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Archive for the ‘Philadelphia, PA’ Category

Suki Waterhouse / Bully (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, December 10, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Brontez Purnell, Bully, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, Suki Waterhouse on December 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 10, 2024] Suki Waterhouse / Bully

Of all of the shows that I didn’t go to this year, this one intrigued me the most.  And I thought about going pretty much right up until the day of.

The reason I didn’t go is because I had shows the day before and two shows later in the week.  And I wasn’t entirely sure if I liked Suki.  My daughter and I saw her performed at All Things Go and I remember liking her a lot more than I thought I would, but not really remembering her show at all.

I really like the song I’ve been hearing on the radio and now (after the show) I’ve been hearing another one I really like.  Maybe I should have gone.

Although I really don’t like Franklin Music Hall.

I have seen Bully once and would really like to see her/them again (I mean, this show really was calling to me), but I had heard that the Bully set might be solo and I prefer her with a band.  There’s a photo from the show with someone else on stage with her, but it sounds like she played a few solo songs as well.

IOfalltheshowsthatI

 

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Biig Piig (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, December 9, 2024) [AURORA]

Posted in Aurora, Biig Piig, Norway, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia on December 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 9, 2024] Biig Piig

Aurora has had some pretty interesting opening artists over the years.  I had never heard of Biig Piig, but apparently the rest of the world has.

Her name is Jessica Smyth and she’s got an interesting backstory.  She was born in Cork, Ireland, but as raised in Spain.  Spanish is actually her native language.  But she moved back to Ireland when she was 12 and then to London a few years later.  And in 2020, her singles Switch, Don’t Turn Around and Feels Right had combined streams of over 60 million. (more…)

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Ride (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, December 7, 2024)

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Ride, Rocket, Union Transfer on December 8, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 7, 2024] Ride

I’ve known of (and enjoyed some of) Ride’s music for decades.  I was never a huge fan, but there were a few songs that I liked a lot.

Last year, Ride played a show with the Charlatans, but a snowstorm kept me away.  So here was another chance to see them.

I didn’t realize that they had been broken up for 21 years when they released their reunion album in 2017.  Here it is 7 years after that and they’re still a going concern.

I didn’t know really anything since they’d reunited, so I didn’t really care what they played–I assumed they’d play the few songs that I did know since those were the hits.

And I really enjoyed the new songs quite a lot–they were some of my favorites of the night.  A guy up front (who was bouncing and dancing the whole show) shouted how great the new album was and the band got a kick out of it with Mark Gardener thanking him for the affirmation (they later gave him a pick and a setlist I believe). (more…)

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Rocket (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, December 7, 2024) [RIDE]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Ride, Rocket, Union Transfer on December 7, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 7, 2024] Rocket

I’ve known of (and enjoyed some of) Ride’s music for decades.  I was never a huge fan, but there were a few songs that I liked a lot.

Last year, Ride played a show with the Charlatans, but a snowstorm kept me away.  So here was another chance to see them.

I hadn’t heard of the opening band (there are a few different bands called Rocket).  And it’s not lost one me that the marquee would read Rocket Ride.

This band is from LA and holy cow, they scratched just about every musical itch I had.

Soft female vocals, shoegaze to heavy crunchy guitars.  It was all there.  I loved every second of their set.

When the first chord change of Portrait Show was exactly what I hoped it would be, I knew this band was for me.

I wished that Alithea Tuttle’s vocals were a little louder (it’s probably because I was standing s close to the stage) although the quieter mix worked well with the overall sound.  Her bass was great though, understated and used perfectly to emphasize some of the songs.  (more…)

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Basic / The Early / Totally Automatic (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, December 7, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Basic, Chris Forsyth, Johnny Brenda's, Nick Millevoi, Philadelphia, PA, The Early, Totally Automatic on December 7, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 7, 2024] Basic / The Early / Totally Automatic

I have seen Basic twice in recent months and didn’t really feel compelled to go again. I do enjoy their music (and would have enjoyed seeing them at Johnny Brenda’s, but I had tickets to see Ride tonight and there’s no way I was passing up them for this.

The Early says about themselves

Formed in north Jersey in 2004, The Early’s music metabolizes the textural grandeur of post-rock, the communicational intimacy of jazz improvisation, and the patient grooves of minimalism. Currently operating out of Philadelphia, PA.

So what does that mean?  Interesting and improvisational-adjacent jazzy instrumentals, from the sound of their most recent record.  The Early appears to be Alex Lewis – electric guitar, korg minilogue and Jake Nussbaum – drum set, percussion, contact mics.  I’m not sure if there were more people on stage.

The Early released an album with Totally Automatic this year.

Totally Automatic was formed by Anne Ishii, Eugene Lew and Matthew Smith Lee in the summer of 2021. They play unarranged music with each other, on drums, saxophone and electronics, and can be found around Philadelphia.

So this set would be even more improvised, this time with saxophone.

Probably not the most enjoyable night I could spend, but it would have been kinda fun.

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Hundreds of Beavers (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, December 5, 2024)

Posted in Hundreds of Beavers, Mike Cheslik, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, Ryland Brickson Cole Tews on December 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 5, 2024] Hundreds of Beavers

I had seen an ad for Hundreds of Beavers and it looked weird and fantastic.

When I saw that it was playing at PhilaMOCA, I grabbed a ticket for myself and my son (my wife was bummed that she said no when I asked if she wanted a ticket, because she admitted that it sounded like fun).

So I picked up my son from school and we drove to Philly.  We had pizza at a nearby shop and wow was it bad.  It was made worse by the fact that when I poured grated cheese on it to make it more palatable, the grated cheese was actually sugar.

In fairness, it was in a sugar dispenser, but why is there sugar on the table at a pizza joint?  Have you ever had pizza with sugar on it?  It is, simply, not good.

But we were there in time for the movie and we grabbed seats in the back.

This was a special screening in which they had random prizes to give out (posters and such).  We didn’t win, but that’s okay. (more…)

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They Might Be Giants: Big Tour (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, December 5 & 6, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, They Might Be Giants, Union Transfer on December 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 5 & 6, 2024] They Might Be Giants

Las year, after five failed attempts, They Might Be Giants FINALLY got to play Union Transfer.

My wife and I were pretty excited to finally get to see them and we enjoyed the show a lot.

When they announced that they were playing Union Transfer again I think we both decided that we didn;t need to see them again so soon. (more…)

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Blood Incantation (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, November 25, 2024)

Posted in Blood Incantation, Hällas, Midwife, Philadelphia, PA, Tangerine Dream, Underground Arts on November 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 25, 2024] Blood Incantation

My brother-in-law Ben told me about Blood Incantation a couple of weeks before this show. So I grabbed a ticket just before it sold out!

With a name (and logo) like that, I assumed they were just a bludgeoning death metal band but they display all kinds of interesting progressive rock tendencies.  And those are fully explored on their newest album Absolute Elsewhere.

The album is 43 minutes long and consists of two songs.  Each song has three parts.  And they played the album in full for this show.

When I walked in I saw that there were an obelisk on either side of the stage.  It had characters carved into it and just before the band took the stage the characters lit up red.

When the band came out I couldn’t get over how the lead singer looked.  Paul Riedl has a mustache and long hair (balding on top) he looked like a manager at Staples.  But then he stepped up to the mic and went “OOH” and the growl was perfect.

Knowing that the album was a bit more trippy (with lots of synths and quiet parts) I wasn’t sure how moshy the crowd would be.  But as soon as the band started, and the opening bludgeoning began, I quickly had to move several feet to the right.

The song starts out with some pounding guitars and Isaac Faulk using all of his drum kit.  And after a squealing guitar and a bug grunted Oooh, the band took off with some seriously fast double bass drums and wild guitar soloing.

After 2 minutes of furiousness, the song slowed down dramatically with picked guitars and quiet washes of synths.  Three minutes later it’s back to the heaviness with some growled lyrics and wild soloing from Morris Kolontyrsky.

Jeff Barrett played bass and while I couldn’t seem him from where I was, his low end was felt from the speakers.

After 8 minutes, the song segued into Tablet II. (more…)

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Midwife (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, November 25, 2024) [BLOOD INCANTATION]

Posted in Blood Incantation, Midwife, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on November 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 25, 2024] Midwife

My brother-in-law Ben told me about Blood Incantation a couple of weeks before this show. So I grabbed a ticket just before it sold out!

I knew they were death metal, and assumed that the opener would be as well.  But, wow, what a difference!

Madeline Elizabeth Johnston is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and audio engineer. She is best known for her work under the moniker Midwife, and has also released music as Mariposa and Sister Grotto. Johnston describes her music as “heaven metal.”

She came out on stage and her microphone was a telephone.  She spoke into it and her voice sounded a million miles away.

And it turns out that I have seen Midwife before!  They opened for Deafheaven.  And the funny thing is that I absolutely remembered a woman singing into a telephone, but I didn’t think it was the same person for some reason.  But I see from a previous post that I saw Midwife in 2022.  And I felt exactly the same as I did this time.

She created a beat on a drum machine and began playing very slowly.  She sang quietly, from a million miles away.

All my friends are in New York
All my friends are in LA
All my friends are in Chicago
All my friends in Santa Fe
All my friends in Colorado
All my friends are here to stay
How much more death can one person take?

It was the antithesis of death metal.  It was slow and ponderous.  I think had I not been there for a death metal show I would have enjoyed it more, but the crowd–dudes in leather and chains–ate it up.  I was really happy for her as she seemed like she could have been so vulnerable up there, but she was poised and powerful as she sang these slow songs about death.

Killdozer:

This has always been my town
Now it’s a living hell
Everyone wants a piece of me
How am I not myself?
All my songs are love songs
All my songs are blue
All my songs are about death

All of these songs were pretty long, but Midwife was given about 45 minutes to play.  I didn’t actually think she’d play another song after S.W.I.M. but then Morris Kolontyrsky of Blood Incantation came out and they played No Depression in Heaven together.

The lyrics to that song?

Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Kolontyrsky played beuatiful complicated solos over Midwife’s slow repeated guitars.  Her musical patterns are simple but effective and while he wasn’t showing off, he was playing some impressive lead solos.

When the set was over, they hugged and she began cleaning up her stuff.

I’d never listen to her music on purpose, it’s totally not my thing, but it was a mesmerizing performance.

 

2024 Underground Arts 2022 Union Transfer
Colorado £ Christina’s World £
Vanessa ⊗ God is a Cop £
2018 ∞ 2018 ∞
Killdozer ⊗ Colorado £
S.W.I.M. ∞ S.W.I.M. ∞
No Depression in Heaven ⊗ (with Morris Kolontyrsky of Blood Incantation)

∞ Forever (2020)
£ Luminol (2021)
⊗ No Depression in Heaven (2024)

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Godspeed You! Black Emperor / Alan Sparhawk (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, November 24, 2024) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Alan Sparhawk, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on November 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 22 & 23, 2022] Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Back in 2000, I saw Godspeed You Black Emperor at Maxwell’s in Hoboken.  My friend Lar was in from Ireland and he went to the show with me, which was pretty awesome.

I waited 18 years to see them again, but the last time I saw them, the show was marred by the crowd.

I’ve thought about seeing them again, but this show popped up on a weekend that was really inconvenient.  And then suddenly it was postponed

Godspeed’s Fall 2024 US tour has been postponed due to illness. Information regarding rescheduled dates will be forthcoming.

Perhaps if the 2025 date works out for me, I’ll be able to see them again.

Alan Sparhawk of Low was supposed to open.  I’ve never been much of a fan of Low, because their music is just too slow for me.  Although their last album was really quite interesting.  I’m not sure what his solo show would include as he plays all kinds of music.  Maybe he’ll be opening next year too.

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