I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: June 21, 2024] Ted Leo + Pharmacists / Ekko Astral

I saw Ted Leo + Pharmacists back in 2019 and really enjoyed the show.  At the time IW rote

Even though I like Ted Leo I really don’t know a lot of his songs–I’ve been more of a casual fan.  So I was delighted by the variety of sounds and styles he played from throughout his career.

Over the last five years I’ve wanted to see him again but for one reason or another I didn’t.  So when he announced a show at Union Transfer I grabbed a ticket.  I didn’t really give much thought to the fact that he was playing Shake the Sheets because I don’t really know any of his albums per se.  So I didn’t really care about that (It turns out when I saw him last time he played a bunch of songs from that album).

When the Isiliel show was announced for the same night I was quite torn.  I thought that the Ted Leo show would be more fun, but I didn’t know if Isiliel would ever come back, so I opted for that one. It ended at 10:30 and I had seen that most of the Ted Leo shows were ending around 11:30.  Since Union Transfer is about four block from PhilMOCA I decided to pop in and catch the end of Ted Leo and I’m really glad that I did.

So I missed the entire set from openers Ekko Astral (whom Ted praised very very highly and made me wish I had seen them–if I could have seen them in stead of Isenmor, that would have been amazing).  I’s like to make sure I see them again someday.

Luckily for me (but I would have hated this is I was there), Ted and the band didn’t go on until 9:40.  I just found out though that there were actually TWO opening bands, which explains the delay for Ted.

The middle opening act was

Philly’s own Dead Best — a super-sized supergroup featuring Atom Goren (of Atom and his Package, Fracture and Armalite), Brian Sokel (of AM/FM and Franklin), and two drum sets

I listened to them briefly and wasn’t impressed.

But back to Ted.

I walked in during “Shake the Sheets,” so I missed eight songs.  Not terrible since I still saw an hour and thirteen more songs.

Some of the members of the Pharmacists include Philly fixture Chris Wilson of Titus Andronicus and Hammered Hulls on drums, and Ralph Darden of belated Philly bands Franklin and Jai Alai Savant on guitar.

The room was really crowded (much more than I imagined) and I had to stand at the way back for “Shake,”  I slowly made my way to the side and went to the side elevated section.  There I was able to lean against the wall and with a somewhat obstructed view.

They finished the album and then Ted came out solo and played a song to distinguish the album from the rest of the set.  He played Rock the Machine, a Lisa O’Neill cover.  I didn’t know her–she is an Irish singer songwriter.

Then the band came out and it was like a greatest hits–or, more accurately, it was like a redo of  the show I had seen in 2019.  And I was fine with that because I really loved that show.

And what I wrote last time was

I was instantly hooked to all the songs I didn’t know.  If the chorus wasn’t super catchy, then there was some component of the song that I latched onto as a great moment.  Followed closely by the excellent “The Sons of Cain.”

I really loved “Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone” and am surprised I haven’t heard that one before.  “The High Party” had a whole bunch of singalongable parts as well.

The highlight for me was “Can’t Go Back.”  This is the song that totally sold me on Ted Leo. It is so freaking catchy and I get it stuck in my head for days.  It was great to hear it live.

I didn’t know if he’d play this song, but I was so psyched that he did–it’s still my favorite song of his although many others are growing on me.  Like the last time, he ended his show with Biomusicology, a great, upbeat song.

But that wasn’t actually the end.  The folks from Ekko Astral (and possibly Dead Best) came out on stage to dance and thump tom toms for a copy of Adam and the Ants’ “Dog Eat Dog.”  It sounded amazing–the deep vocals were outstanding and the tom toms were terrific.  Everyone danced and had a great time–although I felt that maybe some people didn’t know the song.

Everyone left the stage but the crowd wasn’t letting go.  Typically on this tour Ted hasn’t been doing encores, but he and the band came out for one more song.  He had played “Under the Hedge” during the set at other shows, so I’m not sure why he didn’t play it during the set, but who cares?  It was great to hear it.

I see that Ted does still play quite often so I hope to see him again in a year or so and I think I’ll be listening to his catalog a lot mnore.

 

2024 Union Transfer	2019 White Eagle Hall
Me and Mia §	The Crane Takes Flight ♥
Angel’s Share §	The Sons of Cain Λ
The One Who Got Us Out §	Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone? ♥
Counting Down the Hours §	The High Party ♥
Little Dawn §	Can’t Go Back ⊗
Heart Problems §	Angel’s Share §
Criminal Piece §	Hearts of Oak ♥
Better Dead Than Lead §	Heart Problems §
Shake the Sheets §	Dial Up ™
Bleeding Powers §	William Weld in the 21st Century ⊗
Walking to Do §	Bottled in Cork β
and more	Little Dawn §
Rock the Machine (Lisa O’Neill cover) [Ted solo]	You’re Like Me ⊗
Timorous Me ™	Let’s Stay on the Moon ⊗
The Sons of Cain Λ	Biomusicology ™
Can’t Go Back ⊗ [Ted Leo song]	encore
Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone? ♥	Me and Mia §
The High Party ♥	Timorous Me ™
Bottled in Cork β	Walking to Do §
Biomusicology ™
Dog Eat Dog (Adam and the Ants cover) [with Ekko Astral]
encore
Under the Hedge ™

™ Tyranny of Distance (2001)
♥ Hearts of Oak (2003)
§ Shake the Sheets (2004)
Λ Living with the Living (2007)
β Brutalist Bricks (2010)
⊗ The Hanged Man (2017)