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Mannequin Pussy (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 29, 2021)

Posted in Angel Du$t, Mannequin Pussy, Philadelphia, PA, Pinkshift, Union Transfer on October 31, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 29, 2021] Mannequin Pussy

I had just seen Mannequin Pussy open or Japanese Breakfast back in August.  And they were great.  But there’s nothing like seeing a band as the headliner.

The unthinkable happened a few days before our show–all of the bands gear and merch were stolen while they were in Ohio.

Mannequin Pussy has a pretty unique sound, so I’m sure they’ve customized a lot of their gear.  But they decided to carry on.  The opening bands loaned them so gear and Mannequin Pussy thrived.  The crowd also helped with a few “Fuck Ohio” chants.

They broadcast Meek Mill’s “Dreams and Nightmares (Intro)” as a tension-building set up for their performance.

The set was similar to their opening set with Japanese Breakfast, but it was longer and there were a couple of substitutions.

It was a great mix of the raging and the chill.  The band really knows how to get a crowd going, often playing a few blistering punk tracks in a row to get the crowd into a frenzy and then calming things down, all the better to get the crowd going again. (more…)

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Angel Du$t (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 29, 2021) [MANNEQUIN PUSSY]

Posted in Angel Du$t, Bad Brains, Lemonheads, Mannequin Pussy, Philadelphia, PA, Pinkshift, Union Transfer on October 30, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 29, 2021] Angel Du$t

Angel Du$t is considered a supergroup (according to Wikipedia).  At the time, I hadn’t heard of either of the bands that the members came from (Turnstile and Trapped Under Ice).  Since then, Turnstile has absolutely blown up all over the place.

I’ve been wanting to see Turnstile, but I guess I’ve already seen 3/5 of them [Daniel Fang — drums ; Brendan Yates – rhythm guitar ; Pat McCrory – lead guitar].  The two guys from Trapped Under Ice were Justice Tripp – lead vocals and Jeff Caffey bass.

I didn’t know anything about the band and even the write about up them said that they defied expectations of their other bands. (more…)

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Garcia Peoples / Ryan Sawyer (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, October 30, 2021) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Garcia Peoples, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Ryan Sawyer on October 30, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 30, 2021] Garcia Peoples

I discovered Garcia Peoples by accident a couple of years ago.  They were opening for Heron Oblivion and I’d never heard of them.  But their show was outstanding.

So when they played a small headline tour I saw them again.  And I’ve seen them a couple more times at weird events (like a free show after a Phish concert in Atlantic City).

I kind of made it a mission to see them as often as I could.  But sometimes things just get in the way.

I would really have loved to see them at Johnny Brenda’s this night, but I had neem out the night before and the next night was Halloween.  It was just too much going on. (more…)

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Lotus Land (Steel Stacks, Bethlehem, PA, October 30, 2021) [rescheduled date] [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Coronavirus, Lotus Land, Postponed, Quarantine, Rush, Steelstacks on October 30, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 30, 2021] Lotus Land [rescheduled from April 20; and October 30, 2020]

I really had intended on seeing this band once they finally settled on a date.  But October 30 is just too close to Halloween to be taken seriously as a concert night out.  Especially for a cover band.

I’m sure they’ll be back. Or better yet, maybe they’ll play somewhere even closer to me.

~~~

It seemed like as things started to open up that smaller venues like this might have shows.  of course, the concern was–is a smaller venue better since you’ll be so much closer to everyone.  I thought maybe they could have this outside–even in October.  I guess not.

I have no interest in seeing tribute bands.  If I can’t get the real thing, then I won’t get it at all.

However, this Rush tribute band intrigues me because in the pictures they both use doubleneck instruments and their ads say they play mostly late 70 and early 80s Rush.  This is a period I’ve never seen live and I think it might be fun.  Plus they are very highly praised in their reviews.

I put this on my calendar as a show to see if there weren’t much else going on at the time. Well, it turned out to be a hugely busy concert month so I probably wouldn’t have gone.

However, Lotus Land seem to tour up and down the East Coast pretty much constantly, including this rescheduled show in October.  I suspect I’ll be able to see them some time in the not too distant future.

 

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Making Time Pure Halloween™ Feat Yves Tumor (Warehouse on Watts, Philadelphia, PA, October 29, 2021) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Halloween, Huh?, Philadelphia, PA, Warehouse on Watts, Yves Tumor on October 29, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 29, 2021] Pure Halloween with Yves Tumor

Yves Tumor is a fascinating musician and I would really like to see them live.

I was really surprised when I saw this announcement that they’d be playing in Philly in a club I’d never heard of.

I already had tickets to see Mannequin Pussy for that night, but this show seemed to start after that one.  And yet, from this write up, I couldn’t tell what was going on or if Yves Tumor was even actually going to be there:

Making Time Pure Halloween™ Feat Yves Tumor
Warehouse on Watts
Fri 29 Oct 2021, 8:00 PM EDT

Dear Philadelphia….. I can fee THE THRILL of PURE HALLOWEEN PUMPING through my veins, Philadelphia !!! (more…)

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Pinkshift (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 29, 2021) [MANNEQUIN PUSSY]

Posted in Angel Du$t, Mannequin Pussy, Philadelphia, PA, Pinkshift, Union Transfer on October 29, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 29, 2021] Pinkshift

I hadn’t heard of Pinkshift (I don’t quite understand the name) before this show, but holy cow they blew me away.

Pinkshift is from Baltimore and they play a great mix of grunge and punk all coordinated by lead singer Ashrita Kumar.

Kumar is an amazing front woman, channeling her anger and aggression into an amazing set of songs.  It was awesome seeing a young Indian American woman fronting a punk band and telling the crowd what to do.

Guitarist Paul Vallejo and bassist Erich Weinroth were locked in step as they rocked.  And drummer Myron Houngbedji was completely intense

The first two songs were intense with Ashrita stalking he stage and commanding the crowd. (more…)

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The Front Bottoms (Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ, October 24, 2021)

Posted in oso oso, Sayreville, NJ, Starland Ballroom, Sydney Sprague, The Front Bottoms on October 28, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 24, 2021] The Front Bottoms

Even though I tend to dislike Starland Ballroom, when I saw that The Front Bottoms were playing on Philly and then ending their tour at Starland, I knw I had to pick Starland.  End of the tour at a hometown show?  The choice was obvious.  And it was right.

Because in Philly, they played 23 songs but in NJ they played 31, including their entire first album front to back.

I first heard The Front Bottoms in 2013 and somehow never got around to seeing them live.  They’ve had a few shows (what they call Champagne Jams) the last few years.  I didn’t really want to see them in that kind of Festival attitude.  I did get tickets for the 2019 show but wound up not going.

So here was my redemption.

The band was a lot of fun and the crowd was so into it.  Yes they were pushy and shovy but it was all for the good of the show (at least until I saw a girl flee the room with a bloody nose).  There was a mosh pit, there was crowd surfing and more crowd surfing.  It was insane!

 

Most of their songs are fast and fun and lend to a lot of singing along (which we all did).  And even though these songs are kind of pop punk, they’re not short two minute ditties.  So I really didn’t know how long the show would be.

Previous sets ended after 19 songs (plus encores), so I was a little surprised when they ended the set (with the perfect set ender, “Au Revoir (Adios)” at only 16 songs.  But I figured they were going to give us a long encore. (more…)

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Arlo Parks / MICHELLE (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, October 27, 2021) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Arlo Parks, Clairo, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Foundry on October 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 27, 2021] Arlo Parks

I really enjoyed the songs I’d heard from Arlo Parks’ album.  But apparently I was too late in hearing about her tour.

I’m usually pretty on top of things when tours are announced but this one passed me by entirely and when I finally went to buy a ticket (not all that long after they went on sale, the only tickets left were selling for over $100–forget that).

A friend of mine went and told me that evidently tickets were made available just before the show, but I had long given up on this one. Her album made early everyone’s Best of the Year list so there’s no way she’ll play anywhere as small as The Foundry again.  (more…)

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oso oso (Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ, October 24, 2021) [THE FRONT BOTTOMS]

Posted in oso oso, Sayreville, NJ, Starland Ballroom, Sydney Sprague, The Front Bottoms on October 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 24, 2021] oso oso

I had not heard of oso oso but I had heard good things about them.

They came out fairly quickly after Syndey Sprague’s set.

Starland Ballroom always puts down a projector screen while the bands are setting up.  As oso oso was about to take the stage, it looked like the lead singer was doing a hand stand or a keg stand or was funneling a beer.  I couldn’t quite tell, but his feet were in the air.

I’m not sure if I was annoyed by the crowd (SO CROWDED) or what but I found oso oso to be one the most meh band I’ve seen on a long time.  I really felt nothing for them. (more…)

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Sydney Sprague (Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ, October 24, 2021) [THE FRONT BOTTOMS]

Posted in Blink 182, oso oso, Sayreville, NJ, Starland Ballroom, Sydney Sprague, The Front Bottoms on October 26, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 24, 2021] Sydney Sprague

I have come to really hate the Starland Ballroom.  I can’t believe how long it takes them to get people inside.  One shouldn’t arrive fifteen minutes before show time and miss the opening band’s first two songs.

And that’s what happened with Sydney Sprague.  The people behind me were particularly looking forward to her too, particularly the song she opened her set with.  So I felt bad for them.

I hadn’t heard of Sprague, but she was getting some good press and I was looking forward to her set.

After missing the first two songs, I pushed my way in to an intensely crowded Starland Ballroom.  It was hard to find a good spot, but by the time I settled, Sprague was steadily rocking along.  Her songs were really good–rocking and catchy.

In fact I think her live set was more rocking and intense than her album. (more…)

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