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Archive for the ‘Franklin Music Hall’ Category

PUP (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, May 6, 2022)

Posted in Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, Pinkshift, PUP, Sheer Mag on May 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 1, 2022] PUP

It’s kind of funny that the headliner is the only band on this bill that I hadn’t seen before.

I was really excited to see PUP.  I knew some of their songs and t hen slowly I knew and liked even more of them.  After watching their Tony Desk on NPR, I knew they were fun guys who probably put on a great show.

The backdrop was in  the same deliciously surreal style as the poster (which I love).  And then the band came out.

Stefan Babcock played the opening song from the new album (about just learning to play piano and writing a song on it because the label wanted them to) on a keyboard.

And as soon as the song ended, the whole place exploded into a pogoing slamming chaotic fest of fun.  They blasted through one song from each of their albums and everyone sang/screamed the words to all of them.

The light show was simple but really effective, with a bank of lights behind the drums and beams shooting out from time to time. (more…)

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Sheer Mag (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, May 6, 2022) [PUP]

Posted in Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, Pinkshift, PUP, Sheer Mag on May 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 6, 2022] Sheer Mag

I saw Sheer Mag back in 2017 and enjoyed their set quite a lot.  I had said that

They play a terrific swagger-filled hard rock (comparisons to many riff rock bands of the 70s abound).  And they are fronted by bad-ass singer Tina Halladay whose gritty voice sounds quite a bit like some of high-pitched male singers of the era.

They haven’t really made any new music since 2019, which is kind of a surprise as they were pretty prolific up until then.

This show had them playing a few songs from each of their albums and some of their earlier 7 inch records too.

This being a home town crowd, I thought the band would bring something extra.  It seemed like they were a little cranky or something. (more…)

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Pinkshift (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, May 6, 2022) [PUP]

Posted in Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, Pinkshift, PUP, Sheer Mag on May 6, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 1, 2022] Pinkshift

Pinkshift is from Baltimore and they play a great mix of grunge and punk all coordinated by lead singer Ashrita Kumar.

I saw them open for Mannequin Pussy last year and they were amazing.  I was psyched that they were opening for Pup and made sure my son and I arrived early.

The band has only gotten better since we last saw them.  Kumar remains an amazing front woman, channeling her anger and aggression into an amazing set of songs and really getting he crowd pumped.

Guitarist Paul Vallejo and touring bassist Mikey Stabekis  were locked in step as they rocked.  Sounds like original bassist Erich Weinroth has been let go]. And drummer Myron Houngbedji was completely intense.

Here’s a funny detail I didn’t know.  (more…)

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Car Seat Headrest (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, April 1, 2022)

Posted in Bartees Strange, Car Seat Headrest, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, Toy Bastard on April 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 1, 2022] Car Seat Headrest

I saw Car Seat Headrest four years ago at Union Transfer and it was one of the least pleasant shows I’d been to.  The music was great, but the crowd was uniformly terrible–especially near me.  

I wasn’t sure if I’d want to see them again, but then my son got really turned on to them (I had nothing to do with it) and he really wanted to see them live.  I couldn’t pass that up, and I assumed the crowd would be a little different in this much bigger venue.

And, yes, the crowd was much better–although it felt really crowded in there!

The crazy thing is that the doors opens at 7:30.  We arrived at 7:25 to an enormous line.  And we didn’t get in the venue until after 8.  I asked my son if he wanted to get up front or get merch.  He chose merch–I think getting close will win out next time.  I would have loved to have been closer for sure.

The fascinating thing about Car Seat Headrest now is that lead singer and main Headrest Will Toledo wears a modified gasmask for the entire set.  It’s pretty neat as it has a microphone in it and the eyes light up to display emotions (cute eyes, angry eyes, heart and swirly lines).  The good thing is that Toledo sounds fine through this odd system. (more…)

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Bartees Strange (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, April 1, 2022)

Posted in Bartees Strange, Car Seat Headrest, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, The National on April 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 1, 2022] Bartees Strange

I saw Bartees Strange open for Lucy Dacus back in October.   I was delighted by how well he was received by the Car Seat Headrest crowd.

His set was very similar to that last one.  He exchanged out a couple of songs for newer ones, but the general vibe was the same.

He came out by himself, wearing a bright year rain slicker and started with a quiet opening of “Far.”  After a couple of minutes, the rest of the band came out and rocked out the rest of the song.

I’m not sure if he had the same band playing with him–I assume so.  He got the crowd moving with one of his faster songs, “Mustang.”  And, like last time, he followed it with the rap of “Kelly Rowland” with the memorable refrain: “Broke ass nigga but I got Versace dreams.”

Mixing it up some more, he followed that with the bouncing “Weights.”  He looked up at the audience and chuckled, “Oh, my mom’s here.”

Then he introduced the new song “Hold the Line.”  He wrote the song for George Floyd’s daughter, and it was quite a powerful moment.

He followed that with a cover of Lemonworld by The National.  I thought last time that it was kind of mellow but the chorus rocked pretty hard.

He introduced the “jazz standard” called “Boomer” and ripped the song through the venue with everyone dancing and singing along.

He ended the set with another new song, his new single “Heavy Hearts.”  It’s a bit more mellow, and I probably would have ended with Boomer, but the set was really solid regardless.

Bartees is a great performer and I’m glad to see him getting some attention.  His merch was also really cool.

2022 2021
Far Far
Mustang Mustang
Kelly Rowland Kelly Rowland
Weights Weights
Hold the Line [new] 17
Lemonworld (The National cover) Flagey God
Boomer Lemonworld (The National cover)
Heavy Hearts Stone Meadows
Boomer

 

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LCD Soundsystem (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, March 28, 2022)

Posted in DJ Dave P.--Making Time, Franklin Music Hall, LCD Soundsystem, Philadelphia, PA on March 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 28, 2022] LCD Soundystem

Usually I like to give a separate post for an opening act.  But the opening act for this show was a DJ named Dave P. who does a show called Making Time.  Or Making Time is a show and he is one of the DJs.  Or something.  I didn’t quite get it.

So Dave P. spun music before LCD Soundsystem came on.  It was kind of funny because they always play music before a band comes on.  So instead of a playlist, it was an actual person spinning songs.  But he wasn’t on stage–he was up above in the balcony.  And he never spoke.  So it almost didn’t make a difference.  The tunes were pretty good though (but waaay too loud–much louder than the band was).

The biggest gripe I had was that he played until 9:30  (I had arrived at  around 7:30).  So I basically stood there for two hours.  Why didn’t LCD Soundsystem come on at 9 or something?  The show could have ended at a more reasonable time as well.

So the band came out at 9:30.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this show.   I like a bunch of LCD songs, but they’re all kind of monotonous dance songs.  So what was a live show going to be like. (more…)

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Mitski / The Weather Station (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, March 25, 2022) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Franklin Music Hall, Mitski, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, The Weather Station on March 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: March 25, 2022] Mitski/The Weather Station [moved to July 24, 2022]

I saw Mitski back in 2018.  I enjoyed her theatrical show quite a lot.

In that time, Mitski has taken off with the young people.  Both of my kids love her (as does a large section of the youth).  When this tour was announced, there was no question that I would get four tickets for my two kids and one of their friends.

I figured it wouldn’t be that hard, since she was playing at a pretty huge venue.  But the presale sold out in like 5 seconds.  And the main day sale also sold out in like 5 seconds.  The bots were all over this tour.  It was so obnoxious.

My kids really wanted to see her but there was no way I was spending a ton of money on her, so we were SOL.

Then a few days before the show was to happen, it was postponed because of COVID. (more…)

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King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard / Leah Senior (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, October 23, 2021) [rescheduled]

Posted in Australia, Coronavirus, Franklin Music Hall, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine on October 23, 2021| 1 Comment »

[POSTPONED: October 23, 2021] King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard / Leah Senior [rescheduled from May 22 and then October 22, 2020; moved to October 22, 2022]

indexOn May 24, King Gizzard announced that they were pushing back this tour for another year.  It seemed surprising since everyone else is filling in tour dates this fall, but they made a valid point

We’ve made the (very hard) decision to reschedule our USA/CAN tour once again.

This was an extraordinarily tough decision to make but I hope y’all can understand the complexities that come with a giant tour of the States and Canada with a 6 piece band and a 6 person crew from Australia during a pandemic.

We’ve tried our hardest to reschedule as many of these shows as possible at the same venues. That means your ticket will still be valid if you want to go.

For our NY show, we’re unfortunately going to be canceling it, you will be given a full refund and will have to buy a new ticket at the new venue. Sorry! It’s bigger though so everyone should be able to get tickets. Exciting news on that and other new shows coming soon! 🙂

If you’d like a refund contact your local venue as soon as you can to arrange.

Thanks to every gizzhead for your ongoing support and love. We will get back on the road as soon as we can.

Love king gizz Xoxox

I was bummed when KGATLW had to postpone a show in May. I mean, come on, Coronavirus, would certainly be over by May, right?  Well, now it’s October and things are still crazy.  I really hope they can do this again next year.

Of course, knowing them, they’ll have three more albums out by then.

I have become a huge fan of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (are there any other kinds of fans of them?) since I first heard about them a few years ago.

I’m sad that I missed them on the tour just before the first time I saw them (at a smaller venue when newbies like me hadn’t heard of them yet), but I have seen them twice since.

In both cases, the band overcame somewhat unpleasant (to me) situations (obnoxious capacity crowds and unreasonable heat) to change my mind from swearing I’d never bother seeing them again (before the show), to hoping they’d come back really soon (after the show).

I’m not at all surprised that this show was postponed and they have already rescheduled the new date.  So we’re all good.  I just hope the damned air-conditioner works next time.

The last time I saw KGATLW, the two opening bands were kind of doom/psychedelic–perfect matches for KGATLW’s more recent sound.  This year’s opener is a singer named Leah Senior.

Leah Senior did the narration on KGATLW’s Murder of the Universe album.  But her music is a completely other thing.  She sings gentle folk songs with delicate guitar playing and her beautiful soft voice.

I can;t imagine how well she would go over with a rowdy KGATLW crowd and I also wonder if that means that KGATLW would play their more mellow stuff?  Nah.

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Ministry / Helmet / Front Line Assembly (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, October 17, 2021) [rescheduled date, rescheduled again and again] [POSTPONED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Corrosion of Conformity, Depeche Mode, Feminism, Franklin Music Hall, Front Line Assembly, Igorrr, KMFDM, Ministry, Montclair, NJ, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Rammstein, The Melvins, Wax Trax!, Wellmont Theater on October 17, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: October 17, 2021] Ministry / Helmet / Front Line Assembly [rescheduled from July 18, 2020, April 17, 2021; moved to March 9, 2022]

indexOut of the blue, and very close to the time of the shows, this tour was cancelled and postponed until next year.

The lineup has completely changed as well.  Initially, the support was from KMFDM an Front Line Assembly.  Then KMFDM was replaced with Helmet.  Now for the show next year, we have The Melvins and Corrosion of Conformity.  I had pretty much decided i wasn’t going to go to this show anyhow, but it always lingered in the back of my mind as something I might want to do.  Of course, I’d much rather go to the Wellmont than Franklin Music hall, so it’s unlikely I’d go to this show anyhow.

~~~~

This show was moved to April which seemed reasonable at the time.  I see now that it has been pushed back to October which actually seems optimistic.  I am very bummed to see that KMFDM is no longer on the tour, as They would have been a great opener.  I like Helmet, but I think KMFDM would have been more fun.  If I’m going to one of these two shows (Montclair being the other one) it would certainly Montclair.

I’ve been a fan of Ministry for decades.  I even liked the first album With Sympathy (and listen to it now more than their hardercore stuff).  But when Land of Rape and Honey came out, it was the most intense thing in the world. It was incredible.

They put out a series of great heavy albums, although by 1999’s Filth Pig either I stopped enjoying it or they just weren’t as good.

So I guess it has been two decades since I cared about Ministry.  However, Al Jourgensen and his band keep touring and, since I’ve seen Slayer now, I thought I should see what a ministry experience is like.

I wanted to go to their show in 2018, (I was really interested in seeing opening band Igorr) but the date just didn’t work for me.

Although I hadn’t yet gotten tickets for this show, I was looking forward to this retro bill.

I liked KMFDM more in theory than actually listening to them–I have one album I think). But I always appreciated them (especially the joke that their initials stand for Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode–actually it is Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, “no pity for the majority”).  Only one guy is still in the band, but I’d be curious to see what their proto-Rammstein show would be like.

Front Line Assembly was one of the few bands on the industrial label Waxtrax that I never really got into.  I liked many bands on the label, but really never had much exposure to FLA (in the days before you could listen to things online).   I’m curious what 1980s industrial music sounds like in 2020.

Now that I see that the show is also going to be at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, I will definitely try to get to that one instead.

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Ministry / Helmet / Front Line Assembly (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, October 16, 2021) [rescheduled, rescheduled again][POSTPONED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Corrosion of Conformity, Depeche Mode, Feminism, Franklin Music Hall, Front Line Assembly, Igorrr, KMFDM, Ministry, Montclair, NJ, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Rammstein, The Melvins, Wax Trax!, Wellmont Theater on October 16, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: October 16, 2021] Ministry / Helmet / Front Line Assembly [rescheduled from July 18, 2020, April 16, 2021; moved to March 12, 2022]

indexOut of the blue, and very close to the time of the shows, this tour was cancelled and postponed until next year.

The lineup has completely changed as well.  Initially, the support was from KMFDM an Front Line Assembly.  Then KMFDM was replaced with Helmet.  Now for the show next year, we have The Melvins and Corrosion of Conformity.  I had pretty much decided i wasn’t going to go to this show anyhow, but it always lingered in the back of my mind as something I might want to do.  Of course, I’d much rather go to the Wellmont than Franklin Music Hall, although I’m in no rush to get tickets for this.

~~~~

This show was moved to April which seemed reasonable at the time.  I see now that it has been pushed back to October which actually seems optimistic.  I am very bummed to see that KMFDM is no longer on the tour, as They would have been a great opener.  I like Helmet, but I think KMFDM would have been more fun.  If I’m going to one of these two shows (Philly the other one) it would certainly be this one.

I’ve been a fan of Ministry for decades.  I even liked the first album With Sympathy (and listen to it now more than their hardercore stuff).  But when Land of Rape and Honey came out, it was the most intense thing in the world. It was incredible.

They put out a series of great heavy albums, although by 1999’s Filth Pig either I stopped enjoying it or they just weren’t as good.

So I guess it has been two decades since I cared about Ministry.  However, Al Jourgensen and his band keep touring and, since I’ve seen Slayer now, I thought I should see what a ministry experience is like.

I wanted to go to their show in 2018, (I was really interested in seeing opening band Igorr) but the date just didn’t work for me.

Although I hadn’t yet gotten tickets for this show, I was looking forward to this retro bill.

I liked KMFDM more in theory than actually listening to them–I have one album I think). But I always appreciated them (especially the joke that their initials stand for Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode–actually it is Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, “no pity for the majority”).  Only one guy is still in the band, but I’d be curious to see what their proto-Rammstein show would be like.

Front Line Assembly was one of the few bands on the industrial label Waxtrax that I never really got into.  I liked many bands on the label, but really never had much exposure to FLA (in the days before you could listen to things online).   I’m curious what 1980s industrial music sounds like in 2020.

Now that I see that the show is also going to be at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, I will definitely try to get to that one instead.

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