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Archive for the ‘Venues’ Category

Jake Xerxes Fussell (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, August 25, 2022) [THE DECEMBERISTS]

Posted in Brigid Mae Power, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Philadelphia, PA, Suede, The Decemberists, The Met Philadelphia on August 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 25, 2022] Jake Xerxes Fussell

The Decemberists are one of our favorite bands and yet we have seen them very few times.  We were supposed to see them on their last tour but they cancelled our show because Colin lost his voice.

Then last year’s show was postponed for COVID.

Finally it was rescheduled.  Originally the support was from Brigid Mae Power who I don’t know.  But at some point she backed out and the new support came from Jake Xerxes Fussell who I also had never heard of.

For whatever reason, we arrived pretty late and decided to get merch since the line was short. We walked in half way through Fussell’s set.  It was just him and his electric guitar

So, Jake Xerxes Fussell is a guitarist who sings traditional folk songs.  No, that’s not exactly right.  He songs untraditional folks songs–songs that were literally sung by the folk, most of which were never recorded until a chronicler like Folkways came along.

The first song we heard was also the first song he played on his recent Tiny Desk Concert and this is how they described it:

Jake Xerxes Fussell’s Tiny Desk (home) concert opens with the eyebrow raising lyric, “I’ve got fresh fish this morning, ladies. They are gilded with gold and you may find a diamond in their mouths.” It was originally sung by a fishmonger in Florida and captured in a field recording. Coming from Fussell, it sounds as lived-in as his worn Telecaster looks. It’s immediate, but somehow out-of-time. Fussell found the tune at the Library of Congress, part of his process of collecting and curating traditional, public domain folk songs, and reinterpreting them through his own lens.

His voice is deep and old-sounding.  He fills these songs with the appropriate feeling that the original singer intended.   His guitar playing was quite good as well.

He won over the audience pretty easily, too.   If I had been there to see him or, more importantly, if I wasn’t super excited for The Decemberists, I would have enjoyed his set a lot more.  As it was I enjoyed the set quite a bit, but I really wanted to hear the main band.

I’m not sure I’d listen to his records, but I would enjoy seeing him live.

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Shannen Moser (McLaughlin Norcross Memorial Dell, Haddon Heights, NJ, August 24, 2022) [KATHLEEN EDWARDS]

Posted in Bernie Sanders, Haddon Heights, NJ, Kathleen Edwards, McLaughlin Norcross Memorial Dell, Philadelphia, PA, Shannen Moser, Summer Concert Series on August 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 24, 2022] Shannen Moser

It’s funny how some artists wind up as opening acts quite often.  Shannen Moser has been listed as an opening act for several band that I was interested in seeing.  She’s also been on two Champagne Jams from The Front Bottoms.  This is only my second time seeing her though and I’m not sure when she was announced as the opener for Kathleen Edwards, because I didn’t find out until a couple of days beforehand.

Shannen is from Berks County, PA.  She plays a simple kind of open-tuned guitar (such that a capo is all you need to make a chord sound good).  Some of her songs have a finger-picking section as well.

Her lyrics are personal and often pointed.

She received a nice round of applause for saying that she played with Bernie Sanders a few days earlier at his Rally with Bernie Sanders in Philadelphia to fight back against corporate greed. (more…)

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David Gray–White Ladder: The 20th Anniversary Tour (The Mann Center for Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, August 18, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in David Gray, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA on August 18, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 18, 2022] David Gray [rescheduled from to August 20, 2020 and August 18, 2021]

I was never 100% sure that we’d be going to this show.  My wife and I like the album, but it’s a big difference liking the album and going to see the band live.  Turns out this much-postponed show was right during our vacation.  Sorry David.

~~~~~~

My August was filling up pretty quickly so I assumed I wouldn’t be going to this show anyhow, but now that it’s in 2022.  Maybe…?

~~~

David Gray is pretty uncool–definitely “old person” music.  However, White Ladder is a pretty solid album.  When he announced this show, I asked S. is she might want to go.  We both had the same reaction.  Maybe… if it’s convenient.  Well, the Mann Center is anything but convenient, so there’s no way we were going.

I really shouldn’t even post it here, but since I’m including anything I even considered going to, here it is.

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Elvis Costello and the Imposters (Xcite Center, Parx Casino, Bensalem, PA, August 12, 2022)

Posted in Bensalem, PA, Elvis Costello, Nicole Atkins, Parx Casino, Xcite Center on August 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 12, 2022] Elvis Costello and the Imposters 

For a number of years now I’ve wanted to see Elvis Costello.  His 1985 greatest hits album The Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions is one of my favorite albums of all time.  In addition to those sixteen songs, he has a dozen more songs that I like a ton as well.  He’s also written a million songs that I don’t know, but I’ve heard he always puts on a good show.  And with his new touring band The Imposters (very funny) I figured an evening with the band would be a good time.

I had wanted to see him back in 2013 when he played Morristown.  I don’t recall why I didn’t go (too expensive?) For that tour he played over 30 songs from throughout his career.

Plus, it was at Parx casino–not as far as Philly and comfy seats!

For this tour, Elvis had been playing with Nick Lowe and Los Straightjackets opening.  But there was no opening act for this show.  Which promised a bigger show, I thought.  But I was wrong.

I assumed we’d get a greatest hits show with lots of songs from A Boy Called If (which I didn’t know, but if single “Magnificent Hurt” was anything to go by, it would all be good rocking fun.  After all the tour was called A Boy Called If and Other Favourites. (more…)

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Franz Ferdinand / Vundabar (The Fillmore, Philadelphia, PA, August 12, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Franz Ferdinand, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Vundabar on August 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 12, 2022] Guster / Allison Ponthier

I really enjoyed Franz Ferdinand’s first album.  Liked their second and then kind of forgot about them.  They made a (really good) album with Sparks that put them back on my radar.

This Greatest Hits tour would have been the ideal way to see them.

However, we had tickets to see Elvis Costello–a guy I’ve wanted to see for a pretty long time.

UPDATE: It’s a shame the Elvis show was so meh.

I could have seen Vundabar back in June when they did a headlining tour.

Although, by the time I knew who Vundabar was and was interested in seeing them because of their ubiquitous (in my house) old song “Alien Blues” I was way too late.

I was also a little surprised to find out that their music doesn’t really sound like “Alien Blues”–that song is a bit more frenetic and weird than their most recent album anyway.  Although most live reviews I’ve read say they are terrific live.

They’ve got quite the buzz, so I’m sure they’ll be back.

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Guster (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, August 10, 2022)

Posted in Guster, Montclair, NJ, Wellmont Theater on August 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 10, 2022] Guster [rescheduled from January 14, 2021, I guess]

Back in January, Guster was supposed to play the Wellmont (after postponing a seated acoustic show in 2020).

This show seems to have been the rescheduled show–does it even matter at this point?

The show sold out and we had pretty good seats.  Seats? For a  Guster show?  The seats thing proved to be the real downfall honestly because I was seated behind a freaking behemoth of a guy.  The entire row was full of normal sized people and this hulking dude who clearly did not care about Guster. What a travesty that was.

The guys came out to raucous applause and they opened with “Careful.”  Surprisingly, this was only the third time we’d seen them play this.  By the way, this was our ninth Guster show, we are definitely getting into territory where if they play anything we haven’t seen before we will be surprised.

Ryan was wearing one of his new wild fruit suits and looked wonderful. (more…)

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Laura Stevenson (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, August 10, 2022) [GUSTER]

Posted in Ben Kweller, Guster, Laura Stevenson, Montclair, NJ, Wellmont Theater on August 10, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 10, 2022] Laura Stevenson [rescheduled from January 14, 2021, I guess]

Back in January, Guster was supposed to play the Wellmont (after postponing a seated acoustic show in 2020).  Ben Kweller was supposed to open that show, which would have ben pretty fun as I don’t really know him very well, but I know he is tangentially related to Guster.

For this new show, Laura Stevenson was the opening act.

I only new Laura a little–from a Tiny Desk concert many many years ago, which I enjoyed.

I assumed she’d be fun–Guster tends to have good opening acts.

But we had a terrible time getting to the show and parking for some reason. Usually it’s not a problem parking in Montclair, but this show (which was sold out–good for Guster, but bad for us, I guess), made Montclair really crowded.

It seemed to take a long time to get in. (more…)

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Girl in Red (The Rooftop at Pier 17, New York, NY, August 2, 2022)

Posted in Girl in Red, New York City, The Rooftop at PIer 17 on August 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 2, 2022] Girl in Red

After seeing Girl in Red earlier this year, I didn’t think we’d be seeing her again.  But then my daughter’s friend invited her to go along to see Girl in Red at the Rooftop at Pier 17.

I was glad I didn’t have to drive as getting there was a hassle.  But getting into the venue was cool.  I enjoyed the way the whole place was designed (ads for the show on every floor as we escalatored to the roof).  And then the rooftop itself was really quite lovely.

There are excellent views of the city and the camera crew did some excellent editing, occasionally splicing up Marie Ulven’s face with the crescent moon that was hanging in the sky.

We both really enjoyed the show at Union Transfer and assumed that another show would be equally go.  We didn’t really consider that an outdoor show would be any different.  The setlist wasn’t really, but the stage production was much bigger.

She had three screens and even had smoke machines late in the set! (more…)

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Paranormal Cirque (Menlo Park Mall, Edison, NJ, August 3, 2022)

Posted in Cirque Italia, Edison, NJ, Menlo Park Mall, Paranormal Cirque on August 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 3, 2022] Paranormal Cirque

I was in a parking lot in Princeton and I saw a poster for Paranormal Cirque.

My family loves a good Cirque, so I was intrigued.  I saw that it was at the Menlo Park Mall (what?).  I went to the website and saw their big warning that their Cirque is Rated R.

And this big blurb:

Slow down so you can take it all in…but if you scare easily, you might want to run….as we welcome you into this new world of Paranormal Cirque! Under this Clown Castle, the black and red big top tent, Acrobats of the Air, Illusionists, freaks, mysterious creatures and all the elements that make one think of a “normal” Circus but that of normal has very little! A new show with breathtaking implications always poised between fun and the most uninhibited fear that will transport you to a dark world inhabited by creatures with incredible circus art abilities. A crazy yet fun fusion between Circus, theatre, and cabaret in perfect harmony with the evolution of a show that brings you back to when we dream … and when we had nightmares and fantasies. Scare, encompass, amuse and surprise are the ingredients for a mixture of emotions impossible to forget. This is truly a Paranormal experience like no other.

I knew my son would enjoy it.  I assumed my daughter would enjoy it.  She is 14, but has been getting into horror movies.  I figured my wife would hate it.  But I also had to wonder just what exactly made this Rated R.

I mean, they couldn’t do anything especially violent–they couldn’t actually hurt anybody, right?  So what made it different from any other cirque?

So, this was indeed at the Menlo Park Mall.  But it was set up in the parking lot!  You could see it from a long way away.  And as you got closer they did a great job of decorating around it with spooky lights and great props all around the entrance. (more…)

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Blu deTiger (The Rooftop at Pier 17, New York, NY, August 2, 2022) [GIRL IN RED]

Posted in binki, Girl in Red, New York City, Philadelphia, PA, The Rooftop at PIer 17 on August 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 2, 2022] Blu deTiger

I had heard of Blu deTiger and knew her song “Figure It Out” which I quite liked.

I didn’t realize that she was a bass player and lead singer–she played some great lead bass lines and did some good funky riffs too.

Blu has been playing bass since she was seven and has been in bands on and off for many years so she has her stage show down really well–she’s flirty and funny and knows how to play an audience.

It also turns out that she’s something of a TikTok sensation, but somehow my daughter wasn’t familiar with her.

(more…)

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