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Archive for September, 2024

[ATTENDED: September 8, 2024] Waxahatchee / Snail Mail / Greg Mendez

I would have liked to go to one of these two Waxahatchee shows.  I wouldn’t have gone to both shows, but I had a hard time deciding which one to go to.

It turns out in the end that it didn’t matter, because we wound up going to Pearl Jam shows on the 7th and the 9th.  I joked with my wife that I was going to try to go to this show too, but we had been standing for hours for Pearl Jam and then would be standing for Pearl Jam for hours the following day. So I had to give it a miss–even though I’ve heard the show was outstanding.

I love Gladie and would love to have seen them again, but when I saw this lineup, I had to choose the night with Snail Mail, a band I have wanted to see them since about 2018, but it keeps not happening.  This is now the seventh time I could have seen them but didn’t. (more…)

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[DID NOT ATTEND: September 8, 2024] Beabadoobie / Hovvdy

I saw Beabadoobie back in 2021 on her first tour of the U.S.  Since then, she’s put out a couple of albums and has been back to the States.  I didn’t go last time.  She was supposed to play at All Things Go last year but cancelled for some reason or another.

I would have liked to go to this show–I am genuinely surprised she played The Met.  I thought that my daughter would like to go to see her, although she recently told me that she didn’t care all that much.

This night turned out to be the same night that I had tickets to Waxahatchee, but was also the night between two Pearl Jam shows so we weren’t going anywhere.

I saw Hovvdy open for Pinegrove back in 2017.  They played a kind of noisy lo-fi rock (I see they call it pillowcore).  Both singers’ voices and musical styles were fairly different which kept the music constantly shifting.

I enjoyed them although I don’t really have strong memories of the show.

I imagine this night ended pretty early.

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[ATTENDED: September 17, 2024] Pearl Jam

After Glen left the stage, we didn’t dare move as the pit was now pretty crowded–although to be honest the back of the pit still had a lot of room.  People were pressed up close but there was breathing room.

So we waited a while, chatted more with Greta and Molly and soon enough the lights went down.  The band came out and it stayed mostly dark while they played Long Road.

And it was amazing.  We’ve seen Pearl Jam five times before this and each time was either from a far away spot (or behind the stage).  And this time, we were as close to the band as if they were playing Union Transfer and I got there in plenty of time to be close.

And we were right in front of Eddie.  I assumed that that would be a prime spot, but I think a lot of people preferred to be in front of Mike McCready–he has a lot of contact with the people around him.

It was a little frustrating that they were all silhouetted by light behind them, but it looked really cool.

I didn’t want to take a ton of pictures and videos but of course I did!  And the sound was SO GOOD.  I expected the arena to sound crappy, but we were right in front and we weren’t too close, it was like he was right in front of us singing.  And we could follow every motion Eddie made while singing Low Light. (more…)

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[DID NOT ATTEND: September 7, 2024] Waxahatchee / Tim Heidecker & The Very Good Band / Gladie

I would have liked to go to one of these two Waxahatchee shows.  I wouldn’t have gone to both shows, but I had a hard time deciding which one to go to.

I love Gladie and would love to have seen them again.

I wasn’t sure about Tim Heidecker and his band.  I assumed it would be serious and not goofy but I genuinely didn’t know what to expect.  Here’s an interesting revue from his 2023 tour

From cultfollowing.co.uk

Having a man who, just forty minutes ago, threw TicTacs around the stage and screeched about TikTok, stare through your soul as he covers Bob Dylan’s Shot of Love classic, Lenny Bruce, is an incredible feeling. Fear of God. Fear of Death. Tim Heidecker and his No More Bullshit tour, accompanied by The Very Good Band have it all. 

So it might have been interesting to see.

But we then got tickets to Pearl Jam for this night so I as glad I didn’t choose this one.

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[DID NOT ATTEND: September 7, 2024] The Beths / Alvvays

Holy cow what a fantastic show!  I saw The Beths twice in a few months about a year ago and they were fantastic.  I would happily see them again.

And Alvvays is one of my wife and my favorite bands.  And there they were together on the same night.  And we haven’t seen them since 2017.

But this show was plopped right on the same night as the Pearl Jam show that we absolutely not missing.

Bummer for doubling up on concerts.

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[ATTENDED: September 7, 2024] Glen Hansard

My wife and I won a ticket lottery for these tow Pearl Jam shows and scored floor seats to the Wells Fargo Center!  We arrived early (but not crazy early) and were something like 100th online.  So when we got into the venue, we were about three people from the stage! It was amazing.

We were really early of course, but the floor seating included a concession area with couches and food and drinks and a bathroom all within easy access.  We quickly made friends with two really nice women from Minnesota (Hi Greta and Molly) and we saved each others spots when we used the facilities.

They had seen Glen Hansard before but we had only seen him with Marketa Irglova (which was fantastic).

Glen Hansard created the movie Once. He is an amazing performer, a passionate musician and a hugely charismatic and funny individual. (more…)

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[ATTENDED: September 6, 2024] St. Vincent

I have seen St. Vincent four times and each time was a totally different experience.

The first time was in 2015 at XPN Fest.  She was so good that I wanted to see her again on that tour (since her set was a little shorter due to the co-headline).  But she did not tour that album again.  In fact, when she toured again, it for Masseduction and that tour (in 2017) was radically different.  For the previous Daddy’s Home tour, it was 100 percent different again–with a cool stage and backing singers and a kind of narrative.

This time it was more like a rock show.

The set was more intricate than most, but there were just a couple of moving parts.  And there was a video screen that was mostly used for lights and minor projections.

My wife and I went and we were in slightly better seats than last time, but you really want to be closer to the action with St. Vincent (although, tbh, we were going to see Pearl Jam the next night and we knew we’d be standing for hours, so the seats were a nice treat). (more…)

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[ATTENDED: September 6, 2024] Yves Tumor

I saw Yves Tumor last year on a headlining tour.  They played a bigger venue than the Met, which is kind of interesting.  But I was delighted that hey were opening for St. Vincent both for the exposure and because it meant I’d get to see them again.

Except I really didn’t see them at all.

For the entire set, they were backlit and covered in fog.  I literally never saw Yves Tumor’s face.  It was surprising because I feel like Yves is such a visual artist and because it made the show a lot less interesting.  And also because Yves is a star in the making–I feel like they sound like Prince if Prince were just coming out now (sometimes their voice sounds just like Prince’s)

Musically, they sounded great.  They played a condensed version of the show I saw the previous year.  Shorter songs, a lot less fanfare and soloing, although there was a lengthy jam at one point. (more…)

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[DID NOT ATTEND: September 6, 2024] Cage the Elephant / Young the Giant / Bakar

We saw Cage the Elephant open for Beck five years ago–I can’t believe it was that long ago.   They blew me away and I knew I wanted to see them again.  This show proved to be one I wasn’t going to go to.  I instantly bristle at going to the Mann even though the venue is great–the parking is just such chaos.

But we already had tickets to see St. Vincent that night and we weren’t going to miss that one.  So I do hope they come back again next year.

Young the Giant is one of several bands that came out at around the same (like Cage the Elephant) that had this ___ the ___ formatting.  It was very confusing at the time and I’m still not sure I know which is which.  They seem pretty good, but I don’t know any of their songs.

I thought I didn’t know Bakar but it turns out that I know his hit Hell n Back from the radio.  He plays a kind of mellow, warm, satisfying music–kind of rapping with a hint of reggae.  His music would be really nice to hear on a warm summer night at an outdoor venue.

Could have been a fun night.

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[DID NOT ATTEND: September 6, 2024] Built to Spill / Kicking Giant

I have seen Built to Spill five times and have enjoyed every show.  This tour promotes the 30th anniversary of the album There’s Nothing Wrong with Love.  I thought I knew this album pretty well, but it turns out that I really started getting into them with the album AFTER this one.

But I was still really excited to see this show.  They announced a show at Franklin Music Hall which bummed me out because I don’t really like that venue (and it was the same night that I had tickets for at least 3 other shows).  But then they announced this show at Asbury Lanes which was awesome.  I grabbed a ticket right away.

I couldn’t go to that show, which did leave this show.  But I already had tickets to see St. Vincent, so I’m missing this show.

Last time that BtS toured, they came back through the area a second time about four months later (Philly in May, Bethlehem in September), so I secretly hope that they will do that again maybe early next year?  But they played a lot of shows on this tour, so I’m not holding my breath.

The name Kicking Giant sounded familiar (more…)

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