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Archive for the ‘Franklin Music Hall’ Category

Starcrawler (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, September 16, 2025) [GARBAGE]

Posted in Franklin Music Hall, Garbage, Philadelphia, PA, Starcrawler on September 17, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 16, 2025] Starcrawler

I wanted to see Starcrawler for a few years before I finally got to.  And the buildup was more than the band could live up to.

I saw them last year open for Boris (a strange fit) when they played for an hour and I found them more or less unpleasant.  They really make me like the and hate them at the same time.

Last time I quoted someone else as saying “they strike me as rich kids cosplaying as punk rockers,” which seems fairly apt.  Also that

singer Arrow DeWilde tried to irk the crowd by referring to San Francisco repeatedly as “Frisco” after commenting, “Last night in Fresno was better than this shithole.” I have a friend who had seen them in Fresno the night before who said that Arrow said something similar onstage then.

This was one of the things that I found so irritating about them in the past, they are strangely confrontational.  It may be part of the schtick, but it’s weird–especially for an opening band.

Arrow was less confrontational than in the past, although she did yell at the audience for not bouncing their heads along to their song (weirdly, that was to the slowest song they played–we certainly bounced for the faster songs). (more…)

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Mary in the Junkyard (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, September 15, 2025) [WET LEG]

Posted in Franklin Music Hall, Mary in the Junkyard, Philadelphia, PA, Wet Leg on September 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 15, 2025] Mary in the Junkyard

Mary in the Junkyard is a trio from London. The band consists of vocalist and guitarist Clari Freeman-Taylor, viola and bass player Saya Barbaglia and drummer David Addison.

I had never heard of them and they have an EP and some singles out, so they are pretty new.

I listened to the singles today and rather liked them.  But they really didn’t come across very well at Franklin Music Hall.  It felt like everything was wrong to me.  The drums were really loud.  The guitars were sometimes loud, but Clari’s vocals were always quiet–very hard to hear.

I had pretty high hopes for their set because the songs had really interesting components–guitar lines or when Saya switched from bass to viola and added some really weird sounds to the songs.  But None of the songs had any hooks.  Which is weird because they’re there on the album.

I suspect that seeing them in a smaller venue (FMH is quite cavernous) would suit their sound much better.  I’d be interested in seeing them again, but in a small club.

At least the crowd reacted positively to them–and there was a lot to like–they just never won me over (and I love finding great opening bands).

I’m assuming this is the setlist.  It’s what they’d played at most of their shows

  1. Drains §
  2. Blood
  3. Midori
  4. Goop ∠
  5. New Muscles
  6. Web
  7. Tuesday  ¾
  8. This is my California ¼

§ single (2025)
¼ single (2024)
¾ single (2023)
∠ This Old House ()

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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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Kraftwerk: Multimedia Tour (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, March 6, 2025)

Posted in Franklin Music Hall, Kraftwerk, Philadelphia, PA on March 8, 2025| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 6, 2025] Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk are one of the most influential bands of all time–and most people don’t know them.  They created electronic music and have been sampled hundreds of times.  I never even considered that I would see them live.  And then they announced a 3-D tour celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2022.

It was fantastic.

The four members stood in front of these tiny platforms and played their electronic music while visuals were projected behind them.  In the previous show, we had 3-D glasses, but they were not used for this show.

I couldn’t believe how crowded it was when I arrived.  I’m used to arriving a few minutes before the opening act and having my pick of location.  But there was no opening act.  I even arrive earlier than usual, but the place was packed!  I was in the middle behind some really tall dudes and then I decided to move to the side.  At a weird angle, but pretty close.  Last time I couldn’t really see the humans, so it was neat being up close to be able to see them a little.

But it also came with the consequence of a lot of people around me talking.  There were drunk college women, of course, but there was something even worse.  A pretentious Kraftwerk fan and he wouldn’t shut the hell up about how great everything they were doing was.  While it was happening!  Lucklily most of the music was loud enough that it mostly drowned him out, but ugh.

Kraftwerk is the same line us as when I saw them three years ago.  Ralf Hütter is the only guy still in the band from the beginning.  Of the other three, Fritz Hilpert has been on board since 1987, Henning Schmitz since 1991 and Falk Grieffenhagen since 2012. (more…)

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Molchat Doma / Sextile (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, February 12, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Franklin Music Hall, Molchat Doma, Philadelphia, PA, Sextile on February 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: February 12, 2025] Molchat Doma / Sextile

I’m so very intrigued by Molchat Doma.  I first heard about them a couple of years ago, and their bio shows them to be right up my street:

Founded in 2017 in Minsk, Belarus, and now residing in Los Angeles, MOLCHAT DOMA stands at the intersection of post punk, new wave and synth pop.

I love the idea of a band from Belarus singing in Belarusian becoming successful in the States.  Indeed, when they played Philly llast year I believe they sold out Union Transfer.  At least according to this blurb from 2022

Fans who missed their sold-out tour earlier this year will have a chance at redemption as the trio play larger venues, fitting for their growth.

In 2022, they played Underground Arts, in 023 they played Union Transfer and this year they are playing Franklin Music Hall–steady growth indeed.

And here’s what Underground Arts said back in 2022 (more…)

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Suki Waterhouse / Bully (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, December 10, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Brontez Purnell, Bully, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, Suki Waterhouse on December 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 10, 2024] Suki Waterhouse / Bully

Of all of the shows that I didn’t go to this year, this one intrigued me the most.  And I thought about going pretty much right up until the day of.

The reason I didn’t go is because I had shows the day before and two shows later in the week.  And I wasn’t entirely sure if I liked Suki.  My daughter and I saw her performed at All Things Go and I remember liking her a lot more than I thought I would, but not really remembering her show at all.

I really like the song I’ve been hearing on the radio and now (after the show) I’ve been hearing another one I really like.  Maybe I should have gone.

Although I really don’t like Franklin Music Hall.

I have seen Bully once and would really like to see her/them again (I mean, this show really was calling to me), but I had heard that the Bully set might be solo and I prefer her with a band.  There’s a photo from the show with someone else on stage with her, but it sounds like she played a few solo songs as well.

IOfalltheshowsthatI

 

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Johnny Marr / James (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, October 11, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Franklin Music Hall, James, Johnny Marr, Philadelphia, PA on October 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 11, 2024] Johnny Marr / James

I saw Johnny Marr six years ago.  I can’t believe it has been six years.  I more or less didn’t bother getting tickets for this because I thought I had seen him much more recently than that.

Plus, when I saw him, it was at the TLA and this show was at Franklin Music Hall.  So good for him for upgrading so much!

But I had two other shows that I was considering that night: The Bevis Frond and The Lemon Twigs.  (more…)

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An evening with Soul Coughing (Franklin Music Hall, October 3, 2024)

Posted in Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, Soul Coughing on October 3, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 3, 2024] Soul Coughing

I was so excited when Soul Coughing announced a return after decades away.  I had never seen them, of course, so it was a great opportunity to see this weird band.

And it was going to be at Union Transfer–a perfect venue that even if you arrive late, you get great sightlines.

And it sold out in a minute.

And then it was moved to Franklin Music Hall.  A venue that I like but which I have had many very bad experiences at.  So that sucked.

And then Nada Surf announced that they were going to play a show at Underground Arts the same night.  It was a surprisingly tough decision–I’ve seen Nada Surf three times and have never seen Soul Coughing.  So what’s the decision.  Well, the closer the show came to actual time, the more the buzz grew.  And the more I realized I probably wouldn’t enjoy the show.

So I made the decision: I’m going to Soul Coughing and if I hate it, I’m leaving and going to the Nada Surf show.

I arrived at what I thought was a good time and walked in to find the place absolutely packed. And in Franklin Music Hall, when it’s packed, there is nowhere to go.  I couldn’t get past the big clump and then had to head over to the side by the bar (ughh).  I had no sight lines and it was 100% clear to me that many people were there just to be there and didn’t care about the band or the music.  And the others were there to prove that they knew Soul Coughing better than anyone by screaming all of the words.

It was very cool to see (sort of) the band and to hear Bus to Beelzebub (I’m glad they opened with a song I knew so well).  They followed it with another song from Ruby Vroom (the album I know best).  And then they moved on to Soft Serve, a song I didn’t know was well.  And that was it for me. (more…)

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Los Bitchos / Faux Real (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, September 23, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Faux Real, Franklin Music Hall, Los Bitchos, Philadelphia, PA on September 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 23, 2024] Los Bitchos / Faux Real

Back in 2022, Los Botchos opened for Belle & Sebastian.  And at the last minute we weren’t able to go to that show.

But I had listened to them and was really interested:

Los Bitchos is a four piece from London.  The band consists of Serra Petale (guitar), Agustina Ruiz (keytar), Josefine Jonsson (bass), and Nic Crawshaw (drums; percussion).  They predominantly play instrumental music in the style of cumbia from the 70s and 80s.  And they are a lot of fun.  Sounds like a great opening act.

I would have really enjoyed this show (and I love getting to see a band that is doing, in this case, six dates).  But it was the same night as Sigur Ros, who would definitely win out.

Faux Real sounds like a fascinating project:

Visionary art-pop duo Faux Real’s long-awaited debut album “Faux Ever” is a self-described “11-piece symphony for head-banging and longing.”

They sound campy and amazing, frankly.

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Bikini Kill / Sweeping Promises (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, September 10, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Bikini Kill, Feminism, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, Riot Grrrl, Sweeping Promises on September 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 10, 2024] Bikini Kill / Sweeping Promises

Last year my daughter and I saw Bikini Kill, 1,244 days after I bought the tickets.

And we really enjoyed it.

When they announced another tour this year, I grabbed a ticket for my daughter, my wife and I.  And then my wife and I got tickets to two Pearl Jam show just before this one.  And we were wiped out.  Fortunately, my daughter didn’t feel compelled to go either, so we were able to get rid of the tickets and feel okay about the evening.  I’m sure the show was fun.

The setlist was almost exactly the same, but I’ll bet the energy was great.

I didn’t know Sweeping Promises who are a post punk duo from Boston, Massachusetts now based in Lawrence, Kansas consisting of Lira Mondal and Caufield Schnug. Multi-instrumentalist Spenser Gralla has toured as their live drummer since 2019.

They sound… a lot like Bikini Kill.

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