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Archive for September, 2023

[ATTENDED: September 29, 2023] Tasha

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.  She was supposed to headline a tour back in 2020, but that show was postponed, so it’s not all her fault that it took me so long to see her.

And now, I’ve seen her three times in a year and a half.

Tonight I had tickets to see Explosions in the Sky, a band I loved seeing live and who I’ve wanted to see again (and again).  But when Margaret Glaspy announced her show for tonight, after careful consideration, I decided to see Margaret. The first time I had seen her was as an opener.  The second time was for a short free at noon.  So I had never seen her as a headliner, and that won out.

She was terrific. (more…)

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[DID NOT ATTEND: September 29, 2023] boygenius / Samia

Boy I tried so hard to get tickets for this show.

My daughter has become a huge boygenius fan in the last few months and when this show was announced I was sure I’d be able to get us tickets.

But indeed, they sold out instantly.

Since then, I have entered many contests, and have done everything short of actually shelling out $400 a ticket to go to this show.

The only saving grace of the whole debacle is that boygenius is playing the All Things Go festival Sunday night, so we will at least see them–even if it may be from a mile away.

And just to rub this in, I also couldn’t get tickets to the Hozier show yesterday, and here’s a picture of the four of them hanging out in Boston.  Since he’s playing in Philly Friday, I wouldn’t be surprised if they showed up to his show too.

Oh and Samia is also playing at All Things Go. She plays poppie indie rock.

I keep thinking that she is Sammus the rapper, who I am quite interested in seeing.

Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo, better known as Sammus, is a nerdcore music artist who raps primarily about video game topics.

Samia is not her

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[DID NOT ATTEND: September 30 & October 1, 2023] The Front Bottoms / Vundabar

I saw The Front Bottoms in 2021.

Since then we have tried and failed to see them several more times.  Most of the reasons were our own fault–my son being too tired or us just being very busy.  But so many missed opportunities that I pretty much gave up on the thought of seeing them again.

Then they decided to play two nights at Franklin Music Hall with an opening band that I want to see.

I might actually try to…

Ah, both nights are the same nights that my daughter and I are going to the All Things Go Festival.

Oh well.

Interestingly, Vundabar is also playing the All Things Go Festival.

Furthermore, they are playing Saturday night in Philly, then driving the two hours to Maryland to play at 12:30 in the afternoon at All Things Go and then driving the two hours back to play in Philly again Sunday night.

Impressive.  Hope they still have energy in the middle of the afternoon!

 

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[DID NOT ATTEND: September 30, 2023] Royal Blood / Bad Nerves

I have been interested in Royal Blood for a few years.  I don’t really remember when they first hit my radar, but I think it was their debut album.

I had heard that their live show (for just two guys) was really impressive.

Apparently everyone else thinks so too as they have played a few different Philly festivals over the last few years.  I wasn’t interested in seeing them at an all day festival, and this was their first time playing a club in Philly since 2017.

At the time I was really intrigued by them being a duo and rocking out.  But since then, there have been so many duos who absolutely kick ass, that the novelty isn’t that great anymore.  I never really listened to much of their music anyway, so it’s no big deal that I’m not going because this show is the same weekend that my daughter and I are going to the All Things Go.

Bad Nerves is new to me, but they seem like a fun pop punk band from England.  They have one album of frenetic punk that reminds me of The Dickies.  Sounds fun.

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[ATTENDED: September 30, 2023] Carly Rae Jepsen

Sometime in April, my daughter asked if we could go to the All Things Go Festival.  I had never heard of this Festival and assumed the answer was no.  But then I saw that it was at the Merriweather Post Pavilion which is exactly three hours away from us.  So when tickets went on sale, I managed to get two pre-sale tickets for Sunday.  And then when they went on proper sale, I managed to score two more for Saturday.

Sunday was  the far more important day for music.  I mean, the whole reason she wanted to go was to see boygenius (and Lana Del Rey).  But this was a great day of music to be sure.

It was a huge surprise to me that Carly Rae Jepsen was on this bill.  I hadn’t realized she was still making music since “Call Me Maybe.”  I was also utterly shocked to find out that she is thirty-eight!  And one of the oldest performers at the festival!

Turns out she’s not all that prolific, putting out a record every few years or so.  I wonder what else she’s up to.

We arrived for Carly and sat in the back.  Her show was the biggest we had seen so far with a big screen and flashing lights.  Hers was definitely a big performance (I mean, she is a huge pop star).

The crowd was very responsive and everyone was up and dancing.

I don’t know any of her songs (except Call Me Maybe) and I really wanted to like her (since she was at this festival).  I found that I did enjoy her songs, even though they were 100% pure pop.  The songs were fun and dancey and exactly what you’d expect a pop show to be like.  Although having seen a Katy Perry experience, I know what a pop performance can fully do.

We enjoyed the set but after about 8 songs my daughter was itchy to move on.  So we left our seats and walked around a little but, checking out some of the other things going on.  And then she started “Call Me Maybe.”  We were both so surprised!  We ran back down and stood in the middle of the sidewalk dancing and watching everybody else dancing to this pop masterpiece.

When it was over we hung around a bit but then we wandered up to the other stage area.  The plan was to hang out a bit during Mt Joy and then come back down for Maggie Rogers, but we both wound up crashing and so we left during Mt Joy.

CARLY RAE JEPSEN

  1. Let’s Sort the Whole Thing Out ²
  2. Run Away With Me
  3. Anything to Be With You
  4. Surrender My Heart ⊗
  5. Talking to Yourself ⊗
  6. Shy Boy
  7. Western Wind ⊗
  8. Kollage
  9. Psychedelic Switch
  10. Call Me Maybe
  11. Stay Away ²
  12. Julien Ð
  13. Bends ⊗
  14. I Really Like You
  15. Want You In My Room Ð
  16. The Loneliest Time ⊗
  17. Beach House ⊗
  18. All That
  19. Cut to That Feeling ¹

♥ The Loveliest Time (2023)

The Loneliest Time (2022)
² Dedicated Side B (2020)
Ð Dedicated (2019)
¹ E•MO•TION: Side B (2016)
€ E•MO•TION (2015)
⊄ Curiosity EP/ Kiss LP (2012)

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[ATTENDED: September 30, 2023] Lizzy McAlpine

Sometime in April, my daughter asked if we could go to the All Things Go Festival.  I had never heard of this Festival and assumed the answer was no.  But then I saw that it was at the Merriweather Post Pavilion which is exactly three hours away from us.  So when tickets went on sale, I managed to get two pre-sale tickets for Sunday.  And then when they went on proper sale, I managed to score two more for Saturday.

Sunday was  the far more important day for music.  I mean, the whole reason she wanted to go was to see boygenius (and Lana Del Rey).  But this was a great day of music to be sure.

I had wanted to see Lizzy McAlpine for a while.  She was on my list of to-see bands, although I didn’t really know all that much about her music.  But when I listened to her a gain before this show I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to check her out.  I was actually a little more interested in Fletcher at the time, but I have since discovered t hat I don’t like Fletcher all that much either.

Anyway, this was our relaxing time.  So we crashed on the grass field and laid back listening to Lizzy.  Which is the exact wrong way to enjoy Lizzy McAlpine.  Her songs are quiet and intimate and demand close attention.

Casual listening is not really the way to go with her songs.  So I don’t have a lot to say about her set.  I have since enjoyed some of her songs, but I assumed she rocked a lot harder for some reason.

Before the show it seemed like a lot of people were there to hear her play, so I’m sure she had a good crowd.

I have no idea why the setlist was divided into acts.  The songs aren’t play in any recorded order, so it’s a mystery to me.

SETLIST

  1. ACT I:
  2. an ego thing
  3. Over-the-Ocean Call (Andrew)
    ACT II:
  4. all my ghosts
  5. firearm
  6. doomsday
    ACT III
  7. Give Me A Minute [acoustic]
  8. called you again
  9. Movie Star
    ACT IV:
  10. erase me
  11. ceilings
  12. orange show speedway
∉ Five Seconds Flat (2022)
⊕ Give Me a Minute (2020)

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[ATTENDED: September 30, 2023] Dayglow

Sometime in April, my daughter asked if we could go to the All Things Go Festival.  I had never heard of this Festival and assumed the answer was no.  But then I saw that it was at the Merriweather Post Pavilion which is exactly three hours away from us.  So when tickets went on sale, I managed to get two pre-sale tickets for Sunday.  And then when they went on proper sale, I managed to score two more for Saturday.

Sunday was  the far more important day for music.  I mean, the whole reason she wanted to go was to see boygenius (and Lana Del Rey).  But this was a great day of music to be sure.

I didn’t know Dayglow and, in fact, I didn’t really see them at this event either.   We were near the Chrysalis Stage and were queuing for food and bathrooms while Dayglow was on.  The women’s bathroom lines were insane, so i feel like I heard most of Dayglow’s set while I sat on a bench and waited.

Dayglow is primarily indie-pop.  Cathy and infectious and pretty perfect on a warm summer day.  It would be hard not to smile while they were playing. (more…)

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[ATTENDED: September 30, 2023] Suki Waterhouse

Sometime in April, my daughter asked if we could go to the All Things Go Festival.  I had never heard of this Festival and assumed the answer was no.  But then I saw that it was at the Merriweather Post Pavilion which is exactly three hours away from us.  So when tickets went on sale, I managed to get two pre-sale tickets for Sunday.  And then when they went on proper sale, I managed to score two more for Saturday.

Sunday was  the far more important day for music.  I mean, the whole reason she wanted to go was to see boygenius (and Lana Del Rey).  But this was a great day of music to be sure.

I had vaguely heard of Suki Waterhouse.  It wasn’t until she started playing that I looked her up and realized that she was an actress as well.  I had seen her in Detective Pikachu, but had no recollection of her.  My daughter loved the show of Daisy Jones and the Six, which is probably why she was interested in seeing Suki play. (more…)

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[ATTENDED: September 30, 2023] Sudan Archives

Sometime in April, my daughter asked if we could go to the All Things Go Festival.  I had never heard of this Festival and assumed the answer was no.  But then I saw that it was at the Merriweather Post Pavilion which is exactly three hours away from us.  So when tickets went on sale, I managed to get two pre-sale tickets for Sunday.  And then when they went on proper sale, I managed to score two more for Saturday.

Sunday was  the far more important day for music.  I mean, the whole reason she wanted to go was to see boygenius (and Lana Del Rey).  But this was a great day of music to be sure.

I first heard about Sudan Archives a few years ago.  Her song “Confessions” is so catchy–with its excellent melody and her cool use of strings.  I loved that she could make catchy alt-pop using a violin as the main instrument.

Earlier this year I had a ticket to see her, but I didn’t really feel like going.  Her music changed a lot between the first and second album.

(more…)

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[ATTENDED: September 30, 2023] All Things Go [Day 1]

Sometime in April, my daughter asked if we could go to the All Things Go Festival.  I had never heard of this Festival and assumed the answer was no.  But then I saw that it was at the Merriweather Post Pavilion which is exactly three hours away from us.  So when tickets went on sale, I managed to get two pre-sale tickets for Sunday.  And then when they went on proper sale, I managed to score two more for Saturday.

If I had managed to get tickets to see boygenius at the Mann Center, we would have blown off this day, but that didn’t happen, so we hunkered down for our first Festival day (and her first Festival).

I was excited for the Festival too, as there were a bunch of bands that I wanted to see.  But this was a Festival for her, so I told her, that I wanted to arrive in time to see Sudan Archives and then the rest of the day was up to her.  I wanted to see Maggie Rogers and a few other bands during the day, but I’d go where she wanted.

I’ll write a separate post for each band we saw.

The Festival was set up very nicely with the Chrysalis Stage within easy walking distance from the main stage (and from the food and merch).  And there was free parking.

We arrived and, even though we had VIP entrance passes, we waited on line, not quite realizing how it worked.  Well, they sent us back to get our wristbands which allowed us quick entrance (very useful on Sunday).  These wrist bands also go us a swag bag full of weird goodies.

The rest was a Festival.  The food was overpriced, the bathrooms were inadequate, the water lines were really long.  At least it was September and not July.  The first day worked out great weather-wise as it was overcast and a little cooler.

I felt a little bad because we didn’t stop for lunch on the way down (tight schedule), so I made my daughter wait in line for food so I could see Sudan Archives.  I told her, that it was the last time that I’d make her do anything like this, and she was cool with it.

I enjoyed Sudan Archives in the sun, she sat in the shade and enjoyed the video screens. (more…)

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