Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Philadelphia, PA’ Category

METZ / Preoccupations (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, December 11, 2021) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Canadian Music, Goon, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Preoccupations on December 11, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 11, 2021] METZ / Preoccupations

I saw METZ open for Modest Mouse four years ago and my ears might still be ringing.  I knew of Metz from their noise filled chaotic but amazing albums.

Their live show was less about the abrasiveness and more about their intense stage presence.  I knew I wanted to see them headline a show.

And then they announced it.  A headlining show at my favorite small venue (actually, this place might have been too small for them).  I was so psyched, until I saw that it fell on the same day as our holiday party.

Realistically there was no way I could go.  What a bummer.

Turns out later on, the band Stars announced their show for the same night and since I’ve never seen Stars, I would have picked them instead.  But what a drag when schedules can’t line up.

I’ve actually seen Preoccupations twice already, once in the Foundry opening for Protomartyr.  They used to be called Viet Cong, but wisely changed that name.  They put on a great live show.  This would have been a killer double bill.

Read Full Post »

Stars: The Together Tour / Kevin Devine (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, December 11, 2021) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Kevin Devine, Philadelphia, PA, Stars, World Cafe Live on December 11, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 11, 2021] Stars / Kevin Devine

Back The Montreal band Stars, whom I loved in the early 2000s and would love to see live, announced plans to play some Christmas shows in New York.  I knew I couldn’t go–logistically there was no way.

Then I saw that they also announced a show at World Cafe Live.  Yes!

But it was the same day as our holiday party.  There was no way I could get to this one either.  I held out hope that our party might end early, but again, the logistics were not in my favor.

Kevin Devine, whom I love and whom I have seen live a few times was opening.  I would love to see him again as well.  It really was a perfect bill.  But sometimes timing doesn’t work out.

So Stars, please come back to Philly or NJ.  I will cancel everything else for you.

 

 

Read Full Post »

Ween (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, December 10 & 11, 2021) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, Ween on December 10, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 10 & 11, 2021] Ween

When I was in college, Ween was a new novelty band singing silly songs about Daisies.  I enjoyed them and explored their back catalog a bit.  Then I forgot about them.

In the intervening years they apparently turned into a jam band favorite, with devoted fans and three hour concerts.

In 2015 I saw Gene Ween open for Modest Mouse (I think Ween was on hiatus at the time).  I was surprised by Gene’s set because it was goofy but well done.

I put Ween on my “bands to see” list, but I put them in the least urgent category.

I thought about seeing them at the Met Philly, but it seemed too fancy or something.  And the more I thought about it, the more I decided I just couldn’t bring myself to go to a Ween show.  I have (unfairly, perhaps) made their audience into a bunch of people I don’t want to be near for two hours.

So I won’t take them off my list of bands to see, but I feel like circumstances will need to be perfect for me to go.

Read Full Post »

Strand of Oaks [Winter Classic VI] / Pat Finnerty (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, December 9 & 10, 2021) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Boot & Saddle, Full show video, Johnny Brenda's, Pat Finnerty, Philadelphia, PA, Strand of Oaks on December 9, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 9 & 10, 2021] Strand of Oaks / Pat Finnerty

In 2015, Timothy Showalter played his first Strand of Oaks Winter Classic at Boot and Saddle.

Every year since then he has played two to four shows around Christmas time to a small but rabid fan base.  Obviously he didn’t pay one in 2020.  And now Boot & Saddle is closed

I have been to three of these fun winter events.

When he announced December shows at Johnny Brenda’s, it just didn’t occur to me that these would be Winter Classic shows.  I’m not sure why it would have made a difference, but had I realized, I would have gotten a ticket before they sold out.  Even S said, you love those, I can’t believe you didn’t go.

When I’m looking for it now I see that it was clearly stated that this was a Winter Classic, but I guess I was looking in the wrong places. (more…)

Read Full Post »

100 gecs / Tony Velour (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, November 7 & 8, 2021) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in 100 gecs, Philadelphia, PA, Tony Velour, Union Transfer on December 7, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 7 & 8, 2021] 100 gecs / Tony Velour

My son played us “Stupid Horse” a while ago and I thought it was crazy–funny, catchy, irritating–a perfectly weird pop song.  When they announced a tour, I asked him if he wanted to go and he laughed and said no.

I looked up a concert review to see what their show was like and people said they played their entire catalog, which was like 30 minutes.  And that was it.

Crazy.

I wasn’t going to go either, but the idea of the show makes me smile.  (Turns out they played for 50 minutes at this show).

Tony Velour is a rapper I’ve never heard of.  Apparently he has partnered with the gecs for something or other.

 

Read Full Post »

Cave In / Cleric (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, December 3, 2021) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Cave In, Cleric, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on December 3, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 3, 2021] Cave In / Cleric

Back in 1998 I really like the Cave In album Until Your Heart Stops.  Then I pretty much forgot about them.

They came back on my radar when one of the band members died in a car accident a few years ago.  He sang lead (but was not the only lead vocalist) and I assumed that was the end of the band.

But they did not break up.  Indeed, they have a new album coming out next year.

I wasn’t planning on going to this show without looking into what they’ve done this century, and I never got around to that, so I didn’t go.

I didn’t know who Cleric was.  Their Wikipedia write up is interesting, but this could go in a direction I don’t like

Cleric is an American avant-garde metal band based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The band is known for their experimental approach to grindcore, doom and avant-garde metal

Read Full Post »

Surfbort / Smirk / Dog Date / Pure Adult (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, December 2, 2021) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Full show video, Philadelphia, PA, Pure Adult, Smirk, Surfbort, Underground Arts on December 2, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 2, 2021] Surfbort / Smirk / Dog Date / Pure Adult

Here’s another great show from Underground Arts that I didn’t get to.

I had not heard of Surfbort until a few days ago.  They sound like an insanely fun band.  I mean, look at the picture of them.

They also seem to be all kinds of boundaries pushing.

Here’s what their blurb says about them

Channeling inspiration from the 80’s punk scene to produce rousing, explosive music, their feedback strafed, guitar-shredding music says no to a digital age full of intolerance; they radiate love and friendship. All are welcome in the SURFBORT FREAK FAMILY!

That’s right up my alley.  It’s a shame I found out about this show too late.

Smirk and Pure Adult were unknown to me.

Smirk is the solo project from Nick Vicario (who I don’t know).  The music is wiry, well-crafted punk with heaps of hooks.

Pure Adult has this as a write up

Pure Adult is pure experimental punk shit.

You will listen to this noisy goodness and you will love it.

(although, if you’re only looking for catchy bops, you might hate it)

That sounds pretty great to me.  And according to the videos below the longest set was 40 minutes.

Markit Aneight was there and recorded all four shows:

Pure Adult

Dog Date

Smirk

Surfbort

Read Full Post »

Jinjer (Theatre of Living Arts [TLA], Philadelphia, PA, November 24, 2021)

Posted in JInjer, Philadelphia, PA, Theatre of Living Arts, Ukraine on November 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 24, 2021] Jinjer

I first heard JInjer when I saw a video for their song “Pisces.”  The song starts out slow and melodic with Tatiana Shmaylyuk singing in a quiet, lovely voice.  At the one minute mark, the songs shifts to a heavy off-kilter riff and Shmaylyuk unleashes a guttural growl that you absolutely assume is from someone off screen–but it’s not.  [Check out hilarious vocal coach reaction videos].

So I wanted to see Jinjer to experience Shmayluk’s voice in person.  But I was absolutely blown away by the rest of the band.

Jinjer is from Ukraine and I don’t know how often they come to the U.S., but there were some really die hard fans there.  The band’s lineup has changed quite a lot over the years, but since 2016, the lineup has reamined Roman Ibramkhalilov on guitar, Eugene Abdukhanov on bass and Vladislav Ulasevich on drums.

Their sound is quite heavy, but with lots of moments of quieter, pretty melodies.  Indeed, they play really complicated rhythms and time changes, with terrific riffs and bass lines.  The drummer also adds a lot of percussive sounds to the songs making them a band where it’s hard to know who to watch. (more…)

Read Full Post »

The Menzingers / Dirty Nil / Kayleigh Goldsworthy (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, November 27 & 28, 2021) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Canadian Music, Kayleigh Goldsworthy, Philadelphia, PA, The Dirty Nil, The Menzingers, Underground Arts on November 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: November 27 & 28, 2021] The Menzingers / Dirty Nil / Kayleigh Goldsworthy

I saw The Menzingers during Philly Music Fest.  I really enjoyed the set but I was in a terribly location and the sound was dreadful.  I told myself I wanted to see them again.  And there it was, just a month later at Underground Arts!

I couldn’t go on Saturday night because I had tickets to see The Districts, but then they added a 2nd show on Sunday.

But I had just gone to a show on Saturday and the previous week was just chock full of shows.  I couldn’t bring myself to go out again.  Especially since I had just seen them.

I do hope they come back again soon.  And it would be amazing of they could play a small club like that again. (more…)

Read Full Post »

All Hail the Yeti (Theatre of Living Arts [TLA], Philadelphia, PA, November 24, 2021) [JINJER]

Posted in All Hail the Yeti, JInjer, Philadelphia, PA, Theatre of Living Arts on November 26, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 24, 2021] All Hail the Yeti / Suicide Silence

I arrived a little early for this show (for a change–TLA usually has me running late looking for parking).  And it took forever the first band to go on.  I was sure something was going on.

Then it was announced that Suicide Silence tested positive for COVID and would not be on stage that night.  I actually assumed that I’d be going home early, but no, I guess the headliner is scheduled to go on at 9:30 or whatever and that’s what they’re going to do.  Which makes sense.

So All Hail the Yeti came out with their cool stage gear and I assume played a longer set than they might normally.  Yes, it looks like they played three more songs at our show.

There are four members in the band: Connor Garritty – lead vocals;  Nicholas Diltz – bass, backing vocals; Ryan “Junior” Kittlitz – drums and  Dave Vanderlinde – guitars.  And behind each member (more or less) was a giant banner with a rune on it.  Each rune looked more or less like the initials of the band.  Which was pretty neat.

Each band member had some kind of Viking paint on.  I was in front of guitarist Vanderlinde and the top of his forehead was painted white with a rune painted on top.  Lead singer Garrity had his long hair in a pony tail and had on a kind of modified corpse paint to make his eyes really stand out.  He sand in a kind of guttural style but was clearly audible.  Bassist Diltz had long bleached blond hair an a full beard and sang in a really lovely high voice–an excellent contrast and I actually preferred his vocals.

All of this is leading up to the surprising realization that they are from California and not Scandinavia.

They had some good diversity in their sounds, with some heavy grooves and then some simply heavy sounds.  But they also had some fantastic harmonizing like on “After the Great Fire.”

The one song that annoyed me though was “Witch is Dead.”  It started out kind of fun with them singing the “ding dong the witch is dead” children’s song but in their heavy style.  I thought it was pretty fun, until he had to rhyme it with “the fucking bitch is dead,” and I felt there was a little too much misogyny going on in that line–he seemed to relish it too much.

But if I overlook that I otherwise really enjoyed their set.  Their sound was great and their look, while elaborate wasn’t too far over the top to be comical.

  1. Suicide Woods ¥
  2. Headless Valley ⊗
  3. Slow Season ≠
  4. The Art of Mourning ¥
  5. Bury Your Memory ⊗
  6. Witch Is Dead §
  7. Before the Flames §
  8. Funeral Heart ⊗
  9. After the Great Fire ¥
  10. Mr. Murder §
¥ All Hail the Yeti (2012)
§ Screams from the Black Wilderness (2016)
≠ Highway Crosses (2018)
⊗ Within the Hollow Earth EP (2021)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »