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Archive for the ‘Free at Noon’ Category

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)

 

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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

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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…)

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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

 

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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.

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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)

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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…)

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Speedy Ortiz: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, August 4, 2023)

Posted in Free at Noon, Philadelphia, PA, Speedy Ortiz, World Cafe Live on August 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 4, 2023] Speedy Ortiz

I feel like I have seen Speedy Oriz a few times.  But I had only seen them once before.  It was a very memorable show, though, with me getting to stand right in front of Sadie Dupuis as she played and sang.

Here it is five years later (after they opened for Foo Fighters in Fenway a few days after I saw them), with a new album out soon.  I bought a ticket for their Johnny Brenda’s show in a few weeks, but I decided to give the Free at Noon show a go.  (This time it only cost me 3 hours of sick time).

I was pretty no nonsense about this one.  Sucked it up and paid for parking (it had just started raining) and I felt like I was cutting it a little too close to be driving around.  I was bummed for them that it was so sparsely attended, but maybe they’re just not that big of a band.

But it meant I could get up nice and close and watch them play.

They were so spread out on  the big stage.  I felt like bassist Audrey Zee Whitesides (now a permanent member of the band) was miles away.  I was in between Saide and Andy Moholt.  Last time I couldn’t really see Moholt but he was fun to watch this time, playing weird chords and lots of solo frills 9as well as a keyboard).  Initially his lead guitar was way too loud, but they mixed it down pretty quickly.

I’m guessing my location was to blame for how loud Joey Doubek’s drums sounded.  Or more specifically, his one cymbal.  When he crashed it a lot, it really drowned out everyone else. I’m sure you won’t hear that when it gets uploaded to the streaming playback, but it was quite loud to me (I probably should have moved).

They played 8 songs in half an hour.  Four from the new album (released Sept 1) and four oldies.

I was surprised and delighted that they started with “The Graduates” a favorite of mine.

The new songs sound great–a bit heavier and a bit more unusual with the guitar chord choices and whatnot.  And Doubek’s drumming was much louder and more intense on the new songs.  Sadie said that Scabs had something to do with striking postal workers.  I’ll have to listen to the playback to get the details (she was drowned out by the applause).

The folks around me were definitely fans as they sang along to the older songs like “Silver Spring.”

Audrey said that the last time they played World Cafe, they played all of Twerp Verse.  They didn’t want to do any duplicates for this show, but they did want to play a song from each album, so they played “Lucky 88” my favorite off of Twerp.

They ended with the new song “You SO2” (which continues the album’s trend of Sadie’s lyrics being more narrative than rhyme based) and finished with “Plough” a great song from their debut.

Seeing this made me wonder if I still needed to go to Johnny Brenda’s, but it’s a few weeks away and I expect they’ll probably play at least twice as many songs, right?

It’s great to have them back.  I’m looking forward to more new music from them.

Free at Noon 2023 PhilaMOCA 2018
The Graduates € Buck Me Off ⇓
Scabs ¥ Lean In When I Suffer ⇓
Ghostwriter ¥ Lucky 88 ⇓
Silver Spring ⊗ Raising The Skate €
Plus One ¥ The Graduates €
Lucky 88 ⇓ Silver Spring ⊗
You SO2 ¥ Plough ♠
Plough ♠ Alone With Girls ⇓
I’m Blessed ⇓
Taylor Swift [single]
You Hate The Title ⇓
Moving In ⇓
Villain ⇓
Swell Content €
Dvrk Wvrld €

 

¥ Rabbit, Rabbit (2023)
⇓ Twerp Verse (2018)
€ from Foil Deer (2015)
♠ from Major Arcana (2013)
⊗ from Sports EP (2012)
[single] from (2012)

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Blondshell: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, July 21, 2023)

Posted in Blondshell, Free at Noon, Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live on July 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 21, 2023] Blondshell

Blondshell is a new band created by Sabrina Teitelbaum.  She has recorded music under BAUM, but wanted to go in a different direction and so created Blondshell (great name).

I’d heard a couple of songs by her and she was generating a lot of buzz.  I bought a ticket to see her (and Hello, Mary, another young band I like a lot) at PhilaMOCA.  The show sold out soon after.

And then I got invited to a party for my friend’s son. I gladly blew of the show to go to the party.  But when it was announced that Blondshell would do the Free at Noon this week, I immediately grabbed a ticket.

The band played eight songs.  I really enjoyed their guitarist playing some really noisy guitar solos especially at the end of “Veronica Mars.”

The song I know and really like is “Joiner” which sounded great.

And I was impressed that Sabrina sings mostly in a kind of low dirgey style but  that she can really belt out when it’s time for it.  She has some really strong pipes. (more…)

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The Residents: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, March 31, 2023)

Posted in Free at Noon, Philadelphia, PA, The Residents, World Cafe Live on March 31, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 31, 2023] The Residents 

I’ve been an admirer of The Residents forever.  I’m not a fan exactly–I have some of their records.  I also have some of the CD-ROMS because they were one of the first entities to really make good use of CD-ROM technology.

Their music is bizarre.  Sometimes wonderfully so.  Sometimes not.  I’ve thought about going to see them for years now.  They played Philly in 2018, but i was going to see Built to Spill that evening, so there was no thought of The Residents.

Then in 2020, they announced a new show.  And that and all subsequent attempts were put on hold.

Then my friend Garry sent me a notification that The Residents were going to do a Free at Noon. What?!  I took half a vacation day and drove to Philly to see this remarkable opportunity.

Since their promo material still shows the giant eyeballs that they wore when they came out, I assumed we’d see at least one.  But instead, each member of the band had on a gaiter over their head which perfectly matched their eyeball-filled suits. Anonymity is key! (more…)

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