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Archive for the ‘Kurt Vile’ Category

The Sadies (The Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ, June 21, 2026) [KURT VILE AND THE VIOLATORS]

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Kurt Vile, Kurt Vile and the Violators, The Sadies, The Stone Pony on June 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 21, 2026] The Sadies

I was vaguely aware of The Sadies. I was mostly aware of them because their singer Dallas Good died suddenly and the entire Canadian music scene was upset about it.  I assumed The Sadies were done, but, as Dallas’ brother and the band’s new singer and guitarist said, this show and every show that we play for the rest of our lives is dedicated to my younger brother.

That’s pretty devastating.  But it was clear that The Sadies put everything into their shows.

So The Sadies’ songs fall into two categories–a kind of country & western (as opposed to country) song with a heavy dose of surf rock sprinkled all over the song.  And hugely enjoyable instrumentals that showcase Travis Good’s fantastic guitar playing.

What that means is that most of their songs sound basically the same.  And yet, they played for almost 50 minutes and I not only was I never bored, I enjoyed every minute of it.

Which is pretty impressive given that they are a three-piece with a simple drum kit (played expertly by Mike Belitsky) and an upright bass (played by Sean Dean).  An upright bass doesn’t lend for a lot of fast improv.

So most of the embellishments came from Travis.  Dallas’ voice was a bit softer, while Travis’ has a darker edge to it, which makes some of these dark songs sound even darker. In a song like Oak Ridges his voice also goes deeper. (more…)

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Kurt Vile and the Violators (The Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ, June 21, 2026)

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Kurt Vile, Kurt Vile and the Violators, The Sadies, The Stone Pony on June 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 21, 2026] Kurt Vile & The Violators

My wife has become a huge fan of Kurt Vile in the last few years, so any chance to see him, we’ll take.  She had never been to The Stone Pony before and as a Jersey native, she really ought to have been there at least once.  This was my third time there and I really haven’t enjoyed the vibe at any of the shows.

And tonight’s was weird too.  The Stone Pony is a weird venue–it’s very wide and very shallow.  It may also slope down away from the stage (It probably doesn’t but it feels that way).  After checking out the beach for a few minutes we headed inside and saw that it was pretty crowded.  We found our spot and then realized the guys in front of us were really drunk.  They moved soon after Kurt started (and eventually the one guy fell over and the had to be removed).  But then a very tall woman who was near us suddenly wound up in front of us.  Which sucked.

After a few songs behind her, I had to move a few feet over to be able to see.  Halfway through when the drunk guy fell over and had to leave I was able to get back to my wife and we enjoyed the show together.

So this tour was for his new album Philadelphia’s Been Good To Me.  And yet he opened with two songs not on the album.  All subsequent show, he jumped right to the new album.  So I’m not sure why we got Jesus Fever (which no one else did, but no complaints, it’s a great song) and Hey, Like A Child was earlier in the seton this tour.

I was pretty fascinated to see just how many people knew the words to all of his songs.  He was pretty excited to play The Stone Pony (his first time) so maybe he gave us an extra song or two.

And then it was on to the new album.  Red Room Dub is a delightful instrumental (is this is first instrumental, I don’t know), but he put words to it (no idea what they were though).  Zoom 97 is slow, chill song with the fun line “jump n my whip (yeah!)”  His backing band is always so solid–they never show off, they just keep things going as they need to.  (more…)

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Courtney Barnett (The Fillmore, Philadelphia, PA, May 12, 2026)

Posted in Courtney Barnett, Kurt Vile, Momma, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Truman Sinclair on May 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 12, 2026] Courtney Barnett

Before Courtney started, a woman near us was talking to someone who had not seen her before and she said to be ready because she rocks a lot harder that you may think.  And she totally does.  For a trio, her band totally ripped. And when she soloed, it never felt like a bass player playing behind one guitar.

I can’t remember what the audience was like for her last time, but this time I found them really awful.  There were some metal dudes to the side of us who were headbanging and almost moshing.  But it was only the few of them and they did not sit well with the other people around us.  There was a guy who was very chatty with everyone around him throughout the set and the poor woman in front of me really could never see well no matter how she arranged herself until she finally moved elsewhere about half way through the set.  I think once she moved I felt better too.  But my poor wife was behind a woman with very long white hair, which we initially thought would be a safe place, but she proved to be a writhing, arm waving irritant, who never moved up into the ample space in front her.  So yea, even though Courtney was great, the show was annoying.

But you can’t blame Courtney for her fans,

She came out on stage and launched right into Stay in Your Lane, the ubiquitous single from her new album.  The song is fun, but it’s even more fun when she gets to do her live guitar work around it.

I’m intrigued to see that eight years later, her second and third songs of her set were the same: City Looks Pretty and Avant Gardner (which the crowd went berserk for). (more…)

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Truman Sinclair (The Fillmore, Philadelphia, PA, May 12, 2026) [COURTNEY BARNETT]

Posted in Courtney Barnett, Kurt Vile, Momma, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Truman Sinclair on May 12, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 12, 2026] Truman Sinclair

My wife does not care for opening acts.  I always make her sit through them (and sometimes she admits she likes them).  But this show happened to be on a night that she had something to do right up until we were about to leave.  So, I said I didn’t care if we missed this first opener Truman Sinclair, but I did want to see Momma.

So we left probably 30 minutes later than I normally like to leave.  And we hit ZERO traffic.  And parking was easy and there was no line yet so we wound up seeing all of Truman Sinclair’s set.

I’d never heard of the guy, but he had a youthful charm (he’s 23) and a really good sense of melody.  He’s from Chicago but lives in L.A

His second song sounded a lot like a Neil Young song (the chords and harmonica are similar to Heart of Gold).  Although his voice sounds nothing like Neil’s

His songs were mostly slower (Sit By the Fire–I’m not very fond of lines like “I’ve got you you you you you,” but whatever. (more…)

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Pixies (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, July 23, 2025)

Posted in Band of Skulls, Kurt Vile, Kurt Vile and the Violators, Philadelphia, PA, Pixies, The Fillmore Philadelphia on July 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 23, 2025] Pixies

I have seen Pixies four times in the last eight years.  I didn’t really know if I wanted to see them again–indeed when these two shows were announced I was iffy about the whole thing.  I did want to go to the first of two nights–where they were playing Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde (since they don’t play very much from either of those albums in their sets–I’ve only seen 2 songs from Bossanova and only 4 from Trompe).  But that turned out to be the night of The Decemberists concert, and I wasn’t going to pass up The Decemberists.

A couple of days before this, I asked my wife if she’d like to go to this show–mostly because Kurt Vile was opening.  She loves Kurt and, as she says, doesn’t know anything by Pixies (except, it turns out Here Comes Your Man).  She agreed and we wound up buying tickets at the box office day of (the first night sold out this one did not).

The Kurt show was great and I told my wife that Pixies are interesting because they do not talk between songs–indeed, they don’t talk at all.  And they will play like 30 songs in 90 minutes.

She felt bad that she didn’t know anything going into the show, but I told her afterwards that they played nearly ten (out of about 30) that I had never heard before.  But it was the 2o songs in between that I was really psyched about.

I was unsure who their new bass player was–it’s Emma Richardson of Band of Skulls.  The biggest difference between her and Paz (who I really liked) is that Emma has blonde hair.  Otherwise, she is an excellent addition to the band.

She sang the first song (and what I assumed was the final song).  The first song was a David Lynch cover “In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)” that apparently Pixies released a long long time ago on a B-sides record.  She also sang Into the White.  Interestingly (or not) they did not play Gigantic (the most famous Kim Deal sung song).

Heaven is a slow, meandering song, something unlike most Pixies songs, so it felt like it was building to something.  Which turned out to be a song from their 2019 album that I didn’t know.  So, yes, I’m an old school Pixies fan and haven’t listened to much of anything they ‘ve released since they reunited. (more…)

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Kurt Vile and the Violators (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, July 23, 2025) [PIXIES]

Posted in Kurt Vile, Kurt Vile and the Violators, Philadelphia, PA, Pixies, The Fillmore Philadelphia on July 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 23, 2025] Kurt Vile & The Violators

I had seen Kurt Vile in 2018, but since then, my wife has become a huge fan.  We saw him and the Violators at Union Transfer in 2022.

I know we enjoyed the UT show, but somehow, this opening set was a lot better.  We both felt that way.  Not that we had bad feelings about the UT show, but this just felt bigger, like he was just having a ton of fun.

But it is weird to have him opening since he is a pretty big deal (especially in Philly).  I don’t know if he could sell out the Fillmore on his own, but maybe…  Anyway, he strolled out said he was Kurt from Philly and these were his boys around him.

He started with a song from his new(ish) EP, the only song that we hadn’t heard him play before.

Like last time, he switched guitars pretty much every song and the Violators switched instruments from time to time. (more…)

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Pixies / Kurt Vile (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, July 22, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Kurt Vile, Kurt Vile and the Violators, Philadelphia, PA, Pixies, The Fillmore Philadelphia on July 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 22, 2025] Pixies / Kurt Vile 

When Pixies announced this two night stand at The Fillmore I was really intrigued.  I have seen Pixies four times in the last eight years and wasn’t sure I’d need to go again.  Although I was actually interested in tonight’s show because I feel like they don’t play as much from Trompe Le Monde.

But then this show was on the same night as a Decemberists concert that my wife and I were not willing to pass up.  Glad we got to go to night two.

My wife has become a huge fan of Kurt Vile over recent years.  We have seen him, but I thought she’d really like to see him again.  SO I’m glad we got to go to the second night of these shows.  And it’s fun to see him as an opening act in Philly.

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J. Mascis (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, February 12, 2025)

Posted in J. Mascis, Kurt Vile, Mike Polizze, Philadelphia, PA, Pink Mountaintops, Purling Hiss, Underground Arts on February 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 12, 2025] J. Mascis

When this show was first announced it turned out to be on the same night as the Babymetal show that my son and I were going to.  But then it was postponed and I grabbed a ticket for the new date.

I couldn’t really imagine J. Mascis in a small club or playing quietly.  Well, this is the same place I saw Thurston Moore a number of years ago.  Amazingly neither legend sold out for a solo show (Thurston wasn’t solo, but it was his solo music).  J was by himself, but I needn’t have worried about being quiet, as he had a massive amp setup on stage.

I don’t know why it took him so long to get on stage (he showed up at 10:10 even though no work had to be done on stage).  His roadie also put like 5 different drinks on his stool, and I don’t think he had any of it.

He came out with a beat up acoustic guitar and proceeded to jam through almost 20 songs.

Before he started, some meathead started the E-A-G-L-E-S chant and J. smiled and then said, I’m impressed you guys can spell.

And then he got to business. (more…)

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Mike Polizze [Purling Hiss] (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, February 12, 2025) [J. MASCIS]

Posted in J. Mascis, Kurt Vile, Mike Polizze, Philadelphia, PA, Pink Mountaintops, Purling Hiss, Underground Arts on February 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 12, 2025] Mike Polizze [rescheduled from November 21, 2024]

When this show was first announced I didn’t know if I wanted to go, plus it turned out to be on the same night as the Babymetal show that my son and I were going to.

Initially Pink Mountaintops were supposed to open for this show.  Then a few days ago I saw that it was going to be Purling Hiss.  I was really excited to see Pink Mountaintops (who I haven’t seen before).  There was no notice or explanation of their departure from these shows.  But they were replaced by, as many of the posters say Purling Hiss (Solo).

Purling Hiss is Mike Polizze.  He was the only person on the first few records and the latter records add a drummer and maybe someone else.  But it’s not wrong to say this is Purling Hiss solo.

Polizze had opened for Kurt Vile recently and I enjoyed listening to his set.  And it proved to be quiet similar to this set opening for J Masics.

Mike had an acoustic guitar and a bunch of pedals–mostly a looping pedal, a distortion pedal and a wah wah.

And wow, was he loud.  I anticipated J would be loud, but I think that Mike may have been louder–or his equipment wasn’t mic’d as nicely so it sounded harsher.

Mike looped his guitar chords and then played solos using varying degrees of distortion and volume.  I really enjoyed the amount of looping he did and I was close enough to watch him using the looping pedal–tapping the pedal to add a solo section to loop with the chords, etc. (more…)

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Kurt Vile (solo acoustic) / Mike Polizze (solo acoustic) (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, January 18, 2025) early and late shows [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Johnny Brenda's, Kurt Vile, Mike Polizze, Philadelphia, PA, Purling Hiss on January 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: January 18, 2025] Kurt Vile / Mike Polizze

I asked my wife if she wanted to see Kurt Vile (whom she loves) but we kind of both felt that we didn’t really want to see him play solo acoustic.  And that’s fine.  We had seen him not too long ago, and honestly I enjoyed his electric sound a lot more.

And then it sold out in a minute anyhow.  Later I managed to get tickets for Bruce McCullough on the same night.  But I hadn’t realized that they’d announced an early show (5:30) that night as well.  We could possibly have done both!

Mike Polizze is the main guy behind Purling Hiss, a band I’ve seen once and really liked.  I don’t think I even knew that he was an opening act for this show until I started to write this. (more…)

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