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The Schizophonics (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, August 3, 2025) [SPIKE AND THE GIMME GIMMES]

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Kate Clover, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Schizophonics, Spike and the Gimme Gimmes, The Schizophonics on August 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 3, 2025] The Schizophonics

I had not heard of The Schizophonics before this tour.  I looked them up just to see what their deal was and the reviews universally talked about how amazing the live shows are.

About 15 moinutes after Kate Clover left the stage, three people came on stage wearing black jackets with their names on them (fifties style)–Pat, Lety, Sarah.  They removed the jackets and began playing.

Lety Beers on drums and Sarah Linton on bass are great players–Lety’s drums are perfectly timed and Sarah’s bass is perfect for holding the songs together while Pat … does his thing.

Which is… being everywhere all the time.  Pat Beers sings and plays guitar.  And when he is not singing, he is dancing from one side of the stage to the other–skipping, spinning, dropping, rolling.  He ran down the steps on the side of the stage and ran back up on the stage.  All the while, he was still playing guitar.  Even as he dropped to the ground, did a backwards somersault and got back to his feet, the solo was still going on.  Were the solos intricate?  No.  But did he keep the solos going?  Yes indeed.  He plays guitar with one hand in an astonishingly powerful way.  At times he took his guitar off and held it aloft with his left hand and still played with one hand.

I took so many videos and I don’t think I ever captured the full insanity of his stage presence.

Near the end of the set, he put his mic stand on the floor, jumped down and then hopped the barrier.  He put his mic in the middle of the floor and then proceeded to sing and play and run around like a one-man mosh pit.  Even on the floor of the venue, he dropped to his knees, rolled on his back and almost crashed into everyone.  He also had fun singing to a 9-year old in the audience (Lety gave the girl a shout out).

Later, he jumped down without his guitar and sang in the audience,

It was phenomenal and the crowd responded in kind.

What were the songs like?  I have no idea.  They were fast, three chord  rockers.  He sang words but mostly screamed and yelped.  And then he soloed for ages.  The songs were all catchy and simple, but I couldn’t tell you if they were original or covers or what.

I was exhausted just watching him and I was very jealous at his ability to bounce around and get back up so easily.

I enjoyed the heck out of the set and so did everyone else.  They made a ton of new fans, at least of their live show.

I looked at setlists to see what songs they played and yet there’s no recorded setlists for any of their shows this year.  There’s a few shows from 2024 that have songs but I don’t think that’s what they played for us,

They played for about 45 minutes.  Pat was a sweaty mess by the end (although his button down shirt remained tucked in all night).  Pat even broke the heel of his shoe running up and down the stairs.  But he carried on regardless.

I’ve never seen anything like it and I can recommend seeing them one hundred percent.  They may work better as an opening act as I can’t imagine what 90 minutes of that behavior would do to the guy, but if they’re on the bill, don’t miss them!

I have no idea what songs they played and I don’t care what they might play next time.  I’m a convert!

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Kate Clover (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, August 3, 2025) [SPIKE AND THE GIMME GIMMES]

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Kate Clover, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Spike and the Gimme Gimmes, The Schizophonics on August 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 3, 2025] Spike and the Gimme Gimmes

I had wanted to see Me First and the Gimme Gimmes for a little while.  And then they changed their name to Spike and the Gimme Gimmes (I don’t know enough about the band to know anything about this–all I know is there are all kinds of people playing in the band from time to time).

I didn’t really think very much about the opening acts and wasn’t even sure if I’d make it in time to see either opener.  But I got there a few minutes before Kate Clover came on.

I don’t know anything about her.  In fact it’s only when writing this that I found a bio about her (it’s overblown and not very informative) but  I learned that she’s from L.A.

Her set up was simple–guitar, bass and drums–with everyone dressed in black and white.  The guys were in suits and she had a cool black outfit with white piping on it.  They came out and rocked!

Her bio says she learned three chords and that’s what we got.  Simple, chugging, riffing garage rock.  Songs around 3 minutes long with maybe a guitar solo.  Kate also played guitar although for a couple of songs she put down the guitar and just sang.  At one point she said they were going to play a new song, but since you don’t know us, it’s all new, right?  As far as I can tell, this was her first show in New Jersey. (more…)

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The Mountain Goats (Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, August 1, 2025) [GUSTER]

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Guster, The Mountain Goats, The Stone Pony, The Stone Pony Summer Stage on August 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: January 24, 2025] The Mountain Goats

Back in I have been wanting to see The Mountain Goats for a long time (my friend Andrew got me into them, jeez, like ten years ago).  They have played in the area nearly every year since I first heard about them but for one reason or another I never saw them. Usually it’s scheduling conflicts and occasionally the show sold out before I heard about it.

I had even more or less given up on seeing them (if you miss a band more than half a dozen times it’s practically a sign from the universe).  But here they were opening for Guster!

I was really excited to finally see them, and I was equally excited/surprised to see that the drummer for The Mountain Goats is Jon Wurster who I have seen with Superchunk and Bob Mould and have therefore seen him five times!  (I thought I’d be seeing him with Superchunk again this fall, but I didn’t realize he had left the band!)

The band was a three piece with multi instrumentalist Matt Douglas playing everything and John Darnielle (the master Goat) singing and playing guitar and keys. (more…)

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The Swell Season (Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova) (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, July 29, 2025)

Posted in Glen Hansard, lnterference, Marketa Irglova, Once, Philadelphia, PA, Snacktime, The Frames, The Swell Season, Van Morrison on July 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 29, 2025] The Swell Season (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova)

Three years ago my wife and I saw Glen and Marketa (interestingly announced as Glen and Marketa of The Swell Season) and the show was wonderful.  So when they came back around (this time announced as The Swell Season) I grabbed tickets right away.  (Incidentally, The Swell Season is the formal name of this duo–Glen has several other bands as well.

We were delighted to be reasonably close and right in the middle.

And there were to be lots of surprises tonight.  Glen and Marketa were joined by a bass player and drummer (whose names I don’t recall).  But before the first song started, they had a big surprise–four member of Snacktime came out to play horns on several of the tracks.  Glen explained that he had met Snacktime at the Newport Folk Festival and since they were going to be in Philly at the same time, he asked them to join him on a few songs.  I’m not typically a fan of horns, but their horns added so much depth to these songs, it was terrific.

And what was so much fun was that Glen instructed them how to play some of the songs while on stage–almost like an improved jam session.  The opened with Low Rising and Glen asked them to stick around for any songs that seemed good to have horns on.

The Swell Season just released a new record and they played all of the songs from it (except A Little Sugar).  But as I told my wife, I don’t really listen to The Swell Season all that much, but everything I hear from Glen (especially live) I enjoy immensely.

After a couple of new songs they played When Your Mind’s Made Up and the crowd was rapt as their gorgeous voices (and that piano) melded beautifully.

They played a few songs that they’d played last time, and that’s great because those are obviously the catchiest ones.  They played a few of Glen’s solo songs (three in total) but none of Marketa’s solo songs–although she did get some gorgeous solo moments where it was just her and her piano and her voice is still gorgeous.  This was especially evident on I Leave Everything to You, which Glen said was so beautiful as soon as he heard it he knew it would be the centerpiece of the album and the tour. (more…)

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TV on the Radio / Soul Glo (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, July 29, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, Soul Glo, TV on the Radio on July 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: February 12, 2025] TV on the Radio / Soul Glo

I loved the first three TV on the Radio albums. Not sure I ever listened to the other two (Acually I loved Happy Idiot, but probably don’t know anything else from that album).  But that last album came out over ten years ago so I never thought they’d tour, especially since singer Tunde Adebimpe had just released a (very successful) solo album.

But holy cow when they announced this tour, I wanted in so badly!  But it happened to be on the same night as The Swell Season, which my wife and I didn’t want to miss.

So I had to pass by TV on the Radio.  Will they ever tour again?  Who knows.

Soul Glo as the opening band added a frenetic tone that I wouldn’t have expected from TV on the Radio.  They are a wild live band and I hope got more fans from this show.

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Guster / The Mountain Goats (Archer Music Hall, Allentown, PA, July 29, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Allentown PA, Archer Music Hall, Guster, The Mountain Goats on July 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 29, 2025] Guster / The Mountain Goats

When this Guster/The Mountain Goats tour was announced, I definitely wanted to see them in Allentown–a smallish venue that’s easy to get to.  But we had tickets to The Swell Season that evening and we didn’t want to give those up.

So we went to the Stone Pony Summer Stage instead (and that was awesome).

I have yet to go to Archer Music Hall, and I hope to before the end of the year.

 

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King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Phantom Island Tour with Sarah Hicks, Conductor & Music Director, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and DJ Crenshaw (TD Pavilion Stage at the Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, July 19, 2025)

Posted in DJ Crenshaw, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA on July 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 28, 2025] King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Phantom Island Tour with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia

Last summer I had tickets to see King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at the Dell Music Center.  The place is a chaotic mess and massive traffic, lack of parking and extreme heat meant that I circled the area and then said the heck with it and went home.  I was a little bummed, but not outrageously.  (The setlist is really good though).

When they announced this tour with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, at the Mann Center, I knew it would be a good venue and I knew it would be a good introduction to them for my son.

We arrived with time to spare, bought some merch and then got in our seats for DJ Crenshaw.  I don’t entirely see the point of someone like this.  He was a live DJ spinning song before the band went on.  Most of the songs were loud and distorted and honestly I couldn’t even tell you what he played.

But soon enough, the lights went down and the orchestra came out.

In many ways this was not the ideal first show for a KGLW newbie as they played their new album in its entirety, but the second set ran through a whole pile of their songs and my son was hooked.

The orchestra came out first (as they do) and Sarah Hicks received a sizable round of applause.  And soon enough the album kicked off.  The orchestra made the album sound huge! (more…)

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Lucy Dacus / Julien Baker & Torres / Jay Som / Hop Along // Magdalena Bay / Remi Wolf / Annie Di Russo [A Make the World Better Benefit] (FDR Park, Philadelphia PA, July 25 & 27, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Annie DiRusso, Dell Music Center, Hop Along, Jay Som, Johnny Brenda's, Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, Magdalena Bay, Make the World Better, Philadelphia, PA, Torres on July 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 25 & 27, 2025] Lucy Dacus / Julien Baker & Torres / Jay Som / Hop Along // Magdalena Bay / Remi Wolf / Annie Di Russo

Like every one of these benefits shows, the first day was made for me.

I love Lucy Dacus, although I have seen her twice this year already.

I would love to have seen Julien Baker & Torres together.  They cancelled all of their shows this summer and were replaced by Hop Along which was fine, but not as good as the original.  Interestingly, perhaps, Hop Along was supposed to open for Japanese Breakfast last year but they were replaced at the last minute.

Jay Som is a favorite underground artist whom I love and who has been pretty quiet as of late.

Day 2 was less exciting for me.

Remi Wolf is someone I’ve h heard about but don’t really know.  She appeared on American Idol so I assume she’s not someone I would like, even if she is listed as an indie artist.  I saw that she opened for Lorde in 2022 (which I didn’t go to) and back then I wrote

Remi Wolf is a singer songwriter whom I do not know.  The fact that she appeared on American Idol in 2014 makes me not like her.  That’s unfair, but whatever.

At least I’m consistent.

Magdalena Bay is a duo (I thought it was someone’s name, oops).  The duo consists of Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin, who met in high school.  They play synthy pop and I really like their song “Image” although the rest is more pop than alternative.  Dancy and probably a treat to listen to on a sunny summer day.

Annie DiRusso was the only person on the bill for both days whom I had never heard of.  She’s an interesting young musician who veers to the noisy while writing poppy songs.  She also sings about college and wrote a song called Ovid.  So she appeals to that side of my musical appreciation.  The Harvard Crimson (!) review says

The album is an evolution of her usual guitar-heavy rock instrumentals, experimenting with incorporating different genres while still maintaining a cohesive sound across the record.

I hope she opens for someone I’m seeing one of these days.

So why didn’t I go to Day One?  Well, I didn’t really need to see Lucy again.  Plus, this was in FDR Park which I know nothing about and I have really bad luck with outdoor venues in Philly.  So while I fully support the cause, I just wasn’t willing to make the effort for this one.  And obvsiously Day Two wasn’t my scene.

 

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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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