Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Bruce Springsteen, Indigo De Souza, Lucy Dacus, The Stone Pony on February 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »
[DID NOT ATTEND: February 26, 2022] Lucy Dacus / Indigo De Souza
I saw Lucy Dacus play back in October. I didn’t plan to go to this show because I had just seen her. I was supposed to see Indigo De Souza, but her show was postponed.
Then I looked into this show to see if there were still tickets available, but it was sold out. No big deal.
Lucy threw out her back a few weeks ago and has been performing while lying on a couch. That would be pretty fun to see. (more…)
Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Best Coast, Cancelled, Mannequin Pussy, Philadelphia, PA, Rosie Tucker, Union Transfer on January 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »
[CANCELLED: March 20, 2020] Best Coast / Rosie Tucker [CANCELLED]
I had tickets to see Best Coast at Union Transfer in March 2020. I like them although I was more interested in seeing their opening act Mannequin Pussy.
They were one of the first bands to cancel their tour outright back in May 2020 rather than rescheduling dates.
They announced a new tour for 2022 back in June. I’d have rather seen them in Asbury Lanes, but that show was on the same night as our War on Drugs show. So I considered going to the Union Transfer show. It was supposed to be a busy week of shows, so I wasn’t sure I’d want to go or not.
But on January 6, the band announced they were cancelling the tour
Best Coast is canceling its upcoming tour in support of its “Always Tomorrow” album due to COVID concerns.
The tour was set to kick off on Jan. 11 at the Catalyst Club in Santa Cruz, California. The SoCal indie-pop group — consisting of singer-songwriter-guitarist Bethany Cosentino and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno —was scheduled to hit August Hall in San Francisco as well as such cities as Chicago, Toronto, Seattle and Los Angeles.
“We are devastated to announce that our upcoming Finally Tomorrow tour is unfortunately canceled,” the band posted on Twitter. “It was an incredibly difficult decision to make, but one that we ultimately felt was right.
“The last two years have been so difficult for us as a band (and the entire world) — and we appreciate your support through it all.”
“Our last show was in Chicago (on March 11, 2020). It was about two weeks into a monthlong tour. We had obviously been hearing a lot about COVID. But I think when you are on tour you exist in such a bubble of just what’s going on in the tour landscape. We were all kind of like, ‘OK, like I guess we’ll see what will happen with this.’ I fully didn’t think that the world was truly about to shut down. I did not see that coming whatsoever.”
“At this time, we are not rescheduling any of these dates, as the rollercoaster of the reschedule-announcement-cancelation cycle we’ve been stuck in is incredibly exhausting (for you too I’m sure!) and we just need a moment to decompress. We love you SO much and we hope to safely see you soon. Hang in there. love, bethany and bobb”
Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Set in New Jersey!, Sham, The Districts, The Scouts on November 30, 2021| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: November 27, 2021] The Districts
I was supposed to see The Districts play at Union Transfer on March 12. COVID-19 had just found its way into New Jersey and Pennsylvania and I was being very cautious so I decided to skip the show. It was a safe decision, but one that I now regret as it would have been a pretty great final show of the year. Shows pretty much completely stopped after that.
I was then supposed to see the Districts three times in 2021 (a lot of that was coincidence). The opened for Modest Mouse (I had no idea they were going to), then they announced a show in Asbury Park and then, at the end of the year they were supposed to open for Dr. Dog (they bailed on that show, as did I, even though the show went on).
After seeing them open for Modest Mouse, I wanted to see them headline, because they tend to go a bit more nuts when they are in charge.
I was happy to see them in such a small place, but I hadn’t really thought this show through. Asbury Park, on Thanksgiving weekend. Holy crap, the place was full of reunited and drunk college students. Which made for a more festive atmosphere but also meant that security almost had to pull somebody out and that everyone was singing along (badly) at the top of their lungs. And of course drunk people were pushing forward throughout the show.
The band seemed to be in a really good mood when they came out and they rocked several classic songs: “4th and Roebling,” “Salt” and ‘If Before I Wake” (the crowd loves singing the “I’m just a narcissist” line) Then they moved on to You Know I’m Not Going Anywhere for “Hey Jo,” and the moody “My Only Ghost.” (more…)
Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Set in New Jersey!, Sham, The Districts, The Scouts on November 29, 2021| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: November 27, 2021] Sham
After The Scouts, Sham came out. Sham is the project of Shane Justice McCord. It was him and a bass player (I loved his bass guitar!) for this set.
The bass player started by playing bird calls on a small device while Shane played acoustic guitar.
The set was quiet and acoustic and perhaps a little atonal. Very experimental (in a video I took, you can barely hear the band from all the chatter, until a guy behind me says, “this band is so weird, this is the best.”
In no way were they the right band for this particular show–a rowdy New jersey crowd looking to rock. But aside from talking over the set, the crowd was at least respectful.
A few songs in, the bassist moved to drums and a new bassist came out and that added a little (very little) oomph to their set. (more…)
Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Set in New Jersey!, Sham, The Districts on November 28, 2021| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: November 27, 2021] The Scouts
I didn’t know if there were any opening bands for The Districts, and it turned out there were two.
The Scouts (a difficult search term, especially when combined with The Districts) are from The District’s home town of Lititz, PA.
They came out as a five piece and won me over immediately with some really solid guitar rock. Their songs were all pretty long–about five minutes each with lengthy intros and multiple sections.
Lead singer Nathan Yager has long hair and a big beard but has a relatively restrained vocal sound (powerful but not overpowering). He plays guitar as well and when he and Tom Hartman played together, they really brought in a nice mix of quiet and loud guitar. (more…)
Posted in Anti-Flag, Asbury Park, NJ, Bad Cop/Bad Cop, Doll Skin, House of Independents, Ramones on November 12, 2021| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: November 10, 2021] Anti-Flag [postponed from March 17, 2020]
I was pretty happy when my son asked if we could go see Anti-Flag. I had heard him playing some of their songs and quite liked them.
Then I looked them up. How could i have never heard of this band? A politically charged punk band that has been making music and waves for over 25 years and I didn’t know them. How was that possible?
The band came out on stage to a recording of “Blitzkieg Bop” and they were everything I wanted.
Anti-Flag has been around since the 1980s and had a few line up changes. But things have been stable since 1999 when Chris #2 joined the band on bass and lead vocals. He joined Justin Sane on lead vocals and lead guitar and Chris Headon rhythm guitar along with Pat Thetic on drums.
They are full of energy, or righteous anger and love and compassion for everyone present.
We were right in front of Chris #2 and it was incredible to watch him jump all over the place. Way up in the air and at one point off the stack of amps. His energy was incredible.
Justin Sane was a great front person–calmly telling us what was on his mind and then ripping guitar parts like crazy.
They played songs from throughout their career, occasionally dipping back in to their latest album 20/20 Vision with audio snippets introducing the songs. The album is great although hearing trump’s voice again (even if it was used to mock him) was rather unpleasant.
The highlight for me though was looking over and seeing my son in a circle dance getting pushed around an having a great time. I can see him really moshing it up in a few years. He did not crowd surf, although some people did (it was kind of a small club for that).
The band is obviously very political and they had brochures and activists there for all manner of causes. They also had someone come out and say a few words about Punk Rock Saves Lives, an amazing organization whose mission statement is
to start focusing on Health Concerns, Equal Rights, Human Rights, and more. One of the keystones of the music community, especially Punk rock, is the ethos of taking care of one another. By championing this ethos through various campaigns hand-chosen by the artists, we can elevate their messages of hope, activism, and change to effect positive change and drive awareness.
Then as the show was nearing the end, Chris #2 had us do one of the coolest things I’ve done at a concert. He had everyone–don’t give me any macho posturing bullshit, put their arms around the person next to them like a giant line of a group hug. This was to tell everyone there that we are all on the same side, that the person next to us is our brother or sister. It was a very moving moment for me.
And then, when we were all sweaty and gross from dancing and pushing each other around, we sang along to “Die for the Government.”
My only regret from this show is that I haven’t seen them like ten times already. Because I am ready to see them again.
Ψ Die for the Government (1996)
⇓ Underground Network (2001)
⊗ The Terror State (2003)
ß For Blood and Empire (2006)√ The General Strike (2012)
§ American Spring (2015)
Æ American Fall (2017)
‰ 20/20 Vision (2020)
Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Bent Knee, First Unitarian Church, Gates, Philadelphia, PA, The World is a Beautiful Place and I am No Longer Afraid to Die on November 12, 2021| Leave a Comment »
[DID NOT ATTEND: November 12 or 13, 2021] The World is a Beautiful Place and I am No Longer Afraid to Die / Bent Knee / Gates
I don’t really know The World is a Beautiful Place and I am No Longer Afraid to Die, but I have been intrigued by their name for years. I’ve heard very good things about their live shows and was interested in checking them out.
However, I will likely never go to First Unitarian Church again (the venue just didn’t work for me for a number of reasons, even though it is a very cool place). I was planning on seeing them at Asbury Lanes, but for reasons I never quite understood, that date simply disappeared from their tour poster.
The poster to the right has that show listed, but as the date got closer the poster had been updated and no longer included that final show and there was no word about it anywhere. Fascinating.
I had not heard of Bent Knee, but this introduction from Wikipedia sure sounds interesting:
Bent Knee is an American art rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2009. The band performs in multiple genres and draws from multiple influences, including pop, industrial rock, progressive rock, and avant-garde. The band is known for unpredictable dynamic contrast and the wide vocal range of singer Courtney Swain.
I’m certainly sold enough to check them out.
Gates is from New Brunswick, NJ (just down the road from me). I was unaware of them, but their music sounds like it would be pretty good.
Posted in Anti-Flag, Asbury Park, NJ, Bad Cop/Bad Cop, Doll Skin, House of Independents on November 11, 2021| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: November 10, 2021] Bad Cop/Bad Cop [postponed from March 17, 2020] was originally scheduled to be Grade 2
Initially Grade 2 was scheduled to be on this tour, but they were replaced by Bad Cop/Bad Cop, who turned out to be amazing.
It was pretty fascinating having this band directly follow Doll Skin because the women in this band could easily have been Doll Skin’s moms (there were no men in Bad Cop/Bad Cop, but if there were they could have been Doll Skin’s dads, too).
I actually don’t know how old most of the women were on stage because damn, they rocked hard whatever their age, I only guess they are older since they sang songs about Breast Cancer and Detox.
Bad Cop/Bad Cop actually has three lead singers: guitarists Stacey Dee and Jennie Cotterill and bassist Linh Le alternated through the set.
We were right in front of Le and she was one of the most intense bassists I’ve ever seen–great poses, daring you to look her in the eye or daring you to look away. I found out later that Le is the creator of the amazing series bassists against racists.
Drummer Myra Gallarza was great too, keeping the beat to these fast and furious songs.
I loved everything about Bad Cop/Bad Cop and I’m delighted to have seen them live.
⊗ Boss Lady EP (2014)
ϖ Warriors (2017)
® The Ride (2020)
Posted in Anti-Flag, Asbury Park, NJ, Bad Cop/Bad Cop, Doll Skin, House of Independents on November 10, 2021| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: November 10, 2021] Doll Skin [postponed from March 17, 2020]
I was really looking forward to this show because I was taking my son and his friend to their first punk show. My son had been to a couple of other shows, but nothing where there was going to be as much call for a pit (the other shows were usually too crowded for a pit).
We arrived very early (even though I thought we were late). Doll Skin didn’t go one for twenty minutes after stated time. Which was fine because there was a ton of merch and political organization fliers in the back of the room to look at.
Then Doll Skin came on stage and there was a good chance that the band was younger than my son. That’s actually not true, although when Doll Skin started, lead singer Sydney Dolezal was seventeen. They are currently 20 or 21.
Meghan Herring and Tay (hired bass player) had COVID so they had Cameron Gile on bass, their driver Dustin Elias-Odgers on bass and multi instrumentalist Torri Ross on drums.
The band was amazing. Syd was a dynamite singer–a great performer, an excellent voice and a lot of fun. Their lead guitarist, who I think was Alex Snowden, was incredible–phenomenal riffs and a great sound. And the substituting players were fantastic. I don’t know how often they played the songs before, but they were tight as anything.
I really enjoyed their set. And after the show Syd chatted with us and signed my son’s poster, so that was pretty cool too.
Ξ Eat Shit [single] (2021)
♦ Control Freak [single] (2021)
⊗ Love Is Dead and We Killed Her (2019)
♥ Manic Pixie Dream Girl (2017)
Posted in Andy Shauf, Asbury Park, NJ, Faye Webster, House of Independents, Margaret Glaspy, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Union Transfer on September 12, 2021| Leave a Comment »
[POSTPONED: September 12, 2021] Andy Shauf / Faye Webster [rescheduled from May 1 and December 17, 2020; moved to March 31, 2022]
This show appeared and then disappeared. In May, Andy’s own website it was still an active date until you clicked on it and the ticket sales said March 2022.
Maybe in 2022 Andy will come back around. He was supposed to play a show in NJ as well, but there was none listed in May. We’ll see.
Postponing shows until December seemed like a safe bet. My calendar was pretty free and I was hoping to see shows by now. I’m not sure if I’d rather have gone to Philly or Asbury Park, though. Well, next year will held me decide, I’m sure.
Andy Shauf is a Canadian singer songwriter. He sings quiet, introspective songs. He was playing at Union Transfer at the beginning of Mat and then in New Jersey in the middle of May.
I was introduced to his music from a Tiny Desk Concert in which he never really moves. He has very long hair which also never moves. His songs are really very pretty and well constructed.
It’s his voice that I find utterly fascinating. He enunciates in such an unusual way. The way he emphasizes certain vowels defies his Saskatchewan upbringing. He sings not unlike Margaret Glaspy and other newer sings who stress their vowels in an unusual to me way.
I really enjoyed his Tiny Desk and I enjoyed reading about the album The Party which sounds like the worst party ever.
Since then he has cut all of his hair and looks totally different–I wasn’t even sure it was the same guy.
Faye Webster is a singer from Georgia who actually has a similar singing style to Andy, which is fascinating. She sings low key torchy ballads and would be a perfect opening act for him. I’m going to have to listen to a bit more from her.
He’s the kind of musician that I would think about going to but probably wouldn’t, and then I’d wish I had. Well, now I have two more chances.
His initial itinerary fascinated me:
Boston, Brooklyn, Philly, D.C., North Carolina, Atlanta, New Orleans, Alabama, Indiana, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, upstate New York.
The rescheduled shows keep the same basic set up except that now Philly is the day before NJ–I wonder what changed that plan.
