I Just Read About That…

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 8, 2023] Weyes Blood / Sir Chloe

When this show was announced, I was really excited for it.  Beck always puts on a good show and Phoenix have some really fantastic songs.

I saw that our opening acts were going to be Weyes Blood, whom I heard put on a great live show and Sir Chloe, who I knew a little bit.

Well, it turns out that this show was scheduled to start at 5:30.  On a Friday.  In Philadelphia.

So, yea, there was no way were going to see Sir Chloe.

And then the forecast was so ugly!  Thunderstorms near us and in Philly.  The Mann Center closes or postpones if there is lightning.  So we weren’t even sure if we were going to go at all.

I was pretty sure we would not see Weyes Blood either, but by the time we left (and made sure that we weren’t going to drive all the way there and then find out it was cancelled), I realized we would be lucky to make the beginning of the Phoenix show.

I like to blame the Mann Center for any delays when I go to shows there. But there was no fault of theirs tonight.  Parking was even (relatively) easy and unlike at Phish shows, the line to get in wasn’t very long at all.  In fact, no complaints about the Mann in any way.  It has made me rethink my overall desire to not go there for shows.  Maybe I just need to go to less popular shows.

It turns out also that my daughter had a song from Sir Chloe on her playlist.  When I listened to a few tracks by her before the show, I recognized “Michelle” (you are a monster from hell) immediately.

Sir Chloe is a pretty interesting creation.  Flaunt say:

Dana Foote created the band Sir Chloe in college to act as her senior thesis, writing hit songs ‘Michelle’ and ‘Animal’ on the floor of her college dorm room. After the band’s successful EP Party Favors, released in October of 2020, Sir Chloe toured with Portugal. The Man and alt-J, headlined two tours in the US and Europe, and opened for the Pixies. In the midst of growing as a musical group, Foote has been working on their latest record, I Am The Dog, created alongside bandmates Palmer Foote, Austin Holmes, and guitarist Teddy O’Mara.

The first release of the record is single ‘Hooves,’ a fast-paced and cool sound that should only be played at max volume. Foote’s voice is effortless, unbothered, yet emotionally vigorous as she sings ‘I don’t wanna hold hands / You’ve been chewing my hair over and over again’ on top of a contagious beat and thrashing guitar that discourages stillness.

The first Sir Chloe tracks were sparse and almost fifties style rock n roll, while the newer album is far more aggressive and indie-rock based.  I’ll bet they are a good live act.

Weyes Blood was supposed to open for Nick Cave in 2020 at the Mann Center.  That show was cancelled during the pandemic.  I wrote Nataile Mering is the main force behind the band and she sings beautiful, delicate music.  I’m not sure how this would translate in an open air venue, but I was very curious to find out.

Spectrum Culture gave a review of her show that rather surprised me

Listening to the music of Weyes Blood, one might expect that the music is made by a somewhat aloof, ethereal being, like Galadriel if she decided to make sad pop songs. Just one minute listening to her stage banter will disabuse you of that notion. “I’m on a crusade to end astrology,” she said at the midway point of the show, confessing that she’s a recovering astrology lover that wants to start Astrology Anonymous to help people “break their natal chains!”

Watching Mering alternate between playing densely layered sadgirl chamber pop and being an immaculately dressed goofball is the kind of thing that helps you to understand just why the Ballroom was so jam-packed with screaming acolytes. It’s easy to make sad pop music — hell, it’s easier than ever to make sad pop music that sounds incredible. But much like Annie Clark in the early years of St. Vincent — doing interviews explaining that the only reason she named her album Marry Me was because she couldn’t call it Babysit Me — people really want their sad, beautiful music to come from people who are as goofy as they are melancholy.

So, I guess Weyes Blood is pretty fun, which explains why she’s touring with Beck.

But I wasn’t willing to try to brave traffic and the weather to find out.