The Sewing Club is from Nashville. I hadn’t heard of them before this show. When I walked in, their guitarist was at a merch table selling cute little hand sewed monsters. He later told me he had been sewing since he was little and thought it would be fun merch given their band name. And it was! I bought one.
The Sewing Club are a four piece of two guitars (Stephen Meaux and Justin McKinney), drummer Zach McCoy (who added great backing vocals) and singer/bassist/keyboardist Hannah McElroy. I was in front of McCoy and very close to their merch guitarist (I’m not sure who was who). I could clearly see McElroy, but the other guitarist was on the far side of the stage and I never really saw him.
They opened up quietly with Sport Mode. I enjoyed the shoegaze vibe of the song and the intensity of the guitars, but was blown away when the song started rocking out. The loud part was simple but really catchy with the two guitars playing different parts (one lead). Up next was Wyatt, a song that mixed the tempo up right from the start (and which had some soaring guitar lines).
I enjoyed watching the crowd around me get more and more into the set especially when Wait kicked in and ramped up the intensity.
For Bite, Hannah switched to keys. This was a much slower and more mellow song, although the rest of the band joined in before the end. After an unknown song (the most rocking of the set with lines something like I wish you’d die), they played a newer song that they were sure they’d screw up (they didn’t) with some fun headbanging from Hannah.
They ended their 30 minute set with Strange, a slower song that filled the room and had a killer guitar riff. I really liked their set a lot and look forward to more music from them.
Sport Mode ∼
Wyatt¢
Pocket ∼
Wait ∼
Bite $
(Unknown)
Alright Ok %
Strange ¢
% single (2026)
∼The Sewing Club EP (2025) ¢ Care EP (2024)
$ single (2024)
[DID NOT ATTEND: December 9, 2025] Jay Som / Sea Lemon
Jay Som is the creation of Melina Duterte. I saw Jay Som at The Foundry in 2019. ANd after that show she kind of disappeared from music. She cancelled her European tour and for the last little while she has been playing with boygenius. I really enjoyed her show and I absolutely loved her song with Palehound (the band Bachelor) called Get in the Car. The Bachelor tour (which I had a ticket to) was also cancelled.
I would have liked to see what Jay Som is up to, but I had a ticket to see Chokecherry, a band I really wanted to see again.
Sea Lemon is the Seattle-based dreampop solo project of musician Natalie Lew. I like dream pop but I don’t like when it’s too slow. Sea Lemon hits a nice balance of dreaminess but with a beat. This suggests that Jay Som’s new music is mellower. But that may not be true.
[DID NOT ATTEND: December 8, 2025] Speedy Ortiz / Phoebe Rings / @ / Dylan Baldi
When I bought the ticket for this show, I thought it might be my last show of the year. I also thought it would be fun to end the year with another Speedy Ortiz show. But then I found out that Chokecherry, a band I’ve been wanting to see again, was playing the following night. And since I’ve seen Speedy a bunch, I blew this show off.
It turns out this was a 25th anniversary showcase night for bands on the Carpark label. All four bands are on the label.
We had just seen Phoebe Rings open for The Beths. When this was first announced I wondered how Phoebe Rings could get two gigs so close together. It was planned that way. After two nights with The Beths, there was no rest for them as they moved on to conquer Johnny Brenda’s.
We saw @ open for Waxahatchee. I wrote They are kind of interesting and experimental, with lots of sounds layered on to straightforward lyrics. But live, they were the least dynamic duo I’ve ever seen. So I’mnot sad to be missing them.
The only person I didn’t know was Dylan Baldi, although I see that Dylan Baldi is guitarist and songwriter for Cloud Nothings. I’ve heard of Cloud Nothings–in fact I feel like I even know them. But I don’t think I do, they’re kind of pop punky. He doesn’t seem to have any solo albums out so I assume he was going to sing Cloud Nothings songs.
After seeing Tyler the Creator earlier this year, I thought my daughter might also enjoy seeing Earl Sweatshirt, his former partner in Odd Future.
What was fascinating was that Tyler’s show was MASSIVE. He sold out Wells Fargo Center. He had two stages, lots of lights, and a whole routine. Earl’s show was at Union Transfer and didn’t even have a backdrop. There was no light show, just the venue’s lights. And all of that is totally fine, it was just such a contrast.
Earl had been on the stage for most of the night. Hanging out behind the DJ table, bouncing with the people around him. But I didn’t know it was him until he came out from behind the table and started his set.
I was fascinated at how short his songs were. Riot! is about a minute. gsw vs sac was just over a minute. He did 22 songs in under an hour.
Earl is a bit of a mumbler, but he has a lot of charisma and knows how to modulate his flow. and yet overall, it’s still a pretty chill set.
Like with the others, there were people walking around, filming, dancing, smoking. For Earl’s set a guy with a really big beard (Daryl, I think) walked around and got a shout out but didn’t actually do anything.
According to setlist, many of the songs were unreleased. So when the short songs ended (abruptly) the crowd had to take a second to respond. There was also a kind of pause where they played music and he talked to the DJ or something? Everything about the whole night just felt like a bunch of guys hanging out rapping. It wasn’t that it was unprofessional, it just felt totally relaxed and low key–much like Earl’s music. Like friends hanging out.
The biggest reactions came from his songs from SICK! and of course, Molasses from Doris was a big hit with crowd rapping along. Earl seemed to really enjoy the crowd for this song and they way they rapped back–“make some noise for yourself Philly.”
The tone picked up a lot when ZeLooperz came back out to rap on Vision and it made me laugh that Earl just kind of stood around watching him. Earl is very very chill. Then Cletus Strap came to the front and did one of his own songs while Earl acted out the lyrics somewhat–Earl has a verse on the record and did his own verse when it was time.
About half way through Earl’s set he recognized the DJ, Black Noise, who I don’t think was DJing all night. It was very hard to tell what was going on most of the time.
When he announced the song E.Coli the crowd was super psyched–I understand his record with The Alchemist is quite a favorite. It was pretty unusual for me to hear people rapping back at him. Not singing, but more or less talking. Fascinating.
There were at least two more medical situations (and it wasn’t hot in there or anything). Earl started talking about how y’all need to drink water. He also offered to buy granola bars for the city, LOL.
My daughter definitely didn’t enjoy this show as much as Tyler’s. And that’s fair–she didn’t know really anything that was played during the night and it was a long, non-stop night. She knows I hate to leave early even if the show isn’t going to change very much. She asked if we could leave in like 15 minutes, but I looked at the setlist and saw that the show was only going to be about 25 minutes longer, so she agreed to stick it out.
When he finished the set, it didn’t seem like he was going to come back out for an encore. I knew my daughter wanted to leave but I told her that if he didn’t come out in like a minute we’d leave. I always think an encore will be a fun ending.
Earl came out and did (apparently) one half of the song Quest/Power (he did the Power side). And that was that. His encore was about a minute. Crazy. I’m not sure it was worth staying, but on the plus side, we didn’t stay for merch, we got out really fast and were on the road in about 5 minutes. So we made up for most of that time, I think.
It was definitely up there with one of the least enjoyable concerts I’d been to. I assume if I knew more of the music I would have been more into it. I assumed it would be a fun show like Tyler’s (whose music I don’t really know either), but it felt more like I was a plus one guest at a party of close friends.
FiloTV recorded the whole set from the stage and you can see someone in the front row holding out vinyl for Earl to sign (I guess). For like the whole show (he didn’t acknowledge it).
SETLIST (I think)
Riot! § gsw vs sac £ FORGE King of Hearts (Unreleased) Warrior (Unreleased) 2010 ∇ INFATUATION £ 8/22 (Unreleased) Sirius Blac (Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist cover) Truffle (Unreleased) Fire in the Hole ∇ Molasses ‰ Azucar § Live £ The Mint § Vision (with Zelooperz) ∇ I’m Not Really Trying* (Cletus Strap song rapped by Cletus) E. Coli (The Alchemist cover) Gamma £ TOURMALINE £ Word to the Truest (Unreleased) Nowhere2go § Shattered Dreams § Exhaust £ (paused for medical emergency)
encore
Quest/Power [Power only]
£ Live Laugh Love (2025)
∇ SICK! (2022) § Some Rap Songs (2018) ‰ Doris (2013)
This is my third time seeing The Beths, a New Zealand band that’s taking the U.S. by storm. Las time they played here they sold out Union Transfer. This time, they sold out TWO NIGHTS at Union Transfer.
We immediately got tickets to night one and for the first time, saw them from a chair off to the side (thanks ADA seating). Although they interact so nicely with the front, that it’s kind of a bummer to not be in on the action.
But the sound was great (I know it always sounds better further back, but I like being close).
So The Beths are a four piece: Elizabeth Stokes, singer and guitarist. Jonathan Pearce who plays lead guitar. Benjamin Sinclair on bass and Tristan Deck on drums. They are delightful and funny and play fantastic songs. Liz is a great songwriter and the boys make divine harmonies.
Last time they played nearly all of their then new album. This time they played nine out of ten songs from their newest album. And they opened with the title track a bouncy song that had everyone delightedly singing along.
After the even punchier No Joy they played two older songs one from Expert and one from Future Me Hates Me.
Then they moved back to the new album with the super fun first single Metal.
At one point during these songs, Benjamin did something that made a tin whistle fly into the air which he caught and started playing. Later both Benjamin and Jonathan activated the tin whistle cannon and we were delighted to see them snatch the instruments out of the air and start playing. The also have some shakers in their songs. Liz uses a banana shaped one. If you go to Benjamin’s review of the following night, you can read about the amusing trick they played on Liz and her banana. (more…)
[POSTPONED: December 7, 2025] Sir Chloe / Suzy Clue [moved to April 22, 2026]
I’ve seen Sir Chloe twice because my daughter really liked her. But I think I cam away from both shows enjoying them more than she did. When she announced another show in Philly, I grabbed tickets.
This show was postponed because of a common medical problem
After two trips to the emergency room I discovered I had appendicitis and had to get surgery. I need to postpone the first week of shows to recover.
As of right now, shows in Albany, Boston, Philadelphia, and NYC will be rescheduled and an announcement will be made with the new dates as soon as possible.
The show has been rescheduled to April and we have that night free. So I assume we’ll be going then.
I had not heard of Suzy Clue, but the rest of the world seems to have. According to OfficeMagazine:
Suzy Clue is the internet’s newest “hot emo girl.” Her music is angsty but not overly precious, breathing fresh life into traditional shoegaze sound palettes. As a self-taught musician, Suzy is reminding the music industry what it’s like to start from scratch. She’s gone from not knowing what a bassline is to writing and producing a song that thrashes and shatters your heart over and over again.
I wouldn’t call this shoegaze at all, but that name seems to have been taken to mean just about anything these days. She has a whispery voice and songs that alternate between quiet and heavy–almost nu-metal heavy. As of June she had only released 3 singles. I guess that’s what buzz is all about. I don’t know if she’ll be opening in April.
[DID NOT ATTEND: December 7, 2025] The Beths / Phoebe Rings
When The Beths announced that they were playing Union Transfer, I grabbed us two tickets immediately. My wife and I huge fans. The show sold out pretty quickly and they announced this second night.
It’s very rare that I would see a band two nights in a row, unless they really mix up their setlist. But The Beths don’t. So I had no reason to get tickets for this show too.
I enjoyed Phoebe Rings and it sounds like maybe they had a little more fun on their second night?
After seeing Tyler the Creator earlier this year, I thought my daughter might also enjoy seeing Earl Sweatshirt, his former partner in Odd Future.
After ZeLooperz, Liv.E (pronounced liv) came out. She spoke to the audience a bunch, said she had lost her voice in Vegas (Chris Angel took it).
Then the beats started and she changed things up by singing instead of rapping. She has a kind of quiet voice but she can scream as needed (even if she lost her voice).
I didn’t know any of her songs either, but some of them were quite pretty. Overall the set was back to the mellow vibe. I enjoyed it when she started singing the Schoolhouse Rock 12 song. (more…)
I hadn’t heard of Phoebe Rings and then I found out that she (I now know that Phoebe Rings is a band name and no one in the band is named that) was opening for The Beths on Saturday and Sunday and opening for Speedy Ortiz on Monday.
The Beths and Phoebe Rings are from New Zealand and, it turns out that Phoebe Rings and Speedy Ortiz are on the same record label.
Phoebe Rings began as the solo project of musician Crystal Choi, and is now a four-piece made of jazz students (guitarist Simeon Kavanagh-Vincent, bassist Benjamin Locke and drummer Alex Freer).
We arrived and had ADA seats. Then we laughed as the tallest person in the room stood in front of us. We could still see just fine, but it was hilarious how much taller he was than everyone else.
Phoebe Rings was delightful. They are described as dream pop but they were a bit more like jazz pop. I’d even go so far as to say they were like lounge music. There was an early Stereolab vibe musically (not lyrically). (more…)
I saw Portugal. The Man last year in Asbury Park. It was an overcrowded show and I found it pretty unpleasant to be there (not a fan of The Stone Pony). Although the band was so much fun and played great songs, I came away from the show not knowing if I’d want to see them again. But a year passed and I realized the problem was the crowd not the band. So when they announced this show at Union Transfer, I decided to get a ticket. And an ADA seat.
The seat was a good choice because I had lots of room, but I feel like I missed out on some interesting on stage interactions because I was pretty far back.
In the past, the band has had a Native speaker introduce the band. They would talk about the land we were on and, in Asbury, they did a traditional song. I expected the same tonight, but instead, they played a short film that was very powerful. It was about The Living Fire–people, detatched from nature and the evil spirits are coming in. Avoid the dark forces of anti-reality.
Then the band came out–something between seven and ten people (I wasn’t that close and some people seemed to come and go).
Denali a really heavy song with a classic heavy metal sound in the guitars, although the vocals are pure PTM. Pittman is pure hardcore, with screamed vocals. The singer was David Marion (from the band Fear Before) whose intense screams set this song apart. I’m not even sure if he did anything else–he was very tall and seemed to come out of nowhere. The thing about the visuals was that they projected images on a screen behind them which mean they were in shadow or silhouette most of the night. (more…)
The Sewing Club is from Nashville. I hadn’t heard of them before this show. When I walked in, their guitarist was at a merch table selling cute little hand sewed monsters. He later told me he had been sewing since he was little and thought it would be fun merch given their band name. And it was! I bought one.
I Just Read About That... 