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Archive for the ‘Franklin Music Hall’ Category

Garbage (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, September 16, 2025)

Posted in Franklin Music Hall, Garbage, Philadelphia, PA, Starcrawler on September 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 16, 2025] Garbage

Back in the 90s Garbage was my favorite band.  I loved everything about them.  I saw them twice when I lived in Boston (and wish I remembered those early shows better).  I’d seen them twice in the 21st century (but was surprised to see that the last time was eight years ago!).

Like a lot of people I don’t like the newer stuff quite as much as the older stuff.  I’m not sure what’s different–maybe it’s just me.  I like individual songs but don’t love listening to the albums front to back as much.

But the individual songs are still great.  And they sounded fantastic as they opened the show with two killer new tracks.  The band sounded huge and Shirley Manson’s voice was great.  She was wearing a leather jacket which she took off after the first two songs to reveal a jump suite with a handwritten Free Gaza on the back.

They handled the loud/quiet transitions on a song like Hold perfectly–even the lights were perfect.

The band members (aside from Shirley) don’t do a lot on stage (I just found out that guitarist Duke Erikson is 74 years old–no wonder this is their last big tour).

After the first two songs, they moved on to Empty–a super catchy song from a few albums back.  Guitarist Steve Marker (only 66) played the opening chords and like last time it was cool being able to hear the different guitar sound the guys had. (more…)

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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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Wet Leg (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, September 15, 2025)

Posted in Franklin Music Hall, Mary in the Junkyard, Philadelphia, PA, Wet Leg on September 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 15, 2025] Wet Leg

I saw Wet Leg three and a half years ago when they were something of a novelty buzz band because of their song Chaise Lounge.  I saw them at Underground Arts (capacity 650).  It was packed and I could barely see them, but it was still a fun show.

After the show, I thought “I’m not sure if the band will do anything more after this.  But they certainly felt like more than a joke band with one hit.  It will be interesting to see if they comeback to Philly and can fit into a larger venue.”

Now, three years later, the band has released their second album, have an entirely new look and have a bunch of songs that are bona fide–not novelty–hits.  So it’s no surprise that they are playing a bigger venue (FMH is 2500 people).

FMH is one of my least favorite venues to go to.  It’s always overcrowded and full of really tall people.  Most shows annoy me and I should probably stop going there all together, but it is the last small venue before bands move on to much bigger stages, so there are certain bands that can only fit in a venue that size.  I dislike the parking (it’s even worse now that all of the nearby lots have been attached to parking meters (and Jesus, there were NO spots on the street–on a Monday night??)  So we drove around a bit and arrived a little later than I wanted to, so we were just behind the ring of tall people who always seem to build a wall around the short people up front. (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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