Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Radio’ Category

An evening with Lloyd Cole (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, Jun 15, 2024) [CANCELLED]

Posted in Lloyd Cole, Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on June 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: June 15, 2024] Lloyd Cole

I’ve never been a huge fan of Lloyd Cole, but I like a bunch of his songs.

My memory is really shaky on how I found out about him. I was certain that a friend of mine got me into him, but years later when I mentioned Lloyd Cole to her, she had no idea who he was.  Someone clearly introduced me to him, and I feel like I can picture the room that we listened to him in, but obviously I was wrong.

I haven’t really given Lloyd much thought over the last few years.  I wasn’t planning on going to this show (I mean, it was the same night as Man Man), but I was intrigued that he had cancelled the tour (as did Man Man–which made me briefly nervous that they knew something bad was happening).

But Lloyd’s reason were personal:

April 26, 2024

I’m taking some time away from music.I was sick on tour in Australia, I was sick on tour in Scandinavia, I’m sick again in Portugal. I have some kind of virus. This time my mental health has been impacted.I’m fine, for now, I’m on antibiotics. I have people to talk to. The plan is to get the seven Portuguese shows done. Then I’ll fly home early May.I need to address the root of the issue. I’d rather not go into details here. Honestly I don’t know exactly what’s going on but I’m pretty sure some major changes are needed in my lifestyle and work schedule. I’ll be consulting my MD and we’ll figure a plan. Most likely I’ll be in some kind of treatment facility for while, hopefully like The Magic Mountain.I’ve cancelled the US East Coast shows that were scheduled for June. I’m keeping May, June and July free to heal/recover. I look forward to some golf in Ireland in late August and then September solo shows in the Ireland and the UK. We’ll reschedule the cancelled US dates as quickly as we can.I’ll see you all in the Autumn.Sincerely,LC.

Read Full Post »

Frank Turner: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, May 24, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Frank Turner, Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls, Free at Noon, Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on May 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 24, 2024] Frank Turner

I have seen Frank Turner once and the show was stellar and super fun.  He tours all the time, but I have yet to see him again.  Mostly I want to see him with his full band.

This Free at Noon was announced as a solo show, so I decided not to go.

But I was really happy to listen on the radio.  Turner was great and the audience was really into it.

I don’t regret not going to the show because I had the day off and enjoyed staying home.  But it sounded like a great time and I’m looking forward even more to seeing him in late June

Here’s a review from The Key

  1. Do One
  2. Girl From the Record Shop
  3. I Still Believe ∉
  4. Letters
  5. Show People
  6. International Hide and Seek Champions
  7. Undefeated
  8. Recovery ‰
∉ England Keep My Bones (2011)

 

Read Full Post »

Guster: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, May 17, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Free at Noon, Guster, Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on May 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 17, 2024] Guster

My wife told me that she heard Guster was doing Free at Noon and we frantically tried to figure out if she could get the day off so  we could go.

As soon as I logged into the page, I saw that it was sold out!  I was so bummed.

I can’t believe that the last time I saw Guster: Free at Noon was five years ago!  I would have guessed it was two years at most.

The setlist was mostly new songs (the new album was released today).

There’s a video of the set online and, as usual, the show looks great.

  • Keep Going
  • Stay With Me Jesus
  • Witness Tree
  • Hang On
  • Keep It Together
  • Black Balloon
  • Satellite
  • This Could All Be Yours

Read Full Post »

Mary Timony: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, March 15, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Free at Noon, Mary Timony, Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on March 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 15, 2024] Mary Timony 

Mary Timony is one of indie rock’s great guitar players.  I really enjoyed her band Helium, although I haven’t really listened to them in quite some time.

I didn’t go to her show last week, so i thought I had a nice gift of a Free at Noon today.  I grabbed a ticket even though I knew I had a doctor’s appointment earlier that morning.  I assumed t he appointment would be quick and I could get to World Cafe just in time.

Well, it turned out the appointment went really long and I was still in the office as of 11:30.  So, there was no way I could ever get to the venue on time.

So, I had to miss Mary once more. (more…)

Read Full Post »

This is the Kit / Sam Amidon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, February 23, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Sam Amidon, This is the Kit, World Cafe Live on February 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: February 23, 2024] This is the Kit / Sam Amidon

This is the Kit played Johnny Brenda’s back in October.  They are a band I know from NPR Music and I haven’t thought of them in a while.  I recall liking their music but that there was something unusual about it.

I enjoyed this blurb about them from bandcamp:

This Is The Kit is the musical project of Kate Stables and whoever joins her. You thought you didn’t like the banjo but you were wrong pal. Listen as Kate rips forward with her hypnotic twang pattern and a voice of rare, unaffected beauty.

Kate has a very British delivery.  Reading my review of their Tiny Desk Concert, I really liked them more than I remembered.

I’m happy for them that they have moved from Johnny Brenda’s to World Cafe Live and maybe this will get them some airplay on WXPN. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Mannequin Pussy: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, February 9, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Free at Noon, Mannequin Pussy, Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live on February 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: February 9, 2024] Mannequin Pussy

I have a ticket to see Mannequin Pussy in May and was in no way expecting then to do a Free at Noon in February.  But I was pretty excited to see them in such a small intimate setting.

Then life got in the way.  We were up late the night before seeing Band of Horses and then I had a very late morning getting to work, which made leaving work for a few hours to see a concert harder than it might actually seem.

I did get to listen live on the radio and the band sounded amazing.  I’m really looking forward to seeing them in May.  And I’m looking forward to when they release the live stream of the show.

There’s a great write-up about the set here.

SETLIST

  • I Don’t Know You
  • Nothing Like
  • Sometimes
  • Loud Bark
  • I Got Heaven
  • Romantic
  • Of Her
  • Aching

 

Read Full Post »

Ride: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, January 19, 2024) [CANCELLED]

Posted in Free at Noon, Philadelphia, PA, Ride, World Cafe Live on January 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: January 19, 2024] Ride

I found out that Ride was doing a Free at Noon just recently.  I had tickets to see them that night at Union Transfer, so I didn’t feel the need to go to this show.

Then it snowed.  Not a ton, but enough to make Philly clear the streets for cleaning.  Which meant there was no parking around the WXPN facility.  I’m sure there was more to it than that, but for whatever reason, this show was cancelled.

I also wound up not going to the show that night because of the snow.  So, no Ride for me.

Read Full Post »

Geddy Lee In Conversation (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, November 15, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Geddy Lee, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, WMMR 93.3 FM--Philadelphia, PA on November 15, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: November 15, 2023] Geddy Lee In Conversation

It’s crazy that I could have seen Jeff Tweedy and Geddy Lee read from their latest books and be interviewed in the same month.

Much like with Jeff, though, I didn’t really want to see Geddy read from his book.  I wasn’t even sure I cared enough about him anymore to read his book.  I mean, as a once die-hard Rush fan, I assume I knew everything about the band that I was devoted to.

But listening to the story in the video below, maybe I haven’t.

Also, I had no intention of going to New York to see this show, but seeing that Paul Rudd was his interviewer is pretty amazing.  I had no idea it would be in that format and how amazing would that have been?

I would have gone to the Philly event buy holy crap the tickets were so expensive!  So I decided to not bother.

The guest at the Met Philly was Pierre Robert who I have never heard of.  Apparently he is a DJ with WMMR, which I don’t really listen to.  So I guess he was probably a good choice for interviewing Geddy Lee.  Just not as interesting as Paul Rudd.

Here’s a clip from Philly, followed by a clip from New York

 

Read Full Post »

Gladie: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, October 6, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Free at Noon, Gladie, Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live on October 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 6, 2023] Gladie

I saw Gladie open for Otoboke Beaver late last year and really enjoyed their set a lot.  I would happily see them again, although a Free at Noon didn’t really seem like a worthwhile trip.

Here’s the blurb from the show and what I missed

After a successful tour with Jeff Rosenstock, today’s Free at Noon performer Gladie made a pit stop at the World Cafe Live stage to dazzle fans with their indie rock magic. Performing songs from their last album Don’t Know What You’re in Until You’re Out, along with a few favorites from other projects, the band truly came to impress.

The stage was decked out in the best gear, necessary for a classic Indie Rock experience. Guitarists Pat Conaboy and Matt Schimelfenig had full pedal boards, and used them frequently throughout the show, conjuring waves of distortion, their eyes were glued to the floor in true shoegaze fashion. The band started with their song “Mud,” immediately exploding into the room with a beautiful wall of sound that demanded the attention of everyone — a common theme that remained through the entirety of the show.

Lead vocalist Augusta Koch sang with intense power. She was able to strongly project (and even scream during some songs) her voice over the volume of the band, and listeners could also eel the emotion within her voice, whether the track had a somber energy or an exasperated energy. Koch’s lyrics were very impactful, influencing the tone of her vocals, as we heard during “20/20” where she and Schimelfenig harmonized to sing “I am angry, I am lonely, but I’m optimistic too.” Later, Schimelfenig took over vocals for “Fixer,” a song where he sings lead with a bit of a country twang from the band’s 2022 album Don’t Know What You’re In Until You’re Out.

Drummer Miles Ziskind was astounding to watch. The movement of his hands was difficult to track throughout the show due to his fills being so quick and precise. At stage left, bassist Liz Parsons accompanied the music with interesting lines throughout the set, especially on “Hit the Ground Running,” which was a bit groovier than the rest, allowing her to show off her skills. As the set came to a peak, “When You Leave The Sun” from Gladie’s 2020 album Safe Sins was the most commanding part of the set. It was faster, heavier, and built up a breathtaking ending with the band members blaring their instruments, hitting the crowd once again with that wall of sound.

That’s a lot of blurb for this fairly short set.  Here’s the setlist and you can listen to it here

  • Mud ⇔
  • 20/20 §
  • Hit The Ground Running ⇔
  • When You Leave The Sun §
  • Fixer ⇔
  • Nothing ⇔
  • Chaos Reigns [new single]
  • Born Yesterday ⇔

When I saw them they played:

  1. When You Leave The Sun §
  2. thank you card ¥
  3. Mud ⇔
  4. Twenty Twenty §
  5. …Heaven, Someday ⇔
  6. Hit the Ground Running ⇔
  7. Nothing ⇔
  8. Born Yesterday ⇔
⇔ Don’t Know What You’re in Until You’re Out (2022)
§ Safe Sins (2020)
¥ thank you card EP (2020)

Read Full Post »

Margaret Glaspy: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, August 18, 2023)

Posted in Free at Noon, Margaret Glaspy, Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live on August 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 18, 2023] Margaret Glaspy

I had been wanting to see Margaret Glaspy for a pretty long time.  She last played Philadelphia in 2016, about two months before I heard her album.  (Well, actually, she played Philly when opening for Ruston Kelly, ew).  She was supposed to headline a tour back in 2020, but that show was postponed, so it’s not her fault that it took six years for me to see her.

It also takes her a pretty long time to put out new music.  Her new album is only her third in seven years.  She had been working on these songs for a while because she played a bunch of them when opening for Spoon last year.

She announced a new tour and is playing Underground Arts the same night I have a ticket for Explosions in the Sky. I’m still torn–they’re very different shows.  But then WXPN announced she’d be doing a Free at Noon and I grabbed a ticket.  I’ve often thought it’s not worth doing one of these–I mean it’s about three hours of my ay for a 30 minute show.  But this one was especially fun because her album came out today and she signed them.

And the band sounded great!

I love how loud and brash her guitar sounds.  I tend to think of her as a kind of soft-spoken singer, but her guitars really rock.   Her new single “Act Natural” is so damned catchy with a great riff and a fun chorus.  Like last time she opened with “I Didn’t Think So” and “Act Natural.”  They are a great one-two punch of riffs and melody.  (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »