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Archive for the ‘Built to Spill’ Category

Built to Spill / Guerilla Toss (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, December 18, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Built to Spill, Guerrilla Toss, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on December 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 18, 2025] Built to Spill / Guerilla Toss

I love Built to Spill.  I’ve seen them half a dozen times and they’re always fun.  Doug Martsch doesn’t really do anything in stage, except shred like a maniac, but somehow the shows are always fun. For the longest time I had seen Modest Mouse and Built to Spill the same number of times.  But the last two Built to Spill shows I’ve had to miss for one reason or another.   I was hoping to get BTS to catch up, but it didn’t happen.  Hope the come back next year.

I had missed Guerilla Toss back in October when they did their headline show.  So I was excited that they were opening on this Built to Spill tour.  Although I missed a bunch of shows because of the surgery, this was the only one I was really bummed about.

 

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Built to Spill: There’s Nothing Wrong with Love 30th Anniversary Tour / Kicking Giant (Franklin Music Hall, September 6, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Built to Spill, Franklin Music Hall, Kicking Giant, Philadelphia, PA on September 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 6, 2024] Built to Spill / Kicking Giant

I have seen Built to Spill five times and have enjoyed every show.  This tour promotes the 30th anniversary of the album There’s Nothing Wrong with Love.  I thought I knew this album pretty well, but it turns out that I really started getting into them with the album AFTER this one.

But I was still really excited to see this show.  They announced a show at Franklin Music Hall which bummed me out because I don’t really like that venue (and it was the same night that I had tickets for at least 3 other shows).  But then they announced this show at Asbury Lanes which was awesome.  I grabbed a ticket right away.

I couldn’t go to that show, which did leave this show.  But I already had tickets to see St. Vincent, so I’m missing this show.

Last time that BtS toured, they came back through the area a second time about four months later (Philly in May, Bethlehem in September), so I secretly hope that they will do that again maybe early next year?  But they played a lot of shows on this tour, so I’m not holding my breath.

The name Kicking Giant sounded familiar (more…)

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Built to Spill: There’s Nothing Wrong with Love 30th Anniversary Tour / Floating Witch’s Head (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, August 31, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Built to Spill, Floating Witch’s Head on August 31, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 31, 2024] Built to Spill / Floating Witch’s Head

I have seen Built to Spill five times and have enjoyed every show.  This tour promotes the 30th anniversary of the album There’s Nothing Wrong with Love.  I thought I knew this album pretty well, but it turns out that I really started getting into them with the album AFTER this one.

But I was still really excited to see this show.  They announced a show at Franklin Music Hall which bummed me out because I don’t really like that venue (and it was the same night that I had tickets for at least 3 other shows).  But then they announced this show at Asbury Lanes which was awesome.  I grabbed a ticket right away.

Then I found out that my son was going back to school that day.  So that would be kind of weird to drop him off and then rush off to a show.   Then it turned out he didn’t have to go until the following day, but it would have been even worse to go out on his last night at home.  SO I blew off this show.

Last time that BtS toured, they came back through the area a second time about four months later (Philly in May, Bethlehem in September), so I secretly hope that they will do that again maybe early next year?  But they played a lot of shows on this tour, so I’m not holding my breath.

I’d never heard of Floating Witch’s Head who are

a new Boise-based project concocted by Travis Ward (guitars & vocals) with Michael Mitchell (drums & percussion) and Eric Gilbert (keyboards & head shakes). RIYL: garage, psych, swamp, proto-punk, acid rock, beards, hot peppers, pickles, parties, nice people

The last few tours I’ve had a love/hate relationship with the opening bands.  Last tour I loved Blood Lemon but hated Wetface.  Floating Witch’s Head I’m feeling ambivalent about.  The description above is pretty accurate and I do tend to like this kind of music, but the song I listened to is really pretty standard fare, nothing that excited me.

 

 

 

 

 

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Built to Spill (Musikfest Cafe, Bethlehem, PA, September 4, 2022)

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Blood Lemon, Built to Spill, Cate Le Bon, Daniel Johnston, Musikfest, Prism Bitch, Union Transfer on September 6, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 4, 2022] Built to Spill

I know that a Built to Spill show is going to be great.  But sometimes the crowd makes it hard to enjoy.  I was fairly sure this show would be poorly attended, and yet there were a lot of (drunk) people who knew Built to Spill very well.  Are they more popular than I realize?

I had seen them just four months earlier, but the opportunity to see them again at the reasonably close SteelStacks in Bethlehem meant that I was going to see them again.  I enjoyed his new lineup.  This is the third, possibly fourth lineup I’ve seen play with Doug.  Melanie Radford is now on bass (she also plays in Blood Lemon) and Teresa Esguerra on drums.

I love that Esguerra was on the side of the stage facing the other two (that’s how his band was set up with the previous trio as well).  This allowed for Esguerra  and Radford to communicate with each other while Doug was jamming.  And they had outstanding chemistry.

I hadn’t really gotten to see Radford much during Blood Lemon, but she totally let loose with Built to Spill.  Her bass playing was great and her sound was outstanding.  She also seemed to create some of the second-guitar melodies (instead of the bass lines) to make the songs sound even fuller. And then she would jump back with her hair flying a smile on her face.

I had seen Esguerra with Prism Bitch, but she was even more impressive tackling songs that I knew.  She was fast and powerful and seemed to be the engine pushing the songs forward not just keeping pace with them. (more…)

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Wetface (Musikfest Cafe, Bethlehem, PA, September 4, 2022) [BUILT TO SPILL]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Blood Lemon, Built to Spill, Musikfest Cafe, Wetface on September 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 4, 2022] Wetface

When I realized that I was going to be late for this show, I hoped beyond reason that Wetface would go on first and I would miss his set instead of Blood Lemon.  I realize that Blood Lemon bassist Melanie Radford plays bass in this incarnation of Built to Spill and probably needs some downtime between sets, but I really did not want to sit through Wetface again.

I considered leaving the room and looking at merch or just going for a walk but I didn’t really want to lose my place.  Although, realistically, my place kinda sucked because the people around me were awful.  I should have stuck with my guts.

The drunken Bethlehem crowd absolutely loved Wetface.  And I’m going to say that I found him more entertaining at this venue than the first time.  Perhaps because my expectations were so low.

He had a lot of technical difficulties which he played up and which he had fun with.  I also got a kick out of him throwing his last three T-shirts (that’s all that left of my merch) into the crowd.  “But, hey, they are all smalls, so if you’re a big person and you just grabbed that shirt, I am happy for you that you got something free at a concert, but kindly give it to someone who will fit it).

He played a song and when it was done, someone requested that he play it again.  So he did.

I am quite aware that I need to lighten up at shows, but yes, I would have been very happy to have missed this set.

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Built to Spill (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 11, 2022)

Posted in Blood Lemon, Built to Spill, Cate Le Bon, Daniel Johnston, Philadelphia, PA, Prism Bitch, Union Transfer on May 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 11, 2022] Built to Spill [rescheduled from July 30, 2020]

I feel like I have seen Built to Spill a million times, but this was my fifth show.

The first time I saw him was at Union Transfer back in 2015 and he had a five piece band.  That was a couple of iterations ago and now he was back with a new band.

On this newly announced tour, his whole band was going to be different.  In fact, I have seen at least three different lineups for the band over the years.  This tour was going to feature drummer Teresa Esguerra of Prism Bitch (who opened for Built To Spill last time) and bassist Melanie Radford from openers Blood Lemon.

The last time I promised myself I wouldn’t get too close to the stage, but I did.  The problem with being so close is the way Doug Martsch has his guitar set up.  His amp is right next to him and it is so loud.  From where I was you could barely hear anything else.  Of course I’m there to watch Doug play, so it’s not too bad.  But I promised myself I would stand back to fully appreciate his band.

I love that Esguerra was on the side of the stage facing the other two (that’s how his band was set up with the previous trio as well).  This allowed for Esguerra  and Radford to communicate with each other while Doug was jamming.  And they had outstanding chemistry. (more…)

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Wetface (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 11, 2022) [BUILT TO SPILL]

Posted in Blood Lemon, Built to Spill, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, Wetface on May 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 11, 2022] Wetface

Wetface is the one-man-band project of Montreal based songwriter Jordan Minkoff.   He writes and plays on a mid 80’s Yamaha organ, douses “bright and ambitiously crafted pop music with layers of wonky digital strings and orchestration.”  That’s according to his label.

According to me he is a tedious, goofy in a bad way singer who is very good at playing the keyboard.  There didn’t seem to be anything ambitious about his songs which were very far from pop.  He sang often in a crazy falsetto.  It’s possible he was making things up as he went along.  The sound (’80s Yamaha) was so cheesy most of the time that I had to assume he was joking, but that the joke just wasn’t all that funny because the sound was so pervasive.

I wanted to see if I was alone in really disliking this set.  I see that the reviewer from White Eagle Hall (the show I had tickets to two nights later but which I did not go to) loved him.  Thought he was hilarious both in his song craft and his banter.

Turns out that Jordan Minkoff created some of Built to Spill’s recent videos and Doug Martsch is a big fan (he also really liked Daniel Johnston, so…).  Martsch called Wetface up on stage to sing with them in Jersey City.  Maybe that would have made me like him more.  But honestly I couldn’t wait for his set to be over.

 

 

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Built to Spill / Wetface / Blood Lemon (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, May 12, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Blood Lemon, Built to Spill, Jersey City, NJ, Wetface, White Eagle Hall on May 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 12, 2022] Built to Spill / Wetface / Blood Lemon [rescheduled from July 31, 2020]

I saw Built to Spill the night before in Union Transfer.  Originally I was more excited  to see them at white Eagle Hall, but I had a Sinead O’Connor concert conflict (which of course didn’t happen, but just in case).

Since I had just seen them the night before, it didn’t see worth going out the following night for what would have been largely the same show (good as it was).

I also really didn’t like Wetface and didn’t want to sit through that set while waiting for Built to Spill.

I did really enjoy Blood Lemon though and would happily see them again, especially since I arrived a little late and missed some of their set.

For ease of searching, I include: Le Almeida (drums), Joao Casaes (bass) and Joao Luiz (guitar), Transfusao Noise Records, Orua.

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Blood Lemon (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 11, 2022) [BUILT TO SPILL]

Posted in Blood Lemon, Built to Spill, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, Wetface on May 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 11, 2022] Blood Lemon

When Built to Spill announced a new tour, I was pretty excited.  I mean, a Built to Spill tour is always exciting.  But this one was particularly interesting because he had an entirely new touring band with him.  So I bought tickets for two shows sort of back to back in May.  I wound up not going to the White Eagle Hall show, but I did make the Union Transfer show.

It was my first introduction to Blood Lemon.

Blood Lemon are a trio from Boise (just like Built to Spill) consisting of singer/guitarist Lisa Simpson, singer/bassist Melanie Radford and percussionist Lindsey Lloyd. They were described as having an alt 90’s sound with some heavy riffage.  I arrived a little ate for the show and walked in during the first of second song.

Whatever song it was, I was blown away by how much they rocked.  Radford had (more…)

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Built to Spill / Prism Bitch / Itchy Kitty (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, April 28, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Blood Lemon, Built to Spill, Itchy Kitty, Philadelphia, PA, Prism Bitch, Union Transfer on April 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 28, 2023] Built to Spill / Prism Bitch / Itchy Kitty

I saw Built to Spill twice last year.  I was surprised to see that they were touring again so soon, but it had been all of seven months.

This was supposed to have been a very busy concert week for me.  But after doing so much tree cutting and hauling this week, I was too tired to go even to see Doug and his band.

For the previous shows, the opening band was Blood Lemon which featured BTS bass player Melanie Radford. This time, one of the opening bands was Prism Bitch which BTS featured drummer Teresa Esguerra.

Prism Bitch was fantastic back in 2019.  They’d have been great to see live again.

The second opening band was Itchy Kitty.  Itchy Kitty are a band from Spokane, Wa. They specialize in a hyperkinetic blend of punk traditionalism and a sort of mangled glam rock pageantry. Their music careens from whiplash inducing riffage to flash delirium freak outs.  Originally, they were a cat-centered band with songs about cats and (if photos are correct) the drummer wearing a cat mask.  But now they just rock and scream and rawk.

I’m a little bummed about missing this, but I’m sure I’ll see them again.

 

 

The first time I saw him was at Union Transfer back in 2015 and he had a five piece band.  That was a couple of iterations ago and now he was back with a new band.

On this newly announced tour, his whole band was going to be different.  In fact, I have seen at least three different lineups for the band over the years.  This tour was going to feature drummer Teresa Esguerra of Prism Bitch (who opened for Built To Spill last time) and bassist Melanie Radford from openers Blood Lemon.

The last time I promised myself I wouldn’t get too close to the stage, but I did.  The problem with being so close is the way Doug Martsch has his guitar set up.  His amp is right next to him and it is so loud.  From where I was you could barely hear anything else.  Of course I’m there to watch Doug play, so it’s not too bad.  But I promised myself I would stand back to fully appreciate his band.

I love that Esguerra was on the side of the stage facing the other two (that’s how his band was set up with the previous trio as well).  This allowed for Esguerra  and Radford to communicate with each other while Doug was jamming.  And they had outstanding chemistry. (more…)

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