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Archive for April, 2022

[ATTENDED: April 22, 2022] Just Mustard

Just Mustard are a five piece band from Dundalk, Ireland.  They make a fantastic noisy mess of shoegaze combined with a wall of noise and singer Katie’s droney but at times piercing vocals.

The blew away Underground Arts when they opened for Fontaines D.C.

They have a new album coming out soon and they played a bunch of songs from it.  Lead singer Katie Ball was wearing a cheerleader-type outfit with her name in letters across he front.  This was about the only whimsical thing in their entire set.

The band exuded seriousness and they were exceptional musicians.  Drummer Shane Maguire played some amazing and unexpected fills and when he hit the snare hard (which wasn’t always) it cracked to attention.  I was in front of guitarist David Noonan who played a lot of rhythmic sounds (not so much rhythm guitar as rhythmic sounds–his playing was very percussive.

(more…)

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[DID NOT ATTEND: April 21, 2022] The Lemonheads / Leah Hennessey [postponed to December 16, 2022]

I saw Evan Dando play a bunch of Lemonheads songs solo at a tiny venue in Jersey City.  He seemed kind of wasted, but he sounded great and I had a wonderful time.

I was genuinely interested in checking out this show since I missed him in Philly a few months earlier, but the show was postponed.  Whether because of COVID or he mercurial whims of Dando, I’m not sure.  Maybe I’ll see him this winter.

Especially since they’re playing It’s a Shame About Ray–I know this poster is for the UK, but so far the NJ show is a one off.

Leah Hennessey is a musician/actress/playwright/lead singer.  She fronts the band Hennessey a retro synth band created by NY artists.  Not sure what she’d sound like as a solo artist.

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[DID NOT ATTEND: April 20, 2022] Lorde / Remi Wolfe

I have enjoyed most of Lorde’s output even if she is quite poppy.  In fact, I love the song “Solar Power.”  I find her rather intriguing and was curious about seeing her live.

This sow sold out (or nearly sold out) very quickly, so I didn’t bother even trying to get tickets.  It sounds like there was some kind of controversy at recent shows about her shushing people while she was singing.  Which is kind of cheesy, although, having been to shows where someone with an amazing voice is drowned out by a fan who cannot sing, I understand the sentiment.

Remi Wolfe is a singer songwriter whom I do not know.  The fact that she appeared on American Idol in 2014 makes me not like her.  That’s unfair, but whatever.

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[DID NOT ATTEND: April 20 & 21, 2022] Phish [rescheduled from December 29, 30, 31 2021 and January 1, 2022]

I wasn’t exactly happy that Phish cancelled their New Year’s run at MSG.  Well, actually I was because I didn’t feel safe going out.

The rescheduled dates (around 4/20, ha ha) were doable except that it’s a birthday week in our house.

MSG is a pain in the ass to get to, so I wasn’t looking forward to the travel.  Then Phish announced more summer shows–in Philly and Atlantic City.  Suddenly I had tickets to seven Phish shows in four months.  That was too much even by my standards, so I sold these two on Cash or Trade and someone else got to enjoy the shows.

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[ATTENDED: April 16, 2022] Motionless in White

As soon as I heard that Motionless in White was from Scranton (and they called Philly home), I understood why they were the headliners.  Apparently they always sell out in Philly as well.

After Ice Nine Kills, there was a major shift in the audience.  Whether they were leaving or just getting drinks, it allowed me to get very close to the stage.  So when Motionless in White came out I really got to experience them pretty well.

I was a little puzzled by lead singer Chris Motionless who may have had white face paint on.  He was also wearing what looked like an army flak jacket (with no shirt underneath–ouch.

I also think there was no bassist for the band (I see that it was announced in Buffalo that he was expecting a new baby, so that’s sweet).  I’m not sue how they compensated or maybe they didn’t bother.  (more…)

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[DID NOT ATTEND: April 19, 2022] Fruit Bats / Johanna Samuels

Fruit Bats released a song at the beginning of the year and S. really liked it.  Then they announced a concert right around her birthday, so I spontaneously grabbed us tickets.

We joked how we never listened to any other songs by them and wouldn’t know anything at the show.

As the show grew closer, things were kind of crazy and we ultimately decided not to go.  So we’ll never know if we like more than that one song.

I hadn’t heard of Johanna Samuels but I see she is described as “A student of classic songwriting with a certain nod to the current in-vogue Blood On The Tracks-era Dylan” which sounds pretty good.

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[ATTENDED: April 16, 2022] Ice Nine Kills

Ice Nine Kills put on a wonderfully theatrical show.  There’s costume changes, props and murder victims.  Their songs are often very catchy and they are frequently about horror movies (hence the murder victims).

After seeing them back in 2019, I knew I’d want to see them again.  I’ve tried to see them with my son a few times, but he winds up getting invited by a friend and they go together (last time they scored VIP which I don’t even bother trying to do).  So I was pretty excited to go to this show.

And I was consequently a little bummed that their set was only going to  be about 50 minutes.  (more…)

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[ATTENDED: April 16, 2022] Black Veil Brides

When I grabbed tickets for this tour, I wound up getting them via a Black Veil Brides Presale, because I never got the INK presale to work.

I had never heard of the Black Veil Brides, but that didn’t matter, because I could still get the tickets, right?  Even my son and his friend were a little surprised the three bands were together because they said that BVB and Motionless in White peaked like ten years ago.

I also had no idea that this was a triple headline bill.  I mean, yes I can see it was advertised as such, but since I hadn’t heard of the other two bands I assumed that the other bands were listed, but it was an INK show.

Then the day before, when I went to check what time INK went on, I saw that the three bands were rotating who went first and that we would not know who was playing first until we got there.  Woah, no wonder it was so packed so early. (more…)

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[DID NOT ATTEND: April 17, 2022] Wilco

When Wilco announced that they were going to play Yankee Hotel Foxtrot straight through–in Chicago and New York City–I knew I had to try to get a ticket.

Amazingly, I scored one–a fantastic seat–on Sunday April 17.  Which was, I later found out, Easter Sunday.  Easter is not a huge holiday for us, but it is a family gathering, and I didn’t feel right going out on the Sunday.  Especially to a place that i knew nothing about, location and parking-wise.  I tried to sell the ticket but wasn’t able to.  So I ate it along with my Easter ham.

A couple of days before hand, there was some grousing that the band (known for their long shows) only played the whole album an a few encores.  They played fourteen songs on the first night.  By my night (night three). they had bumped it up to 19 songs.  But it seems like maybe the band were annoyed that people wanted more…

I have a little regret for not going–it will certainly never be played like this again.  But it was not that big a deal to miss out.  Especially since I had been in a massive cancelling on shows streak. (more…)

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[ATTENDED: April 16, 2022] Lilith Czar

I was pretty excited to take my son and his friends to see Ice Nine Kills again.  This was his fourth or fifth time seeing them already.  It would be my second.

The tickets said 6:30, which usually means that the doors open at 6:30 and the show starts at 7:30.  I couldn’t find anything to the contrary so we arrived at 6:25, figuring we’d get there nice and early–get merch and get right up close.

We walked right in and I thought, huh, are we really that early?

Well, indeed, no.  As I stood on the merch line that wrapped all the way into the venue, I looked at the Fillmore Instagram site which said that the doors opened at 5 and the first band went on at 6:30.  WTF.

So I thought I indicated to the kids that I’d get on the merch line for them and they could come when I was close to the end of the line.  Clearly I didn’t say that as they thought I ditched them and was up near the front.  Meanwhile, I was standing on line, facing away from the stage and missing the opening band Lilith Czar pretty much entirely.

I was in the room, so I heard everything, I just couldn’t really focus on her at all.

I didn’t know her music (and didn’t know she was opening the show until last night).  But I do know that she did a rocking cover of Stevie Nick’s “Edge of Seventeen” (which I always thought was called  “One Wing Dove”).

Heh, looking her up now, I see that she was on The Voice and is now married to the singer from Black Veil Brides and formerly recorded as Juliet Simms.

I wish I could have given her more attention because I liked the sound of her set, and thought the rocking “Edge of Seventeen” was quite good.  She praised Philly as the best crowd of the tour.  I know that bands say this all the time, but it felt like she had a legit reason.  She said it was the first time anyone had crowd surfed to “whatever song.”

According to Setlist, she played this

  1. Intro Poem [taped]
  2. Feed My Chaos √
  3. 100 Little Deaths (Juliet Simms cover) √
  4. Edge of Seventeen (Stevie Nicks cover) √
  5. Lola √
  6. King √
  7. Anarchy √

√ Created by Filth and Dust.

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