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Preoccupations (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 15, 2019) [IDLES]

Posted in Canadian Music, Idles, Philadelphia, PA, Preoccupations, The Foundry, Union Transfer on October 15, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 15, 2019] Preoccupations

I saw Preoccupations open for Protomartyr about a year ago.  At the time I wrote:

Preoccupations is a band from Calgary Alberta Canada.  They were originally called Viet Cong. They put out a stunning album called Viet Cong and then met all kinds of grief for the name (shows cancelled, etc), so they changed it to Preoccupations.  It’s amazing that a band as minor and indie as them would get so much grief, but whatever.

I thought their show was fantastic.  I loved the sound of their music and the energy that the band brought.

This show was similarly good–although perhaps the smaller venue of the Foundry made the band seem more dynamic.

I see that the setlist was largely the same for both shows (they haven’t put out new material since New Material in 2018).  I find it fascinating that much of the setlist comes from their first album Viet Cong.  I wonder why that is.

I also feel like for this show the band was considerably quieter than last time.  I realize that at the last show I was in front of speakers, and this one I was a little further back and therefore muffled.  But it seems like the overall wall of sound was somewhat lessened. (more…)

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Explosions in the Sky (Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ, October 12, 2019)

Posted in Explosions in the Sky, FACS, Sayreville, NJ, Set in New Jersey!, Starland Ballroom on October 12, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 12, 2019] Explosions in the Sky

I saw Explosions in the Sky three years ago. It stands as one of the most memorable shows I’ve seen and I knew that I wanted to see them again whenever I had the chance.

I don’t know if the band doesn’t tour all that much or if they just didn’t come my way, but after three years, when I saw they were playing at the Starland Ballroom on their 20th Anniversary Tour (part 1), I got tickets right away.

It took about 20 minutes for EITS to come out on stage.  It was nice to not have those horrible red lights that flooded FACS.

Before they actually started, the lights were natural, so I made sure to snap a few pictures before the colored lights came onto the stage.

All five guys came out and guitarist Munaf Rayani (the only guy to talk) said they were Explosions in the Sky from Texas–looks like some of you know us.  That’s good.”  And until he said good night that was the only voice for 90 some minutes. (more…)

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FACS (Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ, October 12, 2019) [EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY]

Posted in Disappears, Explosions in the Sky, FACS, Sayreville, NJ, Starland Ballroom on October 12, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 12, 2019] FACS

I saw Explosions in the Sky back in 2016 and the show blew me away.  I knew I’d be seeing them again some time.

For that show, the opening band was Disappears.

I really enjoyed Disappears and wound up buying their records.  For this show, the opening band was FACS.  I had never heard of FACS at all.  When I looked them up I discovered that FACS is (technically was)… three-fourths of Disappears!

According to the Chicago Tribune, Disappears:

broke up in 2016 with the departure of bassist Damon Carruesco, and holdovers [bassist] Brian Case, guitarist Jonathan Van Herik and drummer Noah Leger reinvented themselves as Facs, which explored a more abstract but no less fascinating – and sometimes downright spooky – sound.

Then Van Herik quit, and Facs had to regroup yet again, this time with Case switching back to guitar and newcomer Alianna Kalaba on bass, joining Leger in the rhythm section. There was only one catch: Kalaba had never played bass before. She was previously the drummer in We Ragazzi and the Dishes, but Leger already held that job in Facs.

“In Disappears, we had strict ideas about repetition and minimalism that are still ingrained in us,” Case says. “But with Facs, we took everything out of that comfort zone until we found something we liked and honed into it.

I didn’t really remember much of this going into this show.  I just remembered that they were probably going to be very cool.

And indeed they were.

(more…)

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The Head and the Heart (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 8, 2019)

Posted in Illiterate Light, Of Monsters and Men, Philadelphia, PA, The Head and the Heart, The Met Philadelphia on October 8, 2019| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 8, 2019] The Head and the Heart

After being really impressed by Of Monsters and Men last month, I had pretty high hopes for being impressed by The Head and The Heart as well (because I get the two bands mixed up even though I like them both).

It was the same venue, although this time we had seats instead of the GA section.

It was nice to not worry about your location between acts.  But holy crap, the people around me sucked so bad that they ruined the whole night.  I am writing this ten days after the show and I hate to say that I am still annoyed by them all.

The people next to me came and went and came and went and came and went all while we were seated.

The guy in front of me was an old man (older than me even).  During Illiterate Light we thought it was cute that he and his wife (I assume) were videoing things and being adorable together.  Then during The Head and The Heart he stood up.  And was a freaking giant.  Worse yet, the people next to them didn’t come to the show, so they had a lot of room, which meant he spread out and stood right in front of me (and here I was excited about having empty seats in front of me).  He also filmed nearly every song, but rather than being discrete or considerate of the people behind him, he held yup his camera to his face which meant elbows out thereby blocking even more of my view.  His wife also filmed a lot but she apparently didn’t realize that phone cameras come with a flash, because it was on every time she took videos.  How it took the people in front of them six songs to actually say something (and they were very polite about it) I can’t imagine.

But the worst were the people behind us.  A loud row of eight loud talking, loud boasting, loud everything.  The craziest thing about them is that they were all huge fans of the band, they knew every word, knew when they played a “rare” song and sang along to just about every lyric. (more…)

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Illiterate Light (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 8, 2019) [THE HEAD AND THE HEART]

Posted in Geddy Lee, Illiterate Light, My Morning Jacket, Neil Young, Newport Folk Festival, Philadelphia, PA, Promise of the Real, Rock duo, The Head and the Heart, The Met Philadelphia on October 8, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 8, 2019] Illiterate Light

I had heard of Illiterate Light from NPR, but didn’t really know them.  They played at Newport Folk Festival but were early on Saturday and we arrived after them.

Traffic getting to this show was terrible and I was annoyed that we’d miss Illiterate Light (or part of their set anyhow).  S. said she didn’t mind missing the opening act as long as we made it for The Head and the Heart.

We walked in just as Illiterate Light took the stage and we got seated around the middle of the first song.  And I couldn’t get over how loud they were (particularly opening for a not-especially-loud band like The Head and the Heart).  They had big rocking guitar and crashing drums.

Then I looked up and realized that there were only two of them on stage. (more…)

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The Distillers (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 7, 2019)

Posted in Brody Dalle, Death Valley Girls, Edith Piaf, Full show video, Philadelphia, PA, Queens of the Stone Age, Spinnerette, Starcrawler, The Distillers, Union Transfer on October 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 7, 2019] The Distillers [rescheduled from June 1 & August 14]

The Distillers and Starcrawler were supposed to play a show at Union Transfer on June 1.

I bought tickets because I wanted to see Starcrawler–a band whose live show is becoming legendary.  I thought I didn’t even know The Distillers.  This turned out not to be true.  About a year earlier I had watched an NPR Field Recording with Brody Dalle.

Dalle (who is Australisn, which is hard to imagine given her speaking/singing voice which has no accent) has been in a bunch of bands.

First was The Distillers who broke up in 2006.
Then she formed Spinnerette who put out a couple of records until roughly 2011.
Then she did a solo album in 2014.
She has done all kinds of guest appearances, especially with Queens of the Stone Age.

Then she reconvened The Distillers in 2018.

I listened to a couple of their songs and was pretty excited to go to a old good punk show with a legendary singer. (more…)

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The Tallest Man on Earth (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 7, 2019) [CANCELLED]

Posted in Cancelled, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, The Tallest Man on Earth on October 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: October 7, 2019] The Tallest Man on Earth

I was pretty excited to see The Tallest Man on Earth since last year I had to skip the show for my own personal reasons.  So I was bummed that on June 20, I was refunded my money because this tour was going to be cancelled.

Kristian himself sent out this apology:

Hello Sweet People,

The universe has gotten in the way of my plans and I have to cancel 8 shows on my fall tour: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Boston and New York.

I’ve never done this before and it was an incredibly hard decision, but ultimately it is less of a choice than a necessity. I’m very sorry and I will find a time to make up these shows as soon as I can. Tickets will be refunded in full. If you have already purchased tickets you will be receiving information on getting a complete refund. You can also go here [thetallestmanonearth.com/refunds] for all the information you need.

Also, to avoid raising any concern, please know that I’m fine. I’m healthy and I feel good. No other shows will be affected this year. I hope I haven’t ruined your plans too much and I can’t wait to make this up to you. I am going to think of a really fun way to do that.

Ok, be well, talk soon.
Kristian

 

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Death Valley Girls (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 7, 2019) [THE DISTILLERS]

Posted in Death Valley Girls, Hole, Philadelphia, PA, Sharkmuffin, The Distillers, The Saint, Union Transfer on October 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 7, 2019] Death Valley Girls [rescheduled from June 1 & August 14, replaced Starcrawler]

I had the opportunity to see Death Valley Girls twice in August.  The first time was with The Distillers who had to cancel their second show at Union Transfer due to a different injury.  The second (and it probably happened because of that cancellation) was with Sharkmuffin, a band I really wanted to see but wasn’t free that night.

So I was pleased that they were opening for The Distillers again a few months down the line.

I actually didn’t know much about them before seeing the show.  I had an idea of what they sounded like but, for instance, I had no idea that they were founded by Patty Schemel, the original drummer for Hole.  I also had no idea that there was a man in the band (Larry Schemel–Patty’s brother).  Patty Schemel has since left, replaced by Laura Kelsey.

So what exactly do the Death Valley Girls sound like?

Well, they’re sort of a fuzzy rock band with goth leanings.  The goth leaning come primarily from their look and their lyrics–not their sound. (more…)

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Team Dresch (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 3, 2019)

Posted in Family Outing, LGBTQ, Philadelphia, PA, Queer, Screaming Females, Sleater-Kinney, Team Dresch, The Butchies, Union Transfer on October 3, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 3, 2019] Team Dresch

Back in the mid 90s (when things were pretty great), as I was exploring more and more indie music, I was drawn to the Pacific Northwest scene.  There were a lot of great bands fronted by or comprised entirely of women–it was like discovering a gold mine of new sounds and voices.

This led to discoveries like Sleater-Kinney and Team Dresch.

This also led to exploring the Candy Ass record label (run by Team Dresch singer/bassist Jody Bleyle) and the amazing Free to Fight compilation.  As well as the Chainsaw records label (run by Donna Dresch).  They shared a lot of bands.

Team Dresch is one of the great queercore bands and they opened my eyes to a lot of avenues of queer culture that I didn’t know about.  I’ve become a huge LGBTQ+ advocate over the years and I attribute much of that to discovering Team Dresch and all that they stand for. (more…)

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Screaming Females (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 3, 2019) [TEAM DRESCH]

Posted in Des Ark, Monty Hall, Philadelphia, PA, Screaming Females, Team Dresch, Union Transfer on October 3, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 3, 2019] Screaming Females

I was surprised and excited to hear the Team Dresch were doing a tour of our area.  They were playing at Monty Hall (a venue I love) as well as Union Transfer (a much bigger venue that I love).  It was a little hard to parse that they would play a venue with a capacity of 200 followed by a capacity of 1,200, but there ya go.

I would, of course, prefer the show at Monty Hall; however, for some reason, the Union Transfer show was also featuring Screaming Females.  So there was no way I could miss a chance to see this great band one more time.

Before Des Ark, I was looking at Screaming Females’ merch and actually wound up buying a CD directly from King Mike, which is pretty cool.

After Des Ark ended, Screaming Females came out.  They set up their own gear quickly and efficiently and then started playing. (more…)

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