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Archive for the ‘Sparta’ Category

Sparta : Porcelain 20th Anniversary tour / Common Sage / Hiroe (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 13, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Common Sage, Hiroe, Philadelphia, PA, Sparta, Underground Arts on October 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 13, 2024] Sparta / Common Sage / Hiroe

I really enjoyed seeing Sparta last year.  The songs were intense and great.  So when they announced this tour of the Porcelain album, I was on board.

But then October turned out to be a really busy month for me and I just couldn’t go to concerts every night.  So this one had to get dropped.

Common Sage is from Brooklyn.  They’ve been around since 2018 and play pretty heavy emo.  They’re not very prolific and I wonder if this tour was signifying a new album.

Hiroe is a Philly band.  I find that I’m more interested in underground Philly bands than bands from other places, possible because I think Philly bands tends to be a little weirder.  I mean, Hiroe is pronounced Hero-way for starters.  I’m also intrigued by them because they play intense instrumentals ala Explosions in the Sky.  They have one album that came out in 2022.  The first song is 2 and a half minutes, the last song (called Doom Moon) is over 8.  I’d like to see them.

 

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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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The Get Up Kids / Sparta (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, September 29, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Sparta, The Get Up Kids, Union Transfer on September 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 29, 2022] The Get Up Kids / Sparta

My friend Al got me into The Get Up Kids back in the early 2000s.  “Mass Pike” is a frequently played song on road trips.  My Get Up Kids album is Something to Write Home About.  I never really got that into Four Minute Mile.  So, even though this show could have been fun, it wouldn’t quite have been for me.

Although I certainly wouldn’t have disliked it.

I had plans to see Sparta back in 2020 but the shows were cancelled.  Back then I wrote

When At the Drive-In broke up, they split into two bands: The Mars Volta and Sparta.  The Mars Volta went in a wild, psychedelic/prog metal direction and Sparta maintained a more tradition heavy rock sound.

I enjoyed the first Sparta albums but I hadn’t heard anything recently.  I considered going to this show because I’d heard they were really good live.

UPDATE: Sparta are headlining a tour in August 2023.  So I’ll get to see them.

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Sparta / Emily Davis and The Murder Police (Boot & Saddle, Philadelphia, PA, July 18 & 19, 2020) [rescheduled dates–CANCELLED]

Posted in ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, At The Drive-In, Boot & Saddle, Cancelled, Coronavirus, Emily Davis and The Murder Police, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Philadelphia, PA, Quarantine, Sparta, The Mars Volta on July 18, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: JULY 18 & 19, 2020] Sparta / Emily Davis and The Murder Police [rescheduled from May 1& 2]

indexWhen At the Drive-In broke up, they split into two bands: The Mars Volta and Sparta.  The Mars Volta went in a wild, psychedelic/prog metal direction and Sparta maintained a more tradition heavy rock sound.

I enjoyed the first Sparta albums but I hadn’t heard anything recently.  I considered going to this show because I’d heard they were really good live.

Emily Davis and The Murder Police [EDMP] are an alt-folk-punk band living in the desert southwest with an affinity for writing aggressive, introspective music.  I’ve listened to a few songs and I like what I heard–I feel they are a bit more folk-leaning, but there is a punk edge.

These newly rescheduled dates wound up conflicting with a Ministry show on the 18th.  I probably wouldn’t have had the energy for this show, so maybe when they come around again, I’ll be free.

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Sparta / Emily Davis and The Murder Police (Boot & Saddle, Philadelphia, PA, May 1 & 2, 2020) [POSTPONED]

Posted in ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, At The Drive-In, Boot & Saddle, Coronavirus, Emily Davis and The Murder Police, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Sparta, The Mars Volta on May 1, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: May 1 & 2, 2020] Sparta / Emily Davis and The Murder Police [moved to July 18 & 19]

indexWhen At the Drive-In broke up, they split into two bands: The Mars Volta and Sparta.  The Mars Volta went in a wild, psychedelic/prog metal direction and Sparta maintained a more tradition heavy rock sound.

I enjoyed the first Sparta albums but I hadn’t heard anything recently.  I considered going to this show because I’d heard they were really good live.

Emily Davis and The Murder Police [EDMP] are an alt-folk-punk band living in the desert southwest with an affinity for writing aggressive, introspective music.  I’ve listened to a few songs and I like what I heard–I feel they are a bit more folk-leaning, but there is a punk edge.

I had tickets to see …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead on the 1st and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard on the second, so the postponement worked out nicely.

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