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Sparta : Wiretap Scars 20th Celebration Tour (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, August 1, 2023)

Posted in Geoff Rickley, Philadelphia, PA, Sparta, Thursday, Underground Arts, Venezuela, Zeta on August 3, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 1, 2023] Sparta

Since 2020 I have had four opportunities to see Sparta. Two were cancelled because of the pandemic.  One saw them opening for Get Up Kids (a show I was interested in, but not enough to go) and now this one.  And while those two cancelled shows were probably good, seeing them for this one was undoubtedly better.

Sparta formed out of the breakup of At the Drive-In (Mars Volta was also formed from that breakup).  Sparta sounded more like ATDI because the songs were short and punky, even though Cedric the lead singer went on to Mars Volta.  Guitarist Jim Ward sings lead on Sparta songs and his voice is unique and sounds just as great as it did when Wiretap Scars came out twenty years ago.

The band came out–a trio now–with Matt Miller on bass and Neil Hennessy on drums. Jim Ward stood on the far side of the stage (not too far away) and the band launched into the album.

It was great to hear these songs live.  I hadn’t listened to the album in quite awhile, although I did listen to it a week ago to refamiliarize myself.  And I remembered how much i loved at least half of the album.  And the rest I enjoyed.  Hearing (and feeling) the guitar riffs and the excellent bass lines was fantastic.

The crowd wasn’t as dense as I would have thought and there was surprisingly, no mosh pit (which I appreciated).

The whole album sounded great–fresh and new and really great live. (more…)

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Geoff Rickly (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, August 1, 2023) [SPARTA]

Posted in Geoff Rickley, Philadelphia, PA, Sparta, Thursday, Underground Arts, Venezuela, Zeta on August 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 1, 2023] Geoff Rickly

Geoff Rickly is the singer for Thursday, a band from New Jersey who I had never even heard of when I saw them open for My Chemical Romance last year.

I wasn’t really looking forward to his set (I would have missed this one if he was first), because I didn’t love the Thursday set.  It was fine and I may have liked it more if I was closer.  But it was fine.

However, as a solo performer, Rickly was fantastic.  He told little stories before each song.  He said that since Thursday torued with Sparta 20 years ago, he was going to play mostly Thursday songs (instead of his solo songs).

I didn’t know any of them, and at first I didn’t think the set would be that enjoyable, but he put so much passion into his singing that “Time’s Arrow” blew me away.  He had lots of fans in the audience who knew all the words and it was fun to hear them singing along.

He told us about a lawsuit that the band faced back ten years ago or so that cost them $100,000 which they did not have.  So they wound up doing a lot more shows to make some money.  They even did an “emo cruise.”  He said that he had written a solo osng which he thought was perfect and after the show the Captain of the theater told him to never play that song on a ship again. (more…)

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Zeta (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, August 1, 2023) [SPARTA]

Posted in Geoff Rickley, Philadelphia, PA, Sparta, Thursday, Underground Arts, Venezuela, Zeta on August 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 1, 2023] Zeta

Zeta (pronounced Zeh-tuh) is a band “of immigrants from Venezuela” as they put it.  They are now based in the U.S. trying to deal with the immigration deal.

I had listened to a little of their music before the show and I was absolutely intrigued.  I arrived just before 7:30 but they had already started by the time I came in.  I don’t think I missed too much, but as I got to the stage, the band was in full flight.

There were four members of the band.  As I walked in Juan Chi (Juan Ricardo Yilo) was whaling lead guitar and singing.  Right in the front of the stage was drummer Eduardo Sandoval.  He was front and center because this is a band that loves drums.

The wall of sound was really loud, but not harsh.  Sandoval was a maniac on the kit–it was amazing to have such a fun drummer right in the front of the stage.  Standing behind him was bassist Antonio Pereira.  Pereira was the one constant through the set–his bass was fast and steady keeping the song moving forward and also keeping it in perfect time.  He kept everybody moving. (more…)

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