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Archive for the ‘Philadelphia, PA’ Category

Model/Actriz / AFK (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, May 17, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in AFK, Johnny Brenda's, Model/Actriz, Philadelphia, PA on May 17, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 17, 2025] Model/Actriz / AFK

I My son and I saw Model/Actriz open for Dazey and the Scouts bac in 2022.  They were bizarre and intense and put on a wonderful performance.  I would really like to see them again–especially now that it has been a few years.

But I had tickets to see Puscifer, Primus and A Perfect Circle the same night and you can’t be in two places at the same time.

AFK is an Industrial Glitch-hop trio from the Hudson Valley/NYC. Mind-melting beats and razor sharp flows. Hip hop from the future.

I like glitch hop in small doses. I didn’t love what I heard on their bandcamp, but I imagine it presents well live.

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Japanese Breakfast / Ginger Root (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 16, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Ginger Root, Japanese Breakfast, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on May 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 16, 2025] Japanese Breakfast / Ginger Root

When this show was announced, it sold out pretty quickly.  We were bummed because we saw Japanese Breakfast on Halloween a couple of years ago when she said she’d be going to Korea for a year or so.

But soon after, they announced another show on the night before (I always think it’s funny to have the second show come before the first show, but realistically I suppose it doesn’t matter to the band unless they were planning on going all out for that final show.

So when they announced night 2 I grabbed tickets right away and we enjoyed yesterday’s show from the pit.  The shows were almost the same although I’m a little bummed that they did a final encore of Everybody Wants to Love You which they didn’t do for us.  But I’ve seen the song a few times so it’s no big deal.

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Amyl and the Sniffers / Sheer Mag (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, May 16, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Amyl and the Sniffers, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, Sheer Mag on May 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 16, 2025] Amyl and the Sniffers / Sheer Mag

On paper Amyl and the Sniffers is exactly the kind of band I’d like.  A weirdo Australian rock band fronted by a wild woman.  But there’s something about them that I just don’t like.

I saw them open for King Gizzard in 2018 and they were pretty fun.  They do have a simple fun bratty punk sound.  And I usually like that.  But for whatever reason I don’t really like them.  Oh well.

I’ve seen Sheer Mag open for so many bands.  I liked them but I’m a bit tired of them at this point.

So this was a big no no for me.

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Sunflower Bean / Laveda (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, May 16, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Johnny Brenda's, Laveda, Oneida, Philadelphia, PA, Sunflower Bean, The Bevis Frond on May 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 16, 2025] Sunflower Bean / Laveda

I’ve seen Sunflower Bean twice.  The first time I loved them.  The second time I loved them for different reasons.  But since then they have drifted away from the sound I liked into a more.

Actually, I see that they have recently put out a new album that changes their sound quite a bit again.  So clearly they are a band who are experimenting with sounds. I will have to keep tabs on them for the next time they come around.

Laveda is an NYC-based indie rock band formed by Ali Genevich and Jake Brooks, known for their blend of dreamy, shoegaze, and ’90s grunge sounds.

I listened to a few songs and really liked them–possibly more than Sunflower Bean, although I’ll have to see what this new album sounds like.

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Hooveriii / Expo / Feaster (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, May 16, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Expo, Feaster, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA on May 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 16, 2025] Hooveriii / Expo / Feaster

I’ve been a fan of Hooveriii for a while. I got to see them open for Mudhoney and I really wanted to see them again.  I was excited for this show but when the date rolled around, we had a family crisis of some sort and I stayed home instead.  I have since seen that their set was only 45 minutes, but it sounds like the whole night was fun with these two weird opening bands.

Feaster is from Philly and describe themselves as One of the World’s Bands of All Time.  They’re weird in a really good way. They’re heavy and they rock and their vocals are kind of shouted and loud.  They seem like a lot of fun.

Expo is an experimental psych trio from Philadelphia and their music is exactly as they describe themselves there.  Wild drumbeats, funky bass lines and vocals that are squeezed on top.  I’d like to see them live.

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Japanese Breakfast (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 15, 2025)

Posted in Ginger Root, Japanese Breakfast, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on May 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 15, 2025] Japanese Breakfast

We had seen Japanese Breakfast play their last American show for a year or so on Halloween 2023.  It was a lot of fun and felt like a really special night.

When they announced their new album, For Melancholy Brunettes… I was concerned because that sounded like a bummer of an album.  And, first single Orlando in Love wasn’t especially gripping.  It was pretty, but didn’t really have a hook.

But I knew that they always put on a good show so it was definitely worth seeing.

The curtain rose on a giant clam shell, which Michelle Zauner came out and sat in and played Here is Someone and Orlando in Love.

She switched from acoustic to electric guitar and returned to the clamshell throughout the show.

The rest of the stage was cool too, with a nautical theme and billowing smoke.

They played three songs from the new albums, with Honey Water being the most upbeat.  But they didn’t stay on this vibe for the whole show because they moved on to the Soft Sounds album, playing three great songs, Road Head, Boyish and The Body is a Blade.

Then it was back to the new album for the bouncy Mega Circuit and the more chill Leda.

They only played one song from Psychopomp, and then moved up to Jubilee for the bouncy Slide Tackle.  A few more new songs were followed by Kokomo, a really fun song from Jubilee. (more…)

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Ginger Root (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 15, 2025) [JAPANESE BREAKFAST]

Posted in Ginger Root, Japanese Breakfast, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on May 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 15, 2025] Ginger Root

Japanese Breakfast announced a show at The Met and it sold out instantly.  But then they announced another show (for the day before) and I grabbed us a ticket.

Ginger Root opened both shows.  I didn’t know them, but they seemed to have a good following.  And the band was full of charisma.  They are an indie band from California led by Cameron Lew.  He describes the music as “aggressive elevator soul.”

And Camerom Lew is a fantastic front man.  He is also the creative force behind the visual and audio components of Ginger Root.  Indeed video may be more important that audio for the band.

Ginger Root was without a doubt the best live band I have seen for music that I didn’t really like all that much.  Not that the music was bad, it just wasn’t quite my vibe.  But the live show was so good I would 100% see them again.

As they took the stage there were two video screens that announced We are your openers for this evening.  We’ll be done in ~40 minutes.

And as soon as the band started, their on-stage cameraman began filming them and projecting it on the screens.  He used all kinds of old-school effects, giving the video and almost 80’s feel.  Especially when the screens were bordered with a white line and the legend: You’re listening to Ginger Root. (more…)

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Deafheaven / Gatekeeper / Trauma Ray (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 12, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Deafheaven, Gatecreeper, Philadelphia, PA, Trauma Ray, Union Transfer on May 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 12,2025] Deafheaven / Gatekeeper / Trauma Ray

This was the most embarrassing reason I’ve ever had for missing a show.  I thought it was the 13th, but it was actually the 12th.  I just wrote down the wrong date in my calendar.  WTF!

I had missed Deafheaven last year when they came around (scheduling conflict) so I was all about going to this one.  I only found out because I couldn’t get a ticket for my son online so I wrote the venue and they said sales were closed because the show was the previous night.  Holy crap.

Gatecreeper are an old-school death metal band from Arizona who formed in 2013.  They are loud and growly.  I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed them for the entire set.  But I would have enjoyed the first opener.

Trauma Ray opened for Panchiko last year and after listening to them I really wanted to see them

Among the current wave of shoegaze revivalists, Fort Worth’s trauma ray rank as high as any at capturing its complexity, intensity, and expressive devastation.   One of trauma ray’s greatest gifts is their ability to make doomy, sledgehammer heaviness sound like an ear-worm, without production tricks or gimmicks: “Riff, verse, chorus, three guitar parts – that’s all you need.

Once again, Deafheaven picks two diverse opening bands that each match their sound in their own way.

 

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Joseph / Tune-Yards [FREE AT NOON] (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia Pa, May 8, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Joseph, Philadelphia, PA, tUnE-yArDs, World Cafe Live on May 8, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 8, 2025] Joseph / Tune-Yards [FREE AT NOON]

I had a ticket to this Free at Noon and drove into Philly to see it.

I have seen both Joseph and Tune-Yards and enjoyed them both, although I was more interested in seeing Tune-Yards.  I’ve never seen a Free at Noon with two bands before and wasn’t really sure how this would work–but this was part of NON-COMM so who knew how things worked at that.

Joseph was a trio, but Alison had recently left (amicably) and so Joseph was now a duo.  Tune-Yards was also a duo Merrill Garbus and multi-instrumentalist Nate Brenner.  They played all new songs except for one older track.

In total, Tune-Yards played six songs and Joseph played five.

But I didn’t see any of it.  Traffic was insane and I didn’t get anywhere near the venue until quarter after and since it was NON-COMM, there was no parking to be had.  So, I blew the whole thing off and grabbed some Federal Donuts for lunch instead.

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Tune-yards / JayWood (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, May 7, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in JayWood, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, tUnE-yArDs on May 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 7, 2025] Tune-Yards /JayWood

I saw Tune-Yards in 2018 and liked them well enough.  I hadn’t really considered seeing them for a while, but I was enjoying the new songs I’d heard from them.  But this show sold out in a minute.  I mean it’s not that surprising.  Last time I saw them at Union Transfer, and this one was at Johnny Brenda’s.

When this sold out, I tried to see Tune-Yards for their Free at Noon the day after, but the traffic was so bad I missed them.

And then later in the summer, when they played the XPoNential Festival,we arrived too late to see them–so I ‘m really just not meant to see them again, I guess.

JayWood is the stage name of Jeremy Haywood-Smith, a Canadian musician from Winnipeg, Manitoba whose music blends soul, funk, hip hop, indie rock and psychedelic rock influences.

I mean, on paper this guy is perfect for me, but I didn’t really like the sound all that much.  It felt too much like bedroom R&B to me.  Oh well.

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