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THICK (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, December 3, 2023) [PUSSY RIOT]

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Pussy Riot, Thick on December 3, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 3, 2023] THICK

I have been wanting to see THICK for a number of years.

Fascinatingly, they played five shows in the Philly area six times since Sept 2021.

The first one was with the Violent Femmes, which would have been a fun show.  They played the Foundry in 2022 on my birthday, and I don’t go to shows on my birthday.  In October of 2022, they played a show with an amazing lineup at Kung Fu Necktie, (Skating Polly, whom I’d also wanted to see!) but I already had tickets to see The House of Love.  In March 2023, I had tickets to see them at Milkboy, but I got the stomach flu.  Then they opened for a band I didn’t really like in August 2023.

But here they were announced as the openers for a concert that I already had a ticket to!  It was terrific.  Sure I had just tested positive for COVID, but by this show, my smell and taste had returned and I felt that by wearing a mask, I was fine to go.

And I’m so glad I did because the show was great.

THICK has a couple of albums out.  I knew 5 Years Behind really well.  Somehow,  I missed their album Happy Now (although that hilarious cover looks very familiar).  Happy Now is more of the same kind of feminist punk, but the music is more complicated and sophisticated.  It all works great live.

Nikki Sisti is the lead guitarist and main singer, although bassist Kate Black does sing lead on a few songs (and backing vocals on most of the rest).  I’m not sure who is playing drums and second guitar.  THICK has always been a trio, but a lot of the band photos lately are just Nikki and Kate, and original drummer Shari Page has left the band (to form her new band Roon).

They mixed up the setlist really nicely with songs from Happy interspersed with songs from their early EP (the terrific Bleeding and Lyfe).  They also three in new songs, The singles Love You Forever and the super catchy Doomer.

They also played two unreleased songs “Father” and “Mother” which were great (“Father” is their first “slow” song).

After these two new songs they jumped back to 5 Years for the song that introduced me to them, “Mansplain” and the fantastic “Your Mom.”  Two great, simple, feminist rockers.

It felt like their set would be over then, but they played two more songs from Happy.  The short burst of “Something Went Wrong” was filled with the angry sing-along “it’s all my fault”

They ended with the wonderful anthem, “Loser.”

I was able to chat with them after the show and they were super friendly.  I’m really looking forward to seeing them as a headlining band.

SETLIST

TAPE INTRO: Treat Me Like a Slut (Kim Petras song) (Snippet)

  1. Montreal €
  2. Bleeding ⇔
  3. Happiness €
  4. Doomer #
  5. LYFE ⇔
  6. Love You Forever ##
  7. I Wish 2016 Never Happened €
  8. Father  [new]
  9. Disappear €
  10. Mother [new]
  11. Mansplain ♦
  12. Your Mom ♦
  13. Something Went Wrong €
  14. Loser €

# 2023 single
## 2022 single
€ Happy Now (2022)
♦ 5 Years Behind (2020)
⇔ Would You Rather? (2018)

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Darlingside / Field Guide (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, December 1, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Darlingside, Field Guide on December 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 1, 2023] Darlingside / Field Guide

My wife and I were huge fans of Darlingside.  Seen them four times and pit them on my “always see them” list.

But for some reason, the last few times they announced shows nearby we weren’t that interested.

It may be temporary or maybe their original sound was exactly what I needed at that time.

They have changed a little over t he last few years, including the departure of one of their core members.  I don;t think that has anything to do with our lake of interest.  Honestly it may just be end of the year burn out.

So, maybe if they come around again soon we’ll check them out.  I just checked and saw that it has been four years snce we’ve seen them.  Maybe next time we’re due.

I hadn’t heard of Field Guide.  A review from Red Guitar Music says

 Hailing from Manitoba, Canada, Field Guide is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Dylan MacDonald and Full Time is a beautifully hushed quartet of thoughtfully written, warmly delivered songs of heartbreak, loss and leaving.  Artists trading in confessional acoustic intimacy are pretty easy to come by but what sets Field Guide apart from the crowd is the lyrical quality and the careful, understated execution in what they do.  Rather than wallowing in regret, the songs take a more philosophical path, which oddly makes this record feel more like a pick-me-up than a drag-me-down.  The songs are sad but matter-of-fact; sober but wry.

Sounds like the kind of nice opening act that Darlingside would pick.

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Darlingside: Free at Noon (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, December 1, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND–COVID]

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Coronavirus, Darlingside on December 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 1, 2023] Darlingside

I had been thinking about the Darlingside show and how it was kind of sad that I wasn’t dying to see them again.

And then this Free at Noon was announced.

Sure, it was at Ardmore Music Hall, which is far–not even closer to my work like most Free at Noon shows are.  But I was planning on taking some time off and driving to Ardmore and STILL going to the Baroness show that evening.

And then I tested positive for COVID.  Ugh.

This sounds like it would have been a great short spell of seeing Darlingside again.  Although it’s not the same Darlingside anymore, as this review from WXPN’s The Key says

Darlingside’s core four-piece — Paseltiner on guitar and cello, Don Mitchell on guitar and banjo, Auyon Mukharji on mandolin and violin, and David Senft on bass — is augmented on this run by Molly Parden on bass, Benjamin Burns on drums, and Deni Hlavinka on keys. Putting Darlingside in more of a rock band configuration adds energy and atmosphere to new cuts like “Green and Evergreen” and “Green Light,” but their exquisite harmonies soared on older favorites like 2015’s “The God Of Loss.”

One of the best things about Darlingside (aside from the music) is the banter.  And it was in evidence at this show:

As usual, the band used its copious tuning and re-tuning breaks for playful conversation: describing the venue to the radio audience at home, arranging the band intros by hometown and number of syllables in each member’s last name.

And this sounds like an amazing moment

And when they stepped offstage and into the crowd for a breathtaking off-air off-mic encore of Everything Is Alive‘s “The Breaking Of The Day,” played “directly under the disco ball,” they had the room enthralled.

Stupid COVID

SETLIST

  • Green And Evergreen
  • White Horses
  • Green Light
  • Hold Your Head Up High
  • Right Friend
  • Darkening Hour
  • The God Of Loss
  • Ocean Bed
  • The Breaking of The Day

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Kurt Vile and the Violators / Purlilng Hiss / Florry (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, October 10, 2023) Philly Music Fest Night 2 [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Birds of Maya, Florry, Kurt Vile and the Violators, Mike Polizze, Philly Music Fest, Purling Hiss on October 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 10, 2023] Kurt Vile and the Violators / Schoolly D / Emily Robb

I really respect Philly Music Fest.  If I lived closer to the venues and didn’t have other things (like a family), I’d love to go to every night.  But I don’t.  Lat year I didn’t go to any.  This year I’m going to one show.

But it’s not this one either.  Although of the nights I did not go to, this is certainly a good one.  If I’d had more time,  would have happily seen Kurt and Purling Hiss together.

I saw Purling Hiss six years ago.  I assumed they would be a really loud heavy metal band.  But they’re not.  They’re more of  loud indie rock band with lots and lots of guitars.

Here’s a few out of context sentences from reviews of their newest album Drag on Girard (it’s shame this show wasn’t at Johnny Brenda’s).

  • The fuzzed-out lead guitar, the languid vocals, and the unbridled backbeat that keeps it all together
  • Drag on Girard settles on the scuzzy, faded sound of a nicotine-stained dollar bin find from the ‘70s.
  • Their latest release, Drag On Girard, can be fuzzy, abrasive and at times chaotic, but the album still brings a melodic and catchy ambiance.
  • Drag On Girard is a raging amalgamation of late-’70s, pop-rock guitar solos and the rambunctious reemergence of the off-bent alternative punk scene of the 2010s

It’s pretty great stuff and makes for a fun live show.  I may have to check them out again soon.

What I did not realize was that

Purling Hiss is led by Mike Polizze, a fixture of the Philadelphia music scene. He’s connected to the world of Kurt Vile, the War on Drugs, and their shared affection for 1970s classic rock and its favoring of lengthy jam sessions and guitar histrionics. Vile and Jeff Zeigler of the War on Drugs assisted with Polizze’s well-received solo album, 2020’s Long Lost Solace Find.  

Polizze is also the main guy behind Birds of Maya, another garage/psychedelic band that makes noise.  I wonder if he brings out the noisy side of Kurt Vile.

Florry are a kind of sloppy “bar country” band.

Singer-songwriter Francie Medosch started out as a teenager recording tense, depressive lo-fi indie rock, but during the pandemic, she had a realization: She wasn’t depressed anymore. “I think it’s cool to have art that reflects where you are in the moment,” she said then. She’d also been revisiting old favorites like Gram Parsons and Neil Young, planting seeds for the folksy new sound that would take hold on 2021’s Big Fall. Florry’s second proper album, The Holey Bible, posits an alternative to nihilistic indifference: What if instead of dispassionately accepting disaster as inevitable, we use the bitter end as a motivator to make the best of what time is left?

Though Florry’s sound has always had a homespun quality, on The Holey Bible, Medosch and her backing band—complete with 12-string guitar, fiddle, mandolin, harmonica, and plenty of pedal steel—push further toward old-school country.

Not my scene, but it could be fun.

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Kurt Vile and the Violators / Schoolly D / Emily Robb (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, October 9, 2023) Philly Music Fest Night 1 [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Emily Robb, Kurt Vile and the Violators, Philly Music Fest, Schoolly D on October 9, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 9, 2023] Kurt Vile and the Violators / Schoolly D / Emily Robb

I really respect Philly Music Fest.  If I lived closer to the venues and didn’t have other things (like a family), I’d love to go to every night.  But I don’t.  Lat year I didn’t go to any.  This year I’m going to one show.

But it’s not this one.

I’ve seen Kurt Vile a few times and he always plays a good show.  But my wife and I had seen him fairly recently, so there was n need to see him again so soon.

Schoolly D is an old-school rapper who i kind of thought I knew, but I guess I mostly know him from Primus.

We hopped into my dart and headed for the nightbreak to see a man they called Schooly D. [–Harold of the Rocks]

I don’t know what he’s like these days, but I imagine him on stage with a Casio drum machine freestyling.  His latest album came out in 2010 and it was more mixing and sampling than lyrics.

Emily Robb plays an electric guitar (and is referred to as a guitar abuser).  She has a solo album out that is an incredible amount of fuzzy guitar noise.

No vocals, no artifice, barely even a drum. It’s a totally fried, mutant offering that’ll entice the twisted seekers– a sustained, distilled meditation on the unabashed revved up freedom of rock.

This night actually sounds kind of unpleasant.

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Superchunk / Cable Ties (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, September 10, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Cable Ties, Superchunk on September 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 10, 2023] Superchunk / Cable Ties

I’ve seen Superchunk twice in the last half dozen years or so.  The put out one of my favorite shirts (it looks like wordle).  Their shows are filled with energy and fun and the band is always on fire.

Somehow, I don’t see quite how that translates to Ardmore Music Hall, a smaller venue with no room for Mac to jump around.  Plus, I feel like after both shows I’ve seen everything I need to from them.

Cable Ties are a band from Melbourne Australia.  Their blurb says

frenetic lead lines tethered to a hypnotic rhythm section. They take the 3 minute punk burner and stretch itpast breaking point. Suddenly the garage rock gives way as primitive boogie, kraut and post-punk take things way out to the horizon

I like their sound quite a bit, although I’m on the fence about their singer.

I am, however, quite taken with the whole rock scene from Australia, so I’m sure they’d win me over.

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Mdou Moctar (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, July 19, 2023)

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Mdou Moctar, Meg Baird on July 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 19, 2023] Mdou Moctar 

Mdou Moctar is one of four Tuareg musicians who I have wanted to see perform.  The others are Tinariwen, Imarhan and Bombino.

I have heard that Mdou Moctar puts on an amazing show so I pretty psyched to see him and his band at Ardmore Music Hall.

When I got to the Hall, it was pretty crowded, but I was able to get right up by the stage which was a great way to watch Mdou play (and smile).

Unfortunately, I was right in front of bassist Mikey Coltun.  I say unfortunately only because it meant the bass was too loud.  And in fact, when the show started it was WAY too loud.  It got turned down slowly over the next two or three songs, but honestly, we were all there to hear guitar, not bass. Now, the bass is absolutely essential to Mdou’s songs–the bass keeps the whole thing together, with a great pulsing rhythm and a cool melody as well.  But on record it sits there at the back guiding things along.  In this setting it was taking front and center.

This meant that I almost couldn’t hear Ahmoudou Madassane, who’s been Moctar’s rhythm guitarist since 2008.  It was only when things were quieter that Madassane’s guitar was audible to me.

But that’s also because drummer Souleymane Ibrahim was a freaking maniac!  He was so much fun to watch, playing incredibly fast fills seemingly out of nowhere and then settling back down to keep the beat steady.  Madassane and Ibrahim were both wearing traditional turbans that covered most of their face (Ibrahim took his off by the end).  Coltun and Moctar had their loosely draped around their necks. (more…)

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Meg Baird (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, July 19, 2023) [MDOU MOCTAR]

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Mdou Moctar, Meg Baird on July 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 19, 2023] Meg Baird

I grabbed a ticket for Mdou Moctar some time ago and was really looking forward to him and his band.  There was no opening act announced until recently.

I was really excited that Meg Baird would be opening.

I saw Meg Baird play with a band back in October.  But for this session she was solo.

Her music is gentle and ethereal and for the first song the audience was wonderfully respectful.  She played acoustic guitar and sang in her high soft voice (her voice doesn’t ever seem to stop or start, it just fades in and out in a magnificent way).

She played three songs on acoustic guitar.  Then she said people asked her where Charlie 9her partner) was.  He couldn’t make it, but she had his electric guitar.

She played three songs on electric guitar.

The first four songs were from her new album Furling. (more…)

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Mondo Cozmo / The Cobbs (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, June 23, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Illinois, Mondo Cozmo, The Cobbs on June 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 23, 2023] Mondo Cozmo / The Cobbs

WXPN has played a number of Mondo Cozmo songs over the year that I’ve really liked.  They’re kind of a psychedelic folk rock band.  I felt bad that I was going to be going to shows in a row and asked my wife wanted to come along.  When she said yes, I toyed with us going to see this show in Ardmore rather than in Underground Arts.  That would have meant blowing off Spotlights, who I really wanted to see (and I’m so glad I did).

So instead, I got her a ticket for the Saturday night show.  And I’m so glad I did.  For two main reasons.

  1. Mondo Cozmo played a song called “Your Motherfucker” which was hilarious and outstanding.  He didn’t play it in Ardmore because his mother was there.  So I’m glad we go to hear it.
  2. He told us that after about four songs in Ardmore, the fire alarm went off and everyone had to leave.  They didn’t go home, but I’m sure some people did.  Then the resumed, but that would have been really annoying.

I don’t know what else he played in Ardmore, but whatever it was, he played exactly what I wanted to hear in Underground Arts, so I ‘ll just be happy with the great show we had.

The Cobbs are another Philly band that I hadn’t heard of.  They have a more mellow folk road sound–lovely vocals, acoustic guitars and keys.

Part of deciding which night to go was deciding which opening band I liked more.  I came down on the side of Illinois (which is lucky since that’s the show I was going to).  But i can see The Cobbs having an even bigger fan base.

It also turns out that Archie from Illinois played drums for The Cobbs on this night for whatever reason.  Crazy.

 

 

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An Evening of Solo Projects from Wilco Members: Autumn Defense / Nels Cline Duo / Eucademix (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, December 8, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Chris Lightcap, Eucademix, Glenn Kotche, Nels Cline, Nels Cline Duo, Wilco, Yuka Honda on December 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 8, 2022] Autumn Defense / Nels Cline Duo / Eucademix

When this show was first announced, I grabbed a ticket immediately.

Two of my favorite members of Wilco are Nels Cline and Glenn Kotche.

So to be able to see them do their work solo was incredible.

Then all of a sudden, when I looked at the show poster it looked like this —>
instead of the one at the bottom of the post.

Where was Glenn?

There was no word or information.  A day or so before the show I discovered that Glenn had hurt his arm (or something) and wasn’t going to be there. (more…)

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