. It was fun and silly and when she pogoed (which she did a lot) the feathers flopped around and pieces fell out all over the stage. She was the most joyous and fun performer I’ve seen.
The band’s newer album Young Enough is a bit more serious than their first. But that doesn’t make the songs any less catchy. In fact, the show began with the instantly memorable “Capacity.” I never would have guessed that the main synth line of “Capacity” was played on guitar by Spencer Fox. Eva bounced throughout the whole song (her legs must be so strong!). I also loved watching her play the floor tom during the song (and was bummed that she only did it on that song).
I was right in front of Fox and it was really cool watching him play all kinds of interesting sounds from his guitar (as well as watching all the poses he did). Incidentally, Spencer Fox was the voice of Dash on The Incredibles (bot not the sequel(s). He was also super friendly after the show.
Eva played guitar and moved over to the keyboards from time to time. But mostly she was just a joyous front woman. It was also amazing to watch how intense she was about the lyrics. She had on some serious eye makeup, but it didn’t disguise her passion about the words she was singing.
After “Hard to Believe,” Eva moved over to the keyboards for “The Truth” while bassist Dan Shure moved over to the middle of the stage. She was just as intense while at the keyboards, but it’s admittedly hard to pogo there.
The band had recently released the Supermoon EP and they played a few songs from it. Eva grabbed a guitar and played while she sang “Threat.” I really enjoyed a moment in the middle of the set when Spencer and Eva leaned their heads against each other while Dan held his bass over them. I wish the lights were so magenta in these pictures, because that on the right would have looked much cooler.
Then they moved back to their first album, Guppy, for the insanely catchy “Glitter.” We in the crowd were suitably wild during this rocking song. We sang along (and I was impressed by the band’s harmonies–throughout the night). When I saw them last time, nearly all of the songs were from Guppy. I do wish they’d played a few more tonight, but I was happy to hear so much of the new album.
Eva told us that her favorite song of the new EP was the title song, “Supermoon.” It’s a bit slower and not quite as bouncy, but it’s full of passion and is quite sophisticated.
Shure’s bass was prominent on “Camera” while Fox played quiet guitar lines. Then it was back to Guppy for “Ruby.” This is a fantastic song and the roaring guitars were a cool sonic change. It’s also fun to watch her pogo while playing the guitar.
They have another single “Heaven,” which is so darn catchy, I can’t believe it wasn’t huge. It wasn’t put on an album, strangely.
Throughout the show drummer Sam Hendricks (Eva’s brother) was great–loud and fast with some great rolls, but you can really hear them on “Under You.” For the next song, “Hurt Me,” Sam moved over the the keyboards. This song is simple and emotional and Eva’s voice soared through the chorus. After the song she hugged her brother as he went back to the drum set.
Eva was rally charming and sweet throughout the night. She chatted with us and seemed genuinely happy for all of the applause we were giving them. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that a band is actually appreciative of the applause since they play all the time, but they seemed very sincere about it.
“Bleach” is a synth-heavy track which they followed with album opener, “Blown to Bits” (with great backing vocals). Eva explained that this album was about growing up and was very personal to her. You could clearly hear it the way her voice was sort of breaking and crackling during “Young Enough.”
They ended the set with the revenge song “Chatroom.” This song features more of that synth guitar sound from Fox, a lot of pogoing from Hendricks and a ton of singing along from the audience.
The band left briefly and then came back for a superlative encore of the Guppy song “Percolator.” Between the soaring guitars and stomping drums, this song had the whole room going nuts. I think they may have jammed out the solo section a bit longer as well. It was a fantastic ending to a great show
The set was, ultimately, kind of short. Honestly, between their two albums and the Supermoon EP, it’s about an hour and a half of recorded music. They could easily have played all of that in a jam-packed set. But I’m never one to turn down the opportunity to get home early after a fun show. I kind of ruined that by waiting around for a T-shirt for T. Otherwise I might have been home by 11:30 (talk about bliss!)
I highly recommend seeing Charly Bliss live–they are full of energy and fun and the band is tight as anything.
SETLIST for My show (Nov. 14) and the opening slot for Death Cab (Oct 8) as well as the show the night after the original date of our show for comparison.
Because they had released Supermoon between June and November, our show had songs from that EP and fewer songs from Guppy. Although I do see that overall they played more songs back then. [Nitpicking].
| June 8, 2019 | November 14, 2019 | October 8, 2018 |
| Blown to Bits ¥ | Capacity ¥ | Westermarck ⊗ |
| Percolator ⊗ | Hard to Believe ¥ | Scare U ⊗ |
| Capacity ¥ | The Truth ¥ | Heaven |
| Heaven (single) | Threat $ | Gatorade ⊗ |
| Ruby ⊗ | Glitter ⊗ | Ruby ⊗ |
| Under You ¥ | Supermoon $ | Supermoon |
| Camera ¥ | Camera ¥ | Percolator ⊗ |
| Fighting in the Dark ¥ | Ruby ⊗ | DQ ⊗ |
| Young Enough ¥ | Heaven (single) | Black Hole ⊗ |
| Bleach ¥ | Under You ¥ | Glitter ⊗ |
| Black Hole ⊗ | Hurt Me ¥ | |
| DQ ⊗ | Bleach ¥ | |
| Glitter ⊗ | Blown to Bits ¥ | |
| Hurt Me ¥ | Young Enough ¥ | |
| Hard to Believe ¥ | Chatroom ¥ | |
| Chatroom ¥ | encore | |
| encore | Percolator ⊗ | |
| Mr. Brightside [Killers cover] | ||
| Love Me $$ |
*2018: they played everything but “Totalizer” and “Julia” from Guppy.
*2019: they played everything but “Fighting In the Dark” from Young Enough.
$ = Supermoon EP (2019)
¥ = Young Enough (2019)
⊗ = Guppy (2017)
$$ = Soft Serve EP (2014)
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