I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: March 5, 2025] The Spirit of the Beehive [rescheduled from November 9, 2024]

I saw The Spirit of the Beehive seven years ago and they were outstanding live.  Here it was all this time later and I was able to see them again.

I enjoyed them–they were weird and fun to watch.  I wasn’t sure I ever needed to see the again, but I figured I’d see what they’d been up to for the last 7 years.

Their set was wild and chaotic.  Again, I was right at the barrier, so I’m sure I missed a lot.  Like last time, I couldn’t tell if the songs were really short or much longer.  The first song I thought might have been three different ones.  It was made even mor confusing because the musicians would switch instruments in the middle.  Their third guitarist Phil Warner, switched from electric to acoustic and back again in one song.

I also really enjoyed watching drummer Sean Hallock keep time to all of the different changes and styles of music (often in one song).

Zack Schwartz was on the far side from me and I felt like I heard his vocals the least, although his guitar was clear.  Bassist (mostly) Rivka Ravede has a fantastic bass sound–I loved when you could hear it over the rest of the music. She also sings on nearly every song, which is great–it adds so much dimension to the songs to have two (or three) lead vocalists in one song.

I was right in front of Corey Wichlin who sang a lot of lead parts in very different vocal styles–it was often hard to know who was singing.  He also played guitars and keys and the occasional triangle.

They played a bunch of songs from their previous album, Entertainment Death which explored glitchy electronics and grainy, vaporwave-influenced textures.

My favorite songs were the ones from the new album which were wild and all over the place–noisy sections followed by beautiful clean sections.  I loved The Cut Depicts Cut.  Like last time, they would play something that I absolutely loved but by the time I got my phone out to get a clip, that part was gone, never to be revisited.

I also loved the songs from Hypnic Jerks, like the beautiful nail i couldn’t bite, which has some of their most delicate moments.  But also moments that bounced around raucously.

The band didn’t talk a lot, but Zack did note that this was the biggest show they’d played in Philly.  After a brief encore, they came back and played two more songs.

It was nice to see them again.