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Archive for the ‘Brother Bird’ Category

Kevin Devine / The New Amsterdams / Brother Bird (First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA, May 19, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Brother Bird, First Unitarian Church, Kevin Devine, Philadelphia, PA, The Get Up Kids, The New Amsterdams on May 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 19, 2023] Kevin Devine / The New Amsterdams featuring Matt Pryor / Brother Bird

I’ve been a fan of Kevin Devine for a few years.  I feel like I’ve seen him a bunch because he so often plays around here.  And yet I have only seen him three time (twice solo and once with his Goddamn Band).  I would love to see him again especially with his band.

This show was intriguing–he was playing his album Make the Clocks Move (recently re-released) plus more.  The posters made it unclear whether he would be playing with the New Amsterdams or not.

From what I can gather, Kevin was solo, with an occasional guest.

But this show was the First Unitarian Church, a venue that I will not go to again.  So I missed out on this night.  This night was also my son’s prom night so I didn’t make any other plans.

I had never heard of The New Amsterdams.  They are a project of Matt Pryor, the lead singer of The Get Up Kids.  This is his more folkie/mellow side.  But as soon as he started singing, I recognized his voice right away.

The New Amsterdams were Matt Pryor and (according to Country Standard Time) “a few backing musicians.”  He/they were playing the album Worse for the Wear (plus more).

Opening for them was Brother Bird (Caroline Swon, who was a The Voice Season 4 contender).  She played solo acoustic.  She has a very pleasant voice, although the above review says “the songs ended up being a bit too similar … more variety would have suited Brother Bird.”

The review also noted that Brother Bird was a utility player throughout the night, showing up during the sets of both Devine and The New Amsterdams.

Here’s a Kevin Devine song from Country Standard Time filmed at Brighton Music Hall with a hilarious introduction about Boise Bob, Elliot Smith, Kurt Cobain and COVID.

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Kevin Devine / The New Amsterdams / Brother Bird (Crossroads, Garwood, NJ, May 18, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Brother Bird, First Unitarian Church, Kevin Devine, Philadelphia, PA, The New Amsterdams on May 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 18, 2023] Kevin Devine / The New Amsterdams featuring Matt Pryor / Brother Bird

I’ve been a fan of Kevin Devine for a few years.  I feel like I’ve seen him a bunch because he so often plays around here.  And yet I have only seen him three time (twice solo and once with his Goddamn Band).  I would love to see him again especially with his band.

This show was intriguing–he was playing his album Make the Clocks Move (recently re-released) plus more.  The posters made it unclear whether he would be playing with the New Amsterdams or not.

From what I can gather, Kevin was solo, with an occasional guest.

But once again, Kevin Devine has scheduled a local show on the same night as three other shows I wanted to see.  This happened in April of last year as well–three other shows that I had wanted to go to. Tonight’s were The New Pornographers, Richard Thompson and Acid Mothers Temple (who won out).  This show was in Garwood, a local(ish) town that I hope to see more shows at. I’m bummed I couldn’t make this one as it sounds like a great night.

I had never heard of The New Amsterdams.  They are a project of Matt Pryor, the lead singer of The Get Up Kids.  This is his more folkie/mellow side.  But as soon as he started singing, I recognized his voice right away.

The New Amsterdams were Matt Pryor and (according to Country Standard Time) “a few backing musicians.”  He/they were playing the album Worse for the Wear (plus more).

Opening for them was Brother Bird (Caroline Swon, who was a The Voice Season 4 contender).  She played solo acoustic.  She has a very pleasant voice, although the above review says “the songs ended up being a bit too similar … more variety would have suited Brother Bird.”

The review also noted that Brother Bird was a utility player throughout the night, showing up during the sets of both Devine and The New Amsterdams.

Here’s The New Amsterdams (clip from Country Standard Time) filmed at Brighton Music Hall.

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Trace Mountains (House of Independents, Asbury Park, NJ, March 11, 2019) [PINEGROVE]

Posted in Another Michael, Asbury Park, NJ, Brother Bird, House of Independents, LVL UP, Pinegrove, Set in New Jersey!, Trace Mountains on March 11, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 11, 2019] Trace Mountains

Pinegrove played three nights at House of Independents.  Each night featured Poppies opening and then a second band in the middle slot.  Saturday was Another Michael, Sunday was Brother Bird and Monday was Trace Mountains.  Interestingly, I was supposed to see Brother Bird open for Lily & Madeleine a few weeks earlier, so I have now missed Brother Bird twice.

I hadn’t heard any of them, so that didn’t have any impact on which night I wanted to go.  Originally it would have been Another Michael.  But since I switched dates to Monday, I got to see Trace Mountains.

I also had no idea that I had recently seen the lead singer and guitarist of Trace Mountains, for he is Dave Benton of LVL UP.  I was trying to remember whose songs I liked best when I saw LVL UP.  All three singers sang and I enjoyed Benton’s more deadpan style of singing.  It’s interesting that Trace Mountains was supposed to be a somewhat quieter side project and yet in my experience all of these songs were more rocking than his LVL UP songs.

Trace Mountains is (was?) his solo project.  For this show the band was a four piece with a great lead guitarist and a solid rhythm section.

I can’t find the names of any of the players, but I really enjoyed the guitarist in the ocher cardigan who stood in front of me.  He also plays keys.  At one point he and Benton shares soloing duties which sounded pretty great.

Indeed, all of the songs were enjoyable.  And there was a good variety in the songs.  I didn’t catch song title, but while there were some real Stomping cuts they also changed up their delivery style with slower rockers like this one. I was also intrigued by Benton’s voice, because it sounded quite different depending on the song.  And yet it never sounded quite as deadpan as he did with LVL UP.

Benton was an entertaining frontman as well.  He joked (or maybe not) that he was happy to be there except that he was missing The Bachelor.  There was also a funny moment in the middle of their set when someone started chanting “one more song” like they do for encores.  But mid-set it came across as very funny and Benton was certainly in on the joke, “Sorry to disappoint you….”

I enjoyed their set quite a bit.

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