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Archive for the ‘Philadelphia, PA’ Category

Priests (Boot and Saddle, Philadelphia, PA, April 15, 2019)

Posted in Boot & Saddle, Daughters, Joy Division, Philadelphia, PA, Priests, Savages, Union Transfer on April 15, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 15, 2019] Priests

Priests is one of a number of bands that I know a little bit and feel like I should know more.  Most of these bands have one word plural names (Priests, Savages, Daughters–who sound nothing alike but who I have a hard time keeping straight).

Priests were supposed to play at Union Transfer, but their show got moved to Boot and Saddle.  Someone asked them why online and they responded, “Union Transfer is for bands that people actually like” or something like that.

And yes, Boot & Saddle is a considerably smaller venue.  But on the plus side, I wasn’t going to go see them at UT, but I was happy (excited even) to see them at B&S.

I knew a few songs by them, and I liked that their new album was called The Seduction of Kansas (from the book of the same name).  I knew that they were now a three piece (although there were four of them on stage), although I don’t know anything about why the fourth person left.  I also didn’t really know what lead singer Katie Alice Greer looked like.  So I was quite surprised to see a woman with a shock of blonde curls on her head dressed in a leather bodysuit (she must have been so hot!). (more…)

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Big Heet (Boot and Saddle, Philadelphia, PA, April 15, 2019) [PRIESTS]

Posted in Big Heet, Black Flag, Boot & Saddle, Gurr, Philadelphia, PA on April 15, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 15, 2019] Big Heet

I had never heard of Big Heet.  I looked them up online before the show and bandcamp said they were from Tallahassee.  But when they got up onstage, they said they were from Philly (which makes more sense for this kind of show–if you get 25 minutes, would you drive all the way from Tallahassee?).

But their location didn’t matter because I was blown away by their music.

Seriously, anyone who says to skip opening acts is a fool.  Nearly every song was two minutes or less but there was a lot of diversity of style from loud hardcore to more considered weirder punk styles. (more…)

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The Claypool Lennon Delirium: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, April 12, 2019)

Posted in Free at Noon, Geddy Lee, King Crimson, Les Claypool, Philadelphia, PA, Pink Floyd, Primus, Sean Lennon, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, The Flaming Lips, Uni, Voivod, White Denim, World Cafe Live on April 12, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 12, 2019] The Claypool Lennon Delirium

Nearly two years and a half years ago I saw The Claypool Lennon Delirium at the Fillmore.  Once again, this year they were playing the Fillmore.  But it was on a night that T. was doing a school play.  There is no way I would choose Les Claypool over my daughter, so I didn’t get tickets.  Then they moved her play to Thursday instead.  I could go!

But then WXPN announced that The Claypool Lennon Delirium would be doing a Free at Noon.  And that seemed like the best of both worlds–I’d get to see the band and it wouldn’t be a) at night or b) at the Fillmore (which was too big and crowded for me when I saw them).  I said I’d never do another Free at Noon because I basically had to take off four hours of work to do it, but for these guys it was a no-brainer and totally worth it.

And really, who doesn’t like to take off four hours of work. (more…)

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Muse (Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA, April 7, 2019)

Posted in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Deftones, Ennio Morricone, Game of Thrones, Muse, Philadelphia, PA, The Troggs, Wells Fargo Center on April 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 7, 2019] Muse

Three years ago (I can’t believe it was that long), I saw Muse at this very arena.

It was an incredible spectacle.  And I knew that I would see them again if they came back.

And here they were.

The last tour was in support of their Drones album and it was a marvel of technological excess–drones floating all over the place and marvels of wirelessness.

They had said that this album and tour was meant to more humanizing.  But that did not mean less spectacle! (more…)

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SWMRS (Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA, April 7, 2019) [MUSE]

Posted in Beach Goons, Destroy Boys, Muse, Philadelphia, PA, SWMRS, The Clash, Wells Fargo Center, WKDU 91.7FM--Philadelphia, PA on April 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 7, 2019] SWMRS

I was unfamiliar with SWMRS when I heard they were announced as Muse’s support act.

They formed in 2011 as Emily’s Army.  They recorded two albums under that name, then changed it  to SWMRS.  The band features brothers Cole and Max Becker (They are both singers and guitarists, with Cole taking more lead vocals (and hypeman) and Max playing more lead guitar).  The drummer is Joey Armstorng (obligatory mention that he is Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong’s son).  They also have had Joey’s brother Jakob on rhythm guitar.  Brother-to-no-one Seb Mueller is the bassist.

But it was their politics that made me excited to see them.  From a bit in Rolling Stone:

the subversion of patriarchy is part of what drives the band. They are a product of their respectively progressive upbringings in Oakland, where the young band members grew up loving riot grrrl and entrenched in feminist teachings. “I became aware at a pretty young age that I was benefiting too much from the patriarchy,” Becker, a current Berkeley student, explains. “It’s one of those things where you don’t think about it until you play a hundred shows and only see aggressive, hyper-masculine dudes crowd surfing on top of 14-year-old girls. We feel like it’s our duty to uplift the voices that aren’t as easily heard as ours.”

That’s pretty awesome.  And an encouraging sign for the youth of tomorrow. (more…)

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And the Kids (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, April 5, 2019)

Posted in And the Kids, Johnny Brenda's, Lucy Dacus, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, Voivod on April 5, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 5, 2019] And the Kids

Almost exactly one year ago I saw And the Kids open for Lucy Dacus.  They put on a great show, but I had heard that they would be even more wild if they didn’t have the time constraints of that show (there were two full sets that night, so the earlier one was kind of rushed).  Back in November they opened another show that I wanted to get to but couldn’t.  But here they were headlining, which is what I really wanted to see.

I bought tickets as soon as they went on sale.  But then I found out that Voivod was playing the same night across town.  Voivod is a band I have loved and never saw live.  So I chose Voivod.  During the headliners, YOB, I decided if I left I could get over to Johnny Brenda’s (about 10 minutes away) in time before And the Kids started.  I listened to one heavy YOB song and then took off.  I got on street parking a block away from Johnny Brenda’s and walked in a few minutes before And the Kids were to go on.  All signs indicated that I had made the right choice.

I was surprised at how crowded it was (good for them!)  But I managed to get past the drunken clumps and got right up at the edge of the stage, but to the side–near the steps where the band comes in.  It’s not a great vantage point (and the sound really isn’t as good, but it was better than standing in the middle of tall people.

Then the band came out.  Last time And the Kids were a four-piece.  But for this show they were only a duo.  I gather the core of the group has always been Rebecca Lasaponaro on drums and Hannah Mohan on guitar and vocals.  I have yet to find out why they were touring with just the two of them and not a full band.  I’m also not exactly sure how the bass and other sounds were handled.  I know it had something to do with Lasaponaro, but whether she was triggering them live or just starting them on a laptop, I don’t know.

In some ways this hindered their improvisatory nature.  But not really, because Mohan is a born entertainer and she was a ton of fun throughout the night–and made me glad I was standing where I was.

They played eleven songs in about an hour.   Five were songs from the new album, which I hadn’t heard yet. I hadn’t heard much by them when I saw them last time either, and I feel like hearing them live–even new songs–is absolutely the way to go.  The recorded versions are good, but the don’t quite capture the vitality and energy that their live set has. (more…)

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YOB (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, April 5, 2019)

Posted in And the Kids, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, Voivod, YOB on April 5, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 5, 2019] YOB

I hadn’t heard of YOB before this show.  I was there for Voivod.  But I assumed they must be compatible if they were playing together.

I also had a ticket to see And the Kids (a very different type of band) that night at Johnny Brenda’s.  After jumping in to see Dilly Dally upstairs in the Foundry after the Guster show in The Fillmore, I thought, well, why can’t I go to both shows if one ends early enough.  Johnny Brenda’s is about ten minutes from Union Transfer.  The Johnny Brenda’s show started later than this show, so I considered my options.

After the pummeling from Amenra and the fun but heavy set from Voivod, I was pretty wiped out.  I had read that YOB was “Epic, crushing, and heavy beyond words.”

So I decided to stay for the first song and see if I wanted to hear more. (more…)

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Voivod (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, April 5, 2019) [YOB]

Posted in Amenra, Away, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, Voivod, YOB on April 5, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 5, 2019] Voivod

I’ve been a fan of Voivod for decades.  But I never saw them live when I was most into them (late 80’s).  Then after Denis “Piggy” D’Amour’s death in 2005 I assumed I never would.

But amazingly they found a guy who plays guitar very much like Piggy did–a bizarre hybrid of prog, metal, dissonance and eerie harmony.  That man is Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain.  Chewy is able to play Piggy’s parts.  And his new parts are very much in the style of old Voivod, but are certainly his own (his soloing style is definitely different for instance.  And since recording songs with him in 2013, Voivod have been touring fairly regularly.  (They played Philly in 2015 and 2016–to see them at the Black Box in Underground Arts would have been amazing!)

For a band that’s been active (in one form or another) for over 30 years, they still had a lot of fun on stage.  If there’s one thing I love it’s seeing a band enjoying themselves.

Strangely, in the 30 years that they’ve been together, nearly everyone has been replaced (with some returns), and there have been a number of styles. (more…)

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Amenra (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, April 5, 2019) [YOB]

Posted in Amenra, Belgium, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, YOB on April 5, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 5, 2019] Amenra

I had heard of Amenra, but I really didn’t know anything about them.

I had no idea that they were from Belgium, which I find weirdly exciting.  I also didn’t know that they’d been around for twenty years.  In that time they have released six albums: Mass I, Mass II, Mass III, Mass IIII, Mass V, and Mass VI.

They were founded by vocalist Colin H. van Eeckhout and guitarist Mathieu Vandekerckhove, (Belgian names are awesome).  In this incarnation, they are joined by drummer Bjorn Lebon, guitarist Lennart Bossu and bassist Levy Seynaeve.

I was running a few minutes late when I got to Union Transfer.  Amenra had just taken the stage, but I needed to use the restroom.  The good thing about metal is that it is loud, easily heard in the restroom.  The good thing about Amenra is that they started the show with a lengthy section of almost ambient music.  Over strummed guitar, van Eeckhout clacked two rods together.  His back was to the audience as the tension built. (more…)

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Better Oblivion Community Center (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, April 2, 2019)

Posted in Better Oblivion Community Center, Boygenius, Bright Eyes, Christian Lee Hutson, Conor Oberst, Paul Westerberg, Philadelphia, PA, Phoebe Bridgers, The Replacements, Union Transfer on April 2, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 2, 2019] Better Oblivion Community Center

I’m not often on the pulse of what is trending in music.  Sometimes I’m ahead, often I’m not all that interested.  But every once in a while it converges.  And thus on April 2 I was part of one of the hippest crowds in town.

I got there pretty early as I knew it was sold out (it sold out very quickly).  And I was standing pretty close to Phoebe Bridgers.  Earlier this year, I did not get to see the boygenius shows (they didn’t come close enough to us).  But I have now seen each of the women solo twice (this is my second Bridgers show and yes, it counts).

There was a photo-op when you walked in.  A life-size cutout for you to take an ID photo for the BOCC.  I declined to do that, but I did get the fun squeezable stress-house.

The band came out and they started playing songs from the album.  I didn’t know the album all that well (I was amazed at how many people knew all the words), but I’d enjoyed what I’d heard.   I expected a kind of folk-rock show.  I was in no way prepared for how much the show rocked and how much fun the show would be.  There were even beach balls thrown around! (more…)

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