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Archive for the ‘Venues’ Category

Bad Cop/Bad Cop / The Homeless Gospel Choir (Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA, August 29, 2023) [CANCELLED]

Posted in Bad Cop/Bad Cop, Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA, The Homeless Gospel Choir on August 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: August 29, 2023] Bad Cop/Bad Cop / The Homeless Gospel Choir

I didn’t actually find out about this show until it was cancelled. And there’s no word that I can see as to why it was cancelled.

Oh well.

I saw Bad Cop/ Bad Cop open for Anti-Flag and they were great.  I enjoyed their whole intense set.

The Homeless Gospel Choir opened for My Chemical Romance when we saw them.  But we didn’t get to our seats until after their set was over.  They are a folk/punk band from Pittsburgh who I’m still interested in checking out.

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Ghost: Re-Imperatour (Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Camden, NJ, August 25, 2023)

Posted in Amon Amarth, Camden, NJ, Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Ghost, Ghost B.C. on August 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 25, 2023] Ghost

My son and I have now seen Ghost 4 times in about 4 years.  Interestingly, these previous three times have all been based around their last album, last year’s Impera.  My son is rather tickled that he has a short from the Pre-Imperatour, the Imperatour and the Re-Imperatour.

It’s fairly ballsy to tour the same album three times in a year and a half. But in this time their fan base seems to have grown quite a lot.

The Freedom Mortgage Pavilion seats around 25,000 people.  I know it didn’t sell out, but I have to assume there were at least 10,000 people there.   Which is pretty awesome, and makes Papa Emeritus IV very happy.

The set is largely the same as it has been for each part of the tour, with the stained glass windows in the back and the tiered risers.  The Nameless Ghouls were out in force.  And it felt like there might be a few more of them than usual.

LIke thre previous two shows, the opening music was classical.  Klara stjärnor (Jan Johansson song) and Miserere Mei, Deus (Gregorio Allegri song) before the strains of “Imperium” wafted from behind the giant curtain at the front of the stage.

The curtain came down and Papa strolled out as “Kaisarion” played.  And like each show before, it was followed immediately by “Rats.”

Even though I have seen this particular opening, I never get tired of it.  The crowd is nuts, the band is on fire, there’s lights and explosions and everyone is singing “RATS!” at the top of their lungs.

I was pleased that the setlist wasn’t exactly the same as the previous tour, as it mixed in with the Pre-Imperatour as well. (more…)

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Alex G / Alvvays [A Make the World Better Benefit] (The Dell Music Center, Philadelphia PA, August 26, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Alex G, Alvvays, Dell Music Center, Make the World Better, Philadelphia, PA on August 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 26, 2023] Alex G / Alvvays

Just like last year’s Make the World Better Benefit, everything about this show was geared for me to enjoy.

Actually, that’s not entirely true.  I don;t really like Alex G.  In fact, the last single that got overplayed by him I did not like at all.

But I love Alvvays and would love to see them again.

Plus, this is a benefit show for Make the World Better.

Their motto is “A park should be a place where you see joy every single day. That’s what we’re trying to do.” — Connor Barwin

We believe community-based redevelopment projects have a unique ability to strengthen neighborhoods by creating a sense of ownership over public spaces. We engage residents in all phases of a project, from concept to construction to ongoing programming and upkeep. We design with and for the community—pushing beyond typical play space design: we’ve built community garden plots and a media lab; we have painted murals and all of our projects have included green stormwater infrastructure.

I’ve never been to the Dell Music Center.  It’s an outdoor venue near The Mann Center which probably means parking sucks.  Although I see that it is mostly seated with just a little bit of lawn available.

However, this weekend was already busy enough.  So, we had to give it a miss.  It’s not sold out, but it’s pretty close.  So good for them.

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Lotus Land (Musikfest Cafe, Steel Stacks, Bethlehem, PA, August 25 & 26, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Lotus Land, Rush, Steelstacks on August 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 25 & 26, 2023] Lotus Land 

This is the third or fourth time I could have seen Lotus Land.  And this time they are playing two nights in a row!

Really, I have no interest in seeing tribute bands.  If I can’t get the real thing, then I won’t get it at all.

However, this Rush tribute band intrigues me because in the pictures they both use doubleneck instruments and their ads say they play mostly late 70 and early 80s Rush.  This is a period I’ve never seen live and I think it might be fun.  Plus they are very highly praised in their reviews.

Turns out Friday night we had plans and I’m really trying to not go out on Saturdays as much, so I’ll just have to hope they come back around when I’m not doing much else.

 

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Amon Amarth (Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Camden, NJ, August 25, 2023) [GHOST]

Posted in Amon Amarth, BB&T Pavillion, Camden, NJ, Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Ghost, Ghost B.C. on August 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 25, 2023] Amon Amarth

I saw Amon Amarth open for Slayer back in 2019.  At that time I didn’t know them, but I really enjoyed their show–they were melodic and the singer was kind of growly, but he was understandable, and that makes a big difference.

I didn’t realize it had been so long since I had seen them and I kind of expected the same basic show.  But since 2019, they have put out a new album (and have a brand new single out as well).

So while they did play six of the same songs as last time, the order was different and their stage show was HUGE!

Last time they had a ship on stage that they climbed all over.  This time, there was a giant mask on stage and two massive statues of warriors on either side of the stage.

The band sounded huge.  I have now seen them twice in the same venue and would like to see them with a better sound system. (more…)

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Together Pangea / Thick / Reckling (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, August 24, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Reckling, Thick, Together Pangea, Underground Arts on August 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 24, 2023] Together Pangea / Thick / Reckling

I have wanted to see Thick for about five years now.  It seems whenever they play a show I can’t get to it for one reason or another.  This show was announced and I thought they were headlining.  But they are not.

Together Pangea is a band whose name I like a lot.  But I do not like their music.  It’s not that different from bands that I do like, it just didn’t do anything for me. So I decided I didn’t want to go to this show.

Thick is a fun rocking band from New York.  As I’ve said every time I keep missing them, I hope they come back soon.

I’d never heard of Reckling.  They are a pretty standard fast, catchy punk band.  Fun stuff, but not especially memorable.

 

 

 

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Paradox Museum (American Dream Mall, East Rutherford, NJ, August 24, 2023)

Posted in American Dream Mall, East Rutherford, NJ, Paradox Museum on August 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 24, 2023] Paradox Museum

I had gotten an ad on Instagram for something called Otherworld.  I bought tickets ahead of time and we had a blast when it opened.

Naturally I’d get an ad for the Paradox Museum as well.  There were photos of the weirdness inside and I thought it would be fun to check out as well.

Like Otherworld, the Paradox Museum is a series of rooms  that you walk through and you have your mind blown.  Unlike Otherworld, everything in Paradox is familiar.  There’s no weird rooms or art or crazy things to explore, exactly.

Each room deals with a visual paradox.  And the rooms are designed for you to physically see (and more often take pictures of) things that kind of blow your mind.

So it was the left brain side of Otherworld’s right brain. (more…)

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Parliament-Funkadelic featuring George Clinton (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, August 19, 2023)

Posted in Blue Eye Extinction, Fishbone, Funkadelic, George Clinton, Montclair, NJ, Parliament, Wellmont Theater on August 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 19, 2023] Parliament-Funkadelic featuring George Clinton

I’ve had Parliament’s Greatest Hits since like 1990.  I have a couple Funkadelic albums.  I am in no way a huge fan, but I’ve always liked them and I’ve always thought that George Clinton was a pretty great guy.  I realize 100% that the P-Funk heyday was literally decades ago.  And of course I knew that any P-Funk concert in 2023 was going to be an imitation of what the band(s) got up to back in the day.

But since George was going to be there and his name was on the marquee, I assumed that this show would be a 21st century update to the classic P-Funk show.  And with the technology (and costumery) available, it seemed like this could be an outrageous spectacle.

And it was not.

Well, it was a spectacle.  There were some forty people on stage over the course of the night.  Not even all of them were musicians.  There were people ringing in the stage (one woman had her purse with her) who I’m guessing were VIPs or who won a contest or something.  When the band first came out there were four horn players, two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, a keyboardist, a disembodied voice (eventually I located him), four backing vocalists and George himself.

These musicians came and went throughout the show, sometimes being replaced by others.  And who even knew what was going on in the back where people were unseeable. (more…)

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Fishbone (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, August 19, 2023) [PARLIAMENT-FUNKADELIC]

Posted in Blue Eye Extinction, Fishbone, Funkadelic, George Clinton, Montclair, NJ, Parliament, Wellmont Theater on August 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 19, 2023] Fishbone

I first heard of Fishbone from John Cusack wearing a Fishbone shirt in Say Anything (1989).

And it wasn’t just a random T-shirt

[Cusack didn’t like the boom-box scene].  In a last-ditch effort to convince his star to try the scene the way it was written, Crowe told Cusack that the song blaring from the stereo would be by the band Fishbone. At the time, the actor was a big fan of the ska group, and their music’s inclusion helped persuade him to give it a try. The shot worked, but the scene was still a long way from reaching its legendary form.

(While sources all agree that a Fishbone song was played from the boombox on-set, which song was used seems up for debate. AFI claims it was “Question of Life, Mental Floss says it was “Turn the Other Way” and Uproxx believes it to have been ”Bonin’ in the Boneyard.” For the sake of argument, we’ll trust Crowe, who said that “Party at Ground Zero” was the song used.)

Anyhow, I liked the logo and decided to check out the band (or at least that’s how I remember it).  I loved their first EP with it’s funky dancey, naughty songs.  And Truth and Soul followed to great success.  Then it was their terrific The Reality of My Surroundings which sold me for good on Fishbone.  They even had a pretty big hit with the very heavy “Swim” from the following album.  So I’d been following Fishbone for about five years and hen kind of lost touch with them.

But those albums received a ton of play in those years and I never forgot how much I loved them.

So when I saw that they were still together (or reunited or whatever) I was surprised and delighted.  There’s been a ton of lineup shuffling over the years, but as of this concert, four of the six original members are now back (or still) in the band. (more…)

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Pixies / Modest Mouse / Cat Power (The Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, August 20, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Cat Power, Modest Mouse, Pixies, The Stone Pony, The Stone Pony Summer Stage on August 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 20, 2023] Pixies / Modest Mouse / Cat Power

I saw Pixies for the first time in 28 years at The Stone Pony Summer Stage and it was glorious.  I’ve since seen them two more times and I don’t feel the need to ever see them again.  Even though each show has been very good, and there is some mixing up of songs, I feel like I’ve seen everything they’re going to show me.

I would see Modest Mouse every time they came around.  The shows are totally different and each one feels like a new version of the band.

I have never really liked Cat Power (blasphemy!).  She just doesn’t do anything for me.

With this line up, the nays overrode the yeas.

Recently I looked to see how much the tickets were, just in case I wanted to go and I found out it was sold out.  So good for all of them.

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