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Archive for the ‘Quarantine’ Category

[POSTPONED: November 12, 2021] Purity Ring / Dawn Richard [postponed from May 13, 2020 and April 21, 2021 ; moved to June 27, 2022] 

indexThe COVID resurgence has forced Purity Ring to postponed their tour yet again, with their new date over two years from their first dates.  Let’s hope everything is cool by June.

They have added Dawn Richard to the tour as well.  I didn’t know who that was and Wikipedia lists these fascinating credentials:

Dawn Angeliqué Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer, model and animator.

That’s interesting, but I’m concerned by this:

Richard started her career after auditioning for Making the Band 3 in 2004. During this time, Richard became a member of American girl band Danity Kane, from 2005 to 2009.

I don’t know anything about Danity Kane but I have very strong opinions about made for TV bands.

Here’s the message from the band about the postponement (but not about Richard).

“Hey everyone, out of concern for the safety of our crew, our fans, ourselves and all our loved ones, we must postpone these tour dates once again. Simply put, the pandemic is not yet over. We’ve rescheduled our Fall tour dates for Spring 2022. Your tickets will be automatically transferred to the new date, and if the venue or location has changed they will be refunded. We’re not responsible for ticket sales so you must go to the place you bought them from to handle any changes. Unfortunately all dates for the EU/UK shows have been cancelled for the time being,”

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When Purity Ring cancelled their March 2020 dates due to COVID, they cleverly pushed their show back over a year.  It wasn’t far enough. The duo has had to push their show to the fall now.

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Purity Ring is a duo from Edmonton–multi-instrumentalist/producer Corin Roddick and vocalist Megan James.

They put out a couple of albums and then disappeared.

I rather enjoy the way Wikipedia describes their sound

a combination of pop and hip-hop styles and James’ “childlike” vocals and “macabre”, “gory” lyrics, that she takes from “books and books full of things she’s written” in the past.  Their music utilizes down-pitched, distorted vocals and percussive and vocal loops. A creative key to their sound is a sometimes aggressive use of a volume regulating technique called “sidechaining,” in which the rhythm of one instrument affects the volume of another.

After a five year hiatus, they returned in 2020 with a new album WOMB, just in time to have their tour postponed.

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[CANCELLED: November 5, 2021] Tinariwen

indexTinariwen is a “Desert blues” band of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali. The band formed in 1979 in Tamanrasset, Algeria, but returned to Mali after a peace accord between 1990 and 1995.  They gained interbational attention with their album Aman Iman in 2007.

I’ve heard they put on an amazing show.

When I saw they were playing Underground Arts I wanted to snatch up tickets but this weekend proved to be very busy with me going to a show on Thursday and Sunday.

But then on September 30, the tour was cancelled: (more…)

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[CANCELLED: November 4, 2021] Red Fang / Starcrawler/ Warish

indexI have wanted to see Starcrawler for several years now.  I missed them when they came around the fist time.  Then they were supposed to open for The Distillers.  The only reason I bought a ticket to the show was for Starcrawler.  Then the show was postponed (in pre-COVID days) and when it was rescheduled, Starcrawler was no longer on the bill.  [Distillers were great by the way].

Then Starcrawler was announced as the opening band for Red Fang.  And they were going to be at Underground Arts, a perfect venue for them.  I’d never heard of Red Fang (I’ve looked them up and they seem fun).  I bought the tickets in June.

Then on September 8, Red Fang cancelled their whole Fall tour.

Band Statement: 

Unfortunately, our cautious optimism has turned into stark realism and we have decided to cancel our appearance at the Louder Than Life festival and our upcoming Fall US tour in the interest of public safety.  We feel it’s not realistic to play shows in a safe/responsible manner and the best thing to do is hang back and wait until the situation improves. Until then, take care of each other.  Love, Red Fang.

So that sucked.  But what sucked even more was that Starcrawler didn’t reschedule anything on the East Coast. (more…)

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[DID NOT ATTEND: October 30, 2021] Lotus Land [rescheduled from April 20; and October 30, 2020]

I really had intended on seeing this band once they finally settled on a date.  But October 30 is just too close to Halloween to be taken seriously as a concert night out.  Especially for a cover band.

I’m sure they’ll be back. Or better yet, maybe they’ll play somewhere even closer to me.

~~~

It seemed like as things started to open up that smaller venues like this might have shows.  of course, the concern was–is a smaller venue better since you’ll be so much closer to everyone.  I thought maybe they could have this outside–even in October.  I guess not.

I have no interest in seeing tribute bands.  If I can’t get the real thing, then I won’t get it at all.

However, this Rush tribute band intrigues me because in the pictures they both use doubleneck instruments and their ads say they play mostly late 70 and early 80s Rush.  This is a period I’ve never seen live and I think it might be fun.  Plus they are very highly praised in their reviews.

I put this on my calendar as a show to see if there weren’t much else going on at the time. Well, it turned out to be a hugely busy concert month so I probably wouldn’t have gone.

However, Lotus Land seem to tour up and down the East Coast pretty much constantly, including this rescheduled show in October.  I suspect I’ll be able to see them some time in the not too distant future.

 

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[POSTPONED: October 23, 2021] King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard / Leah Senior [rescheduled from May 22 and then October 22, 2020; moved to October 22, 2022]

indexOn May 24, King Gizzard announced that they were pushing back this tour for another year.  It seemed surprising since everyone else is filling in tour dates this fall, but they made a valid point

We’ve made the (very hard) decision to reschedule our USA/CAN tour once again.

This was an extraordinarily tough decision to make but I hope y’all can understand the complexities that come with a giant tour of the States and Canada with a 6 piece band and a 6 person crew from Australia during a pandemic.

We’ve tried our hardest to reschedule as many of these shows as possible at the same venues. That means your ticket will still be valid if you want to go.

For our NY show, we’re unfortunately going to be canceling it, you will be given a full refund and will have to buy a new ticket at the new venue. Sorry! It’s bigger though so everyone should be able to get tickets. Exciting news on that and other new shows coming soon! 🙂

If you’d like a refund contact your local venue as soon as you can to arrange.

Thanks to every gizzhead for your ongoing support and love. We will get back on the road as soon as we can.

Love king gizz Xoxox

I was bummed when KGATLW had to postpone a show in May. I mean, come on, Coronavirus, would certainly be over by May, right?  Well, now it’s October and things are still crazy.  I really hope they can do this again next year.

Of course, knowing them, they’ll have three more albums out by then.

I have become a huge fan of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (are there any other kinds of fans of them?) since I first heard about them a few years ago.

I’m sad that I missed them on the tour just before the first time I saw them (at a smaller venue when newbies like me hadn’t heard of them yet), but I have seen them twice since.

In both cases, the band overcame somewhat unpleasant (to me) situations (obnoxious capacity crowds and unreasonable heat) to change my mind from swearing I’d never bother seeing them again (before the show), to hoping they’d come back really soon (after the show).

I’m not at all surprised that this show was postponed and they have already rescheduled the new date.  So we’re all good.  I just hope the damned air-conditioner works next time.

The last time I saw KGATLW, the two opening bands were kind of doom/psychedelic–perfect matches for KGATLW’s more recent sound.  This year’s opener is a singer named Leah Senior.

Leah Senior did the narration on KGATLW’s Murder of the Universe album.  But her music is a completely other thing.  She sings gentle folk songs with delicate guitar playing and her beautiful soft voice.

I can;t imagine how well she would go over with a rowdy KGATLW crowd and I also wonder if that means that KGATLW would play their more mellow stuff?  Nah.

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[POSTPONED: October 15, 2021] Waxahatchee / OHMME [rescheduled from April 14 and October 5, 2020 and May 16, 2021]

indexOriginally this concert featured support from OHMME, which was half the reason I wanted to see this show and not one of the other shows.  For whatever reason, OHMME was no longer at this show, and support was now from Katy Kirby, who has a very catchy song called “Traffic!” and plays some lovely folk songs.

This show has been postponed so many times it is ridiculous.  It was finally rescheduled on the night before a special day in our house.  So, although I had two tickets, S. wasn’t going to go.  Then on October 15, just hours before they were supposed to go on stage for their first sold out show at Union Transfer, they forwarded this message:

Waxahatchee has postponed the last few shows of their tour including the Philadelphia dates on October 15 & 19.

We are confirming new dates right now and will send out those details in a few days.

Your tickets will be good for the new date (no need to do anything). If you cannot make the new date, we will be happy to refund you, however, we ask that all requests be made after the new date is announced.

From the band: “This morning, a member of our touring party tested positive for Covid. The rest of the band/crew have tested negative, but out of an abundance of caution, we have to postone these last 4 shows of our 6+ week tour. We hope to be able to reschedule them for early in the new year.”

Thank you.

— xo UT

This one worked in my favor.  And I’m looking forward to that rescheduled show next year.

wxa

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[POSTPONED: October 17, 2021] Ministry / Helmet / Front Line Assembly [rescheduled from July 18, 2020, April 17, 2021; moved to March 9, 2022]

indexOut of the blue, and very close to the time of the shows, this tour was cancelled and postponed until next year.

The lineup has completely changed as well.  Initially, the support was from KMFDM an Front Line Assembly.  Then KMFDM was replaced with Helmet.  Now for the show next year, we have The Melvins and Corrosion of Conformity.  I had pretty much decided i wasn’t going to go to this show anyhow, but it always lingered in the back of my mind as something I might want to do.  Of course, I’d much rather go to the Wellmont than Franklin Music hall, so it’s unlikely I’d go to this show anyhow.

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This show was moved to April which seemed reasonable at the time.  I see now that it has been pushed back to October which actually seems optimistic.  I am very bummed to see that KMFDM is no longer on the tour, as They would have been a great opener.  I like Helmet, but I think KMFDM would have been more fun.  If I’m going to one of these two shows (Montclair being the other one) it would certainly Montclair.

I’ve been a fan of Ministry for decades.  I even liked the first album With Sympathy (and listen to it now more than their hardercore stuff).  But when Land of Rape and Honey came out, it was the most intense thing in the world. It was incredible.

They put out a series of great heavy albums, although by 1999’s Filth Pig either I stopped enjoying it or they just weren’t as good.

So I guess it has been two decades since I cared about Ministry.  However, Al Jourgensen and his band keep touring and, since I’ve seen Slayer now, I thought I should see what a ministry experience is like.

I wanted to go to their show in 2018, (I was really interested in seeing opening band Igorr) but the date just didn’t work for me.

Although I hadn’t yet gotten tickets for this show, I was looking forward to this retro bill.

I liked KMFDM more in theory than actually listening to them–I have one album I think). But I always appreciated them (especially the joke that their initials stand for Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode–actually it is Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, “no pity for the majority”).  Only one guy is still in the band, but I’d be curious to see what their proto-Rammstein show would be like.

Front Line Assembly was one of the few bands on the industrial label Waxtrax that I never really got into.  I liked many bands on the label, but really never had much exposure to FLA (in the days before you could listen to things online).   I’m curious what 1980s industrial music sounds like in 2020.

Now that I see that the show is also going to be at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, I will definitely try to get to that one instead.

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[POSTPONED: October 16, 2021] Ministry / Helmet / Front Line Assembly [rescheduled from July 18, 2020, April 16, 2021; moved to March 12, 2022]

indexOut of the blue, and very close to the time of the shows, this tour was cancelled and postponed until next year.

The lineup has completely changed as well.  Initially, the support was from KMFDM an Front Line Assembly.  Then KMFDM was replaced with Helmet.  Now for the show next year, we have The Melvins and Corrosion of Conformity.  I had pretty much decided i wasn’t going to go to this show anyhow, but it always lingered in the back of my mind as something I might want to do.  Of course, I’d much rather go to the Wellmont than Franklin Music Hall, although I’m in no rush to get tickets for this.

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This show was moved to April which seemed reasonable at the time.  I see now that it has been pushed back to October which actually seems optimistic.  I am very bummed to see that KMFDM is no longer on the tour, as They would have been a great opener.  I like Helmet, but I think KMFDM would have been more fun.  If I’m going to one of these two shows (Philly the other one) it would certainly be this one.

I’ve been a fan of Ministry for decades.  I even liked the first album With Sympathy (and listen to it now more than their hardercore stuff).  But when Land of Rape and Honey came out, it was the most intense thing in the world. It was incredible.

They put out a series of great heavy albums, although by 1999’s Filth Pig either I stopped enjoying it or they just weren’t as good.

So I guess it has been two decades since I cared about Ministry.  However, Al Jourgensen and his band keep touring and, since I’ve seen Slayer now, I thought I should see what a ministry experience is like.

I wanted to go to their show in 2018, (I was really interested in seeing opening band Igorr) but the date just didn’t work for me.

Although I hadn’t yet gotten tickets for this show, I was looking forward to this retro bill.

I liked KMFDM more in theory than actually listening to them–I have one album I think). But I always appreciated them (especially the joke that their initials stand for Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode–actually it is Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, “no pity for the majority”).  Only one guy is still in the band, but I’d be curious to see what their proto-Rammstein show would be like.

Front Line Assembly was one of the few bands on the industrial label Waxtrax that I never really got into.  I liked many bands on the label, but really never had much exposure to FLA (in the days before you could listen to things online).   I’m curious what 1980s industrial music sounds like in 2020.

Now that I see that the show is also going to be at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, I will definitely try to get to that one instead.

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[CANCELLED: October 12, 2021] Dead Can Dance / Agnes Obel [rescheduled from April 17, 2020 and April 23, 2021]

On September 30, I received notice that show would be postponed once again.  Dead Can Dance cited reasonable concerns about COVID and travelling around the world.

Then on October 11, I received notice that the show was cancelled entirely.

There’s no word from the band on this except t o say that they are trying o reschedule shows for Fall of 2023.  Presumably the venue just didn’t want to wait that long.

So, while I was looking forward to this show, I can wait until 2023.

As April came closer and closer I was sure that Dead Can Dance was going to cancel this tour for good–so many other bands have done so.  But I’m happy they didn’t–even if I don’t have fantastic seats for this show.  This just feels like one of those shows that I’m going to be really happy to experience and I can wait a few more months.

I really enjoyed Dead Can Dance’s mix of cultural touchstones on their earlier albums. I have a bunch of their releases up until they broke up.

Somehow I missed their reunion entirely.  I also missed their subsequent reunion and new albums.

They haven’t played in this area for 8 years and I was pretty pleased to finally experience them live.  I bought a ticket for this show and then a few days later it was announced that they would be playing the State Theatre in New Brunswick.  Since that venue is about three times closer to me, I snatched up a great seat for that show and figured I could sell the Philly ticket.

Then a couple months ago the Theatre announced that the New Brunswick show was unexpectedly cancelled. No reason was given.  I don’t think it was sales as it looked like they sold well.  So that sucked, but I was glad I still had this ticket.

Agnes Obel is a Danish born singer who plays quirky atmospheric chamber pop.  I have heard great things about her for many years but never really investigated her music.  I was looking forward to learning about her in this setting.

She was actually scheduled to open for The The on their 2018 tour.  However, the three New York area shows had different openers, so I didn’t get to see her then.

I hope they all come back around together.

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[DID NOT ATTEND: October 7, 8, 9, 2021Joe Russo’s Almost Dead [rescheduled from September 24, 2020]

I don’t actually know Joe Russo’s Almost Dead.  The only thing I really know about them is that Marco Benevento is the pianist for the band.  Honestly that’s good enough for me.

They are playing three nights in Montclair and two of them sold out almost immediately.

It didn’t actually occur to me that the Dead in the band name is a Grateful Dead reference.  But I see that JRAD is like a Grateful Dead cover band plus more.  They are known for their intermingling of the Grateful Dead’s recognizable folk-rock and Americana sound with more contemporary Progressive Rock and Jazz Fusion influences.

So I had a lot going on that week and decided I didn’t need to see a Grateful Dead band.  Especially since I don’t especially like the Dead (althouh it’s more their recording sound (too tinny) than their songs.  But according to GratefulWeb, the run was a hit. (more…)

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