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Archive for the ‘Destroyer’ Category

Destroyer / Jennifer Castle (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 12, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Dan Bejar, Destroyer, Jennifer Castle, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on October 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 12, 2025] Destroyer / Jennifer Castle

I had tickets to see Destroyer here in 2022, but other things got in the way.  After seeing Destroyer open for Father John Misty, I was curious to see how he would tour for this new album (a huge band or a small band?)

Well, we had tickets for My Morning Jacket the two nights before this show and even though I wanted to go to this one, there was just know way I could do it.  So I missed out on Dan and his band again,  But I’m sure he’ll be back again.

Incidentally, here’s a review of his show (well, actually, more of him than of the show) in San Francisco

He’s a notoriously shy performer—Early reviews of Destroyer all recall him coming on stage already drunk, if not drink-in-hand prepared for it.  English major dropout, lover of French New Wave films and 40s era jazz. The Vancouver-based artist stands aloof on stage, staring at seemingly nobody in particular, in what seems like an attempt to pretend the crowd isn’t there. He sips his beer in between songs and crouches down, closing his eyes while his bandmates do the rest. Something tells me that this is his most comfortable and preferred way of performing.

And it answered my question about his live band

Joined by the two guitarists, the bassist and drummer were feverish and impossible to take your eyes off of. The keys player and trumpeter (with his own pedal board, mind you!) took the edges of the stage, with Bejar in the center.

So I know what I missed.  And I’d like to see it again.

Jennifer Castle is a Toronto based singer songwriter.  She released two albums under the name Castlemusic.  She has played with everyone from U.S. Girls to Fucked Up.  Her 2014 album has chamber folk and psychedelic components an her previous album had psychedelic folk elements.

She sounds interesting, although the few songs I’ve listened to are far more folk than psychedelic.  And she’s a little too slow for my tastes.

 

 

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Father John Misty (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, February 28, 2025)

Posted in Destroyer, Father John Misty, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia on March 1, 2025| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 28, 2025] Father John Misty

Back in 2016, while touring his second album, Father John Misty played XPNFest.  I had been planning on going that day but for some reason couldn’t make it.  He wasn’t the only person I wanted to see, but I was interested in seeing him for sure.  And that’s the year that he had what I guess was a breakdown on stage.  As one person on reddit said

People came to see FJM and he gave them a 20 minute set without even playing a single song of his because what…it’s part of his “character”?

So I’ve been kind of against him since (I held the grudge a lot longer than WXPN did since they play his music all the time–and I know it’s stupid to hold a grudge since I wasn’t even there, but whatever).  The grudge finally ended this year with his great new album.  We enjoyed the new songs so much that we decided to see him at the Fillmore

Sadly, we arrived quite late.  Actually it wasn’t even that late–quite long before Destroyer went on.  But it was packed and we were very far back. I had no idea he would be that popular (or that the show would sell out).  The one fun thing is that I ran into an old school friend Susie and it was great seeing her and catching up with her.

After Destroyer, the crowd adjusted and damnit I was behind a tall dude for a bunch of the set.

I really liked his first two albums.  I grew a little tired of him for a while, but still enjoyed the singles that came later. (more…)

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Destroyer (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, February 28, 2025) [FATHER JOHN MISTY]

Posted in Destroyer, Father John Misty, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia on February 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 28, 2025] Destroyer

I bought tickets for this show long before I knew who the opener was.  I was pleased that Destroyer was opening.  Destroyer was the last show I saw before the pandemic shut everything down.

Dan Bejar, who is Destroyer, is an unusual guy.  He’s got the vibe of a lunge singer, but he sings rather unusual lyrics (and has a rather unique voice).  None of which leads to a band named Destroyer of course.

Last time I saw them there were six members on stage.  This time there were only two in addition to Dan.  There was a drummer (who also played keys while drumming!) and a guitarist.  And of course, Dan was up front singing in his unusual manner–Dan’s microphone stand is set up so that the microphone was at his waist.  Basically he held onto the stand almost like a cane when he sang, and sang more or less to the floor.  And when there were instrumental sections, he would squat down so all eyes were on the other two.

He’s an unusual guy for sure.  I don’t know if he won anyone over–the Fillmore is a much bigger venue than he usually plays in Philly.  He’s also unabashedly himself, so he doesn’t really seem to care if everyone likes him, because a lot of people do.

The arrangements were stripped down to be sure, but I really enjoyed them this way.

He’s playing a headline tour in October, and I may just have to go.

 

2025 2020
The Music Lovers ♥ Crimson Tide ¿
Tinseltown Swimming in Blood ⊄ Kinda Dark ¿
It’s Gonna Take an Airplane ♥ The Raven ¿
Painter in Your Pocket ♦ Cover From the Sun ⊄
Times Square ∇ Kaputt ⊗
Cue Synthesizer ¿ Times Square ∇
It Just Doesn’t Happen ¿ Bangkok ∇
Stay Lost ⊄ It Just Doesn’t Happen ¿
Chinatown ⊗ Cue Synthesizer ¿
Poor in Love ⊗ University Hill ¿
Tinseltown Swimming in Blood ⊄
Chinatown ⊗
European Oils ♦
foolssong ¿
Bay of Pigs (detail) ⊗
encore
Poor in Love ⊗
Looters’ Follies ♦

 

¿ = Have We Met (2020)
⊄ = Ken (2017)
∇ = Poison Season (2015)
⊗ = Kaputt (2011)
♦ = Destroyer’s Rubies (2006)
♥ = Your Blues (2004)

 

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Destroyer (solo) / Lightning Dust (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, April 4, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Black Mountain, Destroyer, Johnny Brenda's, Lightning Dust, Philadelphia, PA on April 4, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 4, 2024] Destroyer (solo) / Lightning Dust

Back in 2020, Destroyer was the last show I saw before everything shut down.  I bought tickets for them the last time they came to Philly (2022) but wound up going to Pup with my son that night instead.

This show was a solo show which, despite how much I enjoyed Dan Bejar, I was 100% not interested in.

I genuinely can’t imagine Destroyer without the rest of the band (doesn’t matter who is playing, I just want the extra musicians).  So I had no intention of going to this one.

Lightning Dust is a band I had forgotten about.  The band is a side project of Amber Webber and Joshua Wells, both members of Black Mountain, who I saw open for Primus a few years ago.

Unlike the heavy Black Mountain, Lightning Dust plays haunting, minimalist instrumentation with spooky, goth-like lyrics.

I have their 2013 album Fantasy, but honestly haven’t thought about them in about a decade.

I’ll bet it was a quiet, minimalist night.

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Destroyer / Rosali (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, May 6, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Dan Bejar, Destroyer, Philadelphia, PA, Rosali, Underground Arts on May 6, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 6, 2020] Destroyer / Rosali

It was just over two years ago that Destroyer was the last show I saw before the pandemic shut everything down.  So, Destroyer will always have a warm place in my heart because of that.  When this show was announced, I immediately bought tickets for it.

Then, over the next few weeks, SIX other shows were posted for that very same night.  Gogol Bordello, Sunflower Bean, Olivia Rodrigo (which sold out long before I could get a ticket), Lucius and Pup (which my son and I went to).

Pup was a big hit in my house and so we decided to go to that one.

I’m sure Dan and his team will be back for another tour in the not too distant future.

I saw Rosali open for Graham Coxon.

Here’s what I had to say about her in 2018

She is a Philadelphia-based singer songwriter with two albums out (her last album got some pretty glowing reviews).

She has a lovely voice which reminded me of Aimee Mann.  …  But the problem was that there were no hooks in her songs.

She also had very little stage presence.  She stated as much, confessing that stage banter wasn’t her thing.  No kidding.  One time she asked if anyone watched the news today, after some mild boos, she didn’t follow it up.  Every other time that she tuned, she was basically quiet.  In fact, she never said her name, the most basic thing you do when tuning your guitar.

The other problem was her guitar.  She was playing an electric guitar and was primarily playing slowly, picked notes.  But the settings of this guitar–so clean and sharp–were not helping with her voice at all, which was pretty and rather quiet.

She needed either some echo or vibrato or even an acoustic guitar to let the music resonate more.  She made a number of chord flubs which is no big deal but which really stood out since she was by herself and her guitar was so unforgiving.

I hope that her stage show has gotten better in the last four years, because I did really like her voice.

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Ryley Walker / Tonstartssbandht (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, March 15, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Coronavirus, Destroyer, Full show video, Johnny Brenda's, Kiwi Jr., Nap Eyes, Postponed, Quarantine, Ryley Walker, Tonstartssbandht on March 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 15, 2022] Ryley Walker / Tonstartssbandht.

I’ve seen Ryley Walker four times, but never on purpose.  He’s been the support band for every show that I’ve seen him in.

So I thought it would be interesting to see what he was like when he was the headliner.

But this show was in between two days that I was going to shows and my brother-in-law was in town, so I decided to give it a miss.  Walker plays all the time so I’m sure I’ll see him again.

I’d never heard of Tonstartssbandht.  On their blurb for the concert, all it said was Andy & Edwin.  Wikipedia tells me they are

an American psychedelic, noise rock band consisting of brothers Andy (guitar and vocals) and Edwin (drums and vocals) White.  They formed c. 2008 when Edwin was 20 years and Andy was 18. Their influences include the Beach Boys, The Velvet Underground demos, and Can live recordings. As of December 2017, the band has released 17 live and studio albums, as well as a series of solo recordings and collaborations.

Woah.

Markit Aneight has a full show video of both Ryley Walkerand

and Tonstartssbandht

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Nap Eyes / Kiwi Jr. (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, January 8, 2022) [CANCELLED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Destroyer, Johnny Brenda's, Kiwi Jr., Nap Eyes, Postponed, Quarantine on January 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: January 8, 2022] Nap Eyes / Kiwi Jr.

indexNap Eyes opened for Destroyer in the last show I saw before the quarantining.  I really wanted to see them headline a tour and do their own thing.

They had scheduled a show at Johnny Brenda’s for May of 2020 which was cancelled.  Then they bided their time and waited until 2022 to schedule their new tour.  But people are jerks and wouldn’t get vaccinated and now the virus had transformed itself so that everyone is going to get it.

I actually tested positive this week and wouldn’t have been able to go to this show anyhow, so I guess I’m glad the tour is on hold for a bit.

But damn, I want to see some Nap Eyes!

Kiwi Jr. is a fun Canadian band, recently described as “clever, easy-going jangle pop” that I’d really like to see live. So I hope this lineup stays the same when Nap Eyes comes back to Philly again.  Some day.

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Nap Eyes / Lionlimb (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, May 20, 2020) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Destroyer, Johnny Brenda's, Lionlimb, Nap Eyes, Postponed, Quarantine, Ryley Walker on May 20, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: May 20, 2020] Nap Eyes / Lionlimb

indexI just saw Nap Eyes open for Destroyer (the last show I saw before the quarantining).

They put on a terrific show and had Ryley Walker playing guitar for them.

I’m not sure who was supposed to play guitar for them on this show.  I was really hoping it would be their actual guitarist Brad Loughead, but Ryley Walker would be great too.

Maybe when they reschedule (which I sure hope they do Loughead will be free to play with them.

I had not heard of Lionlimb.  They are a duo who play timeless chill out music.  I’m not entirely sure how much fun they would be live, but their recorded music is pretty great.

 

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Destroyer (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, March 8, 2020)

Posted in Dan Bejar, Destroyer, Philadelphia, PA, The New Pornographers, Underground Arts on March 8, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 8, 2020] Destroyer

I really enjoy Dan Bejar’s work with New Pornographers.  I haven’t loved all of his Destroyer albums, but Destroyer’s Rubies is fantastic and Kaputt is a lot of fun.

When New Pornographers toured recently, Bejar was not a part of the group.  So when I saw that Destroyer was touring a few months afterward, I thought it would be a good way to complete the set.

I had read that the Destroyer live show was pretty terrific, but I had also read that Bejar felt the best shows were when he faced the band rather than the audience.  So who knew what might happen.

The crowd around me was pretty excited to be sure.  A guy behind me was practically vibrating and he yelled “I love you Dan” at several points.  It may have been the only time that a singer has not acknowledged such a declaration, even in a cursory way.

This show was also the first time I went out while we were under the looming threat of the Coronavirus.  Things had not gotten serious yet, but it was coming.  I even brought a tube of hand sanitizer (this was before they were all sold out).  I was very aware of the fact that I was not touching anyone or anything and I’ve never seen the line for the bathroom be so long because people were washing their hands!

I also never would have guessed that this would be my last concert for … who knows how long (at least two months, by my estimate).

So Dan and the band came out.  There were six musicians with him. (more…)

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Kevin Devine & The Goddamn Band (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, December 14, 2019)

Posted in An Horse, Brian Bonz, Crazy Horse, Destroyer, Frightened Rabbit, John K. Samson, Kenny O'Brien & The O'Douls, Kevin Devine, Kevin Devine & The Goddamn Band, Kevin Devine and the Goddman Band, Ozzy Osbourne, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on December 14, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 14, 2019] Kevin Devine & The Goddamn Band

I have seen Kevin Devine twice.  The first time was in 2017 when he opened for Frightened Rabbit.  The second time was earlier this year when he did a brief solo tour with John K. Samson.  The second show was so good–he was so full of energy as a headliner, that I knew I’d see him again.  But I really wanted to see him with The Goddamn Band (hilarious name).

When it was announced that Kevin and the Goddamn Band would be playing a short tour celebrating the tenth anniversary of the 2009 album Brother’s Blood, I bought tickets immediately.  I didn’t even know the album, I just wanted to see the whole band.  And holy cow was it a great choice.

Kevin has a fantastic stage presence–he bonds with the crowd instantly (even when I first saw him as an opening act and had no idea who he was, he just owned the stage).  He invites the audience to sing and the audience does.

And with the whole band, that interaction was even greater.  Kevin joked with the band members, soloed off of them and made the whole show like a party.

The crowd was totally into it–singing along to nearly every song.

It was a fantastic show.

I have since listened to the album a bunch and the songs are really great–but this live show was something amazing.  The band feeds off of each other, making every song bigger, richer, with more noise and jamming.  They clearly love playing with each other and were having a fantastic time. It was wonderful. (more…)

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