Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Philadelphia, PA’ Category

Iron & Wine: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, February 13, 2026)

Posted in Free at Noon, Iron & Wine, Iron and Wine, Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on February 13, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 13, 2026] Iron & Wine

I have wanted to see Iron & Wine for a pretty long time.  But they’ve always been on my “casually” want to see them list.  I knew I liked them (him) whenever I heard them, and I’ve known that Sam Beam has an amazing voice, but I didn’t really know many songs by them.

So it seemed like going to a full on show might be too much?

When this Free at Noon was announced, it seemed like the perfect way to see him.  A 30 minute show in the middle of the day–not a major time commitment, and I could see if I really like him.

And I did!

It was just Sam and his guitar.  He played a few songs from his new album and then a few older songs too.  He chatted a lot, praised us for being so quiet and talked about how much he liked to play Philly.

At one point someone shouted What’s your name, which I thought was pretty odd.  Then I saw the person and saw that he had special needs.  Sam must have seen that too because he asked What’s Your Name.  And then Sam made a joke that people ask if he’s related to Jim Beam.  It was delightful how nice and friendly Sam was to everyone.  He seems like a genuinely nice guy.

One of his new songs has the line “fuck the man” which he sang (on the radio!–I actually wondered if he forgot he was on the radio).  Later on when he played All in Good Time it has the words shit in it, and he stopped himself from singing the word and then said, well, I already said fuck, so he sang shit. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Dan Deacon (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, February 6, 2026)

Posted in Dan Deacon, Moon Bounce, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on February 7, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 6, 2026] Dan Deacon 

I saw Dan Deacon three years ago and it was one of the most fun and uplifting shows I’d ever been to.  I knew I’d see him again and I planned to drag my wife along with me.  I knew that she wouldn’t really like the music, but I thought she’d really enjoy the experience.

After the last show I wrote

I would absolutely see him again, even if I need to wait another six years.

So it was almost 4 but it did take a while.

On the way to the show I told her that all of the things that I usually get mad at during a show don’t apply here.  People can talk, they can push, then can block my view.  It really doesn’t matter.  And, wherever we start it won’t be the same place when we’re done.

She seemed thankful for this primer and knew that this was going to be a very different show.

I had genuinely hoped that Dan would come out right after Moon Bounce was done (who starts a show at 9PM these days?).  Especially since Moon Bounce’s set was 30 minutes.  But he waited until 10.  Unlike last time, he had a live drummer, which was totally unexpected but a lot of fun.

He also took advantage of the venue’s video screen.  I thought he might project trippy images, but he explained that he had been meaning to make something but he didn’t.  So instead, he played a Phish show from Saratoga Springs.  It was so funny to see the guys from Phis playing behind him.  But he was thankful to them for putting out entire shows (2 hours) for free on line with no ads.

And then he started his music.  And it was loud.  I had intended to bring earplugs like always, but with the parking problem (and trying to find a reasonable spot) I forgot.  Dan’s music is repetitive and dancey.  He also sings and usually modulates his voice so that it’s insanely high pitched.  Which is bizarre but somehow even more fun. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Moon Bounce (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, February 6, 2026) [DAN DEACON]

Posted in Dan Deacon, Moon Bounce, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on February 6, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 6, 2026] Moon Bounce

Moon Bounce is an electronic musician.  He said he was originally from Philly then he moved to L.A. (don’t ever do it)and now he’s back in Philly.  He said he got his start because Dan Deacon turned him on to electronic music.

His set was thirty minutes and I enjoyed watching him.

He had all of his music on his laptop and he used various gear to pitch shift and modify the songs.  It was fun watching someone manipulate sounds in real time.  It was also fun seeing how well he knew his music (which duh, I know, but he would wave his hands in the air to the beats that were coming or angle his face when things slowed down).

His songs were catchy and he did sing (which I wasn’t expecting after the first few minutes of instrumentals).

It’s hard to really describe electronic music if you don’t know it that well.  There were beats and sounds.  He chose some cool sounds to go with the beats. At one point he looped an a capella sample from a rap album (which I can’t remember the name of).  The loop was one word repeated pretty quickly.  Then he slowed it down to match the beat of the next song.  “This is called a transition, it’s got to match 89 BPM, ok here we go.” (more…)

Read Full Post »

Mdou Moctar (solo) / Koof Ibi (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, February 4, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Johnny Brenda's, Koof Ibi, Mdou Moctar, Philadelphia, PA on February 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: February 4, 2026] Mdou Moctar / Koof Ibi

I have seen Mdou Moctar twice, both in 2024.

His shows (first electric, second acoustic) were really enjoyable.  He’s an amazing player and really charming.  I’ve not seen him solo and I’m not sure if it was electric or acoustic.  But I didn’t feel like going out to this show.  I’m sure I’ll see him again in thefuture though.

Kooh Ibi is a trumpet player born in New Jersey who is now in Philly.  He loops and samples music to create his trumpet pieces.  I listened to a few minutes of one and it was remarkably subdued–but really interesting.

This was probably a cool chill evening of jazzy music.

 

I really like The Messthetics (including the name).  The band has at its core drummer Brendan Canty and bassist Joe Lally who were both in Fugazi.  Along with guitarist Anthony Pirog, they make cool and interesting instrumental rock.  They have been pretty high on my list of bands to see. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Rhys Nicholson (Helium Comedy Club, Philadelphia, PA, February 2, 2026)

Posted in Hannah Trav, Helium Comedy Club, Jim Gillespie, Philadelphia, PA, Rhys Nicholson, Taskmaster, Taskmaster Australia on February 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 2, 2026] Rhys Nicholson

I have made a list of all of comedians from Taskmaster who I would like to see live.  It’s not everyone of course (some of them don’t do stand up and some I don’t think I would enjoy).  And then we started watching Taskmaster Australia and Taskmaster New Zealand, and I’ve added a dozen or so more to that list.

Rhys Nicholson was one of the funnier people on Taskmaster Australia and I was really excited when I saw that they were playing in Philly (apparently not their first time playing here).

Rhys set the tone well asking who had heard of them (much applause) and who had not (more than usual).  They assumed that the people who hadn’t heard of them were straight boyfriends/husbands.  And sadly there were no jokes for those people–they’ve had enough.

And then, geez, it was like 90 minutes of nonstop hilariousness. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Jim Gillespie / Hannah Trav (Helium Comedy Club, Philadelphia, PA, February 2, 2026) [RHYS NICHOLSON]

Posted in Hannah Trav, Helium Comedy Club, Jim Gillespie, Philadelphia, PA, Rhys Nicholson, Taskmaster, Taskmaster Australia on February 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 2, 2026] Jim Gillespie / Hannah Trav

Despite all of the comedians we have seen, we’ve never been to a comedy club.  Technically when we went to City Winery, we had to buy food, but that’s not a comedy club.  Helium, on the other hand, is.  And it was our first experience with a two-drink minimum.  Helium changes it somewhat and has a two item minimum–so food or drinks (and I guess food is actually more expensive?).  So we did indeed by (watered down) drinks–even my ginger beer was watered down.  And we got some apps.  A surprisingly expensive night out for relatively cheap tickets.

So I assumed we’d see Rhys Nicholson and be home by like ten.  But instead, there was a host and an opener.  And I guess this is standard practice.

The host does a short set, then introduces the warm up and then comes back to introduce the headliner.

Our host was Jim Gillespie who implied that he is fairly new to Philly. He was very funny.  I enjoyed his jokes quite a lot and I was intrigued to see that he looked at his phone a bunch–notes, I assume.  I assume he is somewhat new to stand up because the jokes were great but the transitions weren’t very smooth.  But that’s what fine tuning is all about.  As I said the jokes were great and I laughed a lot.

Jim is a big guy and he made some good and (to me) original jokes about being big.  The first was about going thrifting and why are there no large clothes at thrift stores–he knows that fat old people are dying all the time–where are their clothes?  I also enjoyed the jokes about how he doesn’t want to die and become a fat ghost.  Who only haunts the kitchen. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Dry Cleaning / YHWH Nailgun (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, February 1, 2026) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Dry Cleaning, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, YHWH Nailgun on February 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: February 1, 2026] Dry Cleaning / YHWH Nailgun [moved to May 6, 2026]

Back in 2022, a family emergency prevented me from going to this show.  I was interested in Dry Cleaning who at the time were a kind of trendy British band.  They are of the spoken deadpan vocal/wild guitar noise variety.   I thought they’d be fun to see live once.

They announced a new tour in February of 2026 and then announced it would be postponed

Dry Cleaning have rescheduled their imminent tour of North America, cutting a handful of dates and postponing the rest until May. The band cited “the increasingly hostile economic forces that govern touring” in a statement that you can read below.

We have had to take the difficult decision to move our Jan/Feb ‘26 US tour to May. This is due to a number of factors, not least of which the increasingly hostile economic forces that govern touring in the present day. Thankfully we have managed to reschedule the majority of the original shows and all tickets will remain valid, if that suits you, and refunds available if it does not. Regrettably, we have been unable to make this work for all dates due to the shortened routing. Refunds will be available from your place of purchase and we will do everything in our power to play for you as soon as we can.

The new date actually works out better for me and I’m looking forward to the show.

YHWH Nailgun (pronounced Yahweh Nailgun) is an American experimental rock band formed in 2020, known for their abrasive sound that blends elements of punk, noise, and electronic music. The quartet consists of vocalist Zack Borzone, drummer Sam Pickard, guitarist Saguiv Rosenstock, and synthesist Jack Tobias.  They are indeed noisy and abrasive.  I’m curious to see them do this live and I hope they are still the opening band in May.

Read Full Post »

Halima (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, January 28, 2026) [SUDAN ARCHIVES]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Sudan Archives, Union Transfer on January 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: January 28, 2026] Halima

I’ve known about Sudan Archives since her first album came out.  I wanted to see her in 2020, but her show sold out.  Then it was just before the COVID shutdown and her show wasn’t cancelled but hardly anyone went so I could have gone (but I didn’t know that and probably wouldn’t have gone anyway).  I had a ticket to see her a couple years ago but didn’t make it.  But then I finally saw her at All Things Go in 2023,so I was excited to get to see her again at her own show.

I had not heard of Halima, but she seemed to have some buzz around her.  She came out looking fierce in a half jacket with huge shoulders.  She had beads in her hair, marched out to the mic all by herself and started her backing music.

It was really impressive that she stood there with just the mic and her backing music playing as she sang her genre-unspecific music.  I really enjoyed the spare backing sounds of her songs.  omoge was a series of soft notes as she sang gently over them.    Her second song (which I never found the name of) was a bit more bouncy with some deep bass notes.

I really liked the sounds of cocoa body–a kind of percussive melody accompanied by deep bass notes.  Most of her songs were pretty short, but this one did have a middle instrumental section where Halima showed off her great dance moves.

Halima is British but she lives in Brooklyn.  I loved hearing her talk–there’s something really cool sounding about the way British singers say Phillleeee.  (more…)

Read Full Post »

Agriculture (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, January 24, 2026)

Posted in Agriculture, Knoll, Nina Ryser, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on January 26, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: January 24, 2026] Agriculture

I saw Agriculture open for Boris just two months ago.  I enjoyed their set so much that I knew I’d see them again and two months was not too short of a time to wait.

Agriculture calls their music ecstatic black metal and that description, while slightly vague, is really spot on.  There is screaming and growling, speed and heaviness but also a lot of brightness and beauty.

They put out a new album last year and most of their Boris set was from that album.  The headline set added two more songs form that record and a few more older tracks.

First out was guitarist Richard Chowenhill who started playing one note really really fast.  I was standing right in front of him and I was really blown away by how fast he was picking the string.   The rest of the band came out and started Flea, which features bassist Leah Levinson reciting lyrics while guitarist Dan Meyer who still has a big beard screamed gutturally.  The fact the the song shifts gears midway through to a pleasant, uplifting voice while Leah sings gently only make the screams that she does shortly all the more crazy.

I loved watching drummer Kern Haug.  He has exceptional sideburns and he plays so fast and yet with such precision.  I’m surprised for the second time that he wore a button down shirt,  But I was less surprised to see him trying to stretch out his back mid set because holy cow what a workout.

But it was really amazing being in front of Chowenhill as he played these amazing solos. Whether he shredded furiously or was doing fascinating finger tapping while sliding up and down the neck, the speed and accuracy were mind blowing.

It was pretty bizarre about half way through the show a guy pushed his way up front and started “singing” along to Leah’s screamed vocals. He clearly knew the words and he did try to sound screamy but it was almost like have a translator next to me.  I let him get in front so he’s stop shouting in my ear. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Knoll (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, January 24, 2026) [AGRICULTURE]

Posted in Agriculture, Knoll, Nina Ryser, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on January 25, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: January 24, 2026] Knoll

I hadn’t heard of Knoll until my physical therapist said he knew them.  He said they put on an incredible show.  And since I already knew that Agriculture was incredible, I was doubly psyched.

So Knoll set up their gear.  They had an old-looking end table (I would guess like 100 years old, with all kinds of filigree–but probably not worth anything) and interesting gear on it. The table also had a little light on it.  And then I realized that there were four floor lamps around the stage.

And these lights were the only things that lit the stage!  And, most interesting of all, each band member had a step on plug (like we use for our Christmas lights) and turned their individual light on and off throughout the show.

All five members of the band were dressed in all black–button down shirts and black pants.  And the lead singer, James Eubanks, has his head shaved, (possibly his eyebrows), his fingernails shaped into points.  He looks like Nosferatu.

Before the show, he busied himself by making sure all of the lamps were plugged in.  And as soon as they were ready.

BOOM.

I was in front of guitarist Cameron Giarraputo.  He was like a machine with the speed and technical expertise he brought to these incredibly fast songs.  It was a wall of noise.  And then Eubanks stepped up front and an unholy demon jumped out of his mouth.

He growled, he shrieked, he made sounds that I didn’t think a human could make and… apparently… there were words associated with these sounds. (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »