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Archive for October, 2023

Japanese Breakfast (Fillmore Philly, Philadelphia, PA, October 31, 2023)

Posted in Crooks and Nannies, Hop Along, Japanese Breakfast, Little Big League, Philadelphia, PA, Sable, The Fillmore Philadelphia on October 31, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 31, 2023] Japanese Breakfast

This was my third time seeing Japanese Breakfast. But more importantly, it was my first time going to a show on Halloween (that’s not true, I saw Skinny Puppy on Halloween in 1988), but this is my first time since I had kids.

I wasn’t sure we could pull it off–my daughter wanted to go trick or treating after all.  And I was willing to not go to this show.  If my daughter wanted us home, I would have happily stayed home.  Although this did promise to be a super fun show.  Costumes, a cool poster and the notification that this would be the last J Brekkie show for at least a year.

Zauner had shared her plans for her second book, mentioning the year-long hiatus she plans to take in Korea.  “I’m moving to Korea December 29th to live for a year and work on my second book where I am going to study the language and document that process,” she told Hsu. “And I think it was such a natural response to writing a book that was so rooted in the past and so much of what was hard about it was like it was so obviously emotional, but also it was hard to remember all of that.”

Our daughter gave us permission to go out and we arrived at the show in time to see the opening act. I could (should?) have waited on line for a poster (the above picture with a foil outline), but I decided against it.

Originally Hop Along was supposed to open but that changed at pretty close to the last minute.  (Well, they had enough time to make posters with the new band, Crooks and Nannies) on it.  I’m not a huge fan of Hop Along, but I do like the and was a little bummed at the loss.  But Crooks and Nannies proved to be weirdly delightful.

After Crooks and Nannies finished (at 8:30) it was a short wait and then a woman in a clown outfit came on.  It was comedian Sarah Sherman who Michelle Zauner said “insisted she come out on stage.” She did her routine which was funny and irritating.  And when she was done, Japanese Breakfast’s crew started setting up for their show.  I was sure that the comedian was  a way to distract us while the crew set up.  But instead, it was just a delaying technique.  J.B. didn’t go on until 9:45.  Good grief.

And indeed, it was Sherman who returned, this time dressed as Gollum, ready to introduce the band.  And when she did, it was revealed that the whole band was dressed like Lord of the Rings characters.  And there were clips from the movie (and cartoons and more) projected behind them for the whole show. (more…)

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Sarah Sherman (Fillmore Philly, Philadelphia, PA, October 31, 2023) [JAPANESE BREAKFAST]

Posted in Crooks and Nannies, Hop Along, Japanese Breakfast, Philadelphia, PA, Sarah Sherman, The Fillmore Philadelphia on October 31, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 31, 2023] Sarah Sherman

After Crooks and Nannies, we waited a few minutes, honestly hoping that JBrekkie would come on stage soon so we could get home early, when out came a a woman in a clown suit.  It took us a moment to realize that we recognized her from the Adam Sandler film You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah.  She was weird and funny.

Turns out she was a special surprise Halloween guest for this show.  Michelle Zauner later said that she didn’t ask to perform, she just came out and insisted on it.  Which is pretty funny.

So Sherman started doing her routine.

I have no idea what her stand up is normally like.  If this was a typical gig for her, just shortened to twenty minutes.  Or if she was trying stuff out or what.  But her stand up is deliberately annoying, I believe.

I was annoyed by the guys behind us who kept saying things like “why would you have a stand up comedian come out between bands.”  I mean, it’s Halloween it’s supposed to be fun, shut up.

She does a lengthy bit about New York “you know what I’m tawkin’ about.”  She repeats that line “you know what I’m tawkin’ about” about forty times.  Funny, not funny, then funny, then not funny then funny again. (more…)

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Crooks and Nannies (Fillmore Philly, Philadelphia, PA, October 31, 2023) [JAPANESE BREAKFAST]

Posted in Crooks and Nannies, Hop Along, Japanese Breakfast, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia on October 31, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 31, 2023] Crooks and Nannies

This was my third time seeing Japanese Breakfast.  It was a Halloween show!  And her last show for at least a year.  So I grabbed tickets.

Hop Along was supposed to open. Hop Along is a band that I wish I liked more.   I like their music but there’s something about their songs that just doesn’t work for me.  I think it’s got something to do with the vocals, but again, I don’t really know.

But I was looking forward to seeing them live to see if they could win me over.  And then they were not playing the show and it on their place was Crooks and Nannies, a Philly band that I hadn’t heard of.

Crooks and Nannies is more or less a duo: Max Rafter and Sam Huntington.  For this show (and a tour opening for Lucy Dacus (!)), they were a five-piece.  I am pretty certain that Lucy’s own Jacob Blizard was playing with them on guitar.

Since it was Halloween, it was an opportunity for the band to dress up.  Amusingly, because of the lighting in the first two songs, I didn’t realize that guitarist/singer Saxophonist Max was wearing green face makeup to look like Frankenstein’s monster.  I did  wonder why they were dressed that way–the makeup definitely completed the picture.

Their bassist, Ryan Ficano was wearing a cow costume.  Ficano is also in a fascinatingly off kilter metal(ish) band called Ogre.  Their keyboard player, who I think was Addy Watkins, was wearing a fringed cowboy outfit. (more…)

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Mudhoney (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 29, 2023)

Posted in Hooveriii, Mudhoney, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on October 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 27, 2023] Mudhoney 

I have never really been much of a Mudhoney fan.  I like “Touch Me, I’m Sick” and I have a couple of their early records but I never really listen to them.  Their music was pretty abrasive and didn’t really have any joy for me.

And yet I acknowledge that they are the progenitors of the whole scene that I loved so much.

Nirvana may have been the band that put an entire generation in flannel, and Pearl Jam and Soundgarden both sold a lot more records, but Mudhoney were truly the band that made the ’90s grunge rock movement possible. Mudhoney were the first real success story for Sub Pop Records; their music laid the groundwork for the movement that would (briefly) make Seattle, Washington, the new capital of the rock & roll universe. They took the sweat-soaked and beer-fueled mixture of heavy metal muscle, punk attitude, and garage rock primitivism that would become known as “grunge” to the hipster audience for the first time with early releases like 1988’s Superfuzz Bigmuff and 1989’s Mudhoney, and those fans would in turn sell it to a mass audience ready for something new. Mudhoney never scored the big payday some of their old running buddies did, though they did land a major-label deal that produced several strong albums, especially 1995’s My Brother the Cow and 1998’s Tomorrow Hit Today. Their importance on the Seattle scene cannot be underestimated, and their body of work — big, loud, purposefully sloppy, a little bit menacing, and even more funny — has stood the test of time better than their well-known colleagues.

They are also one of the few bands from that scene (besides Melvins, who I also didn’t really like) who stayed around and kept making music.  So what do I know?

The crowd was rowdy but not very big.

When the band came out on stage, they shone the album cover of Superfuzz Big Muff on the screen behind them.  And I soon learned that they showed whatever album each song was from, which was kind of cool. (more…)

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The Damned / Baby Shakes / Fucked Up (Brooklyn Bowl, Philadelphia, PA, October 29, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Baby Shakes, Brooklyn Bowl, Fucked Up, Philadelphia, PA, The Damned on October 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 29, 2023] The Damned / Baby Shakes / Fucked Up

It’s hard to believe I had three opportunities to check out his show.  I had originally blown it off thinking I didn’t care for The Damned enough to go to any of them.  But then the first show was situated right between two other shows–three nights in a row is a challenge.  Then the next two, including this one, were scheduled for nights that I already had a ticket to a show.

And maybe I wanted to see The Dammed, now, but I wanted to see Hooveriii much more.

I doubt they’ll come back again, but who knows.

~!~~

I saw the Damned in 1998 at Coney Island High (RIP) with my friend Garry.

I honestly don’t remember all that much about the show.  Although Setlist actually has the details from that show! (see below).

I was never really a fan of the band.  I like “Neat Neat Neat” but don’t know much else. When this new tour was announced I was mostly interested in seeing Fucked Up again.  (more…)

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Hooveriii (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 29, 2023) [MUDHONEY]

Posted in Hooveriii, Mudhoney, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on October 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 29, 2023] Hooveriii

When this show was announced, I was excited because I found out that it was a Hooveriii show.  I didn’t even realize who the headliners were.  I was a little torn because I thought a Mudhoney show might not be that much fun, but I ‘ve been wanting to see Hooveriii for quite some time and I wasn’t going to miss them again.   I was supposed to see them in February and I didn’t go.  Still regretting that decision.

I’ve really enjoyed Hooveriii psych-rock albums, although their latest veers much more synth heavy (just like spiritual brethren King Gizzard).

But live, they simply rocked the fuck out.

Bert Hoover on lead guitar and vocals was a maniac.  I was in front of Kaz Mirblouk on bass and drummer  Owen Barrett was also pretty close up front.  I’ve really be enjoying seeing drummers closer, and Barrett had a lot of styles in his arsenal.

I was also more aware of James Novak’s contributions on keyboard.  He played some solos and probably had more impact on the newer songs, but it fit in perfectly with the overall vibe.  (more…)

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My Morning Jacket / Madi Diaz (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 28, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Madi Diaz, My Morning Jacket, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on October 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 28, 2023] My Morning Jacket / Madi Diaz

I saw My Morning Jacket twice in 2015.  I’ve been wanting to see them again ever since but things always seemed to come up when they were nearby.

They played the Mann Center in 2021 but I didn’t feel like going there (that was probably a mistake).

When they announced this tour, I was psyched.  Two nights!  Then I saw that it was the same weekend as parents’ weekend at my son’s school.  Oof.

So we couldn’t go Saturday night as that was the big night of the weekend.  But Friday night looked like it was geared more toward alumni, so we were given permission to go the Friday show and to blow off this show. (more…)

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My Morning Jacket (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 27, 2023)

Posted in Madi Diaz, My Morning Jacket, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on October 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 27, 2023] My Morning Jacket

When I told my son that we were going to see My Morning Jacket he said, “you’ve seen them a lot.”  And I kind of think that too.  But this was only our third time seeing them and the last two times were in 2015.

This tour was sort of announced as a twenty year anniversary tour of their album It Still Moves.  They were playing the album–but not at all locations.

And not at our location.  MMJ were playing two nights at the Met.  Ideally we would have gone to both.  But both nights were scheduled for the weekend of my son’s college Homecoming weekend, so we didn’t think we’d go to either.  But he was cool with us not visiting him on Friday so I grabbed tickets for this show.

Of course, seeing the setlists from both nights, I would have preferred the second night, but only slightly and only because they played a song that I really wanted to hear (“Wordless Chorus”) and that my wife really wanted to hear (“One Big Holiday”).

However, both nights were a fascinating mix of fan favorites and deep cuts.  So on our night I got to hear a couple other favorite songs, too.  So no complaints about our night at all.   Well, actually a couple of complaints about the losers who shared the box with us and who talked a lot through the show and who almost got into a fight at one point.  VIP indeed. (more…)

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Madi Diaz (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 27, 2023) [MY MORNING JACKET]

Posted in Madi Diaz, My Morning Jacket, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on October 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 27, 2023] Madi Diaz

Madi Diaz was on my list of artists to see live.  Although I couldn’t remember why exactly.  She’s opened for a few shows that I hadn’t gotten the chance to see yet, so I was excited to see her for this one.

This show turned out to be kind of weird for us for a number of reasons.  The first was that we arrived stupidly early.  For various reasons we left earlier than anticipated and there was no traffic on a Friday night (what?) so we had so much time to kill.  We thought about going for food, but we changed out minds.  And it’s good we did because on the way to The Met we noticed that there was a VIP entrance for box seats.

I happened to buy box seats for this show because they were cheaper than the resale GA tickets.  I also assumed that all MMJ tickets would be very expensive, although I later saw that there were some pretty cheap tickets left.  But I hate the back area of the Met, so I was happy to get these box seats.  So it turned out that the box seats are super swank.  You have a private (for about 14 boxes each with about 12 seats in them) bar and bathroom.  Dang.  As well as lots of room and, in our case, high chairs that allowed us to see over the people in front of our box (how psyched were we that the people in the front row didn’t stand, and we could sit for the whole show–normally not my thing, but I was pretty tired).

We could also move our chairs around which was nice.  Not as nice is that the people in our box were obnoxious.   I don’t know what t heir deal was but they talked and talked and talked.  I realize that it didn’t upset Madi Diaz at all, but it sucked to have her songs ruined by idiots talking.

Diaz came out on stage and for whatever reason she looked REALLY tall to me.  I never really got past what had to have been a trick of the light.  She played a song solo with acoustic guitar (“Man in Me”) and she had a lovely voice.

And then she brought out a drummer.  I didn’t catch his name and I can’t find it online, but holy cow did the addition of drums make these songs intense and magnificent.

Diaz switched between loud guitars and acoustic ones and the drums punctuated them perfectly.  Her voice was familiar (I wanted to say Phoebe Bridgers at her more powerful, but I’m not quite sure that’s right) and she had a great range.  On a couple of songs she raged and hit some great high notes.

I felt a little distanced from the show being in this weird box seat, so I’m not sure i fully appreciated Diaz’ set.  But she’s a powerhouse with some intense lyrics.

  1. Man in Me
  2. Woman in My Heart
  3. Everything Almost
  4. New Person, Old Place
  5. Do It Now
  6. Obsessive Thoughts
  7. Don’t Do Me Good
  8. Get to Know Me
  9. Think of Me
  10. Same Risk

 

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Vagabon / Nourished By Time (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 27, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Nourished By Time, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts, Vagabon on October 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 27, 2023] Vagabon / Nourished By Time

I was planning in seeing Vagabon in March 2020, but her show was cancelled, of course.

I really enjoyed Vagabon’s debut album.  It had a great indie rock sound, but the fact that Lætitia Tamko is originally from Cameroon gives her music a unique quality that makes it stand out.

Back in 2021, I chose to see Dinosaur Jr instead of Vagabon, a choice I regret a little.  When this show was announced, I grabbed a ticket right away.  Honestly it has been many many years since that debut came out–she could sound very different now, I’m not sure.

Anyway, I was excited to see her and then My Morning Jacket announced a show on the same night, so my wife and I are going to that instead.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever see Vagabon.  She might get put on my “missed too much list.”

I saw Nourished by Time open for Palm last month. Nourished By Time is producer Marcus Brown, with a laptop on the floor and keyboard on a stand.

He played about six or so catchy songs.  They were kind of a blend of new wave and R&B.  His vocal delivery differed for each song, which I really liked.

At the end of the show he said he had some shows coming up that he wasn’t looking forwars to.  I hope it wasn’t these.

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