I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: July 30, 2024] Speedy Ortiz

I saw Speedy Ortiz back in 2018 and then… they sort of disappeared.  When they returned back in 2023, I saw  them twice, for a Free at Noon before the release of their new album and then a month later when they played the new album in full.

Speedy Ortiz was supposed to play Milkboy on New Year’s Eve, but the show was cancelled because of COVID in the band.

So this show was the rescheduled show from New Year’s (New Year’s in July).  And then in June, Sadie Dupuis posted this

 i had a bike accident monday after a car cut me off and, considering philly drivers and roads, i’m way lucky i’m alive and it didn’t go worse. 🚴😵‍💫  my elbow is, as they say formally in the medical-industrial complex, “totally effed,” but i’m scheduled for surgery monday and i’m being led to believe i’m in the best orthopedic hands out there. it’s going to be a long and annoying road to recovery but i love guitar more than anything and i’m famously stubborn so i’ll get there, don’t worry

They had to cancel shows with Mary Timony, but Sadie said she’d do anything to get this Milkboy show done, even if that meant not playing guitar and teaching all of her parts to Dylan Baldi of Cloud Nothings.

Sadie said it was like doing karaoke.  And when she realized that she’d be a “stand up” singer, she asked for a tambourine to keep her hands busy.  Then she learned that people who play tambourine off their thigh tend to protect themselves from serious bruising.

Milkboy is such a small club that I actually wound up right behind her a few minutes before the set started so I asked how she was doing with her arm and if she’s be able to play again soon.  She said that she can play okay when she sits but it hurts when she stands.

So the five piece crammed onto the stage and started playing songs from the new(ish) album Rabbit Rabbit.

They sounded great and Baldi, who was in the back far from me handled the parts just fine.   Guitarist/keyboardist, all around Speedy guy, Andy Molholt was wearing a mask but played all of his parts sounded great too.  When I saw Speedy back in 2018 Audrey Zee Whitesides was just playing with them temporarily.  I was familiar with her from seeing her with at least one other band.  So I enjoyed following her career and was pleased when she became a full time member of the band.

Drummer Joey Doubek joined for this new album and tour and he plays much harder than his predecessor.

The show was still mainly focused on the new album (9 of the 13 songs).  But they mixed in some older songs too, like the wonderful “Buck Me Off” and “Raising the Skate.”

I feel like “Cry Cry Cry” which last time Sadie told us was her favorite song on the album, sounded even better this time.  I love “Scabs” from the new album and it was great to hear it.

I also really like “Lucky 88” from Twerp Verse.   They played that along with a couple of other older songs.

They even tossed in their debut single “Taylor Swift”

Back in March they included “Lean in When I Suffer,” which is probably my favorite song of theirs, but they didn’t play it this time.  Indeed, when they ran through the set, Sadie said that that was the end of the show because those were all the songs that she had taught Dylan.

But when Dylan left the rest of the band milled around a bit (there’s no backstage at Milkboy).  Sadie asked if we wanted to see her try to play her guitar for us.

Yes, of course.  She said that the song they were going to play would be fairly easy for her, and they played a song from their debut album.  It’s slower but with some nice, satisfying riffs.

And then they were done.  The band hung out at the merch table, but I had already talked to Sadie and Audrey at the Free at Noon show, and had just talked to Sadie before the show, so I was happy to just head on home (and see that I had gotten a parking ticket because I risked parking midway through a Philly parking sign).

 

Milkboy 2024	Johnny Brenda’s 2023	Free at Noon 2023	PhilaMOCA 2018
Ghostwriter ¥	Kim Cattrall ¥	The Graduates €	Buck Me Off ⇓
Plus One ¥	You S02 ¥	Scabs ¥	Lean In When I Suffer ⇓
Ballad of Y & S ¥	Scabs ¥	Ghostwriter ¥	Lucky 88 ⇓
Buck Me Off ⇓	Plus One ¥	Silver Spring ⊗	Raising The Skate €
Raising The Skate  €	Cry Cry Cry ¥	Plus One ¥	The Graduates €
Cry Cry Cry ¥	Ballad of Y & S ¥	Lucky 88 ⇓	Silver Spring ⊗
Scabs ¥	Kitty ¥	You S02 ¥	Plough ♠
You S02 ¥	Who’s Afraid of the Bath ¥	Plough ♠	Alone With Girls ⇓
Lucky 88 ⇓	Ranch vs. Ranch¥		I’m Blessed ⇓
Silver Spring ⊗	Emergency & Me ¥		Taylor Swift [single]
Plough ♠	The Sunday ¥		You Hate The Title ⇓
The Graduates €	Brace Thee ¥		Moving In ⇓
Kitty ¥	Ghostwriter ¥		Villain ⇓
Ranch vs. Ranch ¥	Raising The Skate €            *		Swell Content €
Taylor Swift [single]	Buck Me Off ⇓		Dvrk Wvrld €
Brace Thee ¥	Plough ♠
encore
No Below ♠ (Sadie on guitar)	* “Silver Spring” was on setlist

 

¥ Rabbit, Rabbit (2023)
⇓ Twerp Verse (2018)
€ from Foil Deer (2015)
♠ from Major Arcana (2013)
⊗ from Sports EP (2012)
[single] from (2012)