[DID NOT ATTEND: April 21, 2025] The Linda Lindas / Pinkshift
When I saw this lineup, I assumed that The Linda Lindas were opening for Pinkshift. But of course it makes a lot more sense that The Linda Lindas would be headlining since they are well known and opened for The Rolling Stones.
I got to see The Linda Lindas when they played The Foundry. It was fun, they were fun, and I had a great time. I wasn’t sure if I’d need to see them again so when they played Union Transfer (a huge jump) that was a good test for if I needed to see them again and the answer was not really.
Nothing against them and I wish them much success but I got to see it once and that was good enough for me.
I’ve seen Pinkshift three or four times now and I enjoy their energy and politics. The last time I saw them I didn’t have quite as much fun for some reason so even they didn’t make me want to go to this show.
[DID NOT ATTEND: April 18 & 19, 2025] The Dead Milkmen / The Ditches / The Rectors / EDO
I saw The Dead Milkmen last year at Underground Arts and it was great–so much fun to hear these old songs that I loved and to see they still had great charisma.
I already had tickets to see L.S. Dunes on April 18 so I couldn’t go that night. And the 19th is a special night in our house–no going out. But I’m happy to know that The Milkmen are still playing live from time to time. I hope to see them in 2026.
The Ditches played both nights. The Rectors played on the 18th and EDO played on the 19th.
The Ditches says thy play garage Americana from Bucks County, PA.
The Rectors are a psychobilly band from Philly. They play pretty fast but do have the rockabilly vibe. I could see The Dead Milkmen enjoying them.
Since their formation at St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD back in 1987 – they moved to Philly soon after graduation – the band has continuously defied norms and expectations. Somewhere between Frank Zappa’s matter-of-fact weirdness, the Butthole Surfers’ freakout rock, and the outer space groove of Parliament Funkadelic, EDO (the meaning of the name has been lost to history) occupies a singular position in Philly punk history, even if you’ve never heard of them.
And here’s what someone else wrote about EDO
Some people say EDO is the house band on Pluto. Some people say EDO is more confusing than two cats and a barbershop.
They have a song called Upper Darby (Gives Me the Creeps) which makes me laugh in title alone.
They are clearly insane–someone describes them as the Delconian Primus. I’s never heard of them until this announcement and now I sure hope to see them live someday.
Sounds like a couple of wild nights.
Here’s a recording of EDO uploaded by EDO
As for the Milkmen:
Alyssa Forester recorded the entire show on the 18th
I have seen Lucy Dacus quite a few (six) times and she always puts on a mesmerizing show. The first time I saw her was at Johnny Brenda’s (capacity 250), the most recent was at Union Transfer (capacity 1200). And now here she was starting off her first tour after boygenius in her former home town of Philadelphia by playing The Met (capacity 3800).
And, wow, did she step it up for this bigger venue. She had a gigantic backdrop designed to look like a museum wall. There were picture frames and columns and it looked amazing. And even this was presented theatrically as for the openers and for Lucy’s first song, the whole extravaganza was covered in a dropcloth. The band even walked through the dropcloth opening at the center of the backdrop. When it dramatically dropped away, the crowd went nuts.
And as she sang, one (or more) of the frames would display a picture that had something to do with the song she was playing.
Because this was the Forever is a Feeling tour, she played mostly songs from that new album (she played the whole album, but not in order). The album opens with Calliope Prelude and so did the show. It’s a short instrumental which is primarily strings and it worked very nicely as “walk on” music.
And then she launched right into Hot & Heavy, a song that opens quietly but builds really nicely to get the whole band involved. I was surprised that she hadn’t opened with a song from the new album, but she followed that up with five songs in a row from it. The band includes Sarah Goldstone (keys vocals), Dominic Angelella (bass), Alan Good Parker Guitars), Phoenix Rousiamanis (violin), and Ricardo Lagomasino (drums).
First was Ankles, the big single from the album–I’m always surprised when bands play their new single so early, but it worked to keep the energy up. This also happened to be the first Lucy album I hadn’t listened to much before the show. So I didn’t know these new songs all that well. But Lucy is engrossing as a performer. And it’s fun to hear a sing for the first time in a live setting. Like hearing the words to Modigliani–while she projected a Modigliani painting on the screen. (more…)
I Katie Gavin is the singer for Muna. I didn’t really like the Muna album that much when it came out, but I was really impressed by their live show when I saw them at All Things Go a few years ago.
I felt kind of the same about the Katie Gavin album. It was okay, but it didn’t excite me all that much.
In fact, I really wanted to see Jasmine.4.T because their song Elephant is one of my favorites this year. Sadly, I didn’t realize the show started at 7:15 (I assumed 8) and when we rolled up at 7:45, Jasmine.4.T had already ended.
When Katie came out, she was met by thunderous applause, and as soon as she started performing, I was once again blown away by her stage presence. She joked that people might not know who she is (the applause belied that).
I didn’t love Katie’s album as it leans a little too alt-country for me. But as with anyone whose albums lean alt-country but who also rock out, in a live setting, the rocking comes to the fore. And her four-piece band was outstanding, Both bassist Nana Adjoa and guitarist Eric Radloff provided backing vocals. Adjoa even took a verse or two of some songs (she has a wonderful voice). (more…)
[DID NOT ATTEND: April 16, 2025] Mercury Rev / Ryley Walker
I enjoyed Mercury Rev’s 1990s albums. But the 2000s records lost me. I was surprised that they were playing Johnny Brenda’s since Deserters Songs was a relatively big album. But they really haven’t done anything much since then.
I wouldn’t mind seeing them live but this one wasn’t very appealing to me.
I’ve seen Ryley Walker a few times. I’ve seen him play weird psychedelic instrumental jamming and I’ve seen him play rocking songs as well. I’m not sure which way he went with this show–probably more traditional songs I’d assume.
I wasn’t all that interested in this show, but I was taking my daughter to see Lucy Dacus tonight anyhow, so it didn’t make much difference.
[DID NOT ATTEND: April 15, 2025] Tomato Flower / Zero Point Energy / Flock Econo
I saw Tomato Flower open for Melt-Banana. I didn’t know who they were but I loved them from the start. Their songs were jagged and indie, weird and delightful. They reminded me of Palm (one of my favorite weirdo bands) for the unexpected shifts in tempo and direction. They had two singers Jamison Murphy and Austyn Wohlers (who is also a novelist) to make it all the more unexpected.
I absolutely wanted to see them again. I couldn’t believe there were actually five shows I wanted to go to tonight. But this one topped the list, especially since Silk City is small and has decent sight lines.
But my wife was still recovering from her surgery and I was planning on taking my daughter to a show the following night so I stayed home and missed them all. I hope Tomato Flower comes back.
But, damn. What bad timing. I do hope they come back again in a couple of years.
Zero Point Energy is a Brooklyn-based duo consisting of Genesis Edenfield and Ben Jackson with a sound described as earthy electronic dance. That’s a bio phrase but it works. They seem weirdly divergent from Tomato Flower, but there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t know what they’d do live, but I did like the songs I listened to.
Flock Econo is from Philadelphia. Matt Loretti is Flock Econo and he says “Flock Econo emerges from an alternate timeline scored by Musica Popular Brasileira and ‘80s sophisti-pop. Sprung from his hermetically sealed chamber, a fool croons over bubbling syncopation and harmonies which meander, serpentine, before finding their way home.” The songs I listened to were lo-fi and again don’t really seem like they’d play with Tomato Flower. But who knows.
[DID NOT ATTEND: April 15, 2025] Ani DiFranco / Wryn
Back in the day I loved Ani DiFranco. I loved her independent spirit and that she released her own albums on her own label. I loved her acoustic albums, I loved her more rocking albums. I saw her a few times and she was incredible live. And then at some point she changed her sound. She added horns and started to sound a bit more like Prince. These aren’t necessarily bad things but I didn’t like the new stuff at all and so I completely lost touch with her.
I didn’t even realize she was still putting out records. Her most recent was Unprecedented Sh!t and here she was touring it. I had no plans to go but I am pleased she sold out Union Transfer.
Wryn plays acoustic guitar music that rocks once in a while. They have a good voice and a good sense of melody. The album is out on Righteous Babe, and there’s an early Ani feel. I might have to dive in a bit more.
[DID NOT ATTEND: April 15, 2025] Remember Sports / Anna McClellan
Remember Sports are a Philly band that I’ve been vaguely interested in for a while. They play indie punk and lead singer Carmen Perry has a distinctive almost unpleasant voice that I find really compelling.
But since I didn’t know them that well and there were four other shows I could have gone to tonight, this one didn’t have much of a chance.
Anna McClellan is an indie musician based out of Nebraska. Her music (and vocals) seem really raw. She seems to be also pushing the boundaries of unpleasantness, but might fall on the other side of it for me.
[DID NOT ATTEND: April 11, 2025] Gruff Rhys / Chris Forsyth
This was a dream show for me. I love Gruff Rhys (and can’t believe it was all the way back in 2018 that I saw him) and then to find out the Chris Forsyth was opening? Oh dream night. And it was in the upstairs part of World Cafe Live (because hardly anyone knows Gruff). It would have been intimate and amazing.
But my wife was still recovering from her surgery and I didn’t feel comfortable leaving her.
Markitaneight recorded the hold night so I got to watch what I missed. Chris played electric guitar. He played about 25 minutes. No set list was recorded, but he played some instrumentals and some songs with words.
I didn’t realize that Gruff was going to start the night with a 15 minute moving screening! Which he then followed with music on his acoustic guitar. The rest of the show was him talking about his American Interior project with slides and a soft spoken narrative. The video has a hard time recording his spoken voice which is a bummer (but he’s fine singing).
He played songs from the album (but not in order). And Chris Forsyth played a tasteful solo over Lost Tribes. It looks like it was a weird, fun night.
CHRIS FORSYTH set:
Tomorrow Might as Well Be Today
You’re Gonna Need Somebody
Boston Street Lullaby [slow, serious instrumental (he had to sit for it)]
long instrumental [looped himself and played a solo over it]
GRUFF RHYS set:
American Interior ∀
Iolo ∀
Bad Friend ≅
Shark Ridden Waters ∞
Pang! ∏
Walk Into The Wilderness ∀ Lost Tribes ∀
If We Were Words (We Would Rhyme) ∞
Liberty (Is Where We’ll Be) ∀ The Last Conquistador ∀
The Swamp ∀
* set two*
Allweddellau Allweddol ∀
100 Unread Messages ∀ Y Gwenan Gorn ∀
∞ Hotel Shampoo
∏ Pang!
≅ Sadness Sets Me Free
∀ American Interior
Markitaneight recorded the night. Here’s Chris Forsyth:
Here’s Set 1 of Gruff’s night
And what he’s calling Set 2
Super Furry Animals was one of my favorite bands of the 1990s. Their music was great and I loved that they were Welsh. It’s unfathomable that some of their singles weren’t huge here. Even their all-Welsh album Mwng is catchy as anything.
Since the mid 2000s they’ve been in a different musical space (and on hiatus). Lead singer Gruff (pronounced Griff) Rhys has released several solo albums and just recently released the album Babelsberg.
I hadn’t heard any of Babelsberg, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to see Gruff live for the first time. (I saw SFA back in the 90s, but this would be very different).
Gruff was supposed to come to Johnny Brenda’s a few years ago (he explained), but Visa issues caused him to miss the Philly date. That show was supposed to be solo, but for this show he had a four piece band: bassist Stephen “Sweet Baboo” Black and Osian Gwynedd on piano (who I could never see because he was behind Gruff, but whom I talked to after the show). And he had Kliph Scurlock from the Flaming Lips on drums (!). Kliph was selling the merch (while the other guys were talking Welsh backstage) and I chatted with him for a bit. He has moved to Wales! (more…)
[DID NOT ATTEND: April 15, 2025] Ty Segall / Mikal Cronin
I have tried to see Ty Segall many times and something always comes up. I’d like to see him with his band, but I’ve even tried to see him solo. I think his solo acoustic stuff is fun, but he’s so much more wild with the band (and amplification).
There were actually FIVE shows I wanted to go to tonight. Ty Segall’s was second on my list because I would have much rather seen Tomato Flower.
It’s possible that I’ve given up trying to see Ty Segall after failing once again.
Mikal Cronin plays with Ty Segall pretty often. I really enjoyed his album MKII. Like Ty, I’d rather see him all fuzzed out on amplifiers. But I’m sure his solo stuff is fun too.
I Just Read About That... 