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Archive for the ‘Venues’ Category

half•alive / Daisy the Great (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 8, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Daisy the Great, half•alive, Philadelphia, PA, Theatre of Living Arts, Union Transfer on March 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 8, 2022] half•alive / Daisy the Great

I first heard of half•alive on a Tiny Desk Concert.

I’ve been interested in seeing the band because their stage show is legendary–they have two guys who basically dance–they choreograph dances for the songs.  Half alive is pretty dancey in an alt kind of way and I’m sure I’d like them. Especially live.  But I had tickets to see Tigers jaw at a club relatively close to my house, so I chose to go to that show instead.

I had not heard of Daisy the Great and it turns out to be a band, not a person.  Led by singer-songwriters Kelley Dugan and Mina Walker, their 2017 debut single “The Record Player Song” was a hit.  Later, a remix of “Record Player” was released with production by AJR.  I just listened to the song and it’s possible I’ve heard it.  It starts with an a capella intro which is pretty interesting.  Then it turns into a kind of indie folk pop.  The remix adds a kind of dance beat to it (with extra vocals–changes the song quite a bit actually).  I wonder what they’d be like live.

For ease of searching I include half alive.

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Gang of Four / Guitar Army / DJ EBG III (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, March 8, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in DJ EBG III, Gang of Four, Guitar Army, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on March 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 8, 2022] Gang of Four / Guitar Army / DJ EBG III

I am not a huge fan of Gang of Four.  But I like some of their records quite a lot and I would have really enjoyed seeing them.  Especially since they seemed to be playing a lot of their Entertainment album.    But I already had tickets to see Tigers Jaw, a band I’ve been interested in for a little while.  UPDATE CIRCA 2025: Gang of Four has not come back and when they did return in 2025, they skipped Philly entirely.  Hmmph.

Guitar Army has a promising name, but their bio says that they are “a rock n’ roll band that hasn’t forgotten its roots. Formed in Windsor with strong dose of Detroit rock, rhythm and blues, Guitar Army has been kickin’ out the jams in the Windsor/Detroit circuit for more than 25 years.”  And indeed, they sound like a rock and roll band that’s been around for 25 years.  Possibly fun live, but not that great on record.

I can’t find anything about DJ EBG III except that he he also spun records for a David Bowie tribute night.  He’s clearly Philly based and that’s all I know.

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Holy Fawn (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 6, 2022) [DEAFHEAVEN]

Posted in Deafheaven, Holy Fawn, Midwife, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on March 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 6, 2022] Holy Fawn

Holy Fawn was supposed to open a show I was going to go to a while ago.  I didn’t go for whatever reason, but here they are again.

“Candy” started out kind of slow and atmospheric.  There were quiet guitars and whisper/sung vocals by Ryan Osterman.  It had a powerful shoegaze vibe.  After a minute or so drummer Austin Reinholz started hitting a martial beat that felt like it was heading to a burst of noise.  But that never came.  It wasn’t until almost four minutes into the song that it burst forth.  And at nearly five minutes started screaming in an intense growl–but just for the end of the song.

“Dark Stone” worked the other way.  After some slow swirling intro sounds, the band played a heavy chord and then silence.  And it worked that way as the full band kicked in–loud crashing chords followed my ambient noise.  vocals were quiet and clean as the band played a picked guitar melody and interesting sounds from the second guitarist Evan Phelps.  The song just built and built on a wall of noise with crashing guitars, lots of cymbals and screams from bassist Alexander Rieth (who was into the music bodily–bouncing and headbanging like crazy). (more…)

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Midwife (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 6, 2022) [DEAFHEAVEN]

Posted in Deafheaven, Holy Fawn, Midwife, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on March 6, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 6, 2022] Midwife

I was intrigued by the setup on the stage.  On the microphone stand there was a old-school telephone receiver.

Then Madeline Johnston came onstage with her guitar.  She spoke into the telephone and her voice sounded distant and far away.  It was pretty neat.

She then triggered a drum beat and started playing guitar over it.  She sang into it and her voice was spooky and sounded like it was coming from outer space.

Midwife plays was she calls Heaven Metal and falls into the “Slowcore” and “Sadcore” genre. (more…)

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Circa Survive / Tigers Jaw / Soul Glo (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 4 & 5, 2022) [CANCELLED]

Posted in Circa Survive, Philadelphia, PA, Soul Glo, Tigers Jaw, Union Transfer on March 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: March 4 & 5, 2022] Circa Survive / Tigers Jaw / Soul Glo

I feel like I should have known Circa Survive.  When this tour was announced there was a lot of hype about it.   I mean, two nights at Union Transfer! (they are a Philly band after all).  This was to be a tour of their ten year old (sort of) album Blue Sky Noise.  They’re alt and emo and I’m just really surprised I’ve never heard them.  The hype made me interested enough to check out the album and I liked it (although I’m not sure of Anthony Green’s voice).

And then just before the tour started, they cancelled it

Circa Survive have announced that they have decided to cancel their Blue Sky Noise Anniversary Tour in part due to the mental health struggles of frontman Anthony Green.

The band had this to say, “It breaks our hearts to announce that we are officially cancelling the BSN Anniversary Tour. This includes the dates that were being rescheduled for the summer as well.

“There are multiple factors at play here but most pressingly Anthony is currently struggling with a mental health crisis and unable to be on tour at this time. A focus on self and family is of the utmost importance right now therefore postponing or rescheduling any further doesn’t feel like the right thing to do.

“We’re absolutely devastated over this and feel awful for everyone it affects. We hope you will accept our most sincere apologies and regrets with this news and the last minute nature of this announcement. All refunds will be available at point of purchase (VIP buyers, check your email).

“Although we are somber and wounded in this moment, our art and this community have always been guiding lights of hope and healing for us in times like this. We look forward to better days where we can celebrate overcoming these hardships together.”

I saw Tigers Jaw last year when they headlined Union Transfer.  It was an album release show for their I Don’t Care How You Remember Me record.  I didn’t know them that well, but since this was an album release show, nobody did.  It was terrific and I was surprised that they were opening this one.  When this show was cancelled they announced a show in Garwood a few days later and I saw them there which was a lot of fun.

Soul Glo is a band I really want to see. They are an extreme punk band and will probably scare the heck out of me.  I’ve heard their live shows are really intense.  Although probably not so much as an opening band.

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Lucy Dacus: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, March 4, 2022) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Lucy Dacus, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, World Cafe Live on March 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: March 4, 2022] Lucy Dacus: Free at Noon [moved to July 8, 2022]

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

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see her perform a Free at Noon (they are fun to do but such a HUGE part of my Friday.  And then it was revealed that she would be doing her upcoming shows lying on her back.

A few weeks earlier, she had “an unexpected medical issue (not COVID related).” She wrote:  “sup, I have two herniated discs and the only way I’m not in pain is laying down SO tonight’s show I will be singing from a couch, I am both sorry and also pleased to offer this most humiliating and hilarious moment to you good people….”

A few days earlier she played a Sold-out show at the Stone Pony (I wasn’t planning on going but when I heard about the couch I was bummed it sold-out and I couldn’t go). (more…)

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Dazey and the Scouts (Elsewhere–The Hall, Brooklyn, NY, March 1, 2022)

Posted in Brooklyn, NY, Dazey and the Scouts, DJ Red Rosa, Elsewhere--The Hall, Gully Boys, Model/Actriz on March 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 1, 2022] Dazey and the Scouts 

I had never heard of Dazey and the Scouts when my son said he wanted to go to their only show.

I did some research, found out that they’d been a band about five years ago. They were from Boston.  They put out a short record called Maggot and then broke up.

Sometime about two years ago, their songs were discovered by the TikTok users and Dazey had a huge (in terms of their band) resurgence of popularity–presumably more than they had initially.

My understanding is that the song “Sweet Cis Teen” was what really went big online.  Dazey and the Scouts are a queer band, and they sing about sex.  “Wet” is pretty funny and explicit.  And “James Deen” was a porn star who was later accused of rape and sexual assault. (more…)

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Model/Actriz (Elsewhere–The Hall, Brooklyn, NY, March 1, 2022) [DAZEY AND THE SCOUTS]

Posted in Brooklyn, NY, Dazey and the Scouts, DJ Red Rosa, Elsewhere--The Hall, Gully Boys, Model/Actriz on March 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 1, 2022] Model/Actriz 

I hadn’t heard of this band.  I looked  them up online and listened to the first song that came on and didn’t think that much of it–a kind of aggro dance-punk with a spoken lyric delivery.

When I saw the lineup, I wished that Model/Actriz went on first so I wouldn’t miss any Gully Boys.

But then Model/Actriz came out.  [The really cool thing about Elsewhere was that they posted the time the bands were scheduled to go on, so you could adjust your purchases accordingly.  They also had this really cool wristband that somehow connected to your credit card–you were only allowed to use the wristband to buy things at the bar.  High tech!] (more…)

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Superchunk / Torres (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 2, 2022) [postponed]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Superchunk, Torres, Union Transfer on March 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: March 2, 2022] Superchunk / Torres [moved to June 11, 2022]

I saw Superchunk four years ago and really enjoyed their fast and furious set.  I realized that most bands that I like, I want to see twice.  So when they announced a new show, I was ready.

In mid February, when Omicron was surging, they announced that they were going to postpone their tour until the summer, which makes sense given their new single is “Endless Summer.”

It actually worked out alright for me as I was out late the night before seeing Dazey and the Scouts.

I’ve seen Torres four times and she always puts on a great show.  I’m glad she’ll be playing with them in June as well.

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Gully Boys (Elsewhere–The Hall, Brooklyn, NY, March 1, 2022) [DAZEY AND THE SCOUTS]

Posted in Brooklyn, NY, Dazey and the Scouts, DJ Red Rosa, Elsewhere--The Hall, Gully Boys, Model/Actriz on March 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 1, 2022] Gully Boys 

I had been hearing rumblings about Gully Boys once Get Better Records signed them.  I checked out their songs online and loved them.  They have a fantastic angry 90s’ alt rock vibe combined with sensational harmonies.

The band has three fantastic singers.  And on top of that, they write wonderfully catchy songs.

We arrived in Brooklyn with enough time to get some delicious food at a taco truck.  But we decided to wait on line for Dazey merch and that’s when Gully Boys came out.  So we could hear them fine, I just couldn’t really focus on them.

They sounded great–Elsewhere’s sound system is top notch.

Gully Boys started as a trio.  Drummer Nadirah McGill told us that they started a band and didn’t know how to play anything. They learned together.  That was five years ago.  I can’t believe they are this good in that short period of time.  She sang a lot of backing vocals, but also took lead on “Like Me Now.”  It was really fun watching her dreadlocks fly around while she played. (more…)

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