Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Mann Center for the Performing Arts’ Category

Car Seat Headrest: The Scholars Tour (Skyline Stage at The Mann Center, September 12, 2025)

Posted in Car Seat Headrest, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Skyline Stage at The Mann, The Lemon Twigs on September 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 12, 2025] Car Seat Headrest

My son and I saw Car Seat Headrest three years ago (I can’t believe it was that long ago).  The show was terrific–singer Will Toledo was in a gasmask the whole night and the whole production was wild and intense.

Since that time, Will has suffered from long COVID.  Whether or not this impacted the delay in the new album (when he was other so crazily productive) it’s unclear.

But his new album was a big deal.  It was a concept album (the booklet apparently adds much depth to the album) and songs were over ten minutes long (Planet Desperation runs to almost 20!).  Before the show, I had checked and it turned out that this tour was going to be almost entirely the Scholars album.  And that proved to be the case.

The band came out, the crowd went nuts.  Before starting Will set some ground rules–be nice to each other; if someone does something you  don’t like and they ask you to stop, do it somewhere else, etc).  Incidentally before the show started there was a lengthy promo for hydrating.  A male voice who said he was with Car Seat Headrest, then went on to say he was Bradley Cooper, Tyler the Creator and Charlie XCX–all giving fact and stats about hydration.  It was pretty entertaining.

And then the lights (and the fog, oh so much fog) obscured the stage as they broke into CCF.  The band sounded amazing,  And, unlike last time, my son and I managed to get reasonably close to the stage, so that was fun (even if photos and videos were pretty much useless with the lighting).

Will spoke in between songs sometimes, introducing Deveraux which segued into Lady Gay Approximately.  There are some hugely catchy moments on this album, but there are also jamming moments–which sounds great but are hard to dance to, so the crowd was reasonably subdued during the non-singing parts. (more…)

Read Full Post »

The Lemon Twigs (Skyline Stage at The Mann Center, September 12, 2025) [CAR SEAT HEADREST]

Posted in Car Seat Headrest, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Skyline Stage at The Mann, The Lemon Twigs on September 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 12, 2025] The Lemon Twigs

I really liked the first album from The Lemon Twigs.  Their second album was weird by fun, and then the pandemic came and I lost touch with their new music.  But I really wanted to see them live because I had heard they were great.

When they played around the last few times, for one reason or another I didn’t go and as it turned out, I didn’t love their two newest albums as much as I liked the older ones.  So I had kind of given up on seeing them.  But I was really excited when they were listed as the opening band for Car Sear Headrest.  This would be a great opportunity to check them out.

And holy cow were they good.  Their newer albums have a kind of soft rock vibe that I really didn’t like.  But live, they totally rocked.  They leapt in the air, they soloed, they shouted–it was a total blast.

They didn’t play anything from Go Hollywood (sigh), but that’s okay because even though I didn’t really know any of the songs, they were catchy and fun.  Brian played a big old fashioned looking guitar and Michael played an old school Rickenbacker.  The two of them sang lead and harmonies, alternating (see the setlist for who sang what–on some songs).

But it was when bassist Danny Ayala (also on a classic Rickenbacker) and drummer Reza Matin sang along with them that the harmonies were out of this world. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Coheed & Cambria / Taking Back Sunday / Foxing (Mann Center, Philadelphia PA, August 27, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Coheed & Cambria, Foxing, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Taking Back Sunday on August 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 27, 2025] Coheed & Cambria / Taking Back Sunday / Foxing

I like Coheed and Cambria more in theory than practice.  I have one album by them, but I love the whole concept of everything they do.  They are a complicated prog metal band and it takes some time to get into their new stuff.  Plus, their music is all part of a lengthy story.  Lead dude Claudio Sanchez has a grand vision and it’s easy to get left out of it.

I have thought about seeing them a few times (when I blew them off in 2022, a guy in Salem, MA said I was a fool for not going), but I’m never compelled enough to go–especially if I have a few other shows around it.

This appears to have been a co-headline tour with Taking Back Sunday having the other spot.  Taking Back Sunday has been around forever and yet I don’t think I know a single song by them.  I know they’re an old school emo band, but I wasn’t really into that scene in the late 90s, early 2000s, so I missed a lot of these bands.  And I’m not willing to dive into their catalog at this time.

Foxing seems like an odd band to have on the bill as well.  Although Foxing is a pretty odd band themselves.  I have seen them twice and they were absolutely fantastic live–even though I barely knew any of their music.  I considered going to this show just for Foxing, but that would have been very silly indeed.

Maybe one of these years I’ll get to a C&C show.  And I would definitely like to get to another Foxing show.

 

 

Read Full Post »

The Flaming Lips (TD Pavilion at The Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, August 5, 2025)

Posted in Black Sabbath, Friko, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Modest Mouse, Philadelphia, PA, Rainbows, The Chemical Brothers, The Flaming Lips on August 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 5, 2025] The Flaming Lips

I have now seen The Flaming Lips eight times.  Even when they play many of the same songs a lot, it’s always a fun and joy-filled experience.

And for the first time, I was right on the barrier to see them right up close.  So close that when they deflated the pink robots, I got to touch one!

The last time we saw them it was for the Yoshimi tour which was an evening with the Lips.  So this 75 minute set was considerably shorter, but it was a great compact set with three songs I’d never heard them play before!

They opened with an instrumental from The Soft Bulletin.  This was my first exposure to the new lineup of the band.  Steven Drozd is sitting out this tour and was replaced by AJ Slaughter who I was right in front of (I admit I was bummed that I was right in front of Steven’s spot but it wasn’t him!  Although his broken double neck guitar was there!

Slaughter did a great job playing all of Drozd’s parts and even added some pedal steel guitar which was a fantastic addition to the songs.

This was also the first time I’ve seen them with only one drummer in ages.

But the fewer musicians seemed to give room to more on stage antics.  They played parts one and two of Yoshimi and there were four giant inflatable robots filling the stage.  During part two, the confetti cannons were on full blast and I was right in the middle of it all.  Wayne also shot off his hand held confetti cannons and the delight on everyone’s faces was wonderful to be a part of. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Modest Mouse (TD Pavilion at The Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, August 5, 2025) [THE FLAMING LIPS]

Posted in Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Modest Mouse, Philadelphia, PA, The Flaming Lips on August 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 5, 2025] Modest Mouse

This was my eighth time seeing Modest Mouse in ten years.  The last two times were album tours which are always fun.

I always enjoy seeing them, and this shortened set was punchy and fantastic.  And, since I had managed to get on the barrier, I was right there to watch it all.  I was right in front of Simon O’Connor on guitar and behind him was Keith Karman on keys.

I hadn’t realized that Isaac is the only original member of the band left.  But they are a cohesive unit and it seemed pretty clear that Isaac was having fun up there.

I couldn’t really see Damon Cox on drums because Simon was blocking him, but I had a great view of percussionist Ben Masarella who is so much fun to watch–he adds so many interesting sounds to the songs and he holds them up front to get a full sound, so you get to see him pick up some randomly shaped object and see what it’s going to sound like.

Bassist Russel Higbee was pretty far away but it was fun to watch him from time to time. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Friko (TD Pavilion at The Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, August 5, 2025) [THE FLAMING LIPS]

Posted in Friko, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Modest Mouse, Philadelphia, PA, The Flaming Lips on August 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 5, 2025] Friko

 

I was really excited for this show–two of my favorite bands playing together.

I arrived roughly at 7, expecting to maybe miss the first song of the opener.  But no.  And not only that, I walked down to the pit (I was so excited to get pit tickets) and walked right up to the barrier.  So I was front and left for the entire night.

The night started with Friko, a young band from Chicago.  I’d listened to them ahead of time and enjoyed them, but I was so impressed by their live show.

I was delighted to be in front of Korgan Robb on guitar who was wringing all kinds of interesting sounds out of his guitar.  And since I was right in front of him, I got to watch him mess with his pedals and then find out what he was about to create.

Although it turns out that he is not actually part of the band.  Friko is presently a duo Niko Kapetan sings and plays guitar and and Bailey Minzenberger is the drummer.  For this tour in addition to Korgan, they had David Fuller on bass. (more…)

Read Full Post »

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Phantom Island Tour with Sarah Hicks, Conductor & Music Director, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and DJ Crenshaw (TD Pavilion Stage at the Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, July 19, 2025)

Posted in DJ Crenshaw, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA on July 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 28, 2025] King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Phantom Island Tour with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia

Last summer I had tickets to see King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at the Dell Music Center.  The place is a chaotic mess and massive traffic, lack of parking and extreme heat meant that I circled the area and then said the heck with it and went home.  I was a little bummed, but not outrageously.  (The setlist is really good though).

When they announced this tour with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, at the Mann Center, I knew it would be a good venue and I knew it would be a good introduction to them for my son.

We arrived with time to spare, bought some merch and then got in our seats for DJ Crenshaw.  I don’t entirely see the point of someone like this.  He was a live DJ spinning song before the band went on.  Most of the songs were loud and distorted and honestly I couldn’t even tell you what he played.

But soon enough, the lights went down and the orchestra came out.

In many ways this was not the ideal first show for a KGLW newbie as they played their new album in its entirety, but the second set ran through a whole pile of their songs and my son was hooked.

The orchestra came out first (as they do) and Sarah Hicks received a sizable round of applause.  And soon enough the album kicked off.  The orchestra made the album sound huge! (more…)

Read Full Post »

“Weird Al” Yankovic: Bigger & Weirder 2025 Tour (TD Pavilion Stage at the Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, July 19, 2025)

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, Funny (ha ha), Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Milo Murphy's Law, Paul Simon, Philadelphia, PA on July 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 19, 2025] “Weird Al” Yankovic

This was my tenth time seeing Weird Al.  That’s pretty exciting.

I didn’t know if he’d be doing another tour (he hasn’t put out any new music (aside from soundtrack songs) in over ten years!  But this was a bigger and weirder tour.  In practice, this meant that there were more people on stage than ever before–four other people on stage aside from his long-lasting regular band.

Probyn Gregory – backing vocals, trumpet, trombone, tuba, guitars, percussion ; Scheila Gonzalez – backing vocals, saxophone, clarinet, percussion ;  Payton Velligan – backing vocals, guitars, percussion ; Monique Donnelly – backing vocals, keyboards, percussion.

I asked my whole fam if they wanted to go and all three of them said yes, rather excitedly I might add.  But that was a long time before the show.  And so my daughter wound up working and my son wound up going to a concert in Wisconsin!  I was able to sell my two tickets for basically face value and my wife and I enjoyed the show by ourselves.

I assumed that this show would be a kind of greatest hits show, but it turned out to be chock full of songs I hadn’t seen live before and, some that I had never even heard before!

They opened with Tacky, but there was some kind of technical difficulty, so I’m not sure how much of the song they were going to play.  I would have enjoyed hearing it, but it’s not a big deal.

Then he surprised the heck out of me by opening with Mission Statement, the CSNY inspired song that mocks corporate speak.  It sounded great with the backing singers doing harmonies.  Then came Polkamania!  I knew this medley, but not very well.  I had forgotten that he put it out in 2024 as a single covering the ten years since his last album.  It was really fun seeing Billie Eilish in a Weird Al concert.

After the drum solo, they played Everything You Know is Wrong, a song I simple cannot believe I’d never seen him play live before (I see he never played it before this tour!).  It was amazing. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Phish: Summer Tour 2025 (The Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, July 15 & 16, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Phish on July 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 15 & 16, 2025] Phish

Ever since seeing Phish on New Year’s Eve (and getting the full Gamehendge) I didn’t really think I needed to see Phish again.  I mean, sure there’s more songs I wanted to see live, but 17 times seemed like enough.  And then they announced these two shows at the Mann.  My plan was, if I get GA Pit tickets (the one thing I have not had for Phish) I would go.  And I won the lottery and got two Pit tickets!

And then Hozier cancelled his show in Camden and pushed it to July 15!  There was no debate about which I was going to.  I’ve never seen Hozier in a big setting like that PLUS, my whole family was going to the Hozier show.  So I’d sacrifice my Pit tickets (even though everyone says that this tour is one of the best in years).

I also sold my lawn tickets for the second night.  I don’t enjoy lawn tickets and it turned out we were exhausted after Hozier (home by 1:30AM that night), so I wasn’t too sad to get rid of the tickets.

Then I foolishly looked at the setlists.   I have a list of about 25 songs (which I really like) that I have yet to see them play live.  So I looked at the setlist and I am sadly bolding the FOUR songs they played over the two nights.  And I gotta say, Maze is one of my top want to see songs and Pebbles and Marbles was like a fingers crossed request.  So, yes I’m a little bummed.  But Hozier was awesome, and I’m sure I can see Phish again. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Black Veil Brides (TD Pavillion @ The Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, June 28, 2025) [BABYMETAL]

Posted in Babymetal, Black Veil Brides, Bloodywood, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA on June 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 28, 2025] Black Veil Brides

I was really bummed that Jinjer was opening half of these shows and that our show was so close to the Jinjer dates.

I had seen Black Veil Brides open for Ice Nine Kills and my first thought when I saw them was:

“these guys have gotta be from L.A.”  Why?  Because the drummer was swinging his head around and spinning and throwing sticks and the guitarists were really flashy, doing solos up front and standing back to back while they soloed together.  None of it was especially crazy, but it just screamed L.A. metal band to me.  And indeed, I found out after that they are from Holly wood.  Turns out the rhythm guitarist is named Jinxx!

I enjoyed their set well enough then and it was fine for this show.  We had moved to the ADA section, which meant comfy chairs, so we sat through their set.  Couldn’t see them all that well, but they didn’t do anything visual, so it was no big deal.  I had mentioned my L.A. comment to my wife and she agreed.

Many people at the show were REALLY into BVB.  The person in front of us in particular was crazy for  them.

Their set was entirely fine.  I was chickling about he lead singer who sounds like a TV presenter when he talks but who started every single song with a guttural scream.  This of course made all of the songs blend together to me.

There was nothing that we didn’t like about their set, but we both agreed afterwards that there was simply nothing memorable about it.  It turned out, though, that we liked the final two songs the most.

Those songs were from 2011 and 2013, so I’m guessing I like their older stuff better.

2025 2022
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (Johann Sebastian Bach song)
(Intro theme, transitions into “Knives and Pens”)
 The Phantom Tomorrow [tape intro]
Knives and Pens ⊗ Faithless ∇
Bleeders ♦ Coffin ®
Faithless ∇ Crimson Skies ¶
Coffin ® Shadows Die ϖ
Devil ♠ Wake Up √
Perfect Weapon Scarlet Cross ¶
The Legacy § Knives and Pens ⊗
In the End ϖ The Legacy §
Fallen Angels §
In the End ϖ

♦ Bleeders EP (2024)
♠ The Mourning EP (2022)
¶ The Phantom Tomorrow (2021)
√ Vale (2018)
∇ Black Veil Brides (2014)
ϖ Wretched and Divine (2013)
® Rebels EP (2011)
§ Set the World on Fire (2011)
⊗ We Stitch These Wounds (2010)

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »