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Archive for the ‘Philadelphia, PA’ Category

Ethel Cain / 9million (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 6, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in 9million, Ethel Cain, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on September 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 6, 2025] Ethel Cain / 9million

My daughter has been a fan of Ethel Cain for a while.  We got to see her two years ago at All Things Go, but I didn’t know her at all, and I think my daughter was just getting into her.  The crowd was bananas for Ethel, and I feel like if we had tried harder, we could have gotten closer and been a real part of the show with her.

Once this tour was announced, I set out to get two tickets immediately.  And I was totally shut out.  It sold out in minutes.  I kept checking over the months to see if anything became available and there were 3 seats–each priced at over $400 so never mind.

Then I found out that a friend of ours had an extra ticket and she was trying to sell it.  So I told her I’d take it and gave my daughter a lovely surprise.

I was bummed to discover a day before the show that there were now two tickets available at a reasonable price, but I already had plans to go to the Bolero Block Party.

So, she went with them and told me that Ethel was amazing.

Even though they arrived early, they missed 9million entirely because they were on the merch line (for over 90 minutes!).  According to King’s Raleigh,

9Million is a Toronto shoegaze band helmed by the multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Matthew Tomasi. Best known for his work with alt pop icons like Ethel Cain

So that explains the connection, because I find 9million to be way way heavier than Ethel (and far more my scene).  I would have been really bummed to have missed them if I was on the merch line, but what they didn’t know didn’t hurt them and they didn’t mind missing them.

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Rilo Kiley / Natalie Bergman (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 4, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Natalie Bergman, Philadelphia, PA, Rilo Kiley, The Met Philadelphia on September 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOTTTEND: September 4, 2025] Rilo Kiley / Natalie Bergman

The announcement of a Rilo Kiley tour was major news!  I was pretty excited about even though I didn’t really know the band.  But I knew and liked Jenny Lewis and assumed her old band would be similarly great.

But I listened to a few of their songs and didn’t really like them.  So, I saved some money and a night out (actually I went to Poppy instead).

Natalie Bergman is a singer from Chicago. She has an interesting, lovely voice but I didn’t really care for her music that much.  I mean, I wasn’t going to this show anyhow, but I do like to hear what the openers sound like.

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Swans / Little Annie & Paul Wallfisch (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, September 4, 2025) DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Little Annie, Paul Wallfisch, Philadelphia, PA, Swans, Union Transfer on September 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 4, 2025] Swans / Little Annie & Paul Wallfisch

Last year I saw Swans for the first time.  It was intense and wonderful.

This year, the band announced that they would tour once more and this would be the last time in this format:

This is to let you know that there will be zero additional shows/tours added to the 2 Swans tours listed here. This is the final tour, the last chance to experience this expansive sound and ensemble. The players: Kristof Hahn, Norman Westberg, Dana Schechter, Phil Puleo, Larry Mullins, Christopher Pravdica, Michael Gira. This marks about 15 years of this phase of Swans. It’s been wonderful to be inside such an overwhelming, total sonic experience, but it’s time to end it. Following these 2 tours Swans will continue in a much different, stripped down version. I’m not exactly sure what form the music will take, but I’m excited to find out.

I put this show on my maybe pile because I did want to go but if something better came along, I’d be okay with missing it, since I  had just seen it the year before.

And then Poppy announced a show near us and I got tickets for my daughter and I.

Swans wound up playing an entirely different set then when I saw them, but since most Swans music is of the same ilk, I pretty much know what the show was like (glorious, no doubt). (more…)

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Karina Rykman (McLaughlin Norcross Memorial Dell, Haddon Heights, NJ, September 3, 2025)

Posted in David Bakey, Haddon Heights, NJ, Karina Rykman, McLaughlin Norcross Memorial Dell, Philadelphia, PA, Summer Concert Series on September 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 3, 2025] Karina Rykman 

We didn’t really plan to go to  this show, especially since it was right at the beginning of the school year.  But, since these shows have a strict 9:30 curfew, we decided to drive the hour and get a free show with Karina Rykman!  Because who doesn’t love a night of Karina!

The amazing thing is that Karina has recently posted videos of her in front of these giant festival crowds, and here we were surrounded by a few hundred people and able to get right up next to the stage.

Karina came out and the joy and good vibes started right away.  It’s unclear whether the crowd knew her or not (although there were a lot of hippie types with jam band shirts on).  The trio absolutely fills the space with guitar wizard Adam November filling the space with his effects and soloing skills and drummer Chris Corsico keeping things together but adding some fun too.

The opening instrumental jamming of the new song Lagos > Dirty South was just fantastic.  A jamming/funky/super fun opening which got a whole lot of people off their feet and standing in front of the stage.  This blocked our view and so we took this as a chance to get up and dance (well, sway, really).  Which also meant getting right up on stage to see even better.

I always wonder what people think when they shift from the rocking instrumentals to her far more poppy and gentle song-songs.  Her voice is so soft an airy (very different from her speaking voice).  But these songs are a delightful breather before the grooviness of Plants comes on (with Adam November showcasing all of the cool sounds he can get from his gear).

Up next was another new song, Change My Flight (I guess a new album is on the way?) followed by the Ween cover Springtheme.  When she was singing the lyrics I was think they didn’t sound like her lyrics and now I see that it’s a Ween cover.  It segued perfectly into City Kids.  The crowd loved City Kids and mid-song she brought up Jeremy Kaplan of Dogs in a Pile to play a lengthy melodica solo [no wonder she didn’t have time to play everything on the setlist]. (more…)

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David Bakey (McLaughlin Norcross Memorial Dell, Haddon Heights, NJ, September 3, 2025) [KARINA RYKMAN]

Posted in Haddon Heights, NJ, Karina Rykman, McLaughlin Norcross Memorial Dell, Philadelphia, PA, Summer Concert Series on September 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 3, 2025] David Bakey

We didn’t really plan to go to  this show, especially since it was right at the beginning of the school year.  But, since these shows have a strict 9:30 curfew, we decided to drive the hour and get a free show with Karina Rykman!

It was announced that David Bakey would be opening.  Bakey is a NJ based guitarist (his father apparently works for Camden County).  I had never heard of him (and I would guess that he and Karina might not have even met as neither one acknowledged the other from the stage).

Bakey is more than a guitarist.  He plays a phenomenal style in which he uses both hands on the fretboard, but also created percussive sounds and chords with his right hand while his left is playing fairly complicated melodies.

He played six songs, all of which were pretty long and with multiple components.

For the first two songs he sat and played acoustic guitar.  For the next one he stood and played the electric guitar.  Then came the show stopper–he played his electric with his left hand and with his right, he played a guitar that was on a table.  So he was basically tapping both guitars at the same time. It was amazing to watch.

He ended the set with two more acoustic guitar songs, one of which was on the 12 string and sounded glorious.

I don’t know what the songs were called (he didn’t say much).  Heh, as I look at his album online, it seems that most of his songs are fairly short, so maybe he played many short pieces instead of a few longer ones.

It was a gorgeous night in the park and his music was suitably delightful.

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Kevin McDonald: Superstar (with Dave Hill opening) (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, August 27, 2025)

Posted in Dave Hill, John Wlaysewski, Kevin McDonald, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, Robin Rothman, Scott Thompson, The Kids in the Hall on August 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 27, 2025] Kevin McDonald: Superstar

I saw Kevin McDonald do a bit of storytelling last year.  In this very venue.

This year he was back again, this time bringing his musical Kevin McDonald: Superstar to the MOCA.

I didn’t really know what to expect.  I had read that it was a musical, but what does that mean?  Well, when the show started, Kevin and guitarist John Wlaysewski came up on stage and play 2 songs that Kevin wrote.  One was all about grass (not that kind of grass, backyard grass).  Then he told a long story about Johnny Rotten and an AIDS test (which he told in a slightly different style last year but which was still very funny).  And then another song “Just Keep Dancing.”

Then Dave Hill came out on stage.  I hadn’t heard of Dave, but he is apparently quite well known (well known enough to play a ripping guitar solo version of the Canadian and American national anthems before a hockey game (easily found om YouTube).  Dave is also a comedian.  He came up on stage and played a hilariously self-deprecating character (who was secretly loving all of the fame).

He told a few stories and then played some songs.  Even though he is a massively talented guitarist, his songs were hilarious.  He played Danzig’s Mother by getting the sound just right on his guitar, singing the word Mother and the first line and then mumbling his way through to the next time he screamed Mother (just like everyone else who has no idea what the words are).  When he took requests, someone (of course) shouted Freebird (gag), and he said, ok you asked for it I’m playing the whole thing.  He played 30 seconds of the intro and said, there you get the picture.  After a very long song/story about being a part of the biggest meat heist ever, he stayed up on staged and introduced the players for the evening.

It was John and Dave on guitars, Joe Moore as the narrator and Robin Rothman as a few characters (she has an amazing voice). (more…)

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Coheed & Cambria / Taking Back Sunday / Foxing (Mann Center, Philadelphia PA, August 27, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Coheed & Cambria, Foxing, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Taking Back Sunday on August 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 27, 2025] Coheed & Cambria / Taking Back Sunday / Foxing

I like Coheed and Cambria more in theory than practice.  I have one album by them, but I love the whole concept of everything they do.  They are a complicated prog metal band and it takes some time to get into their new stuff.  Plus, their music is all part of a lengthy story.  Lead dude Claudio Sanchez has a grand vision and it’s easy to get left out of it.

I have thought about seeing them a few times (when I blew them off in 2022, a guy in Salem, MA said I was a fool for not going), but I’m never compelled enough to go–especially if I have a few other shows around it.

This appears to have been a co-headline tour with Taking Back Sunday having the other spot.  Taking Back Sunday has been around forever and yet I don’t think I know a single song by them.  I know they’re an old school emo band, but I wasn’t really into that scene in the late 90s, early 2000s, so I missed a lot of these bands.  And I’m not willing to dive into their catalog at this time.

Foxing seems like an odd band to have on the bill as well.  Although Foxing is a pretty odd band themselves.  I have seen them twice and they were absolutely fantastic live–even though I barely knew any of their music.  I considered going to this show just for Foxing, but that would have been very silly indeed.

Maybe one of these years I’ll get to a C&C show.  And I would definitely like to get to another Foxing show.

 

 

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Wisp / Dream Ivory / Aldn (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, August 23, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Aldn, Dream Ivory, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, Wisp on August 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 23, 2025] Wisp / Dream Ivory / Aldn

I had never heard of the band Wisp.  They were announced as an opening band for the System of a Down show so I checked them out and enjoyed them.  I was looking forward to seeing them [UPDATE: we arrived too late and missed them entirely].

I was absolutely fascinated that they (she) had a headlining gig at Union Transfer a few days before the show (apparently Wisp has a big online following).

But this show was smack dab in the middle of our vacation so there was no way I could go anyway.

Luckily Gloss was at the show and recorded all three bands (see below). (more…)

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LSD and the Search for God / A Country Western (Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, August 22, 2025)

Posted in A Country Western, LSD and the Search for God, Philadelphia, PA, The Ukie Club on August 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 22, 2025] LSD and the Search for God / A Country Western

I love the band name LSD and the Search for God.  I like it enough that I considered going to  this show without knowing anything about them.  It turned out to be during our vacation so I obviously didn’t.

LSD and the Search for God has only put out two EPs since 2005 (the second one in 2016).  But evidently they have a cult following (my daughter happened to ask me about them a couple of weeks ago after hearing about them on TikTok).

They play a delightful shoegaze style and I think I would have really enjoyed seeing them in a small place like the Ukie Club.

A Country Western is from Philly.  I hadn’t heard of them, but this review from Post Trash is intriguing:

A Country Western are always trying something new. … Their first work they put out, Phenom is very ambient in nature, with the mix of the few vocals blending into the downtrodden sound. The self-titled EP has a lot more forceful rhythms with beats akin to trip-hop. The EP is often grating in its sound but in an unaggressive abrasive fashion. birdfeeder, the band’s first album, took a more upbeat approach to the slowcore sound, including more succinct song structures similar to their friends in feeble little horse.  On A Country Western’s new album Life on the Lawn they once again tweak their sound into something new and dial up the energy ever so much more. They keep the general vibe reflective of their namesake, but instead of using the stylings of slowcore, they opt for a more straight forward alternative country rock approach.

That’s an interesting review, but I’ve listened to a few songs from their new album and I don’t hear any country in their sound (which is fine with me).

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clipping. (The Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, August 15, 2025)

Posted in Captain Ahab, clipping., Daveed Diggs, Fatboi Sharif, Hamilton, Open Mike Eagle, Philadelphia, PA, The Ukie Club, Ukrainian American Citizens' Association, Unnecessary Surgery on August 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 15, 2025] clipping.

I haven’t been to the Ukie Club for two years.  A lot of good bands play there and it’s easy to get to and to park around, but something about the club feels so young (although Ty Segall did play there and he’s not young).  The last time I was there, I wrote:

Wow was it hot in The Ukie Club.

And this time I say, holy crap was it hot in the Ukie Club!  I sweated from the second I walked in and my shirt was soaked so thoroughly that it was still wet when I got home an hour after the show ended.  There were a/c units on, but they did nothing near the stage.

But even sweating constantly couldn’t ruin a fantastic show.

We saw clipping. open for The Flaming Lips back in 2017.  They were supposed to play Philly during COVID and now, finally, after eight years, they have returned.

For the last show I had just learned about them (and liked them) about a month before this show.  And I wrote

Lest this seem like a vanity project for Diggs, producers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes [Snipes is a sound designer, film composer, and experimental musician who records glitchy, snarky pop-deconstructionist noise music under the name Captain Ahab; Snipes and Hutson are also in the noise band Unnecessary Surgery] are the forces behind all of the music.  The group began in 2009 as a remix project, with Hutson and Snipes taking a cappellas of mainstream rap artists and making power electronics and noise remixes of them to amuse themselves. Diggs joined in 2010 and began to write his own raps over their compositions.  By the way, if we can trust Wikipedia, Diggs and Hutson met in grade school, and Hutson and Snipes were college roommates.  And for the record, Hamilton premiered in Jan 2015.

Unlike last time, I was right up front for this show.  I could have gotten closer but I was enjoying leaning against the pole that’s about six feet from the stage. (more…)

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