I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: November 20, 2025] Ted Leo

I’ve seen Ted Leo three times before this.  Twice with Pharmacists and once with Aimee Mann for a Christmas show.  When I saw that he was playing a solo gig at Revilla Grooves, since it’s only 45 minutes from me, I had to go.  I also happen to know the owner, who DJ’d at my wedding.  But this is the first I’d been to his store and it is impressive.  A fantastic collection of vinyl and CDs as well as a ton of used equipment.  If you’re into music, it’s worth the trip.  He knows his stuff too.

But back to Ted Leo.

Back in September, Revilla Grooves hosted the ‘Noise In Focus: 30 Years of Music Photography’ exhibition.  It’s 30 years of candid photos of hundreds of musicians (while I was there I saw MCR, Deftones, Phoebe Bridgers, Jarvis Cocker and so many more) by Ray Lego.  This was the final night of the exhibition which also included a video room containing “Unseen behind the scenes of making of Deftones’  “Sat Night Wrist” record.  The video was from a bunch of tapes Lego had saved from when the band was making Saturday Night Wrist.  It showed the guys playing and taking candid shots.  There was no sound, but it was cool to watch for a bit.

So on this closing night, Ray invited Ted Leo (of whom there were many photos) to play a 45 minute electric set.  I’d never been before and the setup was great.  There’s a small stage and the sound was fantastic.  So, standing about five feet away I got to see Ted Leo do his thing.  This seemed like a great opportunity for Ted to play whatever the heck he wanted.  And I was pretty delighted by the variety of songs he played–some that I knew and many that I didn’t.

He started with a song from his self released solo album and he sounded great.  He was very chatty and very funny.  He forgot the opening words to Walking Through (it’s “easy” not “hard”) and then proceeded to play a few classic Ted + Pharmacists songs.  I think everyone loves Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone, and The High Party is one of my favorite songs of his.  And Me and Mia is always a big hit.

He said that since he was playing with a photo exhibit, he would do the one song that talks about pictures, One Polaroid a Day.  He told us that when he was on tour, he promised himself he’d take one Polaroid a day.  Way before it was a thing on Instagram.

How Can I Tell You It’s Not Fair was written for a Free Palestine compilation, and he felt it was an appropriate song to play on this Trans Day of Remembrance.  After Heaven’s Off, he told us that What Else Would We Do was a song he wrote for backers on his Kickstarter album The Hanged Man.  At certain backing levels he would write a song for the person.  He said he talked to the person and they had a very nice back and forth a few times.  Then he presented the song to the person and never heard from them again.  So he’s taking it back.

Up next he did a fun little song that he and Aimee Mann did at their Christmas show–singing Lisa Loeb’s song Stay–but only the backing vocals.  The backstory was that they invited her along to a Christmas show and he and Aimee provided backing vocals.  He said that Lisa looked around the stage and said, huh, I’m the only one up her with a Number 1 single.  He still isn’t sure if she was serious about it.

Ted’s most recent tour was playing Shake the Sheets (and more).  I wasn’t sure if he’d play anything from that album (was he tired of it?)  But he did play Mia and also Bleeding Powers.

He then dedicated the next song to someone in the audience and played Power by Agnostic Front–fast but probably not quite as hardcore as the original.  The next song was a surprise for me.  He said he’s been getting into the Irish thing for a while, so he sang an a capella version of what sounded like an old traditional anti-establishment song called The Clearing of the Land.

He played one more song I didn’t know, A Bottle of Buckie (a British caffeinated fortified wine particularly popular in Glasgow) which was a ton of fun.  When I saw him in Philly, he played Under the Hedge as an encore.  So it was cool to hear this one solo.  

He ended with a cover of a song by Karen Dalton (who I don’t know, although he says he’s been really getting into her lately).  She’s a country singer who put out 2 albums in 1969/70.  The song suited him perfectly.

And then that was it.  I kind of thought he’d chat with the fans (there were probably about 50 of us), but it’s okay that he didn’t since I wanted to get home.  It was of course cool to be at a reasonably close place and to be home by 10:15 and to support a cool store and cool artists.

And it reinforced that I need to see Ted with a band again next year.

solo
≅ Musicians for a Free Palestine compilation (2024)
Æ patreon request (2018)
⊗ The Hanged Man (2017)

+ Pharmacists
∇ August 2023 Bandcamp EP (2023)
Ø Heaven’s Off EP (2023)
β Brutalist Bricks (2010)
Λ Living with the Living (2007)
§ Shake the Sheets (2004)
♥ Hearts of Oak (2003)
™ Tyranny of Distance (2001)
® tej leo(?), Rx / pharmacists (1999)