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Archive for the ‘Franklin Music Hall’ Category

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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Built to Spill: There’s Nothing Wrong with Love 30th Anniversary Tour / Kicking Giant (Franklin Music Hall, September 6, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Built to Spill, Franklin Music Hall, Kicking Giant, Philadelphia, PA on September 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 6, 2024] Built to Spill / Kicking Giant

I have seen Built to Spill five times and have enjoyed every show.  This tour promotes the 30th anniversary of the album There’s Nothing Wrong with Love.  I thought I knew this album pretty well, but it turns out that I really started getting into them with the album AFTER this one.

But I was still really excited to see this show.  They announced a show at Franklin Music Hall which bummed me out because I don’t really like that venue (and it was the same night that I had tickets for at least 3 other shows).  But then they announced this show at Asbury Lanes which was awesome.  I grabbed a ticket right away.

I couldn’t go to that show, which did leave this show.  But I already had tickets to see St. Vincent, so I’m missing this show.

Last time that BtS toured, they came back through the area a second time about four months later (Philly in May, Bethlehem in September), so I secretly hope that they will do that again maybe early next year?  But they played a lot of shows on this tour, so I’m not holding my breath.

The name Kicking Giant sounded familiar (more…)

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Echo & The Bunnymen: Songs To Learn and Sing – The Very Best of Echo & The Bunnymen (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, May 19, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Echo & the Bunnymen, Echo and the Bunnymen, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA on May 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 19, 2024] Echo & The Bunnymen

I’m not a huge fan of Echo & The Bunnymen, but I have (and love) their greatest hits album Songs to Lean and Sing.  So it would seem that this tour was made especially for me.

But I already had tickets to a show I was really looking for to tonight, so I had no intention of actually going.

After the show I looked at the setlist and found that only played six of the eleven songs from that hits package.  AND they did two Velvet Underground/Lou Reed covers, which is odd to me.

So I didn’t go, and that’s fine.

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Grouplove / Bully (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, March 23, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Bully, Franklin Music Hall, Grouplove, Philadelphia, PA on March 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 23, 2024] Grouplove / Bully

I really only know one Grouplove song (“Tongue Tied”) but I have heard that their concerts are a ton of fun.  I tried to go to one last year but I couldn’t make the date.

It was weird when my daughter suggested that she’d like to see them too.  But that was only casually mentioned, so I don’t know how serious she was.

If I hadn’t had plans to see Voivod on the same night I would have grabbed her a ticket and we would have gone together.  Well, I’m sure they’ll be back again.

I was actually more excited to go once I saw that Bully would be opening.  Bully is great and I have seen them once before.   She put on a great show when opening for two band where noone cared about them.  Since then they have gotten a little bigger and I’m sure will be better received.

Honestly I’d prefer a Bully headlining show.

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Liz Phair / Blondshell (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, November 22 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Blondshell, Franklin Music Hall, Liz Phair, Philadelphia, PA on November 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: November 22, 2023] Liz Phair / Blondshell

I guess it was 30 years ago that I really got into Liz Phair.  I loved Exile in Guyville.  And the two follow-ups.

Then she went away for a while and came back as a sell out.  Which she has admitted.  I used to care about things like that, and I never listened to her again, frankly.

I’m somewhat curious about hearing the Guyville songs live.  But I haven’t listened to the record in years either, so it’s like a rock that’s not worth digging up.  Plus it would be weird seeing her in a relatively large space like Franklin Music Hall.

I would love to see Blondshell again, having seen her at a Free at Noon.  But I’d much rather see her a sa headliner.  I’m sure that will happen next year.

 

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The Front Bottoms / Vundabar (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, September 30 & October 1, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, The Front Bottoms, Vundabar on September 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 30 & October 1, 2023] The Front Bottoms / Vundabar

I saw The Front Bottoms in 2021.

Since then we have tried and failed to see them several more times.  Most of the reasons were our own fault–my son being too tired or us just being very busy.  But so many missed opportunities that I pretty much gave up on the thought of seeing them again.

Then they decided to play two nights at Franklin Music Hall with an opening band that I want to see.

I might actually try to…

Ah, both nights are the same nights that my daughter and I are going to the All Things Go Festival.

Oh well.

Interestingly, Vundabar is also playing the All Things Go Festival.

Furthermore, they are playing Saturday night in Philly, then driving the two hours to Maryland to play at 12:30 in the afternoon at All Things Go and then driving the two hours back to play in Philly again Sunday night.

Impressive.  Hope they still have energy in the middle of the afternoon!

 

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Explosions in the Sky / Draag Me (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, September 29, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in DIIV, Draag Me, Explosions in the Sky, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, The Spirit of the Beehive on September 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 29, 2023] Explosions in the Sky / Draag Me

Explosions in the Sky twice.  After that second show, I promised myself that I would see them any time they toured.   It has been a few years and they announced their new tour was called The End.  It was wildly speculated that they were breaking up after it (and why wouldn’t people speculate about that).  So I made sure to buy a ticket immediately.

But after months of speculation, it was revealed that The End is just the name of their new album.  It doesn’t make the tour any less exciting, but it leaves a but of a bad taste.

This is the largest venue that I would have seen them play at–and I wasn’t all that excited about that either.

Well, when Margaret Glaspy announced  that she was playing a show at Underground Arts on the same night, at first I was bummed to miss her.  Then I decided that I had seen Margaret twice, but both were short shows and that I’d really like to see her headline.

So, yes, I’m giving EITS a pass.  It’s kind of a shame that bands aren’t postponing shows anymore (bite your tongue).

EITS said that they’d be having local bands open for them throughout this tour.  According to Pitchfork:

Draag Me started as the solo project of Zack Schwartz, one of the driving forces behind Philadelphia psych band Spirit of the Beehive. His first record under the Draag Me moniker, i am gambling with my life, was a collection of warm, hazy electro-pop with an undercurrent of anxiety.  With idle time during the pandemic, Schwartz started emailing scraps of songs to his Beehive bandmate Corey Wichlin, including some taken from Beehive’s ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH sessions. The two passed files back and forth, arranging and mangling them until full compositions emerged, ones more metallic and jittery than their predecessors.

The music is weird an unsettling–chopped up and stripped down.  It’s the kind of music that would be really hard to play live if it wasn’t all prerecorded in some way.  I’m curious how well they will be received–although a Philly show with a Philly band should probably be okay.  Interestingly, they are also opening for DIIV in Jersey City on Nov 1.  I don’t know DIIV at all, but I wonder how well they work with these two different bands.

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Death Grips (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, September 23, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Death Grips, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA on September 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 23, 2023] Death Grips

Death Grips is a band I learned about a few years ago.  They are noisy and scary and apparently put on an insane live show.  But they are also really flaky, including posting this on Facebook a decade ago

We are now at our best and so Death Grips is over. We have officially stopped. All currently scheduled live dates are canceled.

This show was scheduled to be at Union Transfer, which I was pretty psyched about.  But it sold out in about five seconds and they moved it to Franklin Music Hall, which is kind of a bummer, although somehow it seems fitting that they would play at a much bigger venue.

It also appears that it’s unclear how long after doors open that they will go on.  You could wait almost two hours if you get there when doors open.  Yikes.

 

(more…)

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Sylvan Esso (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, August 12, 2023)

Posted in Califone, Dehd, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, Sylvan Esso on August 13, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 12, 2023] Sylvan Esso

I’ve had Sylvan Esso on my list of bands to see for a while, even though I’ve never been a huge fan of the band.  I like a lot of their songs, but I don’t really listen to them all that much.

However, every time they release a new single I dig it.  Plus, I had heard that their live shows were electric.  The last time they camw to Philly it was part of another tour and I’d never even heard of the headliner(!).  Before that was 2018 at a Festival.

The problem, such as it is, is that I didn’t know their new album all that well at all. But that’s fine, because the songs are fun and Amelia Meath, literally the only person to watch on stage is all about being in charge.  Her musical partner Nick Sanborn creates all of the music on a variety of electronic devices.  he stands up in the corner of the stage, occasionally looking up, but mostly very busy making sounds including manipulating and echoing Amelia;s voice as she sings.

Amelia started out wearing a suit jacket long enough to cover most of her body.  She opened the jacket for “Ferris Wheel” (and I love how the whole room shouted the NO! at the right time).

Then she took off the jacket to reveal that she was wearing a leather bikini of some sort (which looked really uncomfortable if I’m being honest).  But she was in her element–dancing some impromptu moves and getting the whoel crowd inspired by her. (more…)

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