I Just Read About That…

[DID NOT ATTEND: January 19, 2025] Speedy Ortiz / Grass is Green/ Ovlov / Goshupon

This show was vaguely on my radar because of the band Ovlov, who I’ve known about but didn’t know.  I’ve always gotten a kick out of their name and whenever I se a Volvo I think of them.

Listening to them now I think I should have been a fan all along.  They have gentle indie rock guitars with wailing guitar walls over the top.  It’s fantastic.   Their albums are short and they’ve only put out three since 2009.  Which is either awesome for getting into them, or frustrating at their lack of productivity.  Either way, I’d love to see  them live, but I suspect I’ve missed their only local appearance for a while.

I’d never heard of Grass is Green who are a Boston based experimental rock/post-punk band.  They’ve been around since 2010 playing a a discordant and angular blend of punk and indie. I’ve listened to a few song and I love them–noisy and weird without being unpleasant.

Now that I’ve listened to these bands more, I would have loved  to have gone to this show.  But of course, it was at the Church and I don’t go there.

Back in October this show was announced as

CT guitar riff legends OVLOV will finally play the Church, with a…GRASS IS GREEN reunion!? Insanity. There’s a very special guest too (who ever could it be??).

Then two days before the show R5 Productions emailed:

OK, it’s finally time to let the cat out of the bag…the special guest on Sunday’s show is none other than SPEEDY ORTIZ, and the show is now a TRIPLE HEADLINER! That’s right, OVLOV, GRASS IS GREEN, & SPEEDY ORTIZ. AND if that weren’t enough, you ALSO get GOSHUPON.

I don’t know what order the bands went on in, but I think Ovlov headlined.

Speedy Ortiz played a show in Philly last week, so this was a surprise!  Interestingly of the thre bands Speedy Ortiz is t he only one I knew before this show, but of the three, I think I would have enjoyed them least because the other two bands sound wild!  For those keeping track, Speedy Ortiz played 12 songs at this show and 17 at World Cafe Live.  They play 11 songs when they opened for Silversun Pickups.

I’d never heard of Goshupon which is the project of Kian Sorouri (Loose Tooth, Golden Apples, The Superweaks, and Cave People). With Goshupon, the Philadelphia based musician is moving into a lead role with Sorouri the one constant.  They remind me of a lo-fi band like Sebadoh (the less commercial parts).

I didn’t really feel the need to see them again so soon, and I was kind of enjoying not going to shows for the beginning of January.  So I stayed away from this one.