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Archive for July, 2026

Greg Mendez / American Football [FREE AT NOON] (World Stage, Philadelphia Pa, July 10, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in American Football, Greg Mendez, Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live on July 10, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 10, 2026] Greg Mendez / American Football [FREE AT NOON]

I had a ticket to this Free at Noon but decided that I didn’t want to go.  Free at Noon is wonderful but it is a huge pain in the butt for me.  And while this was two bands (and presumably an hour of music), I had listened to American Football’s new album and decided I didn’t like it enough for the effort.

I also just realized this would be my first time at the newly named World Stage.

I also had to laugh because Greg Mendez is constantly being thrown at me as someone I should see.  I have nothing against the guy, in fact, I’m not even sure if I know his music.  But, as I wrote in 2024

At the end of last year, I had not heard of Greg Mendez until he was the opening act for two different bands a few weeks apart.  I didn’t go to either of those shows, so I still haven’t seen him.

Now, in fairness, I haven’t heard anything about him since then, but here he is opening for a show that almost never has two artists playing.  I gather he did an acoustic set and them American Football came out.  He is described as:

one of the Philly DIY scene’s best-kept-secrets, the soft-spoken songwriter with a preternatural ability to craft brief yet powerful songs is enjoying a raised profile with the release of his self-titled full-length. On the strength of a few early singles, the initial run of vinyl sold out within a month of the album’s announcement, but with releases and demos dating back to 2006, Mendez is hardly an overnight success.

Back in 2019, American Football did a Tiny Desk Concert for their then new album LP3.  They have just released LP4 and all signs suggest that this is a band I would like.  I mean, I see that “their self-titled debut album became one of the most acclaimed emo and math rock records of its era.”  Emo and math rock, yes please.  They announced a show at Franklin Music Hall, which I wouldn’t have wanted to go to because of the venue.  But when they surprise announced this Free at Noon, I grabbed a ticket and then listened to LP4.

Back in 2019, I had written,

I really enjoy the music of the songs…. but I find the song a little dull.  Maybe I’d just prefer this song as an instrumental.

And that’s how I felt about this new album too.  I find it a little dull and I don’t like the singer’s voice.  So I didn’t go.

I meant to listen to it at work, but I forgot.  I’ll try to check it out when it’s online to see if I made the wrong choice.

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LANDMVRKS (The Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, July 9, 2026) [POPPY]

Posted in LANDMVRKS, Philadelphia, PA, Poppy, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Thousand Below on July 9, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 9, 2026] LANDMVRKS

When Poppy announced this show, I managed to get a ticket for $20 off, which was great.  I hadn’t realized that this would be my third time seeing her in less than a year and a half.

I didn’t care about the opening act, Thousand Below, a post-hardcore band from San Diego.  I mean, I’m kind of done with post-hardcore at this point.  They do have interesting vocals, but I didn’t really care if I saw them.

After a stressful day, in which my wife bore the brunt of the tasks, I wasn’t sure if I should go out, but she was going to chill, so I went, but left a little later than usual.  And, as happens when I’m not in a hurry, I made it to the Fillmore in plenty of time.

There was no line, so I assumed I’d saunter up near the front and listen to the two openers before enjoying Poppy.

Well, I walked in and it was PACKED.  I couldn’t believe so many people wanted to see Thousand Below.  I found an okay spot and then lights dimmed and a guy ran on stage and as they started, it was clearly LANDMVRKS.  Evidently Thousand Below went on at 7.  Oops.

The stage had two large cubes with video screens on them.  The image for LANDMVRKS was their name and a collection of statues.  Music sounded from backstage and then Florent Salfati ran out on stage wearing an Eminem shirt and rapping in French!  His flow was fast (although I think French might lend itself to fast rapping).  And then the rest of the band came out and they played a blast of a chord and they were off.

LANDMVRKS are from Marseille and have been around since 2014 (first album 2016).  Their later albums are heavier and have some rap elements and serious growling.

The three guys on stage were so mobile, they were almost exhausting.  I’m not sure which guitarist was which, but whether it was Nicolas Exposito (a founding member) or Paul Cordebard (joined in 2017) he kicked really high, ran in place and was always in motion.  He also had a great low growl and surprisingly good harmony vocals when needed.  Bassist Rudy Purkart was similarly active, going back and forth around the stage and singing too.  And Kévin D’Agostino on drums was a beast, but he was tucked in between the boxes and was kind of hard to see, but his drumming was fast and intense.

They had a really heavy sound, but they also had some very pretty moments as well.   I was really impressed with Salfati’s voice which was at times really lovely and delicate and could also descend into a crazy guttural growl.   I couldn’t detect an accent in his voice at all.  Even when he spoke to us (saying how excited they were to be in the U.S.), his accent was barely noticeable.

There was a guy in front of me who was clearly a huge fan.  He knew the beats and filmed the whole thing. (more…)

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Paul Simon: A Quiet Celebration (Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, NY, July 3, 2026)

Posted in Edie Brickell, Paul Simon, Philadelphia, PA, Simon & Garfunkel, Simon and Garfunkel, The Academy of Music on July 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: June 29, 2025] Paul Simon: A Quiet Celebration

Last year, my wife and I had tickets to see Paul Simon at The Academy of Music–a small space and we had very good, close seats (I could have gotten closer tickets, but we weren’t sure we wanted to get TOO close).  We have seen just about everyone that we really want to (I have a list of bands that I still want to see but it gets shorter all the time).  But one person on her bucket list was Paul Simon.

So when he announced this Quiet Celebration tour, I grabbed tickets immediately.  Then two days before our show, Paul announced that he would have to cancel the shows because of terrible back pain.  He was going to have surgery and hoped to get back on tour.

As it turns out, he was able to make the next night of his tour (which was about a week later).  So he only missed two shows and ours was one of them.  He never rescheduled that location, but instead, did another round of the tour.  The Philly show was at the Mann Center (a very different venue from The Academy of Music (and it turned out a rainy night).

But we didn’t get tickets for the Mann in part because I didn’t think it would be easy, but mainly because it was my son’s birthday.  So instead, we got tickets to the show in Bethel Woods, a 2 and a half hour drive away.

We got a room for the night and were excited to check out the area.  Especially when I learned that the venue was on the site of Woodstock.  And there’s a museum dedicated to the 1969 event.  I was three months old when Woodstock happened and my parents were as far from hippies as you could get, so there was no love for this event in my house growing up.

However, I understand its cultural significance as well as the musical significance.  And while I’m not someone who thinks it was the most amazing thing to ever happen, I still like the music and thought the museum would be cool.  The museum is pretty cool.  I enjoyed the memorabilia, in particular the woman who wrote down the music she saw and her thoughts about them–I’d love to see everything she wrote.  It was also fascinating to see that no one really had an idea of what each band played–they had to look at various documents to ensure the playlists.  But there’s even discrepancies in the museum itself.  One sign says The Who played 24 songs, but the other sign lists 21 songs.

So the museum was a little underwhelming, but because we were there when we were, we were able to buy one of these limited edition posters, which is pretty cool.

So the weather that morning was unreasonably hot (day 3 of a 5 day heat wave).  But on the way to the venue it started raining (and thundering).  I was first concerned that they might cancel the show from the heat (Paul Simon is old, after all) and then I was worried that they would cancel it because of lightning.  Either way would have been too much for us to bear, I fear.  But the rain stopped and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees and it was quite lovely.

But they delayed the opening of the gates for some 20 minutes and the line was INSANE, so we hung out in the (air conditioned) museum until just before 8.

The walk from the entrance to the venue is REALLY long.  Like, holy cow you have to walk a long way–easily ten minutes with the crowds.  But Paul didn’t go on until 8 and we found our seats and waited.   One complaint is that we brought refillable water bottles but there were no places to fill them.  I suppose if we were earlier, we could have spotted them, but they assured us that the show would start at exactly 8 and it was like 5 of as we got near our seats.

But soon enough, the lights dimmed and the band came out. (more…)

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