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Archive for the ‘Venues’ Category

Fucked Up (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, July 17, 2022) [rescheduled]

Posted in Fucked Up, Philadelphia, PA, Robin Hatch, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Underground Arts on July 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 17, 2022] Fucked Up [moved from January 23, 2021]

I’ve been intrigued by Canadian band Fucked Up since I first heard of them. Obviously they had no intention of getting mainstream success with a name like that.  And yet, their music has turned heads.

Which is also a bit of a puzzle because, while it can be very, very catchy, lead singer Pink Eyes screams like the lyrics are comic from the pit of his soul (although you can actually understand most of what he says, which is a neat trick).

Pink Eyes is Damian Abraham who had led the band since 2001.

Fascinatingly, the band won the Polaris Prize in 2009 (for an album with mostly guest vocalists).  They followed up that album with david Comes to Life in 2011–a rock opera set in 1970s and 1980s England. The story involves unreliable narrators and meta-narrative plot devices.

And so it was that in 2021, they were going to do a ten year anniversary and pay the album front to back.  It was postponed, but, undaunted, they pressed on in 2022.

I had never seen Fucked Up before, but had a pretty good idea what to expect.  And yet they exceeded any expectation.

The band came out on stage while a projection of the band with their logo was on the screen behind them.  They played the opening song (an instrumental) and then Damian came out in sweatpants, and a black vinyl glove (he later revealed that he had cut his hand and this was protecting his from getting blood everywhere).  He proceeded to do his screaming thing. (more…)

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Pony (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, July 17, 2022) [FUCKED UP] [rescheduled]

Posted in Empath, Fucked Up, My Little Pony, Philadelphia, PA, Pony, Underground Arts on July 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 17, 2022] Pony [moved from January 23, 2021]

I had not heard of Pony before this show.  I was interested in hearing the original opening band, Empath, who are a Philly band that play a kind of noise punk.  Rolling Stone says “They sound like four people who sat in a room flexing their own freaky styles until — before they realized their interests might be wholly incompatible — the chaos created its own logic.”  They sound pretty great.

But Pony are a pop punk band from Toronto and they were fantastic.

Pony is fronted by Sam Bielanski who plays guitar and sings.  She is also a voice actress and voiced Jazz in My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale (hence the band name).

For a couple of songs at the end Sam didn’t play guitar she just sang and dominated the stage, stomping around in Doc Martins and a plaid skirt. (more…)

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Kevin Devine / Anika Pyle (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, July 13, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Anika Pyle, First Unitarian Church, Johnny Brenda's, Kevin Devine, Philadelphia, PA on July 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 13, 2022] Kevin Devine / Anika Pyle

The embarrassment of riches continued on July 13.  Initially the Bikini Kill show was rescheduled for this date–but it was postponed again.

I’ve been a fan of Kevin Devine for a few years.  I feel like I’ve seen him a bunch because he so often plays around here.  And yet I have only seen him three time (twice solo and once with his Goddamn Band).  I would love to see him again and would absolutely gone to see this show except that Foxing, a band I saw once who were amazing live were playing the same night.

I actually had tickets for this show but decided kind of last minute to see Foxing instead–it hadn’t sold out so I got a ticket at the box office.

I feel like it is far more likely that I’ll see Kevin Devine again soon.

Anika Pyle has written her own bio on he site:

Many know me as the front person in the short-lived but well-loved Chumped or the feminine exploration power pop project katie ellen. In February of 2021, I released my first solo record – Wild River  – a mix of song and spoken word poetry paying homage to my late father who died suddenly in 2019. The record explores failure, shame resilience, intergenerational trauma, and how to find hope after grief.

I hadn’t heard of her.  The few clips I’ve heard make it seem like her music is slow and moody.  Not my favorite mix.

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Bikini Kill / Brontez Purnell (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, July 13, 2022) [rescheduled, rescheduled again and again]

Posted in Alice Bag, Bikini Kill, Coronavirus, Feminism, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Riot Grrrl, The Bags on July 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: July 13, 2022] Bikini Kill / Brontez Purnell [rescheduled from November 22, 2020 and October 2, 2021; moved to April 7, 2023]

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About a week before this show was supposed to happen we got another update that the show was postponed yet again.

I like to note that I bought ticket to this show on November 10, 2019.

The reunited riot grrrl stars were originally set to play a host of North American shows across June and July this year, but had to postpone them due to a positive COVID case in their touring party.

Original support act Alice Bag is long gone replaced by Brontez Purnell who is still slotted to support next year.

Brontez Purnell is an American writer, musician, dancer, and director based out of Oakland, California. He is the author of several books, including Since I Laid My Burden Down, and the zine Fag School; frontman for the punk band The Younger Lovers; and founder of the Brontez Purnell Dance Company.

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(more…)

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Barenaked Ladies / Toad the Wet Sprocket / Gin Blossoms (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, July 12, 2022) [rescheduled date] [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Barenaked Ladies, Coronavirus, Gin Blossoms, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, The Met Philadelphia, Toad the Wet Sprocket on July 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 12, 2022] Barenaked Ladies / Toad the Wet Sprocket / Gin Blossoms [rescheduled from July 14, 2020 and July 13, 2021]

I haven’t seen Barenaked Ladies in a while.  They always put on a good show, although i feel like I’ve enjoyed the last few a little bit less than the previous ones.

I always consider going to their Last Summer on Earth tours, but i typically dislike the other bands that are playing with them–usually 90s bands that I assumed were broken up. Which doesn’t really speak all that well of BNL (unless it speaks well of them trying to boost old bands).

I never liked Gin Blossoms.

I liked Toad the Wet Sprocket for their name (which comes from Monty Python) but couldn’t tell you a single song they sang.

So, it was very unlikley that I was going to this one.  And I didn’t.

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As recent as mid-May this concert was still listed as happening in 2021, but when you clicked to buy tickets, the ticket pages said 2022.

I know that the whole “Last Summer on Earth” thing is a joke, but it’s getting a little creepy now.

I was kind of hoping they’d switch opening bands by now but, instead of this show, I think I’ll be seeing them at the Festival of Ballooning on July 24th instead.

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I have seen Barenaked Ladies almost more than any other band.  I’ve seen them from way back in the early days to a few times in the last few years.  They are reliably solid live (if not a bit predictable with their setlists).

We didn’t see them for last year’s “Last Summer on Earth” tour.  They have been using that name for the last several years, it may be time to think of a new name, especially given the current state of the world.  I wasn’t planning on going to this show mostly because I don’t really like the opening acts.  And, honestly, unless the show was something special and different, it would entirely depend on the opening acts whether I went or not. Maybe they’ll mix them up for next year.

Toad the Wet Sprocket got their name from a Monty Python skit which immediately made me like them.  I think I ha a cassette of their first album, maybe.  I haven’t really thought of them in years and remember them being kind of inoffensive.  Oh, wait, they had a pretty big hit with “All I Want,” a sweet slightly alt folk rock song.  I’ll bet there would be lots of lighters up for that song.

I really hated Gin Blossoms back in the 90s.  They were so overplayed and hardly qualified as alternative or college rock, but they were lumped in that category.  They had a number of songs that I probably know all the words to even though I never listened to them on purpose.

With a lineup change I’d consider seeing them next summer, especially if they changed the name of the tour.

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Lucy Dacus: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, July 8, 2022)

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[ATTENDED: July 8, 2022] Lucy Dacus: Free at Noon [postponed from March 4, 2022]

I have seen Lucy Dacus quite a few times and she always puts on a mesmerizing show.

After her March Free at Noon was postponed, I decided to definitely grab a ticket for this July Free at Noon (somehow I’m more interested in doing a weekday concert in the summer than in March).

The last time I saw Lucy she said she was living in Philly, so I assume that this show was fairly easy for her to cooridnate.  She was also upright (after her herniated disc injury) so this must have been an easy show to perform, too.

She stood up on stage in a white dress as blue lights filled the stage.  Her band surrounding her, she began with the lovely, quiet “Triple Dog Dare.”  The lights slowly brightened as the rest of her band came into view (I love watching her guitarist Jacob Blizard play)

They moved into the bouncier “First Time” (“You can’t feel it for the first time, a second time”) as the lights changed color and grew brighter.  There were notably more keys in this set, I thought–from synth player Sarah Goldstone who also added lovely harmonies. (more…)

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Man Man (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, June 30, 2022)

Posted in A Hard Tay's Night, Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Man Man, Philadelphia, PA on July 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 30, 2022] Man Man

I have seen Man Man twice before and each show was a wild extravaganza of fun and craziness.  Lead Man, Honus Honus knows how to put on a show–part lounge, part punk, part WTF.  It’s a spectacle in the best possible way.

This was the first time I Was seeing them as the headliner–they did headliner Philly Music fest, but it was a Festival, not a Man Man show.  The crowd was there for Man Man and they were pretty rowdy and wiled up (I didn’t really care for them).

But we were all there to see the band put on a great show.  So the lights dimmed, the band came out and soon enough Honus Honus walked up to his keyboard (which, as always, abuts the drums that sit at the front of the stage) and the launched right into their latest single “Cloud Nein.”

The band recently (pre-pandemic) put out a new album, Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between, and this was their first time back in Philly since the album came out.  They were well practiced with the song with Honus standing up and getting everyone to sing along.

It was followed by an oldie, the swinging surfy “Piranhas Club.”  It’s impossible to keep track of what everyone is doing on stage.  Especially since everyone seems to play whatever they can get their hands on during the next song.  As for a lineup.  I’m seeing:
Jazz Diesel on drums, Smunk Smalls on guitar, Eggs Foster on keyboards, Mature Kevin on marimba, and Hard Tay on wind instruments.

Next came a new song.  Not a new song on the new album, but a new, unreleased song.  This would be the first of several new unreleased songs.  This one was called “Iguana” and featured several deep chants of “Iguana!” (more…)

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A Hard Tay’s Night (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, June 30, 2022) [MAN MAN]

Posted in A Hard Tay's Night, Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Man Man, Philadelphia, PA on June 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 30, 2022] A Hard Tay’s Night

I was pretty excited to see Man Man again and I didn’t really care who the opening band was.

Originally it was supposed to be Pink $ock, whom I have listened to and hated–a cheesy R&B lounge act that I was glad not to have to sit through.  He was replaced by A Hard Tay’s Night, which I didn’t understand the name of.  And didn’t really understand the concept of until it was over.

A Hard Tay’s Night is the creation of Taylor Plenn who is the saxophone player for Man Man.  Taylor, according to him plays saxophone, flute and EWI (an Electronic Wind Instrument that is a synthesizer controlled by breath) and is “known for my improvising skills and my ability to adapt to different genres. I have had experience performing and recording a wide variety of styles, from hard bop, rock and roll, blues, free jazz, hip hop, electronic music.” (more…)

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Purity Ring / Dawn Richard (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, June 27, 2022) [rescheduled date] [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Coronavirus, Dawn Richard, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Purity Ring, Quarantine, Union Transfer on June 27, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 27, 2022] Purity Ring / Dawn Richard [postponed from May 13, 2020 and April 21, 2021 and November 12, 2021] 

This show came and went.  I never got tickets and never wound up going.

I heard really good things about the show.  And I have put them on my list of bands to see when they come around again. 

I’m not sure what kept me away–sometimes, you just don’t feel like going outside.

It’s a cool poster though.

(more…)

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Starset / Red / Divide the Fall / Oni (Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ, June 26, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Divide the Fall, Oni, Red, Sayreville, NJ, Starland Ballroom, Starset on June 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 26, 2022] Starset / Red / Divide the Fall / Oni

My son and I have seen Starset twice.  Each show has been pretty fantastic.

When this tour was announced, I was excited that a show was going to be at the Starland Ballroom (a venue I don’t love, but which he does).

But then it turned out to be the night before he was leaving for Europe.  There was n way we were staying out all night the night before his flight.

So, we gave this tour a miss.

Rock on Purpose has a big review of the show.

I didn’t know any of the other bands.  The above reviewer is a big fan of Red, who he says plays a “combination of cinematic, uplifting, and hardcore rock music.”

They are a Christian band, which seems an odd fit for Starset’s cryptic stances, but whatever, their songs are pretty good with interesting orchestral arrangements over the heavy guitars.

Divide the Fall are from Minnesota.  Spill, their local magazine says

their modern hard rock sound and catchy choruses with the occasional heavy breakdown.

And a review of their recent EP describes melodic harmonies and stunning, clean vocals.

Oni were a progressive heavy metal band from Canada with growling vocals and crazy technical profiiency, at least in 2016.  In 2022, they released a new album about which Drowned in Sound says

If you were anticipating another round of technical bludgeoning akin to the Ironshore era then you may be disappointed as ONI have taken an entirely different direction this time round.

Sounds like the heaviest bands went on first, although some of their new songs are pretty mellow too.  Interestimg.

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