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Archive for the ‘Venues’ Category

[ATTENDED: August 5, 2021] The War on Drugs

A couple of years ago our friend Cindy invited us to see The War on Drugs with her and we said no.  We didn’t really know them that well.

Cut to 2022 and they were the first live show we’d gotten to see this year.

Not a lot has changed about my appreciation of the band.  They’ve always been a band that I kind of liked–good background stuff.  Then I heard their Live Drugs album and realized that they are a great live band.

So they announced two shows in Philly and I asked if S. wanted to go.  She had been listening to them a lot this past year and so I grabbed us tickets.

I like the Met but this is the second show in a row where we were in the back orchestra section.  Now that I’ve been placed there a few times, I have finally got it in my head that when you buy tickets there, ORCH 5678 seats SUCK.  The Met is a fairly small place, so even the further away seat isn’t bad, but there’s giant poles and the entire loge hanging above you.  None of it really blocks your view, but it feels like watching a widescreen movie on a letterbox TV.  (more…)

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[POSTPONED: January 25, 2021] Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets [moved to September 23, 2022]

indexI saw the Saucerful of Secrets show back in 2019 and loved it.  I had okay seats, so I wanted to get closer if they ever did another one (which I never imaged they would).

And yet here they were…  timing their show right during the COVID resurgence.

This was supposed to be a very busy week of shows.  All but one has been postponed.  However, it’s a cold and blustery January night and The Kimmel Center is a hassle to get to at the best of times, so I can certainly wait until the Spring when I won’t mind a multi-block walk.

 

 

 

 

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[POSTPONED: January 23, 2021] Fucked Up / Empath [moved to July 17, 2022]

indexI’ve known Fucked Up for a few years and thought that they’d be a wild band to see.  They last played in Philly in 2018, and they’ve only gotten better since then.

Shows had been getting postponed, but this one was pretty hushed until only a few days ago when it was officially postponed.

I’m okay with it getting moved to July–I much prefer going out to shows in the warm weather than the frigid cold of January anyway.

Empath 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. (more…)

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[POSTPONED: January 21, 2021] The Beths / Lunar Vacation [rescheduled from April 29 Kung Fu Necktie and August 27, 2020 from World Cafe Live; moved to February 24, 2022]

indexThis show has been bounced around now to three different venues.  I was sure I’d finally get to see The Beths, but then this new uptick pushed their tour back.  I don’t know how wise pushing back a show for one month is during this pandemic nonsense.  Especially since they’re saying the spike will drop away in mid-March, but darnit, I really want to see The Beths.

I was looking forward to Weakened Friends opening, but Lunar Vacation…

Based out of Atlanta, Georgia, the story of Lunar Vacation can be traced back to eighth grade, when Grace Repasky and Maggie Geeslin met and started sharing musical ideas. As soon as the pair became old enough to drive, they started to take Lunar Vacation on the road, playing venues across the sprawling suburbs of their home city and fulfilling so many teenage dreams along the way. As the buzz around the pair grew, so did the band, as they expanded to their current four-piece line-up, and upon finishing school, they started to self-release their music, in the shape of two EPs, Swell and Artificial Flavors.

And their new album, Inside Every Fig Is A Dead Wasp which dives into the the waters of dreamy-indie, psychedelia and bedroom-pop.  Sounds pretty great!  Come on boosters, let the bands play. (more…)

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[POSTPONED: January 14, 2021] Guster / Ben Kweller [moved to August 10, 2022]

indexCOME ON!

In March of last year, Guster was supposed to come to NJ to play An Evening of Acoustic Music & Improv–a tour that had been going great.

Then it was cancelled.

The band waited almost a year to reschedule a NJ show–who knows if they were going to do an acoustic show or not.  (Probably not as the last show all tickets were seated).

And then the jackasses who didn’t get vaccinated caused the virus to mutate and infect all of us.

I tested positive last week and tonight was going to be the date I was allowed back into society.  I don’t blame the band for cancelling–literally everyone is catching it.  I blame the idiots who trust Facebook more than science.

Who knows when they’ll want to come back–although come back they will because Guster doesn’t give up!

UPDATE: Until Maryann commented, I didn’t realize (or I forgot) there was a special guest (I didn’t look at this poster very clearly, obviously).  I know Ben Kweller from the compilation The Bens, which has Ben Folds and Ben Lee on it.  I didn’t think I knew much else from Ben Kweller, until I just saw that he sings lead on “I Hope Tomorrow is LIke Today.” which, how did I not know that?

I hope that he is still the opener for the rescheduled date.

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[CANCELLED: January 8, 2022] Nap Eyes / Kiwi Jr.

indexNap Eyes opened for Destroyer in the last show I saw before the quarantining.  I really wanted to see them headline a tour and do their own thing.

They had scheduled a show at Johnny Brenda’s for May of 2020 which was cancelled.  Then they bided their time and waited until 2022 to schedule their new tour.  But people are jerks and wouldn’t get vaccinated and now the virus had transformed itself so that everyone is going to get it.

I actually tested positive this week and wouldn’t have been able to go to this show anyhow, so I guess I’m glad the tour is on hold for a bit.

But damn, I want to see some Nap Eyes!

Kiwi Jr. is a fun Canadian band, recently described as “clever, easy-going jangle pop” that I’d really like to see live. So I hope this lineup stays the same when Nap Eyes comes back to Philly again.  Some day.

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[DID NOT ATTEND: April 10, 2020] Dr. Dog: The Last Tour / The Districts / Natalie Prass

index

I never really got into Dr. Dog but I’ve liked a bunch of their songs over the years.  But I’d always heard they were great live, so I’ve had them on my “gotta see” list.

Back in June, Dr. Dog announced their last tour.

“It is a disturbing thing to read, I’m sure, and trust me, an equally unsettling thing to write, but it’s all good,” they wrote. “It’s important to us that you understand that this is not a break up or anything like that. We don’t know what Dr. Dog will do, we just know it won’t include going on tour, except the tour we’re announcing now, which is going to rule.”

This seemed like the perfect (and only) opportunity to see them.  I tried to get tickets to the TLA show, but it sold out in a minute.  Then I managed to score a ticket to the Fillmore show.  I also found out that The Districts were opening, which was pretty cool. (more…)

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[DID NOT ATTEND: December 22, 2021] KT Tunstall / Christine Havrilla [moved from August 23, 2020]

So KT Tunstall was supposed to play three shows in my area.  The show at Ardmore was added when the other shows were rescheduled.  Then COVID pushed the shows back again.

For some reason this show was listed as being on December 8 for a short time before it was corrected to being on December 22.

That meant that it looked like she was playing four shows in the Philly area at different venues.

I like Ardmore, although if I can see a band closer I will go there instead.  Even though KT’s SOPAC show was postponed, the fact that it was postponed and not cancelled meant that I could just wait until she came back to South Orange. (more…)

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[DID NOT ATTEND: December 22, 2020] KT Tunstall / Dina Hall [rescheduled from May 5th 2020 and June 28th 2020 and December 22, 2020 and July 9, 2021]

KT Tunstall and Sellersville Theater did everything they could to make this show happen. This was the fifth rescheduled date.

I’m not even entirely sure if Dina Hall was still opening at this point.

I almost feel bad not going to this show I’ve been following it so carefully.  But of the three venues where KT was playing near me, this was the most inconvenient and least likely for me to go to.

Nevertheless, I’m happy it finally happened.

Dina Hall is a folksinger from Bethlehem–originally from Sayreville NJ. When she’s with her full band she rocks out a bit more. I’m not sure if this was a solo or a band show.

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[POSTPONED: December 16, 2021] The Joy Formidable / Cuffed Up [moved to October 27, 2022]

indexThings were looking up, shows were back, we had a vaccine.  And then shitty people refused to get the vaccine and it mutated and now we’re back where we were a year ago with shows getting postponed.

I was really looking forward to this show.  It would have been a great show to end the year on (I would have gone to this one if they had been in town).

The Joy Formidable are from Wales.  The trio Ritzy Bryan, Rhydian Dafydd and Matt Thomas play diverse sounds, but tend towards guitar based rock in various formats).  They even sing in Welsh sometimes.  Their newest album into the blue brings back some of the noisier sounds that the band used on early albums and explored their way away from for a time.

Cuffed Up is an L.A. based band who is getting a lot of buzz.  They play rocking songs with a great dual vocal set up between Sapphire Jewell and Ralph Torrefranca.  I was glad to have heard of them when this tour was announced and I look forward to experiencing them live.

I’m really looking forward to when this is rescheduled.

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