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Archive for the ‘Philadelphia, PA’ Category

Chokecherry (Warehouse on Watts, Philadelphia, PA, December 9, 2025)

Posted in Chokecherry, Philadelphia, PA, The Sewing Club, Warehouse on Watts on December 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 9, 2025] Chokecherry

I was scheduled to have total hip replacement surgery on the day after this show.  I didn’t think I’d be able to go and then two things changed my mind.  The first is that I saw that the show was fairly short–Chokecherry was playing for about an hour.  The second was that my surgery wasn’t scheduled until the afternoon.  I had assumed it would be early in the morning, but a later appointment meant I could sleep in.  As it turned out my wife had a minor emergency after I got home that kept us up until 3AM, so it was all moot, but whatever, I’m thrilled that I got to go to this show.

I had seen Chokecherry open for Destroy Boys about a year ago and I loved them.  The band seems to consist of guitarist Izzie A. Clark and bassist E. Scarlett Levinson.  Their second guitarist and drummer were different from last time.

Warehouse on Watts is really small, so while Scarlett was setting up her gear (in a long faux fur coat), I chatted with her for a moment.  I told her how much I liked them when they opened.  And she told me that she had food poisoning that night.  I never would have guessed, although in retrospect, when she said she talked a lot less than usual, it was true given how much she talked tonight.

They opened with a favorite song from their previous EP, Afterglow–slow and moody opening with crashing choruses.  Scarlett commented that the new album is pretty sad, although the first song they played from it Major Threat is a blistering rocker with a catchy chorus.

I love that Izzie and Scarlett switch off on lead vocals for nearly every song.

Things quieted down a bit for Secrets, but this allowed them to really feature their harmonies.  I was more or less in front of Scarlett, so I could really hear her delicate higher voice.  I was a little bummed that I couldn’t see Izzie that well because I remembered that she shredded impressively.  She still sounded great even if on the other side of the stage.  Particularly on the delicate guitar intro of Goldmine.

I loved how much the crowd new the songs by name when they were introduced and Scarlett’s super high vocals on Pretty Things (which the crowd knew) were stellar.  Second guitarists was excellent, either making the sound fuller while Izzie soloed or adding some extra flourishes. (more…)

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The Sewing Club (Warehouse on Watts, Philadelphia, PA, December 9, 2025) [CHOKECHERRY]

Posted in Chokecherry, Philadelphia, PA, The Sewing Club, Warehouse on Watts on December 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 9, 2025] The Sewing Club

The Sewing Club is from Nashville.  I hadn’t heard of them before this show.  When I walked in, their guitarist was at a merch table selling cute little hand sewed monsters.  He later told me he had been sewing since he was little and thought it would be fun merch given their band name. And it was!  I bought one.

The Sewing Club are a four piece of two guitars (Stephen Meaux and Justin McKinney), drummer Zach McCoy (who added great backing vocals) and singer/bassist/keyboardist Hannah McElroy.  I was in front of  McCoy and very close to their merch guitarist (I’m not sure who was who).  I could clearly see McElroy, but the other guitarist was on the far side of the stage and I never really saw him.

They opened up quietly with Sport Mode.  I enjoyed the shoegaze vibe of the song and the intensity of the guitars, but was blown away when the song started rocking out.  The loud part was simple but really catchy with the two guitars playing different parts (one lead).  Up next was Wyatt, a song that mixed the tempo up right from the start (and which had some soaring guitar lines).

I enjoyed watching the crowd around me get more and more into the set especially when Wait kicked in and ramped up the intensity.

For Bite, Hannah switched to keys.  This was a much slower and more mellow song, although the rest of the band joined in before the end.  After an unknown song (the most rocking of the set with lines something like I wish you’d die), they played a newer song that they were sure they’d screw up (they didn’t) with some fun headbanging from Hannah.

They ended their 30 minute set with Strange, a slower song that filled the room and had a killer guitar riff.  I really liked their set a lot and look forward to more music from them.

Sport Mode ∼
Wyatt¢
Pocket ∼
Wait ∼
Bite $
(Unknown)
Alright Ok %
Strange ¢


% single (2026)
∼The Sewing Club EP (2025)
¢ Care EP (2024)
$ single (2024)

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Belly: King 30th Anniversary Tour (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 27, 2025)

Posted in Belly, Los Angeles Power Disco, Philadelphia, PA, Tanya Donnelly, The Breeders, Throwing Muses, Underground Arts on October 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 27, 2025] Belly

I really liked Belly when they first came out.  Their debut album is great and the follow up King is probably just as good.  When this tour was announced I wasn’t sure if I had listened to King all that much but when I put it on again I realized I knew it quite well.  Then I looked at other setlists to see of they were playing any of the songs from Star, and the were.  So I decided to see them.

I’ve always liked Tanya Donnelly–she’s been on the periphery of massive success pretty often.  She founded Throwing Muses with Kristen Hersh (her step sister). But I feel like Tanya left just before they became more commercially successful.

Then she formed The Breeders with Kim Deal.  But she left before they released Last Splash.  And then she formed Belly.  She had a pretty big hit with Feed the Tree.  But King wasn’t as successful and Belly broke up.  Tanya went solo.

Belly reformed in 2016 with almost all four original members.  The original bassist was replaced by Gail Greenwood right after Feed the Tree and is with them as they reunited.  Belly put out an album in 2018 which I missed entirely.

They toured in 2016 playing a set of mostly Star and King, then toured in 2018 playing mostly the new album, Dove.  And now they were back for King.

The set was great and I was delighted with how much fun bassist Gail was.  She was very chatty with the audience and when she said that the next sing would make you cry, a guy next to me said I’m crying already, and she went over and gave him a hug.  Gail also sang an amazing range of backing vocals, from really deep voices to very high pitched ones.  And her bass sounded great.

The stage set up was interesting, with Tanya and Gail right up front.  Lead guitarist Thomas Gorman was on the far side.  He was in the background a bit although he did take front stage for the few guitar solos he played.  His brother, drummer Chris Gorman was behind a pole and I didn’t see him for the whole show–but the drums sounded great.

But of course the focus is Tanya.  She exuded a coolness that I really enjoyed.  But she didn’t see aloof or above it all.  She seemed to be having a really good time.  Especially when Gail said, thanks for cheering us on even when we suck.  But they did not suck.  They sounded great and Tanya’s voice was really impressive.  She hit some high notes in the encores that really blew me away.  And the harmonies between her and Gail were fantastic.

I didn’t know every song from King.  It’s weird that I didn’t really know the first two songs all that well, but I knew the next few–who doesn’t remember the first song on an album?  And when they sang the jittery Red, I couldn’t wait to shout along with the chorus.  Silverfish sounded fantastic and Super-Connected was even better than I remembered.

After the album, they took a short break and came back with a second set of mostly songs from Star (which was great!).  I got to hear all of my favorite songs from the album, so that was super cool.  They played two songs from Dove which sounded very nice, if not a little slower.  And they ended the set with the Dive track Shiny One.  They merged that song into Jimi Hendrix’ Are You Experienced (which I see is on their B sides record, so I guess it has been a part of their set for a while) which merged back into Shiny as they headed off for the encore break.

It’s obvious that they were going to do an encore (it was on the setlist after all), but it’s always nice when a band seems to really appreciate that the people there are excited for them to come back.

I didn’t know the first song, Thief, which is a bonus song on their greatest hits album.  This was one of the songs where Tanya really showed that she could hit those high notes.  It was a quiet, almost acoustic song (she didn’t play acoustic guitar) for about half of it. And then the band kicked in to rock the rest.  The final song was Full Moon Empty Heart.  I aways assume bands are going to save the big hits for the encore–but no one seems to do that anymore. And that’s fine. But I found it odd that they picked this song to end the show.  Unless it was an opportunity for Tanya to save her voice for the end, where she–damn–really hit some impressive high notes.

I also really appreciated that this was an evening with Belly and the whole show was done by around 10:15.

I’m really glad I finally got to see them.

SETLIST
King album

  1. Puberty ♠
  2. Seal My Fate ♠
  3. Red ♠
  4. Silverfish ♠
  5. Super-Connected ♠
  6. The Bees ♠
  7. King ♠
  8. Now They’ll Sleep ♠
  9. Untitled and Unsung ♠
  10. L’il Ennio ♠
  11. Judas My Heart ♠
    Set 2
  12. Low Red Moon *
  13. Gepetto *
  14. Slow Dog *
  15. Human Child ◊
  16. Spaceman ≅
  17. Dusted *
  18. Feed the Tree *
  19. Shiny One ◊   >
  20. Are You Experienced (Jimi Hendrix song)
    encore
  21. Thief ≅
  22. Full Moon Empty Heart *

≅ Bees (2021)  [also appeared as new songs on their Greatest Hits album in 2002]
◊ Dove (2018)
♠ King (1995)
* Star (1993)

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Autechre (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 26, 2025)

Posted in Autechre, Mark Broom, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, William Fields on October 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 26, 2025] Autechre

I have one Autechre album and I don’t really listen to it.  But when they announced this American tour (their first time playing here in ten years), I asked my friend Lar, who had seen them if I should go.  He told me an amusing story about how he liked the show but he took his significant other to the show and she almost broke up with him because of it.

But when I dove a little more deeply into the show it sounded like a unique experience that I’d like to try.

I arrived at the show knowing that this would be the case, but I loved seeing this in print on a flyer at the door:

autechre

will  perform in darkness.

For their set all lights in the venue will be off.

Please plan on being in one place for the performance and do not move unnecessarily until it has finished when the lights will come back on again.

Please do not shine any lights at the stage or ar0und the room during the performance unless you require assistance.

…

If you are uncomforatble with the idea of spending around 80 minutes in the dark while Autechre play, please see venue staff before the performance starts.

Autechre are an English electronic music duo consisting of Sean Booth and Rob Brown, formed in 1987.  After the two openers did their set, the lights dimmed, with only red lights on the stage.  Some ambient music played for, frankly, longer than was necessary.  It was so long, that the music stopped and they had to start it again. (more…)

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Mark Broom (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 26, 2025) [AUTECHRE]

Posted in Autechre, Mark Broom, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, William Fields on October 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 26, 2025] Mark Broom

I have one Autechre album and I don’t really listen to it.  But when they announced this American tour (their first time playing here in ten years), I asked my friend Lar, who had seen them if I should go.  He told me an amusing story about how he liked the show but he took his significant other to the show and she almost broke up with him because of it.

But when I dove a little more deeply into the show it sounded like a unique experience that I’d like to try.

The opening act for the tour was Mark Broom. We also ha William Fields.  Fields was on the left side of the stage with his laptop and when he was done (after 30 minutes), Mark Broom who was on the right side of the stage with a laptop, started immediately (I appreciated the lack of pause).

I assumed that it would be more of the same because Autechre are also glitchy and noisy, but Broom had a different vibe.  His music was a bit more musical and a bit more dancey.  In the most basic way, it was more “enjoyable.”

I have no idea what he was doing up there (the lighting was very dim).  He had a laptop I know but he had some other gear too.  I could see him twisting knobs from time to time.  So I don’t know if he was making up the sounds on the fly or if they were existing songs that he was mixing around with.  As I said, it’s not my genre, but I found myself really getting into his stuff.

Broom has been DJing (and producing others) for a long time.  He is a veteran of the techno scene and evidently specializes in hardgroove with heavy percussion and tribal beats.

I assumed that he would get a 45 minute set, but he actually played for an hour.  Since I was planning to kick back and enjoy the night, I didn’t have a problem with him playing for an hour.  I felt like he mixed the tempos up and added interesting sounds and beats to make the hour pretty enjoyable.

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William Fields (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 26, 2025) [AUTECHRE]

Posted in Autechre, Mark Broom, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, William Fields on October 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 26, 2025] William Fields

I have one Autechre album and I don’t really listen to it.  But when they announced this American tour (their first time playing here in ten years), I asked my friend Lar, who had seen them if I should go.  He told me an amusing story about how he liked the show but he took his significant other to the show and she almost broke up with him because of it.

But when I dove a little more deeply into the show it sounded like a unique experience that I’d like to try.

There was an opening act listed, but we had two opening acts.  William Fields is a Philadelphia based DJ whose bio says

William Fields is an artist and musician from the Phildelphia area whose work explores the intersection of generative processes, improvisation, and audio-visual correspondence.

What does that mean?  Beats me.  But here’s some reviews

“Some of the most mind-blowing algorithmically generated music I’d ever heard”  — Richard Devine

“William Fields is at the absolute front of algorithmic music and this tremendous 24 hour collection is some of the wildest stuff out there… TOP NOTCH” — Telefon Tel Aviv

That still doesn’t quite explain it but this kind of does (more…)

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Margaret Glaspy (Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, October 15, 2025)

Posted in Brooke Annibale, Daphne Gale, Margaret Glaspy, Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA on October 17, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 15, 2025] Margaret Glaspy

I have seen Margaret Glaspy three times.  She announced an acoustic show last year but I was unable to go.  I don’t know what she played that night, but a show around that time shows that the set was similar but not exactly the same.

Margaret’s tour manager setup the stage very nicely–a cool old fashioned microphone which was closer to her guitar than her mouth but which picked up everything perfectly–a rug, two guitars and a stool with capo and harmonica.  After a few minutes Margaret came up and took the stage.

Getting this out of the way: there was a guy there who immediately showed YEAH MARGARET!  Totally not reading the room which was quiet and respectful.  That would have been bad enough, but he shouted it before just about every song.  Everyone else was clapping politely and sometimes loudly, but this guy–holy cow.  He also whooped occasionally during the songs.  It was really weird and I feel like maybe Margaret was annoyed by it too.  It startled everyone in the room.

She grabbed her guitar and started playing.  Somehow I missed that she released an EP in 2024 called The Sun Doesn’t Think (she was selling shirts for this release and I wasn’t sure what they were talking about).  The first song Would You Be My Man? was from that EP.  It features great lyrics:

There’s a few numbers in my book, that you don’t know about
But you don’t need to know about them
And a few photos that I took, that you don’t know about
But I’ll let you know if you need to know about it
Yeah I had a life, that you don’t know about
And you don’t need to know about it
But would you be my, would you be my
Would you be my man?

I believe that Margaret is happily married, but boy she has amazing kiss off songs. Up next was her first cover of the night.  Earlier this year she released a covers EP and all three songs that she played come from it.  The first one was The Book of Love.  I’m so used to Stephen Merrit’s deep voice that it was weird hearing Margaret’s delicate voice singing it. (more…)

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Daphne Gale (Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, October 15, 2025) [MARGARET GLASPY]

Posted in Brooke Annibale, Daphne Gale, Margaret Glaspy, Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA on October 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 15, 2025] Daphne Gale

Daphne Gale is a singer, songwriter, composer from Brooklyn (she joked about almost being from Philly because her mom almost got a job “across the street” (not sure where that meant).  Her web page says she also lives in Berlin.

I had assumed that she was a new performer.  However, her stage confidence and ability to not feel rushed really showed what a professional she is.  And indeed, she’s been making music for a few years.

She had a guitar player with her (whom she named several times and whose name I have forgotten).  For  the first few songs she played electric guitar (a guitar that her friend found i the trash and fixed up for her) and then she switched to acoustic for the last few.

She told a little story about each song, with fun personal details.  The song Benjamin is about a doorman.  One of the songs (Melodrama, I think) referenced a bakery that was near her ex’s flat.  She used to pass by it every day marveling at the people who were there to buy $8 croissants. (more…)

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Brooke Annibale (Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, October 15, 2025) [MARGARET GLASPY]

Posted in Brooke Annibale, Daphne Gale, Margaret Glaspy, Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA on October 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 15, 2025] Brooke Annibale

I was happy to see Margaret Glaspy again. And I was especially happy that she was playing in Milkboy–a venue that I really like but which has terrible parking.Last time I Was here I got a parking ticket for the end of my car jutting into a motorcycle area.  I drove around a bit tonight and wound up parking in the exact same spot!  But this time I pulled forward enough that only my bumper was in the motorcycle zone… no ticket, phew.

But between driving around and then slowly getting to the venue, I missed about half of Brooke Annibale’s set.  I also had to stand pretty far in the back–I like to get close because of the strange layout of the room–narrow and very deep.  But I was able to focus on Brooke’s gorgeous voice.

I really enjoyed the lyrics of her new song Bolder Font.

I had no idea that that Brooke Annibale had been releasing music since 2005 (!).  She talked about touring for awhile and how much she liked Margaret Glaspy.  Originally, Brooke wasn’t supposed to play at this show, but she was added last minute (which I guess is why she was on first since Daphne Gale is a much newer musician).

Her albums have more orchestration, but her it was simply her and her guitar–lovely folksinger vibes.  I wish I had seen her whole set.

It also turns out that Brooke was part of Guster’s On the Ocean festival this year.

Setlist

Hold On
Things We Don’t Believe Anymore
Patience
My Favorite Part
Bolder Font
Home Again

 

 

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My Morning Jacket (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 11, 2025, Night 2 of 2)

Posted in Balthvs, My Morning Jacket, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on October 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 11, 2025] My Morning Jacket

After such a great night last night, we wound up leaving a little bit later (figuring there was no Friday night traffic) and arrived a few minutes later than last night.  But when I walked up to the merch line there was literally one person in front of me–moments later when I looked again, the line was huge, going up the stairs.  Then we headed down to the pit.  It was a little more crowded than last night.  We were going to try to get in front of Jim, but that’s what everyone else wanted, too.  So we camped out more or less where we were the night before, in front of Carl.  We were two people back from where we were, which isn’t bad at all.

So yes, last night as pretty tiring and we’d had a busy day, but we were psyched for a second night of My Morning Jacket.  And I was super psyched when they opened with Highly Suspicious, a totally ripping song from Evil Urges and one that I’d forgotten about–it was also the first time I’d seen it live.  This was also when I learned that Carl Broemel can do so many great backing voices (including the deep, angry chanting of “highly suspicious”).  They followed it with Off the Record, one of the poppier songs off of Z.

Then Carl Broemel moved over to the pedal steel guitar and they played the short but fun Climbing the Ladder.   It was interesting that last night Carl played the saxophone on a few songs but didn’t play it at all tonight. And last night he didn’t play the pedal steel at all but he played it about three times tonight.

And it was pretty clear that if last night’s show was all about jamming, tonight show was shorter, more rocking songs.  And the guys in the front who were headbanging last night had much more cause to do so tonight.

Speaking of the pit.  Tonight’s crowd was fascinating.  There was a guy who kept walking around the pit area hugging and fist bumping people.  He switched places with people and let other be on the barrier.  In fact, one of the long-haired headbangers let some of the shorter folks switch places with him for a song or two.  It was an incredibly generous and, dare I say it, loving thing to do.  Appropriate for the next song Love Love Love, the only song they played from their previous self-titled album.  The lighting at the shows was fairly simply but effective.  They had five panels mounted behind them.  All of the panels had lights that moved and spun and changed colors. But during Love Love Love, they spelled out Love! which was pretty nice.

Up next was Wordless Chorus, one of the great MMJ songs.  The crowd went nuts and we all sang the wordless chorus over and over as Jim walked around the stage, coming over by us at last. (more…)

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