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Archive for the ‘MSPaint’ Category

Poppy (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, September 4, 2025)

Posted in Montclair, NJ, MSPaint, Poppy, UnityTX, Wellmont Theater on September 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 4, 2025] Poppy

Five months ago I saw Poppy play at the Fillmore.  I didn’t realize it was only five months ago, but it makes sense that this is still the same tour.  On the way to the show it started raining and as I drove around Montclair looking for a handicapped spot, I was sure I’d be really late.  Then one showed up in front of the library.  But right after I got out of the car the skies opened up and I got soaked.   Good grief.

Last time I wrote

I didn’t know how crowded it would be (somewhat), nor how enthusiastic the crowd would be (very).

And it was the same tonight.  The show definitely wasn’t sold out, but the crowd was really intense–two young girls sat in front of me and apologized saying they were going to stand a lot–which they did.

Seated?  Yes.  I had GA pit tickets, but they kindly shuffled me to the ADA seated section which was great for the first two bands, but behind too many tall people for Poppy so I wound up standing as well.

Before the show started, a giant keyhole appeared on the screen above the stage and an eye (Poppy’s I assume) looked out at us.

And then the masked band came out on stage, followed by Poppy who was wearing a white outfit with longish pants that looked like old fashioned knickers.

The setup was different from last time.  Last time Poppy was off to the side somewhat, but this time she was right up front, stalking the stage and being pretty cool.

But the songs were more or less the same.  Like last time she opened with “have you had enough?” which I once again thought sounds a ton like Garbage, even the heavy part sounds like Garbage, but with a more metal than alt sound.  Although there is a lot of absolute screaming at the end which is uniquely Poppy.

I love the insanity of BLOODMONEY with her singing “beg for forgiveness from Jesus the Christ” over and over while the band played all manner of weird sounds.   For V.A.N. (violence against nature) the opening was quiet with Poppy’s gentlest vocals (including a whispered line), until the band bashed out the chords.  Poppy sang really fast lyrics with ease.  I have just learned that this song was written by Bad Omens with the intention of Poppy singing it. (more…)

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UnityTX (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, September 4, 2025) [POPPY]

Posted in Montclair, NJ, MSPaint, Poppy, UnityTX, Wellmont Theater on September 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 4, 2025] UnityTX

I was under the impression that MSPaint was the only opening band for this show (and I thought I might get home by like 11).  Then this afternoon I found out that UnityTX was also opening.  I’d never heard of them.  I listened to a bit of a song and heard that they were very heavy and rather screamy.  So I was ready with earplugs in.

And then they came out on stage and proceeded to rip the roof off the place.  Even though I didn’t know them, their sound was so much more alive than MSPaint’s.  Was it because there was a guitarist instead of a synth?  Or maybe it was because lead singer Jay Webster had stage presence galore.

He got people to do a circle pit, he got the audience to sing along and to even have a right side/left side “battle.”

We were on the side of bassist Kendrick Nicholson whose low end was amazing.  Kendrick also added some intense backing vocals.   I couldn’t really see guitarist Ricky Cova until he bounced around the stage, but his sharp and heavy guitar sound was fantastic.

I’ll be a little prudish and say there were too many f words in the songs–but It was more just overuse that made the lyrics seem less powerful.

But like Rage Against the Machine, they repeated parts a lot, which made it easy to sing along to. (more…)

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MSPaint (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, September 4, 2025) [POPPY]

Posted in Montclair, NJ, MSPaint, Poppy, UnityTX, Wellmont Theater on September 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 4, 2025] MSPaint

I was under the impression that MSPaint was the only opening band for this show (UnityTX was added later).  I listened to them and was mildly intrigued.

When I arrived at the Wellmont, the parking sucked and it was raining really hard.  By the time I got into the building, I think MSPaint was just about to start.  When I entered the foyer, the nice lady there told me to stand by the side and she’d get someone to help me to the ADA section (I didn’t know they had one).  But it was pretty chaotic an took awhile for them to get me to my seat.  By the time I was seated MSPaint was about half way done.

So MSPaint is a kind of metal/punk band that has NO GUITAR PLAYER (gasp!).  They have bass (Randy Riley) drums (Quinn Mackey) and electronics (Nick Panella) with vocals by Deedee.

Deedee’s delivery was kind of like Rage Against the Machine–the same tone and same sloganeering.  It kind of worked but something felt a little flat in the execution.  Riley was going pretty nuts on the bass and I rather liked the electronics that Panella was laying down, but it just didn’t do anything for me.  It was loud but didn’t feel “full” like the two instruments weren’t blending.  And, I felt like the vocals were maybe too loud, superceding the music.

I heard about three full songs but nothing really stuck with me.

All of which is kind of a shame because the album is pretty solid and feels fuller.  Maybe I was just suffering from weather sadness to appreciate their set.

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