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Archive for July, 2025

Primus / Ty Segall (The Rooftop at Pier 17, New York, NY, July 21, 2025)

Posted in New York City, Primus, The Rooftop at PIer 17, Ty Segall on July 21, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 21, 2025] Primus / Ty Segall

I’ve seen Primus four times.  And yet I’ve never seen them as just Primus.  I saw them in the 90s which was great.  Then I saw them play their Desaturated Seven album, which was fine, but the  extra songs were what I really wanted to here.  I saw them play Rush’s A Farewell to Kings, which was awesome, but again, not really Primus.  And I saw them with Puscifer this summer but it wasn’t really their show.  So, this would have been a great opportunity to see them.

But, while the Rooftop is an amazing venue, it’s a massive pain in the ass to get to.  So I’d need to have someone really special playing there to haul ass there.  And Primus wasn’t it.

Probably because Ty Segall was opening.  I have had no luck seeing this guy.  I have missed him on six occasions for one reason or another.  So, I’ll blame Ty.

 

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“Weird Al” Yankovic: Bigger & Weirder 2025 Tour (TD Pavilion Stage at the Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, July 19, 2025)

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, Funny (ha ha), Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Milo Murphy's Law, Paul Simon, Philadelphia, PA on July 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 19, 2025] “Weird Al” Yankovic

This was my tenth time seeing Weird Al.  That’s pretty exciting.

I didn’t know if he’d be doing another tour (he hasn’t put out any new music (aside from soundtrack songs) in over ten years!  But this was a bigger and weirder tour.  In practice, this meant that there were more people on stage than ever before–four other people on stage aside from his long-lasting regular band.

Probyn Gregory – backing vocals, trumpet, trombone, tuba, guitars, percussion ; Scheila Gonzalez – backing vocals, saxophone, clarinet, percussion ;  Payton Velligan – backing vocals, guitars, percussion ; Monique Donnelly – backing vocals, keyboards, percussion.

I asked my whole fam if they wanted to go and all three of them said yes, rather excitedly I might add.  But that was a long time before the show.  And so my daughter wound up working and my son wound up going to a concert in Wisconsin!  I was able to sell my two tickets for basically face value and my wife and I enjoyed the show by ourselves.

I assumed that this show would be a kind of greatest hits show, but it turned out to be chock full of songs I hadn’t seen live before and, some that I had never even heard before!

They opened with Tacky, but there was some kind of technical difficulty, so I’m not sure how much of the song they were going to play.  I would have enjoyed hearing it, but it’s not a big deal.

Then he surprised the heck out of me by opening with Mission Statement, the CSNY inspired song that mocks corporate speak.  It sounded great with the backing singers doing harmonies.  Then came Polkamania!  I knew this medley, but not very well.  I had forgotten that he put it out in 2024 as a single covering the ten years since his last album.  It was really fun seeing Billie Eilish in a Weird Al concert.

After the drum solo, they played Everything You Know is Wrong, a song I simple cannot believe I’d never seen him play live before (I see he never played it before this tour!).  It was amazing. (more…)

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The Warning / Speed of Light (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, July 19, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Mexico, Philadelphia, PA, Speed of Light, The Warning, Union Transfer on July 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 19, 2025] The Warning / Speed of Light

In a really weird coincidence, I had literally just read about The Warning and how much they rocked.  I listened to a couple of songs and liked them quite a lot.  And then I saw that they were playing at Union Transfer.  I was really interested in going, but it was one of four shows that I wanted to see today.  And I already had tickets for Weird Al so The Warning lost out.

So The Warning is from Monterrey, Mexico (they sing in English).  The band members are sisters: Daniela (guitar, vocals, piano), Paulina (drums, vocals, piano), and Alejandra (bass guitar, backing vocals, piano) Villarreal Vélez.  They rock really hard , Daniela’s voice is great and they seem like they’d be fantastic live.

Speed of Light are also siblings Riley (bass and vocals) Tyler (drums) and Cameron (lead guitar) Christensen.  They are from California and started the band when they were children.  They are less metal than The Warning, with a grungy sound, they have clean (excellent) vocals and some growling as well.  They are pretty intense.

I think this would have been a great show to go to and I hope they both tour again around here.

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Dinosaur Jr. / Snail Mail (The Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, July 19, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Dinosaur Jr., J. Mascis, Snail Mail, The Stone Pony, The Stone Pony Summer Stage on July 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 19, 2025] Dinosaur Jr. / Snail Mail

I saw Dinosaur Jr. right here ten years ago almost to the day.  They were opening for Jane’s Addiction and it was a terrific show.  I have seen them two more times since then and kind of felt I didn’t need to see them again.  Although it has been four years now.

I don’t love this venue, although if you get there at the right time and in the right spot it can be pretty great.

I’ve ben trying to see Snail Mail since 2018.  Every time they play–either opening or headlining, something comes up and I don’t see them.  I’m not even sure if I like them anymore.  But I love that she keeps popping up on my radar.  They seem like an odd band to open for Dino Jr.

 

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Puddles Pity Party (TD Pavilion Stage at the Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, July 19, 2025) [“WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC]

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Funny (ha ha), Los Lobos, Metallica, Philadelphia, PA, Puddles Pity Party, Tom Waits on July 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 19, 2025] Puddles Pity Party

I heard about Puddles Pity Party a few years ago. A giant (6′ 8″) man dressed like a clown with whiteface and everything.  Who has an incredible voice.  He’s funny, but also not funny at the same time.

I’ve wanted to see his act but I didn’t think I wanted to see him as a headliner (where does he even headline show?).  So the fact that he was opening for “Weird Al” was perfect.  An opportunity to check him out.  Sadly, two things prevented this from being a great experience.  The first is we ran into a ton of traffic and wound up missing at least half of his show.  The second is that we were pretty far back, so it was hard to get absorbed in the show that interacted with the front rows.

But yes, walking in during him singing Estoy sentado aquí–beautifully, of course–was surreal because who knew if it was suppose to be funny.  By the time we were settled he had started Come On Up to the House.  This is a Tom Waits song that is, unsurprisingly, rather sad.  So it’s kind of funny to see a clown singing it, but it’s not really funny–there’s no punch line.

Up next was In the End, not a cover and also not funny.   But again, wow what a voice. (more…)

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Pelican / Porcelain / My Wife’s An Angel (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, July 19, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in My Wife's An Angel, Pelican, Philadelphia, PA, Porcelain, Underground Arts on July 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 19, 2025] Pelican / Porcelain / My Wife’s An Angel

Pelican is an American post-metal band from Chicago known for their heavy, atmospheric and almost entirely instrumental style.

I’ve been vaguely aware of Pelican for a while, and when this show was announced, I listened to a bunch more and was really excited to see them.  But it was the same night as Weird Al, which was a family event.  So, no Pelican for me.  I hope they come back next year.

Porcelain played with Wax Jaw in March of last year.   But I didn’t go to that show.

They are from Austin.  Post-Trash says

The quartet of Ryan Fitzgibbon (US Weekly), Eli Deitz (Dregs, Votive), Steve Pike (Exhalants, CSSS), and Jordan Emmert (Super Thief, Pleasure Venom) bring a great deal of experience together from different pockets of the city’s noise rock and punk scene, the pieces coming together to create something better than the sum of it’s parts.

I’ve never heard of any of those bands.  I like the sound of their music but I don’t really like the singer.  I bet they crush it live though, their drummer sounds like a maniac.

My Wife’s An Angel is from Philly.  A review on Ghettoblaster of their most recent album was simply

Philadelphia noise rock enigma My Wife’s An Angel releases its Yeah, I Bet, an album that is equal parts thrilling and terrifying

They make a lot of noise with a screaming psycho as the vocalist.  No doubt terrifying live.

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Summer of ’99: (Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI, July 18 & 19, 2025)

Posted in A Day to Remember, Alpine Valley Music Theatre, Creed, Daughtry, East Troy WI, Fuel, Hinder, Lit, Live, Mammoth WVH, Nickelback, Our Lady Peace, Sevendust, Summer of '99, Three Doors Down, Tonic, Vertical Horizon on July 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 18 & 19, 2025] Summer of ’99

My son and his friend went to this festival. I think they mostly wanted to take a big road trip–from NJ to Wisconsin.

They had a blast.

I kind of laughed about this lineup. It’s so, well, 1999, but holy cow some of the bands.

I think if this was just playing in the background and the festival grounds were fun, it would be a good time. But they said the people who were really into the bands were a little scary.

Day 1:  Lit, Our Lady Peace, Tonic, Daughtry, Live, Nickelback
Day 2: Fuel, Vertical Horizon, Hinder, Mammoth WVH, Sevendust, Three Doors Down, A Day to Remember, Creed

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Hozier (Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Camden, NJ, July 15, 2025)

Posted in Camden, NJ, Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Gigi Perez, Hozier on July 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 15, 2025] Hozier [moved from June 10, 2025]

Last year when this tour came to this very same location, I balked at the price of tickets.  And now I regret doing so because this time around, I was going to get tickets no matter what.  In the time since last year, my whole family has just gotten more into Hozier.  So I jumped on line and scored… four lawn tickets.  Meh.  The lawn at the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion is massive.

Then, a few days before our show, he postponed it.  I gather he was feeling under the weather.  So his team rescheduled the show for almost exactly a month later.

And this turned out to be a blessing and a curse.  A curse because now my daughter couldn’t go (she was away).  But my wife was happy to come along, so that was cool.  But it was also a bummer because the rescheduled date was the same night that I had a ticket for Phish at the Mann.  And the exciting thing about that was that I had pit tickets for the first time.  So I was bummed not to go.  But as part of the deal with rescheduled shows, people were allowed to get rid of their tickets if they couldn’t make it.    I asked the kids if they wanted lawn or seats and they said they were fine with lawn.  So I grabbed two tickets for my wife and me in the middle of the lower tier.  And the view was awesome.

My son and I had seen him at World Cafe Live a couple of years ago–when he was prepping for this tour, I believe (but that can’t be right, surely).  When we saw him, he had the full band, but there was no stage show.

So I was blown away by the visual effects he employed. Whether it was close ups of the band or clips of videos to really impressive 3D videos that floated around the stage.  It was magnificent.  But the most magnificent thing was his voice.   If he wasn’t feeling well last month maybe he wouldn’t have sounded as amazing as he did tonight.  And wow did he sound great.

He opened with a quiet song with some cool lights shining just on him.  And then slowly the whole (ten-piece) band was revealed. (more…)

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Phish: Summer Tour 2025 (The Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, July 15 & 16, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Phish on July 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 15 & 16, 2025] Phish

Ever since seeing Phish on New Year’s Eve (and getting the full Gamehendge) I didn’t really think I needed to see Phish again.  I mean, sure there’s more songs I wanted to see live, but 17 times seemed like enough.  And then they announced these two shows at the Mann.  My plan was, if I get GA Pit tickets (the one thing I have not had for Phish) I would go.  And I won the lottery and got two Pit tickets!

And then Hozier cancelled his show in Camden and pushed it to July 15!  There was no debate about which I was going to.  I’ve never seen Hozier in a big setting like that PLUS, my whole family was going to the Hozier show.  So I’d sacrifice my Pit tickets (even though everyone says that this tour is one of the best in years).

I also sold my lawn tickets for the second night.  I don’t enjoy lawn tickets and it turned out we were exhausted after Hozier (home by 1:30AM that night), so I wasn’t too sad to get rid of the tickets.

Then I foolishly looked at the setlists.   I have a list of about 25 songs (which I really like) that I have yet to see them play live.  So I looked at the setlist and I am sadly bolding the FOUR songs they played over the two nights.  And I gotta say, Maze is one of my top want to see songs and Pebbles and Marbles was like a fingers crossed request.  So, yes I’m a little bummed.  But Hozier was awesome, and I’m sure I can see Phish again. (more…)

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Gigi Perez (Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Camden, NJ, July 15, 2025) [HOZIER]

Posted in Camden, NJ, Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Gigi Perez, Hozier on July 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 15, 2025] Gigi Perez [moved from June 10, 2025]

My daughter and I saw Gigi Perez open for Girl in Red at the end of last year.

And I was really impressed.  Her voice is amazing–really powerful and with quite a range.  On stage it was just her on guitar and a drummer (who may have been her brother?).   He triggered loops that added bass and backing vocals to her guitar and she sounded huge.

So I was pretty excited to see her again. She had recently headlined TLA, but it was the same night as DEVO, so I blew her off knowing I’d see her at this show.  For the TLA show she played 13 songs, and we saw 8 (Hozier gave her 45 minutes!).

I really like her voice and her stage presence so much.  This time she had a full band, including a killer lead guitarist.  She was pretty confident when we saw her with girl in red, but I have to assume after several month touring with Hozier in HUGE venues, her confidence must be through the roof.  The crowd was totally into her and she did not disappoint.  Her voice sounded amazing and she can run through notes like nobody.  Indeed her and Hozier make a great “who can sing louder and longer” team. (more…)

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