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XPN Fest: Overall thoughts: mostly highs, and not just temperature (Wiggins Park, Philadelphia PA, July 22-24, 2016)

Posted in Colvin & Earle, Darlingside, David Wax Museum, Esmé Patterson, Father John Misty, Kids Corner, Kississippi, Kurt Vile, Marina Stage, Mavis Staples, Philadelphia, PA, River Stage, The Districts, The Felice Brothers, The Record Company, The Revivalists, Tommy Stinson, Wiggins Park, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA, XPN Fest on July 25, 2016| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 22-24, 2016] XPN Fest

2016-07-24 15.34.58Even though I go to a lot of shows, I don’t really love Festivals.  I actually enjoy concerts too much to enjoy Festivals.  Which sounds dumb, but I’d rather see a band I like on their own play for a full set than for 30 minutes with a bunch of people who don’t really want to see them.

I’ve been to a few festivals over the years, and I have thought about going to other ones, but since I typically don’t want to spend a few days in the sun (and a few hundred dollars), I don’t go.

But the past two years we have seen some great headlining acts at XPN Fest.  And we thought it would be fun to go for the day, bring the kids and just have a fun day outside with music and vendors.  We bought tickets before the lineup was even announced.

WXPN members get half-priced tickets (which is cheaper than some of the regular shows I’ve been to) and kids’ tickets are $15 for the three days.  Perfect.

In the past, I have loved most of the headliners, but this year I didn’t really like any of them. The three day pass includes lawn seats to the headliners, but we wound up not using them at all. (more…)

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David Wax Museum–XPN Fest: Marina Stage (Wiggins Park, Philadelphia PA, July 24, 2016)

Posted in David Wax Museum, Marina Stage, Philadelphia, PA, The Districts, Wiggins Park, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA, XPN Fest on July 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 24, 2016] David Wax Museum

2016-07-24 15.58.23 David Wax Museum was supposed to play on Saturday.  Then it rained.  Really really hard.  For us, as we waited it out under a tent, the momentum was gone.  The kids were wiped out.  They kicked everyone out of the park because of thunder and lightning.  So even when the sun came back out, we decided to go home.

Well, it turned out that David Wax’s show was cancelled, but they were able to stick around until Sunday and the organizers squeezed them in and we got to see them anyhow!

I knew of David Wax Museum from a Tiny Desk and a Newport Folk performance broadcast on NPR a few years ago.  They played really fun, upbeat music (and used a donkey jaw bone as an instrument) and I was really psyched to see them.

Their set started literally just as The Districts finished up, so we had to hustle over.  And we caught them for the middle of their first song “Yes Maria,” a song I know pretty well and a wonderfully upbeat number.

2016-07-24 15.42.42And then they continued to have one of the most fun sets of the weekend.  Their songs have a Mexican flavor (co-lead singer Suz Slezak was wearing a  (very hot looking) poncho foe the set while Wax was wearing a very sharp looking pseudo-mariachi suit.

They talked to the audience a lot. They said they had driven to the show on Friday night from North Dakota (can that be right?).  Since it was the final night of their tour, they were actually kind of happy that the previous night was cancelled and rescheduled.  They only had to drive from the hotel nearby.  Suz said that it was the first show that they were really well rested for.

Their set included a bunch of sing-alongs, big clapping sections and lots of lyrics in Spanish.

Wax primarily plays the jarana, a Mexican instrument similar to a tiny guitar.  Slezak plays keyboards and fiddle as well as singing along.  And she’s the one who plays the quijada, a percussion instrument made from a donkey’s jawbone.  And yes it was great to see it in action.

Sarah told me after the show that it was her favorite set of the weekend.  I was pretty excited to get their latest album and then, to our surprise they cam over to the merch booth (instead of the meet and greet tent) and signed out disc.  I chatted with them a few minutes, and they were super nice.  Suz showed Tabby her necklace which has one of the teeth from the jawbone.  And their adorable daughter was there too.  She’s 2 and it was the first show of theirs that she got to watch (although I think mostly she was just hot).

I’m so glad that they were able to play and, as with The Districts, I’d love to see them in a smaller venue where they get a longer set.

See some colorful photos and stream their set here.

Setlist:

Yes, Maria, Yes

Dark Night of the Heart

Forgiveness

Harder Before It Gets Easier

Blood Jump

Chuchumbe

Don’t Lose Heart

Born With A Broken Heart

Colas

Guesthouse

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The Districts–XPN Fest: River Stage (Wiggins Park, Philadelphia PA, July 24, 2016)

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, River Stage, The Districts, Wiggins Park, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA, XPN Fest on July 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 24, 2016] The Districts

2016-07-24 14.47.59 Despite the heat of Saturday, we were prepared to go back to the Fest on Sunday–with plans to pop into the Aquarium before the show.  I had wanted to see three artists on Sunday, but we only managed two.

I knew The Districts from WXPN , and I’d heard that their shows were a lot of fun.  And that was spot on.

This was the only show we watched at the River Front stage–the larger of the two.  Rather than fight the sun, we hung out on the periphery in the shade and, while we weren’t all that close, we could see the band fine and the sound was outstanding–it was actually a little better off to the side then in the front where it was  little ear-piercing.

Unlike the other bands we saw, The Districts were there to rock out and rock out they did. (more…)

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Esmé Patterson–XPN Fest: Marina Stage (Wiggins Park, Philadelphia PA, July 23, 2016)

Posted in Esmé Patterson, Marina Stage, Philadelphia, PA, Wiggins Park, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA, XPN Fest on July 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »

2016-07-23 13.16.33[ATTENDED: July 23, 2016] Esmé Patterson

I had originally intended to see five bands on Saturday of the Festival.  Because of a number of unexpected hiccups, I wound up seeing only two.  (More about the hiccups on Monday).

Of the five bands, I definitely had a couple that I wanted to see more than others.  And Esmé Patterson was one of them.  I knew her from All Songs Considered, and although I’d only heard one song, I really liked it and was excited to see her rock out.

We arrived in time for her set, put out our gear, and had a great time.

Esmé has a fun stage presence (and is really kind–she was worried about us all burning in the hot sun), she sings wonderfully and her backing band was totally solid. (more…)

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Darlingside–XPN Fest: Marina Stage (Wiggins Park, Philadelphia PA, July 23, 2016)

Posted in Darlingside, Marina Stage, Philadelphia, PA, Wiggins Park, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA, XPN Fest on July 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 23, 2016] Darlingside

2016-07-23 14.21.10 Although I had wanted to see five bands on this day, my main focus was Darlingside, a band who sings beautiful songs with wonderful harmonies.

Because we had the kids with us and they were feeling a little wilty from the heat, we spent some of their set walking around looking for shade.  This was less than optimal in terms of enjoying the set, but since the sound was really good, there was no denying how great they were.  Their harmonies were right on and even in a big opened air setting, they still sounded amazing.

What I didn’t expect was how funny and lighthearted they were.  (more…)

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Jane’s Addiction (The Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, July 16, 2016)

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, David Bowie, Dinosaur Jr., Jane's Addiction, The Stone Pony, The Stone Pony Summer Stage on July 17, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 16, 2016] Jane’s Addiction

2016-07-16 21.49.18When Jane’s Addiction came out back in the late 1980s, I loved them.  Nothing’s Shocking was my favorite album for a few years and Ritual de lo Habitual was a close second.  There was something about their sense of sleazy and weirdly catchy songs that I totally gravitated towards. I probably should have gone to Lollapalloza that year, but I didn’t.

But then I moved past them.  When they released Strays back in 2003, I didn’t even give it a listen.  Same with The Great Escape Artist in 2011.  I just didn’t care all that much.  I’d also gotten a little overexposed to Dave Navarro and his exploits over the next decade.

And while I was interested in seeing them–especially since they were doing Ritual in its entirety, I was much more excited to see Dinosaur Jr.

But wow, was I impressed by their show.  The most impressive thing for me was the sound quality.  Whether that is chalked up to the venue (I doubt it–outdoor venues aren’t usually that good) or the way they mixed it (more likely), I couldn’t get over how great the band fit together–it sounded like the album (not like it was prerecorded or anything, just really full).  And most of the applause goes to Navarro. (more…)

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Dinosaur Jr. (The Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, July 16, 2016) [JANE’S ADDICTION]

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Dinosaur Jr., J. Mascis, Jane's Addiction, Living Colour, Lou Barlow, Minus the Bear, Primus, The Cure, The Stone Pony, The Stone Pony Summer Stage on July 16, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 16, 2016] Dinosaur Jr.

2016-07-16 19.49.10I have wanted to see Dinosaur Jr for many years.  I intended to see them last year when they toured with Primus, but I couldn’t get to the show.  So I was pretty excited that they were touring again, this time with Jane’s Addiction.

I had never been to a Stone Pony Summer Stage (never been to The Stone Pony either) and I didn’t really know what to expect (reviews on Yelp are pretty harsh).  Things got even more questionable when the weather turned nasty.  The show was supposed to start at 6, but as of 4:30 there was a huge thunderstorm in Absury Park, so they delayed the opening of the show.  And since there were more storms threatening for later, it was possible that it might get cancelled.

Just to make things a little more unsatisfying, Living Colour was supposed to be the first band on the bill.  I’ve never seen them and while I wouldn’t go out of my way to see them, I thought they’d be a lot of fun live.  I found out yesterday (although this was probably decided much earlier) that they weren’t playing in this show (they are in Germany), and that Minus the Bear would be opening instead.

I don’t know Minus the Bear (a lot of bands with names like “noun the noun” lately, and I don’t really know any of them).  I listened to a few songs before the show and thought they might be fun.  But the gates didn’t wind up opening until 8PM, so Minus the Bear didn’t even play. (more…)

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Ben Folds with yMusic (Levitt Pavilion, Steelstacks, Bethlehem, PA, July 16, 2016)

Posted in Ben Folds, Bethlehem, PA, Gracie Folds, Guster, Levitt Pavilion, Regina Spektor, Steelstacks, yMusic on July 15, 2016| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 14, 2016] Ben Folds with yMusic

2016-07-14 22.42.16This was the third time that Sarah and I have seen Ben Folds and he never fails to put on a great show.

Both of the previous times had been as an opening act (and both times were with Guster, interestingly).  So it was great to see him headlining.  I didn’t know a lot about yMusic before the show, but I enjoyed his disc with them So There.  It promised to be a great show.

And since, as I mentioned with Gracie Folds, we were literally three people from the stage, we knew the show would be special. (more…)

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Gracie Folds (Levitt Pavilion, Steelstacks, Bethlehem, PA, July 16, 2016) [BEN FOLDS w/ yMUSIC]

Posted in Ben Folds, Bethlehem, PA, Gracie Folds, Levitt Pavilion, Regina Spektor, Steelstacks, Tori Amos on July 14, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 14, 2016] Gracie Folds

2016-07-14 19.36.50The Levitt Pavilion Steelstacks in Bethlehem is one of my favorite venues.  Last year I saw Modest Mouse there and this year it was Ben Folds.  I raved to Sarah about the venue last time but I don’t think she realized just how great it would be until we walked onto the grass and walked up to the stage where there were only two people in front of us.  And, if we were pushier, we could have easily gotten up to the fence.

So, yes, we were about three people from the stage.  And just to make it better, the forecast predicted massive thunderstorms all night long, but by the time of the show, the clouds had parted and a cool breeze came in through the field.

As the show started a young girl walked out and sat at her keyboard and told us her name was Gracie.  Anyone who is a fan of Ben Folds knows he has a daughter named Gracie.  But those of us who have no concept of time passing still assume she is like 6 years old.  Well, she is 17 and she opened for her dad.  And that’s pretty awesome. (more…)

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Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions (Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, July 10, 2016)

Posted in Andrew Aversa, Chad Seiter, Jeron Moore, Junichi Masuda, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Pokemon, Red Robin, Susie Benchasil Seiter on July 10, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 10, 2016] Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions

evolutionWe have been really enjoying the Mann Center this year.  And since Clark (whose birthday was not so long ago) has been really enjoying Pokémon this year, this seemed like a perfect evening–orchestral Pokémon music at the Mann.

A friend of ours had seen it and said it was fun, so we bought some balcony seats (never been up there before), had a meal en route at Red Robin (yum), and made it with minutes to spare.  There were no baseball cards for this event (pity), but there was plenty of people watching.

2016-07-10 19.44.48I really didn’t know who would come to this show.  I assumed it would be families with little kids.  It never occurred to me that there would be hundreds of cosplayers here too.  There were people in costume (!)–I didn’t get any good pictures–there were 20- and 30-somethings in Pokémon hats and shirts and there were plush Pikachu all over the place (including in the orchestra!).

The conductor was Susie Seiter and the music was composed by her husband, Chad Seiter and his co-worker Jeron Moore.  The original press release states:

This has been the brainchild of me [Chad] and co-creator Jeron Moore for over 7 months now…. We have all been working very closely with The Pokémon Company International to create an authentic Pokémon experience, and all the music is approved by original Pokémon composer Junichi Masuda himself.

The show is turning out awesome – we have a large 80+ piece orchestra, and I’ve been working on 80 minutes of new arrangements, putting the Pokémon music into an epic symphonic Hollywood context. The show will be conducted by my wife, and LEGEND OF ZELDA: SYMPHONY OF THE GODDESSES conductor, Susie Seiter – who has also painstakingly orchestrated all the music. It will also feature innovative percussive and electronic accompaniment by Andrew Aversa.

So we sat down and out came the conductor.  But before the show started, Chad came out and introduced the show.  He said that this was the first show they had performed since Pokémon Go came out and they took a photo of all of us holding up our login screens.  For some reason our game wasn’t connecting there, which was very disappointing since we heard everyone saying–there’s Charmander, there’s Squirtle.  There’s even a photo of someone catching a Pikachu in the audience.

I have seen a few orchestral shows before, but there was something really amazing about this one.  Perhaps it was where we sat–the angle was great–or perhaps the size of the orchestra, but it was so much fun to watch this spectacle.  And, yes, the music was pretty fantastic too.

What made the show especially fun, though, was the audience.  Typically an orchestral show is quiet and reserved.  Not here.  The crowd went nuts before each piece and went absolutely crazy when their favorite Pokémon came on screen.  I had to assume the orchestra really enjoyed getting wild cheers instead of polite applause. (more…)

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