I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: August 18, 2023] Margaret Glaspy

I had been wanting to see Margaret Glaspy for a pretty long time.  She last played Philadelphia in 2016, about two months before I heard her album.  (Well, actually, she played Philly when opening for Ruston Kelly, ew).  She was supposed to headline a tour back in 2020, but that show was postponed, so it’s not her fault that it took six years for me to see her.

It also takes her a pretty long time to put out new music.  Her new album is only her third in seven years.  She had been working on these songs for a while because she played a bunch of them when opening for Spoon last year.

She announced a new tour and is playing Underground Arts the same night I have a ticket for Explosions in the Sky. I’m still torn–they’re very different shows.  But then WXPN announced she’d be doing a Free at Noon and I grabbed a ticket.  I’ve often thought it’s not worth doing one of these–I mean it’s about three hours of my ay for a 30 minute show.  But this one was especially fun because her album came out today and she signed them.

And the band sounded great!

I love how loud and brash her guitar sounds.  I tend to think of her as a kind of soft-spoken singer, but her guitars really rock.   Her new single “Act Natural” is so damned catchy with a great riff and a fun chorus.  Like last time she opened with “I Didn’t Think So” and “Act Natural.”  They are a great one-two punch of riffs and melody. 

Then she played two totally new to me songs, “Irish Goodbye” has another cool guitar part–she does so much with simple bent notes–I’m not sure why it sounds so good when she wavers her notes.  It was followed by “My Eyes” in which she really shows off her great voice.

She played two older songs, I’m guessing her two biggest hits, and my two favorite older songs “Emotions and Math” and “You and I” the two songs that got me really into her.

She ended the set with two more songs from the new album.  “Memories” is a slower, quieter song that builds in intensity.  She ended with “Get Back” a song that blew me away last time and did so even more this time.  I love Margaret’s voice–she can sing sweetly and she can snarl with the best.  But on this song she really shows off how amazing her range is.  The chorus has her singing long, long long notes over staccato chords and drum beats–the contrast is fantastic.

And that was that.  I think I’m leaning more towards seeing her than EITS after this show, especially as I realize I haven’t seen her headline yet.

Either way, after the show, she hung around and signed records and was super nice.

Go Margaret!

♦ Echo the Diamond (2023)
Ð Devotion (2020)
€ Emotions and Math (2016)