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Archive for the ‘Philadelphia, PA’ Category

Magic Sword (Theatre of Living Arts (TLA), Philadelphia, PA, September 5, 2021) [AVATAR]

Posted in Avatar, Magic Sword, Philadelphia, PA, Tallah, Theatre of Living Arts on September 6, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 5, 2021] Magic Sword

When Avatar announced they were playing TLA I knew I wanted to see them again.  When they opened for Babymetal, I was blown away by what a show they put on–especially for an opening act.  I imagined that when they headlined, it would be even more amazing.

I was pretty psyched that the opening band was going to be Magic Sword.  I had recently been getting into their brand of instrumental 80’s sci-fi/metal soundtrack kind of music (I don’t really know what else you’d call it) and I was pretty excited to see it live.

There are three members: The Keeper (red, keyboard, audio-visual), The Seer (blue, guitar), and The Weaver (yellow, drums).  Oh yes, they are all masked (and not COVID masked, but like a fencing mask with a glowing light (in the above color) for the eyes).  All of their songs are pretty heavy with a main riff (and bass) coming from the keys (and sometimes guitar) and really heavy drums.  And then The Seer plays some extended impressive and super catchy guitar solos.

Every song feels like the exultant triumph of a cheesy 80s sci fi movie.  Which is not to say that their music is cheesy (it really rocks) but that it would be placed in a cheesy movie–and would sound great. (more…)

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The Residents (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, September 3, 2021) [postponed again, again]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, The Foundry, The Residents on September 3, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: September 3, 2021] The Residents [rescheduled from May 1, 2020 and May 14, 2021; moved to March 31, 2023]

index

I didn’t hear about this cancellation, but it appears that The Residents basically decided to stay in nd around California rather than making any big touring plans.  And it looks like they are laying low for 2022 as well, with concerts in San Francisco and Glendale only.

So, the official confirmed date for Philly is now March, 31, 2023, which seems like a lifetime away.  Glad to know that they’re still planning to come around.

~~~~~~~~~

It seemed like a May date would be safe, but now things are getting pushed back to the middle of the summer and the Fall.  This new date might happen.

The Residents are one of the most famous obscure bands in the world.  Many people have never heard of them.  Many people who have heard of them know that they wear giant eyeballs on their heads, but don’t know much about their music.  And some of us who own a couple of Residents records have no idea what their full output is like.

They’ve been around since the mid 1970s and have released some sixty albums covering all styles and genres, with the focus on avant garde sounds.  They are also hugely influential to all kinds of musicians.

When they play live, each band member wears a costume (usually the giant eyeball, but not always) and aside from the main composer for the band who died two years ago, no one really knows who is in the band.

I’ve heard their live shows were amazing spectacles, so I thought it might be fun to see them.I didn’t even realize they were still touring, so I was quiet surprised to see them coming to Philly in 2020.  I’ve heard their live shows were amazing spectacles, so I thought it might be fun to see them.  Because they’ve been around forever, I kind of assume they can play a larger venue, but again, no one has heard of them, so it makes sense that they were playing The Foundry.  But how big of a spectacle can you have at t The Foundry?

I suspected that cancelling their show might be the end of the tour for them (If the recently deceased member of the band was nearly 80, how old are the rest of them?  Who knows, they could all be in their 20s).  I’m glad to see the show is postponed, as I might just have to see what they are all about live.

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Deftones / Gojira (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, August 27, 2021) [rescheduled]

Posted in Coronavirus, Deftones, Gojira, Philadelphia, PA, Poppy, Postponed, Quarantine, The Met Philadelphia on August 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: August 27, 2021] Deftones / Gojira  [rescheduled from August 22, 2020 moved to May 18, 2022]

indexI was pretty excited to see this show this summer. It turned out, however, that the show was the night that we returned home from vacation.  Ie, it would have been a pretty exhausting day.  So, the fact that Deftones decided to postponed until May was fine with me.

I’m bummed that Poppy is no longer part of the tour because I’d really like to see her.  But she is now headlining her own tour–which I don’t really want to see.  I’m not sure a full show of hers would be that much fun.  But hey, maybe she’ll be back on board

~~~

 

I saw Deftones at a lousy location (Sands Bethlehem hall), but it was one of my favorite shows that year.  The crowd was pushy and shovey, but Chino came within five feet of me and the energy was amazing.

Plus at the end of the show, when a roadie threw out a drumstick, I actually got it.

I knew I’d want to see them at least one more time, but wow was I surprised to see that they were going to play The Met in Philly, which I think of as a more “delicate” hall.  I’d be slightly afraid for the seats at a Deftones show.

The opening acts were really intriguing as well.

Gojira area French heavy metal band whose 2012 album I loved.  Heavy and very technical I’d imagine they put on a great show.

Poppy is an absolute mystery.  She’s an internet creation whose every song is is a different genre.  Her latest album was really really heavy but with that fake internet sheen on it (in a Babymetal kind of way but less sincere, if that’s possible).  I’ve been intrigued by here since I first heard about her, but I wouldn’t want to see her show if she was headlining.  This seemed like a great way to experience her weirdness.  I hope that she is still on the bill next year and that she is still into metal, otherwise it could be kind of awkward.

I really thought that this show at the end of August might go on but on May 19, they sent this note.

Due to the current regulations, and uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, we must reschedule our North American summer tour dates with special guests, Gojira and Poppy. We’re currently rescheduling the dates for 2021, and you’ll be the first to know once they are confirmed. All tickets will be honored or refunded upon our next announcement regarding the tour.

I’m glad they are promising to come back  And by then, their new album (due in September) will be familiar to all of us.

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Wilco (The Mann Center for Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, August 22, 2021) [rescheduled from August 23, 2020]

Posted in Glenn Kotche, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Nels Cline, NNAMDÏ, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Sleater-Kinney, Wilco on August 26, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 22, 2021] Wilco / Sleater-Kinney / NNAMDÏ [rescheduled from August 23, 2020]

I saw Wilco five years ago and it was one of the best shows I’d ever been to.  The band was amazing.  The live versions of their songs were tremendous and they played thirty two songs (two encores).

They were top on my list of bands I wanted to see again.  But they didn’t come close to us until this double headline tour last year which became this year.

The bad thing about the double headline is that neither headlining band plays a full set,  I assume this is nice for the bands, but who knows.   What this mean logistically is that the band played twelve fewer songs at this show.

But those twenty songs were fantastic.

They started with the most appropriate song for a post-pandemic tour “A Shot in the Arm.” And yes, that was all we needed.  (more…)

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Sleater-Kinney (The Mann Center for Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, August 22, 2021) [rescheduled from August 23, 2020]

Posted in Fabi Reyna, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, NNAMDÏ, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Sleater-Kinney, Wilco on August 25, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 22, 2021] Wilco / Sleater-Kinney / NNAMDÏ [rescheduled from August 23, 2020]

I saw Sleater-Kinney two years ago.  This was the tour where Janet Weiss had just left the band and I think there were some weird feelings floating around.  The show was odd since they weren’t a trio, but I came away thinking that they sounded amazing.

Last tour the had three additional players: Angie Boylan (drums), Katie Harkin (guitars/keyboards) and Toko Yasuda (keyboards).  This time, their backing band was entirely different.  Almost up front with Carrie and Corin was third guitarist Fabi Reyna (who started She Shreds magazine and was a major force on stage).  Then in the back row was Galen Clark on keys, Bill Athens on bass and Vincent Lirocchi on drums.

I saw S-K 21 years ago when they were a punky trio and while I would have loved to see one more set with Janet on drums, this new set up is really great live.  It allows them to explore in very different ways.  Having Fabi play a series of piercing high notes throughout most of the songs added a nice edge to all of the songs.  She also seemed to allow Carrie a little freedom to move around a bit more (something Carrie seems to be really enjoying).  Plus, now that they have a bassist (!) and a keyboardist, they can make all kinds of sounds.

I was surprised that they announced a tour with Wilco because they sound so different.  Although I know that Carrie and Jeff worked together on Portlandia, and that they are buds.  I feel like many of the Wilco fans had no idea who Sleater-Kinney were.  But there were plenty of S-K fans there to rock. (more…)

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NNAMDÏ (The Mann Center for Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, August 22, 2021) [rescheduled from August 23, 2020] [WILCO/SLEATER-KINNEY]

Posted in Coronavirus, Deftones, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, NNAMDÏ, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Sleater-Kinney, Thundercat, Wilco on August 24, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 22, 2021] Wilco / Sleater-Kinney / NNAMDÏ [rescheduled from August 23, 2020]

NNAMDÏ is Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, an American multi-instrumentalist born in California to Nigerian immigrants now based in Chicago.

I had not heard of him, but I was really intrigued to see what his set would be like.  I can honestly say it was nothing like I expected.

Earlier in the tour NNAMDÏ fell off a scooter or skateboard and broke his wrist.  He missed a few dates and then was back on the tour.  NNAMDÏ plays guitar but he had to get a replacement for the tour.  He told us the replacement learned all of his parts in like a day.  And the parts were all over the place.  Because NNAMDÏ’s music is about as unclassifiable as Thundercat’s.

I felt like he was digging into prog-rock territory and yet I guess it would be more accurately labelled as jazz with rapid time changes, incredibly fast parts and wicked jamming.   And yet the roots of most of his songs were a kind of pop/R&B vibe. (more…)

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Green Day: Hella Mega Tour (Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA, August 20, 2021) [rescheduled from August 29, 2020]

Posted in AC/DC, Citizens Bank Park, David Bowie, Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Grethe Ingmann, Hella Mega Tour, Kiss, Operation Ivy, Philadelphia, PA, The Interrupters, Weezer on August 23, 2021|

[ATTENDED: August 20, 2021] Green Day: Hella Mega Tour: Green Day / Fall Out Boy / Weezer / The Interrupters [rescheduled from August 29, 2020]

I loved Green Day’s Dookie when it came out.  I also really liked American Idiot (and a bunch of stuff in between).  But it was pretty wild when my teenage son became a big fan of Green Day (especially American Idiot).  I’ve never seen Green Day live before–which I’m guessing I now regret since they were fantastic live.

The most interesting thing to S. and myself was that they opened their part of the set by playing Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” over the speakers at full concert volume.  Not Green Day playing it, but the actual original version.  And the crowd went utterly bananas.  Singing along at full volume.  The lights even went bright and dim accordingly.  It was a pretty amazing moment to hear an entire arena singing along to a song.  And it really got everyone pumped.  It was a pretty genius idea and I’m surprised more bands don’t do it.

They followed this with Ramones’ “Blitzkreig Bop” which went over although not quite as well, but it segued into a kind of mashup of “Also Sprach Zarathustra”, “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”, “Blitzkrieg Bop”, and “We Will Rock You” played behind a series of clips from Green Days shows old and new.  It was clear they were preparing for A SHOW.

They came out on stage to lights and video and started out with two songs from American Idiot.  And the crowd was berserk.  “American Idiot” and “Holiday” was like a one-two punch of wonderfulness for my son.  And there were fireworks and explosions and big lights and it was a great start.

I never knew that Billie Joe Armstrong was such a great and engaging front man.  I was especially delighted that he acknowledged that many of the fans there were from New Jersey.  I mean, sure we were in Philadelphia, but there were lots of NJ folks there and he really won us over by dividing the crowd into the Philly and NJ sides to see who could be louder.  This was especially cool for my kids, I think. (more…)

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Fall Out Boy: Hella Mega Tour (Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA, August 20, 2021) [rescheduled from August 29, 2020]

Posted in Citizens Bank Park, Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Hella Mega Tour, Philadelphia, PA, The Interrupters, The Munsters, Weezer on August 22, 2021|

[ATTENDED: August 20, 2021] Fall Out Boy: Hella Mega Tour: Green Day / Fall Out Boy / Weezer / The Interrupters [rescheduled from August 29, 2020]

Both of my kids are pretty big Fall Out Boy fans (naturally, my son likes the older songs and my daughter likes the newer songs).  I really only know them from my kids playing them.  This means, however, that I know most of their popular songs.  So while I wasn’t looking forward to this set as much as the other two, I was looking forward to a couple of songs (I suspected that the “Light ’em Up” song would have excellent pyrotechnics, and I was right).

So after Weezer, we ran off to Chickie and Pete’s to get some fries and made it back to our seats in plenty of time (we somehow just beat the crowd).  A dark cloud floated over the stadium as we were enjoying out fries.  So I looked at the weather app which assured us that there was no chance of precipitation, and moments later the skies opened up and dropped bucket loads of water on us.  We were soaked!

The main concern was that the posters would get wet (they got a little wet but nothing too bad).  As we tried to stay dry, Fall Out Boy came out and we quickly forgot about the rain.

They had a very cool set–it looked like a hole dug into the earth or something (it was a little hard to focs with all the rain) and a video screen in the hole which showed a series of videos that seemed to be telling a story.  In fact, when the set started a narrator told us something (I couldn’t follow it at all) that I assumed had to do with the narrative. (more…)

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Weezer: Hella Mega Tour (Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA, August 20, 2021) [rescheduled from August 29, 2020]

Posted in Billie Eilish, Citizens Bank Park, Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Hella Mega Tour, Philadelphia, PA, The Interrupters, Weezer on August 21, 2021|

[ATTENDED: August 20, 2021] Weezer: Hella Mega Tour: Green Day / Fall Out Boy / Weezer / The Interrupters [rescheduled from August 29, 2020]

After The Interrupters, we decided to get some snacks.  Who would have guessed that snacks could take so long?  Well, any reasonable person could have.  But we waited for French fries (not realizing that Chickie and Pete’s was just down the way with tons of fries for the taking).  We gave up when it was a few minutes before Weezer was supposed to go on and then, as we were heading down the stairs, the unmistakable sound of Van Halen’s “Jump” playing over the speakers.

This was the key for the Weezer to come out on stage with six bass drums (spelling out Weezer), giant teal lightning bolts, a light up W logo and a video screen.

When I saw Weezer headline two years ago, the set was amazing–set changes, fire, lasers!  This one was a little less amazing, but, heck if you’re the first of three bands and you only have an hour, you don’t have time for fooling around.

The band released Van Weezer a few months before the show and it was clearly designed to let Weezer Rock out a bit more–or at least to give Rivers Cuomo an opportunity to sport a mullet and mustache.  He was also wearing a big black leather jacket and playing a flying V guitar.

And so the early part of the show was pretty heavy with the new.  “Hero” and “All the Good Ones” sandwiched one of my favorite songs from the early 2000s, “Hash Pipe.”  “Beverly Hills” also rocks and Brian Bell plays a fun talkbox solo, which everyone likes.

Then Rivers introduced “The End of the Game” by talking about the wicked riff that starts it (classic heavy metal hammering riff).  From there, the band dove deep and the fans went crazy.  The jacket came off around here and he was wearing a white ringer T (the video screens showed off his painted nails).

“My Name is Jonas” was one of five songs from their debut.  It was followed by a rocking “Pork and Beans” with a nice promo for Weezer’s own brand of pork and beans on the video screen.

For a set that was heavy on the first and last albums, they did manage to throw in one song from a bunch of other ones too.  The noisy “Feels Like Summer” from Pacific Daydream was followed by the new hit single “All My Favorite Songs” (off of OK Human).  I wondered if the band felt weird about playing the song that was essentially a Rivers solo song.  But it was fun and we all sang along.

Then it was back to the debut again for “Undone” and the rather surprising “Surf Wax America” (of all the debut album songs, I wouldn’t have expected this one).  And, this is the first time I’ve seen them play it in three shows.

I was pretty delighted when they started “El Scorcho” (because I’m a Pinkerton junkie) but had totally forgotten about the line “I asked her to go to the Green Day concert.”  How cool is that?  Obviously the crowd went nuts for that.

The Green album seems to be quite a popular release too, so “Island in the Sun” went over like gangbusters.  Then came the moment everyone was waiting for.  The hit single that was 100% ironic and is now 100% unironic as everyone sang along full bore to Toto’s “Africa.”  Rivers even got to hit the giant floor tom (which I thought was decorative) for a mini drum solo with Patrick Wilson (whose drumming skills are really top notch).

Interestingly, it started raining about 30 minutes after they were singing about the rains down in Africa–almost perfectly timed.

After one more dip into a different album (the black album) for “California Snow,” they ended with two more from the debut.  The crowd went nuts for “Say It Ain’t So” and even more nuts for “Buddy Holly.”

Rivers seemed to have a lot of fun with us–even if he didn’t smile very much (how can you tell behind that mustache?).  I assumed that this would be a kind of nostalgic set of all classic tracks, but they played six songs that I hadn’t seen them play before.  There were plenty of big hits mixed in as well, and it pushed everyone’s happy buttons.

Although both of my kids said it was their least favorite set.

Hella Mega, August 20, 2020
Jump [Van Halen taped intro]
Hero √
Hash Pipe Gϖ
All the Good Ones √
Beverly Hills ⊗
The End of the Game √
My Name Is Jonas Bϖ
Pork and Beans Rϖ
Feels Like Summer Φ
All My Favorite Songs ⊕
Undone – The Sweater Song Bϖ
Surf Wax America Bϖ
El Scorcho ρ
Island in the Sun Gϖ
Africa (Toto cover) Tϖ
California Snow Blϖ
Say It Ain’t So Bϖ
Buddy Holly Bϖ

 

PNC Bank Center, July 20, 2018 Sands Bethlehem, December 3, 2016
Buddy Holly Bϖ California Kids [white]
Beverly Hills  ⊗ Hash Pipe Gϖ
Pork and Beans Rϖ My Name is Jonas Bϖ
Undone – The Sweater Song Bϖ (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To [rad]
(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To [rad] Pork and Beans Rϖ
Perfect Situation ⊗ Wind In Our Sail (Live Debut) [white]
My Name is Jonas Bϖ Jacked Up [white]
El Scorcho ρ Perfect Situation ⊗
In the Garage Bϖ Thank God for Girls [white]
Why Bother? ρ Beverly Hills ⊗
Happy Together with a snippet of Green Day’s Longview Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori (Live debut) [white]
Keep Fishin’ (Brian Bell sings lead) ≅ Undone – The Sweater Song Bϖ
Island in the Sun (Rivers solo) Gϖ Island in the Sun (with Rivers’ acoustic solo version of Kiss’ “Beth”) Gϖ
Take on Me (Rivers solo) Tϖ King of the World [white] / Only in Dreams Bϖ [white]
Burndt Jamb ≅ Say It Ain’t So Bϖ
Hash Pipe Gϖ encore
Feels Like Summer [pd] Φ El Scorcho (Rivers solo on piano for first verse) ρ
Africa Tϖ Buddy Holly Bϖ
encore
The Good Life ρ
Say It Ain’t So Bϖ
Paranoid (Black Sabbath, partial)

Songs from:

Weezer 1994
Pinkerton 1996
Weezer 2001
Maladroit 2002
Make Believe 2005
Weezer 2008
[rad]= Raditude 2009
[white] = Weezer 2016
[pd] = Pacific Daydream 2017

Bϖ = Weezer (blue album) (1994)
ρ = Pinkerton (1995)
Gϖ = Weezer (green album) (2001)
≅ = Maladroit (2002)
⊗ = Make Believe (2005)
Rϖ = Weezer (red album) (2008)
[rad]= Raditude 2009
[white] = Weezer 2016
Φ = Pacific Daydream (2017)
Tϖ = Weezer (teal album) (2019)
Blϖ = Weezer (black album) (2019)
⊕ = OK Human (2021)
√=Van Weezer (2021)

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The Interrupters: Hella Mega Tour (Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA, August 20, 2021) [rescheduled from August 29, 2020]

Posted in Billie Eilish, Citizens Bank Park, Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Hella Mega Tour, Philadelphia, PA, The Interrupters, Weezer on August 20, 2021|

[ATTENDED: August 20, 2021] The Interrupters: Hella Mega Tour: Green Day / Fall Out Boy / Weezer / The Interrupters [rescheduled from August 29, 2020]

I bought tickets for this show in September of 2019.  I knew it would be a ton of fun for the whole family.  And I was right!

All four of us loved the show (even if we got poured on mid set).

We arrived plenty early, but didn’t realize the super long line was the merch line.  So we were a little late to get on line.  But since there were four of us, we could take turns and the hour (!) wait didn’t seem all that bad.  Especially since we snagged some Federal Donuts (yum) mid-wait.

The only downside to the wait (I mean, it kept us out of the sun), was that we missed the first two songs by The Interrupters.  Well, actually we could hear them just fine, we just couldn’t see them.

We headed down to our seats during the fourth song and really only paid attention to them when they started the song after that.  Which happened to be their cover of Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” which was a ton of fun. (more…)

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