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Archive for the ‘Merriam Theatre’ Category

Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova of The Swell Season (Merriam Theater, Philadelphia, PA, March 14, 2022)

Posted in Glen Hansard, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Leonard Cohen, lnterference, Marketa Irglova, Merriam Theatre, Once, Pete Seeger, Philadelphia, PA, The Frames, The Swell Season, Van Morrison on March 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 14, 2022] Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova

Back in November, I was surprised and delighted to see that Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova had announced a small tour (like six shows) celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of Once.

S. and I loved the movie and the music and she insisted we get tickets.  So I grabbed them in a pre sale.  Not as close as we would have liked, but not bad at all (there’s really no bad seats in the Merriam).

In the meantime, shows were cancelled and rescheduled, but this show fell in the safe zone and didn’t get moved at all.

We arrived just barely on time–I always forget what a pain it is to get to the Kimmel Center.  But then it took a while for the show to start.  Start time was 7, but they didn’t get on stage until 7:30 (he told us why later).

It was wonderful. (more…)

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King Crimson (Merriam Theater, Philadelphia, PA, November 2, 2017)

Posted in David Bowie, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, King Crimson, Merriam Theatre, Philadelphia, PA, The Academy of Music on November 2, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 2, 2017] King Crimson

I saw King Crimson back in July.  And I had great seats.  It seems excessive to see them again just a few months later.  However, given that at any second, Robert Fripp could decide they were never going to tour again, it seemed like it behooved me to attend once more. Besides, the shows have been amazing.

This time I got very good seats on the left side of the audience.  This meant I could watch Fripp play guitar (he was blocked from my other seats).  I also had a  very clear view of bassist Tony Levin, which was awesome.  And I was close to drummer Pat Mastelotto who is so much fun to watch.

The lineup was pretty much the same as last time except that last time drummer Bill Rieflin was back on keyboards.  This time Rieflin was on sabbatical again, replaced on keys by Chris Gibson.

The lineup: Tony Levin (bass, Stick, more); Mel Collins (saxes, flutes); Jakko Jakszyk (guitar, vocals),  Chris Gibson (keyboards and effects): Three drummers: Gavin Harrison, Pat Mastelotto and Jeremy Stacey (also keyboards).  And of course, Robert Fripp (guitar). (more…)

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David Cross (Merriam Theatre, Philadelphia, PA, April 3, 2016)

Posted in Alvin and the Chipmunks, Arrested Development, Cigarettes, Comedy Album, David Cross, Funny (ha ha), Guns, Hitler, Holidays, Merriam Theatre, Mr Show, Murder, Philadelphia, PA, Political Humor, Politicians, Racism, Religion, Yuck! on April 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 3, 2016] David Cross

cross I have enjoyed David Cross since the old days of Mr. Show, and the as Tobias on Arrested Development and even in Alvin and the, well, actually I’m just happy for him that he got a lot of money for it.

When he released his previous stand up album, Bigger and Blackerer, Sarah and I listened to it in the car on a long trip and we had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard.

So when I heard he was touring I thought it would be fun to see him live.  And, yes, it was.

But we ran into a few bumps along the way.  We had to leave very late because our babysitter had car trouble.  She arrived just late enough that we weren’t sure if it was worth still driving the hour to Philly.  We decided if traffic was terrible we would just stop somewhere and have dinner instead.  I even called the Theatre to see if there was an opening act (nope) and if the show really started at 7:30 and not 8 (yup, he would start at exactly 7:30).  Traffic was light and the GPS said we’d get to the garage at 7:35.  I missed the turn for the alley that our garage was on, and then we got slightly lost on the walk from garage to theater and as we got there at 7:40… there were still a whole bunch of people milling about in the lobby.  And then they flashed the lights telling us to get to our seats.  We missed nothing!

And we even got to tsk at people who arrived later than us.  Cross even joked that he would wait to start his joke because “it’s not fucking distracting or anything” when people are being seated.  I was frankly shocked that people seemed to still be arriving around 8PM! (more…)

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