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Archive for the ‘Asbury Park, NJ’ Category

Built to Spill: There’s Nothing Wrong with Love 30th Anniversary Tour / Floating Witch’s Head (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, August 31, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Built to Spill, Floating Witch’s Head on August 31, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 31, 2024] Built to Spill / Floating Witch’s Head

I have seen Built to Spill five times and have enjoyed every show.  This tour promotes the 30th anniversary of the album There’s Nothing Wrong with Love.  I thought I knew this album pretty well, but it turns out that I really started getting into them with the album AFTER this one.

But I was still really excited to see this show.  They announced a show at Franklin Music Hall which bummed me out because I don’t really like that venue (and it was the same night that I had tickets for at least 3 other shows).  But then they announced this show at Asbury Lanes which was awesome.  I grabbed a ticket right away.

Then I found out that my son was going back to school that day.  So that would be kind of weird to drop him off and then rush off to a show.   Then it turned out he didn’t have to go until the following day, but it would have been even worse to go out on his last night at home.  SO I blew off this show.

Last time that BtS toured, they came back through the area a second time about four months later (Philly in May, Bethlehem in September), so I secretly hope that they will do that again maybe early next year?  But they played a lot of shows on this tour, so I’m not holding my breath.

I’d never heard of Floating Witch’s Head who are

a new Boise-based project concocted by Travis Ward (guitars & vocals) with Michael Mitchell (drums & percussion) and Eric Gilbert (keyboards & head shakes). RIYL: garage, psych, swamp, proto-punk, acid rock, beards, hot peppers, pickles, parties, nice people

The last few tours I’ve had a love/hate relationship with the opening bands.  Last tour I loved Blood Lemon but hated Wetface.  Floating Witch’s Head I’m feeling ambivalent about.  The description above is pretty accurate and I do tend to like this kind of music, but the song I listened to is really pretty standard fare, nothing that excited me.

 

 

 

 

 

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Pollyanna / Latewaves / Froggy (Baronet Rooftop at the Asbury Hotel, Asbury Park, NJ, August 23, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Baronet Rooftop at the Asbury Hotel, Froggy, Latewaves, Pollyanna on August 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 23, 2024] Pollyanna / Latewaves / Froggy

I was supposed to see Pollyanna open for Jhariah back in January.  They had to bail because they were touring with someone else.  I was also suppose to see them at the Ukie Club, but it didn’t happen.

So I was excited to see them at this show which was listed as being at Asbury Lanes but actually took place on the Baronet Rooftop at the Asbury Hotel.  I have no idea if that’s a thing that happens much.  I don’t know if it’s a bigger, better venue or just a change of venue.

I was looking forward to experiencing this whole night.  And then we booked our vacation for that week.  So, no Pollyanna yet again.

Latewaves is a rock band from Asbury Park, NJ that is trying their best.  They do rock although in a more poppy than punky way.  They seem like they’d be fun live.

Froggy is a Philadelphia based queer punk band. The members are all quite young.  Actually that was true when I first posted about them two years ago.  I don’t know how old they are now, but I’m glad they’re still going.

Musically they are pretty tight and their musical sense is all over the place with punk noise (love it!).  Their first single 7-11 Nachos has an early Black Flag (TV Party) vibe.  But I’m not a fan of the singer’s voice.

 

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Silversun Pickups / Hello Mary (The Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ, June 28, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Hello Mary, Silversun Pickups, The Stone Pony on June 28, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 28, 2024] Silversun Pickups / Hello Mary

I have had ample opportunity to see Silversun Pickups, a band that I like, but have never really gotten into.  When they came around last year, there were two or three shows I could have gone to.  And now they were back, playing The Stone Pony.

The thing that made this year’s show even more appealing was that Hello Mary, a band I’ve been quite interested in, was opening.

But there were two problems.

I don’t really like The Stone Pony at all.  And I would prefer not to go to shows there unless it’s the only option.  True, it was the only option, but my displeasure with the Stone Pony outweighed my desire to see either band.

Plus it was a Friday night.  I don’t like going out on Friday nights on  the best of weeks, but Asbury Park on a Friday night.  Ick.

When I finally caved and said maybe I should go, it was sold out, so I made the right choice. (more…)

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Me First & the Gimme Gimmes / The Defiant / Ultrabomb (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, April 27, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Hüsker Dü, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, The Defiant, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Ultrabomb on April 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 27, 2024] Me First & the Gimme Gimmes / The Defiant / Ultrabomb

I initially didn’t want to like Me First and the Gimme Gimmes because I didn’t like their name.  There are worse reasons to not like a band. Then I learned that they are a cover band doing punk covers of classic rock songs and I thought their name was actually pretty perfect and now I want to see them live too.

I bought a ticket for this show but learned a few weeks later that Teenage Fanclub was playing the same night.  Very different vibes, but a tough decision.

And, best of all, my family was going to be out for the night so I didn’t even have to feel guilty about going out without them!

But for whatever reason, I was really tired that night.  I wound up doing a lot of things that day and was asleep by 9:30.  I probably could have gone to the show and been awake enough to enjoy it, but I didn’t have the motivation to go to either show.

I hadn’t heard of The Defiant, but had I known about them, it probably would have swayed my decision to go to this show

Members from The Offspring, Smash Mouth, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Street Dogs and The Briggs have united to form the new band THE DEFIANT. The members of The Defiant are no strangers to success as individuals but as a group their music stands for so much more on both a personal and professional level. Together the five members create a rock ’n’ roll pedigree that culminates into a riot of melodic punk. The Defiant will release their twelve-song debut album this October with touring to follow.  The Defiant is:  Pete Parada on drums (The Offspring),  Greg Camp on guitar (Smash Mouth),  Johnny Rioux on bass (Street Dogs),  Joey LaRocca on guitar and keys (The Briggs) Dicky Barrett front and center (The Mighty Mighty Bosstones).

Mostly, I have wanted to see The Mighty Mighty Bosstones for decades (I saw them once back in the 90s) and was very sad when they broke up.  Had I known that I could have seen Dicky Barrett (who is really the one I wanted to see), I would have absolutely gone to this show. Ignorance is a bad thing.

And holy crap Ultrabomb features Hüsker Dü’s Greg Norton!  Why didn’t I read about these bands before this show?

UltraBomb, the eagerly anticipated international supergroup, have now arrived bringing together three iconic musicians from the cream of punk rock. On bass is the legend that is Greg Norton, once the driving force behind one of the most influential bands to emerge from the American punk scene, Hüsker Dü. Next up is the indefatigable singer-guitarist Finny McConnell, a name you’ll recognise from thirty years as the frontman of the Canadian Irish folk-punk sensation The Mahones. Completing the trio is the drumming powerhouse Jamie Oliver, having served well over fifteen years in the seminal British punk band UK Subs, as well as shorter stints with the likes of SNFU among others.

Oh boy, do I regret missing this show.

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Moon Hooch (Wonder Bar, Asbury Park, NJ, April 10, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Moon Hooch, Wonder Bar on April 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 10, 2024] Moon Hooch

I’ve been a casual fan of Moon Hooch for a number of years now.  I always enjoy watching their Instagram videos and I have one of their albums.

The band is a trio with two, TWO saxophones. Normally I wouldn’t enjoy two saxophones, but they do things differently.

They are known for their dance-oriented percussion-and saxophone music made by saxophonists Wenzl McGowen and Michael Wilbur and drummer Cyzon Griffin.

And yet, I just can’t bring myself to go see them live.  I fear that the crowd wouldn’t be one I’d enjoy… or something.

Perhaps I’m just getting carabby as I get older.

The show listing indicated an opening act but I haven’t been able to figure out who it is.

 

 

 

 

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Bit Brigade / Nmlstyl (Wonder Bar, Asbury Park, NJ, March 6, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Bit Brigade, Nmlstyl, Wonder Bar on March 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 6, 2024] Bit Brigade / Nmlstyl

I saw Bit Brigade in 2018 and really enjoyed the show.  The premise of their live show is terrific

The band plays the soundtrack to a video game while their resident gamer plays the game.  The band is heavy and the sound is amazing.

For this show, Bit Brigade Performs “The Legend of Zelda” + “Castlevania” but I’m going out tomorrow night so I’m going to give it a miss.  The good news is that in a few months they’re coming back and I’ve already got tickets to see them in Frenchtown. (more…)

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THICK (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, March 1, 2024)

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Big Girl, Teenage Halloween, Tetchy, Thick, Well Wisher on March 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 1, 2024] THICK

This concert was announced less than a month ago, but I was on board with seeing THICK again.  I had seen them open for Pussy Riot and they were great.  So, yea, only three months later I’d happily see them again.

This was their only show on their schedule, so I’m not entirely sure what inspired it. And with such short notice, I fear that they didn’t have a very large turnout.  In fact, after Teenage Halloween, a lot of fans of the band left, so there were definitely more people there for Teenage Halloween (who are from Asbury Park, let’s not forget) than THICK.

Also, I am quite certain the THICK set was cut short.  They had a pretty hard curfew of 11:30, and by the time they went on, it was close to 10:45.  So, they actually wound up playing one song fewer than they did when they opened for Pussy Riot!

The setlist was not too different from the previous show, although the opening and closing songs were different.

I was up front for the first couple of songs, but I decided to move back some because the sound was a little better in the back.  Plus, once the mosh pit got going (and it was small but it did get going–there was a guy with a huge mohawk who was pretty awesome).

They opened with the title track from 5 Years Behind, the album I know best.  It was great to hear them started off with the frenetic shouting of “always five years always five years always five years behind.”   They didn’t play this last time and it was fun to hear.  It was also the only song where Kate Black played guitar and the touring guitarist Gillian Visco (from Shadow Monster) played bass.  (more…)

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Teenage Halloween (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, March 1, 2024) [THICK]

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Big Girl, Teenage Halloween, Tetchy, Thick, Well Wisher on March 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 1, 2024] Teenage Halloween

There were four bands opening for THICK at this show.  And I hadn’t heard of any of them before.  I listened to a few songs by all of them and thought they all sounded good.

But I didn’t expect to be as impressed by Teenage Halloween as I was.  And the crowd was out in full force for them (they reside in Asbury park, it turns out).

The band describes themselves as a Queer power pop ensemble from Jersey/NYC, S/T LP out now!!!

There are four members in the band: Tricia Marshall – bass vocals , Eli Frank – guitar, Peter Gargano – drums , Luk Henderiks – guitar vocals.

Luk seemed to sing more of the songs, but Tricia sang about four or five of the seventeen (!) they played.  Turns out the band was originally a solo project for Luk, so I think they get to have the majority of songs.  Plus, it turned out that Luk’s mom was in the audience (and might be their manager).

So the band plays short blasts of catchy emo songs–lots of punk feelings (their bio says)

At the heart of vocalist and guitarist Luk Henderiks’ lyrics is an urgent longing for community. Despite their often strikingly personal vulnerability, these songs reach out to the wider world, striving to hold themselves and those around them accountable for their actions and to make space for those that need to be heard.

and occasionally fantastic guitar solos (Eli Frank is a total shredder, but doesn’t overuse that skill).

Luk’s singing style is of the screaming variety–harsh, but not too harsh–and a good sense of melody.  And, again, the songs are pop punk and easy to sing along with.

The band spoke to the audience every couple of songs. And about half way through the set Tricia said how excited she was to be playing on this mostly women bill.  She then said she’s be singing songs written by a woman (her): Getting Bitter and Say It.  A few songs later she sang a really good cover of Pretenders’ Brass in Pocket (dedicated to Luk’s mom).  She later said that singing without a bass (Luk played bass for the song) took away the thing she hides behind.

It was really nice having a different singer for these songs to give even more variety to the music.

Throughout the set, the backing vocals (from Tricia and Eli) were great–really giving a lot of power and depth to the songs.

Frank was also a lot of fun, jumping around on stage and making (terrible) jokes throughout the set.  I don’t have much to say about drummer Peter because he suited the band perfectly–a good sound and nothing too flashy.

The rest of the set was equally good–the songs were catchy and fun and the crowd was really really into it.  I haven’t really had much time to delve into the lyrics, but the ones I’ve heard have been good–pointed and clever.

This was their first show of the calendar year (in March?!), but they have a tour planned in the UK (although Tricia and Kevin won’t be going–no reason given), so their popularity must not be local only.

I would absolutely see them again.

  1. Good Time ⇔
  2. Supertrans ⇔
  3. Takeaway ⇔
  4. Getting Bitter ⇔
  5. Say It ⇔
  6. Clarity Ó
  7. Sights Down ⇔
  8. Brass in Pocket (Pretenders cover)
  9. Doctor ⇔
  10. Lights Out ⇔
  11. Melodrama ⇔
  12. Oh The Drama ⇔
  13. Burn €
  14. Travelin’ On ⇔
  15. Holes Ó
  16. Stationary Ó
  17. Armageddon Now ⇔

⇔ Til You Return (2023)
€ The Homeless Gospel Choir/Teenage Halloween split EP (2022)
Ó Teenage Halloween (2020)

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Well Wisher / Tetchy / Big Girl (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, March 1, 2024) [THICK] [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Big Girl, Teenage Halloween, Tetchy, Thick, Well Wisher on March 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 1, 2024] Well Wisher / Tetchy / Big Girl

I saw at a rather late hour that THICK was going to be playing Asbury Lanes.  When I realized it was the same night as the SOMA show in Asbury Park, I wondered if I could do both.

And, logistically, yes I could.  So I bought a ticket to the show and then wondered how many of the five bands playing tonight I would miss.

I calculated that I might see some of Well Wisher, which was cool because they were interesting (actually, all five bands were interesting).  But as it turned out, the SOMA show went about 20 minutes later than I thought it would and I wound up walking in on the final chords that Well Wisher was playing before the got off the stage.   I had to run to the bathroom, so I didn’t even see them.  But at least I was there for all of the Teenage Halloween set. (more…)

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Luminous Abstract presents Sonic Mass featuring Soma (Trinity Church, Asbury Park, NJ, March 1, 2024)

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Cementation Anxiety, Soma, Tramutanas, Trinity Church on March 4, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 1, 2024] Soma

Soma is an acronym for Sacred Order of Mystic Apogees.  It’s unfortunate that they go by Soma as there are about a half a dozen bands named Soma.  They are a New Jersey based band that plays spiritual/religious music.

I will display my profound ignorance of Indian/Hindu culture by saying that I realized by the end of the set that they were singing mantras like Hare Krishna, but I don’t know if only the Hare Krishna movement (?) sings this refrain.

I did look up some information about the Hare Krishna movement and learned this (from NPR)

The Hare Krishna movement is a branch of Hinduism, formally known as Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Its name comes from its chant — Hare Krishna — which devotees repeat over and over. It was started in the 16th century by Sri Chaitanya of Bengal (1486-1533). He emphasized the worship of Krishna and believed that chanting the names of God was so powerful that in addition to one’s own meditation on them, they should also be chanted in the streets for the benefit of all.

So that’s nice.

The band’s instagram handle is soma_kirtan.  Kirtan is (according to wikipedia) a

genre of religious performance arts, connoting a musical form of narration or shared recitation, particularly of spiritual or religious ideas is a call-and-response or antiphonal style song or chant, set to music, wherein multiple singers recite the names of a deity, describe a legend, express loving devotion to a deity, or discuss spiritual ideas

There was no call and response at our set but there was a lot of chanting. (more…)

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