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Archive for the ‘Bethlehem, PA’ Category

Puscifer / Dave Hill (Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, April 3, 3026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Dave Hill, Puscifer, Wind Creek Event Center on April 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 3, 3026] Puscifer / Dave Hill

I saw Puscifer this past summer as part of a triple bill with Primus and A Perfect Circle.  I didn’t know much about Puscifer except that it was one of Maynard Keenan’s bands.  But their live show was so great that when they announced this tour, I immediately grabbed a ticket to the Bethlehem show–Bethlehem?  Amazing.

But this show also fell within our Minnesota trip dates.  So I would miss this one too.  There were really some special shows to be missed in these few days.  Alas.

I saw Dave Hill open for Kevin McDonald Superstar.  HE was really funny and was a great guitar player as well.  I was really looking forward to seeing him too.  Interestingly Dave played at a small venue in Frenchtown (a venue I have yet to go to even though it is so close).   But that show was on the same night as my Baroness show. So, no luck for me.

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Dogma / Frayle (Fowler Blast Furnace Room-SteelStacks, Bethlehem, PA, April 2, 3026) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Dogma, Fowler Blast Furnace Room, Frayle on April 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: April 2, 3026] Dogma / Frayle

I heard about Dogma a few weeks ago.  I love a weird gimmick and it doesn’t get more gimmicky than nuns in corpse paint.  I though they would be fun to see, but this show was scheduled for a night that I already had two commitments so I knew I wouldn’t be going.

And then I investigated the band a little more an I found all kinds of shenanigans going on:

After three ex-members of the nun-themed metal group called out “the person who now controls the project,” saying that he betrayed “the artists, his partners, and the fans,” in late October, the last two weeks have snowballed into meteor-size ball, barrelling down at full speed. Elaborating that the three witnessed during tours “unilateral decisions, broken promises, manipulation, mistreatment, and lies to the fans. The person who now controls the project is a threat to Dogma’s future and is not an artist or a musician. He turned a band into a brand, and people into disposable pieces. He betrayed the artists, his partners, and the fans.”

The band has put out an album and it’s surprisingly poppy metal.  But the band is pretty talented and I enjoyed what I heard.  But I gather that the people who made the album are mostly no longer in the band (they all go by pseudonyms and are, basically easily replaced, I guess).  I don’t know anybody involved so I wouldn’t have missed anyone in particular.  But that still sucks.

But it’s all moot because their visas were held up too long for them to make this tour.  They are looking to reschedule.  I hope I can go if they come back because even though the scandals and everything are awful, it would be fun to see nuns in corpse paint in the tiny Blast Furnace Room.

Frayle is a doom metal band from Cleveland.  Their bio says they draw their inspiration from bands like Sleep, Portishead, Bjork, Kyuss, & Black Sabbath which is a wild mix.  The guitar bass and drum players all wear masks and the singer has some fascinating jewelry on her face.  I really like the way she under-sings the songs and would totally see them live if they come around.

 

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Kathleen Edwards (Musikfest Cafe, Bethlehem, PA, October 19, 2025)

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Kathleen Edwards, Musikfest on October 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 19, 2025] Kathleen Edwards

When I saw Kathleen Edwards in 2021, I traveled to NYC to see her because I thought that this was a one and done kind of thing.  That she had basically retired from music but was going to do this show and I’d finally get to see her.

Who would have guessed that four years later I would have seen her six times.

After seeing her at the XPN Fest it wasn’t really necessary to see her a few weeks later, but heck, seeing her in an intimate setting like the Musikfest Cafe from just a few feet away (when I already had tickets) was hard to pass up.  I had a ticket for my wife as well but she didn’t feel the need to come to the show.

I must have left a little later than I meant to because by the time I parked (and there are NO ADA spots near the venue–the best they can do is spots on the closest side of the closest parking lot which is like two blocks away) I was running seriously late.  In fact, I think I walked in at exactly 8.  Luckily, this is one of those loose setups and there was no opening act, so she came on around 8:15, which gave me enough time to order my (obligatory at this place) food (a flight of pierogis–pretty good).  I was seated at a table not too far from the stage (but I knew better than to get right up against the stage–it’s too close!)

It’s funny that the first few times I saw her, she had a different backing band each time, but for the last three shows it has been the same–they are a well seasoned band by this point and they sound great. (more…)

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Cake (SteelStacks, Bethlehem, PA, September 28, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Cake, Steelstacks on September 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 28, 2025] Cake

I liked Cake when they first came out, but hadn’t really thought much about them in the last 30 years or so.  When this show was announced, I read that their live shows were always really good.  So I considered getting tickets for my wife and I.  I put it off because I know that the venue doesn’t really sell out.

And then my daughter and I wound up going to All Things Go and returned on the 28th, so it was not possible.

But Tito Santana filmed and uploaded the whole show

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The Decemberists (Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, July 22, 2025)

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Melt, Merce Lemon, The Decemberists, Wind Creek Event Center on July 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 22, 2025] The Decemberists 

We saw The Decemberists last year and it was pretty exciting that they announced a small summer tour (8 shows!) and one was in Bethlehem.  My last experience here at Wind Creek was abysmal.  We arrived much earlier tonight and the getting into the venue process wasn’t that terrible.

The previous show was fairly elaborate with a large cast on stage.  They opened with just Colin singing and then the rest of the band slowly coming out to make each song louder.

This time was completely different.  Drummer John Moen came out first and started a rousing drum beat.  Then the rest of the band came out and they launched into July, July! a perfectly apt song for the summer, and one that we hadn’t seen before (which is shocking).  Indeed, while not a rarities show per se, this show featured a lot of songs that we hadn’t seen before or, had only seen once.

I wondered if they’d play much from the new album–technically this is still the same tour (Peaceable Kingdom–their merch totes still said 2024).  They played three songs, Burial Ground which is always fun to hear live.  The other two songs were deep cuts from the new album and two that they hadn’t played live before this mini tour.

Rox in the Box is one of my wife’s favorite songs and she’s always a little bummed when they don’t play it.  But this time they did.  Before the show we talked to the people seated next to us (gasp, really? Yes!) and in discussing what songs they’d like to hear, my wife said Rox in the Box (check) and Make You Better (check).  We also discussed the new jamming version of Severed.  This version had Colin telling an off-the-cuff (clearly) story about the brown shirts in charge of this country being subsumed by the rust of steelstacks (or something).

After a second deep cut from As It Ever Was (which I thought sounded familiar but couldn’t place it), they played a superbly deep cut from an early album: The Bus Mall (something they do play from time to time, but which I’d never heard live).  It was followed by another new track for us, Oceanside, a fun song from their earliest EP.

They brought out Ron from Melt to sing The Queen’s Rebuke and she sounded fantastic!  I don’t know where she came from–Melt didn’t open the show and they are playing in Bethlehem in two days, but how did this magic pairing happen?  I have no idea.  I see they didn’t play it the previous night, so maybe Melt was just hanging around.  Because Ron stayed out for the next song and their guitarist came out and played too.  And that next song was a cover of Paranoid by Black Sabbath.  Not something you expect to hear at a Decemberists show.  However, Ozzy died earlier that day so it seemed a nice tribute.  Colin took the drums and John Moen sang.  He did a fairly decent Ozzy impression (getting everyone to clap and going crazeee), but hilariously he didn’t know the words at all.  How is that possible? (more…)

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Merce Lemon (Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, July 22, 2025) [THE DECEMBERISTS]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Melt, Merce Lemon, The Decemberists, Wind Creek Event Center on July 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 22, 2025] Merce Lemon 

I didn’t know Merce Lemon before this show.  Normally I look up an opening band, but I just didn’t for this show.

They came out as a five piece (although Merce Lemon is apparently the lead singer and it is her project).  She was joined by Reid Magette who played some utterly fantastic lead lines in the songs.  Pat Coyle on drums was fun to watch because the songs weren’t complicated, but he threw in lots of flourishes here and there to make them really come to life.  Alvin Row was playing lap steel for the whole show.  Sometimes his leads lurred with Reid’s but overall he provided some great ambient sounds.  And Benji on nass occasionally made some great feedbacking noises on these otherwise mellow songs.

Merce described her band in an interview with Post-Trash:.

My drummer Pat Coyle plays under his name. Benji, who plays bass, also plays under Clear Creek SP. Reid, my guitarist, plays under I4A, which stands for Ideas for Advertisements. Spencer, who played keys on the album, plays ambient music under the name Alvin Row. We recently played a show at my friend’s sauna, which has an outdoor space. He was playing ambient lap steel, and it made me cry.

They played six songs, each one at least 5 minutes long.  The songs started out quietly but they usually had really exciting moments and the crowd was easily won over by them.  The last song in particular had a great build up and conclusion.

Merce never mentioned the band’s name (or anything more than I’m Merce) and I don’t know what songs they played, except for a Bonnie “Prince” Billy cover of “I See a Darkness.”

I’m hopeful that someone will post the setlist as I really don’t know what they played.

But yeah, overall a very enjoyable opening act.

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Babymetal (Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, November 21, 2024)

Posted in Babymetal, Bethlehem, PA, Japanese Music, Kawaii, Scene Queen, Wind Creek Event Center on November 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 21, 2024] Babymetal

But it’s hard to be cross when Babymetal takes the stage.  First comes the masked Kami band (their masks are cool and the band is incredible).  Then the trio came out Su-metal, Moametal and Momometal.

I didn’t realize that it had been 5 years since I last saw them.  I feel like the previous show was bigger and/or more impressive.  But again, that could just be because of my poor view.

But I was pleased when I saw my son taking videos of songs because that meant he was into it.

They opened with the first song off their first album–basically an introduction to the band.  Which is totally unnecessary.  Not only di d this show sell out, but everyone there knew the words (in Japanese) and what to do and when to do it.  Total crowd synchronicity.  And Su-metal (as a person next to me said) has total crowd control.  She waves her hands and everyone does what she says.

They had a big screen behind them which flashed various images during the different songs.  I loved hearing Pa Pa Ya (Babymetals are mostly in Japanese, so I don’t know if the stupidly catchy choruses are nonsensical or Japanese, but damn if pa pa pa pa pa ya isn’t the catchiest thing to shout.

I will repeat some things I wrote last time

Throughout the songs the trio danced like crazy.  Their precision synchronization was amazing. (more…)

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Scene Queen (Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, November 21, 2024) [BABYMETAL]

Posted in Babymetal, Bethlehem, PA, Japanese Music, Kawaii, Scene Queen, Wind Creek Event Center on November 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 21, 2024] Scene Queen

I had this great plan to arrive early to this show.  And then everything went South.

My son’s college had an event that I hoped he could attend, so we wound up leaving later than I intended.  And, somehow, when I bought the tickets, I didn’t realize that going to Bethlehem would be so far out of the way from his school (Philly is more or less on the way, but jeez, this drive was ridiculous.

We also didn’t have dinner, so we had a (yummy) stop in the Bethlehem Waffle House.  But when we got to the Wind Creek Event Center, it was a nightmare.  The traffic to get in was insane–they were directing everyone around the whole campus to the parking garage that you could enter on the way in.

I went looking for a handicapped spot and they were all full, so we had  to park about as far away from the entrance as you can get.  So we trudged through the cold rain to the doors only to find a massive security line and one of the most thorough checks I’ve been in a show in a long time.

When we got in the venue people were spread out all the way to the back of the room making it almost impossible to get in.

I was really annoyed by this time.  So it didn’t give me a great introduction to Scene Queen. (more…)

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Richard Thompson / Alexa Rose (Musikfest Cafe, Bethlehem, PA, July 26, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Alexa Rose, Bethlehem, PA, Musikfest Cafe, Richard Thompson on July 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 26, 2024] Richard Thompson / Alexa Rose

I really want to see Richard Thompson one more time, but I really want to see hi with his band rather than solo.

For this tour, he announced it would be a band tour!  I was so excited.  But when he announced this relatively local show, it was solo.

What’s weird about his solo shows is that he had a million songs in his repertoire and he plays all request shows where I’m sure he’s playing all kinds of songs.  But when he plays solo he tends to play the same twenty or so songs.  It’s always amazing, I am just looking for something a little different from him.

I keep hoping he’ll bring the band to McCarter one more time.

Alexa Rose was born in the Alleghany Highlands of western Virginia, raised in the tiny railroad town of Clifton Forge. Though no one in her immediate family played or sang, she inherited a deep musical legacy.

She has a pretty, clean voice with vaguely country leanings.

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Ben Folds and a Piano (Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, April 20, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Ben Folds, Bethlehem, PA, Wind Creek Event Center on April 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 20, 2024] Ben Folds and a Piano

Two years ago, we saw Ben Folds for the fifth time.  This was at Parx Casino.  And As I wrote then,

things were kind of weird right from the start.  He was really late coming out.  I accept that a start time is fungible, but the lights went down and it took him a solid five minutes to come out.  During which time someone loudly made a I’ll bet he had to rush to the bathroom joke which really set the tone.

It’s hard to say is Ben was annoyed, but he seemed to be.  He didn’t like the camera set up (one was on the keyboard) and he just didn’t seem as fun as he has in the past.

Of course, he’s professional, so he sounded great and his playing was wonderful.

The crowd around us was weird.  It was a much older crowd than a typical show that we go to and I’m guessing a Saturday night show at a casino is going to lend itself to a lot of drunken people.  Because the bad behavior was in evidence.

For whatever reason, this show didn’t feel as great as the previous ones.  I blame the casino.  And the drunks.

And this show, at another casino, in an auditorium with dicey sound at the best of times, just didn’t seem worth the bother.  I was surprised that neither of us wanted to go, but we both felt the same way.

And this doesn’t matter, really, but his setlist was pretty short too.

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