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Archive for the ‘Philadelphia, PA’ Category

Built to Spill (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 11, 2022)

Posted in Blood Lemon, Built to Spill, Cate Le Bon, Daniel Johnston, Philadelphia, PA, Prism Bitch, Union Transfer on May 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 11, 2022] Built to Spill [rescheduled from July 30, 2020]

I feel like I have seen Built to Spill a million times, but this was my fifth show.

The first time I saw him was at Union Transfer back in 2015 and he had a five piece band.  That was a couple of iterations ago and now he was back with a new band.

On this newly announced tour, his whole band was going to be different.  In fact, I have seen at least three different lineups for the band over the years.  This tour was going to feature drummer Teresa Esguerra of Prism Bitch (who opened for Built To Spill last time) and bassist Melanie Radford from openers Blood Lemon.

The last time I promised myself I wouldn’t get too close to the stage, but I did.  The problem with being so close is the way Doug Martsch has his guitar set up.  His amp is right next to him and it is so loud.  From where I was you could barely hear anything else.  Of course I’m there to watch Doug play, so it’s not too bad.  But I promised myself I would stand back to fully appreciate his band.

I love that Esguerra was on the side of the stage facing the other two (that’s how his band was set up with the previous trio as well).  This allowed for Esguerra  and Radford to communicate with each other while Doug was jamming.  And they had outstanding chemistry. (more…)

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Sinéad O’Connor (City Winery Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 13, 2022) [rescheduled date, rescheduled again] [CANCELLED]

Posted in Cancelled, City Winery Philadelphia, Coronavirus, Philadelphia, PA, Quarantine, Sinéad O'Connor on May 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: May 13, 2022] Sinéad O’Connor [rescheduled from April 5, 2020 and September 18, 2021]

Lots has been going on in Sinéad O’Connor’s world in the last, oh, decade or so.  It’s no real surprise that this show was postponed or cancelled or whatever it is.  In addition to inner turmoil, she also suffered the death of her son.  And she announced she will not be performing live in 2022 “due to continuing grief over the tragic loss of her beloved son Shane”

On March 24, City Winery sent out this message:

Dear Ticket Holders,

Due to circumstances beyond our control, City Winery is forced to reschedule Sinead O‘Connor‘s performances in NYC, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago.

Many of you have been holding onto tickets since 2019, and we are grateful for your patience and support.  We’ve had to navigate multiple reschedulings due to the pandemic, Sinead‘s personal tragedy, and travel restrictions. We understand the disappointment and don’t want you to wait any longer for a refund.

~~~~~~~~

I have seen Sinéad O’Connor four times. although the last time was in 1998.

(more…)

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The Menzingers / Oso Oso / Sincere Engineer (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, May 13, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Franklin Music Hall, oso oso, Philadelphia, PA, Sincere Engineer, The Menzingers on May 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 13, 2022] The Menzingers / oso oso / Sincere Engineer

I have seen The Menzingers twice.  The first time I missed most of their set.  The second time I was in a terrible location and the sound was dismal.  I told myself that I really wanted to see one good set with them.

They play Philly all the time, but I think I might just be over seeing them.  I feel like I’ve been shut out of seeing them enough (and I’ve got a bad taste in my mouth from the crowd last time), that maybe I don’t need to see this mythical third show anymore

Especially if Oso Oso is the support band.

I saw them open for The Front Bottoms and said

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. …

Their music was fine–occasionally catchy but not really memorable and I found that I really didn’t like the lead singer’s voice.  It wasn’t bad or awful, it just didn’t seem to fit the music and I found myself enjoying their instrumental sections a ton more.

Someone near me said that they thought he was so stoned he couldn’t sing right.  He did seem like he was a little off, including his weird between song banter and chants.  But maybe he’s just a weird guy.

I haven’t heard of Sincere Engineer, but listening to her now I’m blown away.  I love her/their stuff.  The band is from Chicago and the blurb says

Deanna Belos has been a fixture in the Chicago punk scene since she was in Junior High, attending shows, singing along, and raising hell in general. But she was more than just a face in the crowd, Deanna was a radiant friend to all, and at some point she picked up a guitar and made a different contribution to the Chicago underground scene: her own music under the name Sincere Engineer. Over the last couple years we’ve encouraged her to keep writing songs and she surprised us all by assembling a great band and recording an impressive album. Her debut, “Rhombithian”, was produced by Matt Jordan (You Blew It!, Dowsing, etc.) and pairs the sounds of Chicago punk and the youthful Midwest “emo revival” movement. No one is more excited about music than Sincere Engineer, and Deanna plans to play a lot of shows and bring her infectious energy to the rest of the planet in support of “Rhombithian”.

She plays grungey emo pop punk stuff.  With a heavy grungey guitar.  But what sets Sincere Engineer apart is Deanna’s voice–a snarl that doesn’t detract from her natural melody.  It’s the perfect voice for these songs.  Plus she has a song called “Corn Dog Sonnet No.7”

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Wetface (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 11, 2022) [BUILT TO SPILL]

Posted in Blood Lemon, Built to Spill, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, Wetface on May 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 11, 2022] Wetface

Wetface is the one-man-band project of Montreal based songwriter Jordan Minkoff.   He writes and plays on a mid 80’s Yamaha organ, douses “bright and ambitiously crafted pop music with layers of wonky digital strings and orchestration.”  That’s according to his label.

According to me he is a tedious, goofy in a bad way singer who is very good at playing the keyboard.  There didn’t seem to be anything ambitious about his songs which were very far from pop.  He sang often in a crazy falsetto.  It’s possible he was making things up as he went along.  The sound (’80s Yamaha) was so cheesy most of the time that I had to assume he was joking, but that the joke just wasn’t all that funny because the sound was so pervasive.

I wanted to see if I was alone in really disliking this set.  I see that the reviewer from White Eagle Hall (the show I had tickets to two nights later but which I did not go to) loved him.  Thought he was hilarious both in his song craft and his banter.

Turns out that Jordan Minkoff created some of Built to Spill’s recent videos and Doug Martsch is a big fan (he also really liked Daniel Johnston, so…).  Martsch called Wetface up on stage to sing with them in Jersey City.  Maybe that would have made me like him more.  But honestly I couldn’t wait for his set to be over.

 

 

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Blood Lemon (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 11, 2022) [BUILT TO SPILL]

Posted in Blood Lemon, Built to Spill, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, Wetface on May 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 11, 2022] Blood Lemon

When Built to Spill announced a new tour, I was pretty excited.  I mean, a Built to Spill tour is always exciting.  But this one was particularly interesting because he had an entirely new touring band with him.  So I bought tickets for two shows sort of back to back in May.  I wound up not going to the White Eagle Hall show, but I did make the Union Transfer show.

It was my first introduction to Blood Lemon.

Blood Lemon are a trio from Boise (just like Built to Spill) consisting of singer/guitarist Lisa Simpson, singer/bassist Melanie Radford and percussionist Lindsey Lloyd. They were described as having an alt 90’s sound with some heavy riffage.  I arrived a little ate for the show and walked in during the first of second song.

Whatever song it was, I was blown away by how much they rocked.  Radford had (more…)

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Barrie / Rentboy (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, May 11, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Barrie, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Rentboy on May 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 29, 2023] Barrie / Rentboy

Barrie is a singer that I know exclusively from NPR Music.  I enjoyed a song or two from her, but it seems very unlikely that I would have gone to this show.   I’m a little surpirsed I included it in my list of shows to check out.

Rentboy is a Philadelphia based disco collective whose last album, Memory Forever, is a meditation on body memory and queer musical history.  They seem a little too disco for Barrie’s gentler sound.

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Jenny Hval / Discovery Zone (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, May 11, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Discovery Zone, Jenny Hval, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA on May 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 11, 2022] Jenny Hval / Discovery Zone

Jenny Hval is a Norwegian singer who plays unconventional indie rock.

She’s the kind of singer who is hard to get into, but once you do, there are worlds of wonder to discover.  I haven’t gotten there yet, although I have enjoyed a lot of what I’ve listened to.

I feel that she is like Cate Le Bon for me.  Someone I really want to dive into and fully embrace, yet someone who fights me at every opportunity.

I didn’t really enjoy Le Bon’s live show, even though I thought I’d be blown away by it.   I have the same fear about a Jenny Hval show.  The big difference, though is that Le Bon was playing a much bigger venue and Hval is playing a tiny venue, where her subtleties will no doubt be appreciated more.  Perhaps next time, I shall have to make sure I go.

Discovery Zone is the moniker of musician and multi-media artist JJ Weihl. Raised in New York City and currently based in Berlin, Discovery Zone is the space in which Weihl creates pop music, video collage, powerpoint presentations and algorithmic art experiments. Her recordings and performances utilise a laboratory of instruments and 3D visuals to explore the universe as a source of information. Discovery Zone’s debut album was released on Mansions and Millions in 2020. In her upcoming work, Discovery Zone continues to inspect the juxtaposition between warm analog elements and cold digital sounds, conducting a conversation between the past and the future.

That sounds like a pretty cool double bill, but I was already going to see Built to Spill.

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Tori Amos (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 9, 2022)

Posted in Companion, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, Tori Amos on May 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 9, 2022] Tori Amos

I last saw Tori Amos over 20 years ago.  I was a die-hard looney fan back in the 90s. That has since passed.  I saw her a lot of times in the span of five years and then I was kind of over her.  I still enjoyed her music but the fanbase was getting too intense for me.

I wasn’t even sure if I’d be able to get tickets to this show, I though it would have sold out immediately.  But when the presale was announced, I was able to score third row.   When I was a huge fan, I was never anywhere closer than half way back.  So this was sort of a last hurrah for seeing her.  If I had gotten these tickets twenty-five years ago I would have ben beside myself.

Turns out that the intense fanbase is still there and they may have been unhappy that I was in that third row seat because there was a coordinated effort by the folks in the first three rows to control the audience.  Not in a “you must do this” way but in a “this is how it’s done” way.  It almost felt like church–which is very funny given Tori’s upbringing.

Tori’s band (bassist Jon Evans and drummer Ash Soan) came out and did a little jamming before Tori walked out in a lovely flowing kimono type thing and the highest spikiest heels that one might ever see on a pianist.  

She opened with “Juárez” from To Venus and Back.  Not my favorite song from the album (I would have loved to hear “Bliss”), but a promising start to the idea that she was going to be playing from all over her career.  Plus, the all sounded great–the band was excellent and Tori’s voice sounded in good form.  She also made a lot of eye contact and gestures to the folks in the front row–just like the old days, but I could actually see them.

After playing a song I didn’t know (I have American Doll Posse, but couldn’t tell you when I last listened to it), she jumped all the way back to play “Little Earthquakes.”  The crowd went berserk (as they should) and then we sat back and enjoyed it.  Because this was part of the coordination from the front row,  as soon as the second song was done, they turned around and motioned for everyone to sit, like they knew the next song was going to be a slow one and we should sit now so we didn’t sit during the song.  It was weird (although not unappreciated). (more…)

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A Place to Bury Strangers / Lunacy / Glove (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, May 9, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in A Place to Bury Strangers, Glove, Johnny Brenda's, Lunacy, Philadelphia, PA on May 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 9, 2022] A Place to Bury Strangers / Lunacy / Glove

A Place to Bury Strangers is one of those bands that I have heard about for years whose music I had never heard.  And like The World is a Beautiful Place and I am No Longer Afraid to Die, they have a long name that is rather evocative but which implies a heaviness that may or may not be there.

I put this show on my “check out” list mostly because I was curious as to what this band actually sounded like.

When I played their songs on Spotify I was taken aback by how much they sounded like The Church (at least on “Always Gonna Be the Same”).  That’s their latest single (okay I’m writing this long after the concert happened).

Their other songs are a lot louder and darker, which means this Wikipedia entry makes sense

Commonly known by the initials APTBS, the band plays a heavy, atmospheric Wall of Sound–influenced blend of noise rock, shoegaze and space rock. The band is known for the loudness of their intense live shows. A Place to Bury Strangers are commonly referred to by music writers as the “loudest band in New York”, a reputation the band developed even before the release of their first album.

Fascinating.

Sometimes you can tell a lot about a band by their openers.  The two openers for this show were darkwave and a kind of 80’s synth alt rock.  I think I would have enjoyed this show about twenty years ago.

Glove is a retro synth band, in the vein of Depeche Mode or New Order.  They’re from Tampa but look like they are straight out of the 80’s UK music scene.

Sounds kinda fun.

Lunacy is Pennsylvania’s industrial darkwave monk who plays Dark, dystopian vibes; deep electronic cuts that shake and rattle with power.

I suspect I know exactly what this show was like and there was very little movement in the audeince.

 

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Companion (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 9, 2022) [TORI AMOS]

Posted in Companion, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, Tori Amos on May 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 9, 2022] Companion

I last saw Tori Amos over 20 years ago.  I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see her again and then this tour was announced.  I liked the new song from the new album and since it was the met and I was able to get presale tickets, I figured I’d give it a shot.

It wasn’t clear to me who would be opening for her, if anyone.  But as the show drew closer the date was listed as Tori Amos and Companion.  Which was confusing to be sure.  I’d never heard of a band called Companion. Was this a suggestion that Tori would have a companion on stage?

Well, it soon became clear that Companion is a band.  A duo, actually.  As their site explains:

Companion is the Fort Collins, CO-based duo of identical twin sisters Sophia and Jo Babb. The pair’s music presents immaculate harmonies, delicate folk melodies, and a nuanced approach to songwriting that feels at once lighthearted and weighted with palpable empathy.

The duo came out in spectacular outfits.  Sophia in a yellow, wildly patterned 70s era pantsuit (and straight hair) and Jo in a floral shirt and jeans (and curly hair). (more…)

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