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Archive for the ‘Venues’ Category

Sudan Archives / Cartel Madras / yungkamaji (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia PA, March 13, 2020) [NOT POSTPONED/DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Cartel Madras, clipping., Coronavirus, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, yungkamaji on March 13, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[NOT POSTPONED: March 13, 2020] Sudan Archives / Cartel Madras / yungkamaji

phrasesnotattend

Sudan Archives at Johnny Brenda’s was a show I had really wanted to see.  When I realized she was playing there the show was already sold out.  So I gave up (I don’t do resale).

Then Coronavirus came in and shows were starting to get cancelled.  The Districts had still gone on last night, but They Might Be Giants had already been postponed.

A friend of mine went to this show (she had gotten tickets early) and said that so few people had actually shown up that they were letting people buy ticket sta the door.

I didn’t think I could get tickets.  I’m not sure if I would have gone had I known there were tickets available.  The virus hadn’t hit Philly really at that time, but i think I’d have played it safe anyhow.

The Key gave a short (kind of sad) write up about the show.

DJ/Visual artist yungkamaji (whom I have never heard of) opened the show with a short set before being joined by the sisters of Canadian hip hop duo, Cartel Madras.

Cartel madras was supposed to open for clipping. a few months from now but that show was postponed as well.

Visuals from their eclectic music video shone over head as the duo traded verse on their short, mixtape length tracks. Self-classified as “Goonda Rap” (meaning thug), “Conta” and “Eboshi” bring a South Asian aesthetic to Western trap and hip-hop.

It was the last show I could have gone to for a long time.

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The Districts / And the Kids / Sixteen Jackies (Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, March 12, 2020) [NOT POSTPONED/DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in And the Kids, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Sixteen Jackies, The Districts, Union Transfer on March 12, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[NOT POSTPONED: March 12, 2020] The Districts / And the Kids / Sixteen Jackies

phrasesnotattendMarch was going to be a very busy concert month for me.

I thought that I would be starting a bunch of shows in a row with this one. Then it turned out that an event for my son that I thought was scheduled for March 19 was actually on March 12.  So that meant I would not be going to this show.

I had seen The Districts back in 2017 and enjoyed the show, but I clearly didn’t enjoy it as much as everyone else in the room who knew every word to every song.  I was much more prepared for this show, even if there was a new album about to come out for this show as well.

I was also really excited to see And the Kids, a band I have really enjoyed twice and who I can’t wait to see again.  But they had a personal tragedy affect them and they had to cancel their opening slot of the tour.  That was a major bummer.

I didn’t know Sixteen Jackies, but I had read good things about them.

Once the coronavirus started shutting down shows, I wasn’t sure if this show would get shut down.  It didn’t and it turns out it would have been my last show for quite a while if I had gone.

Sounds like it was great, but I had more important things to do.

However, I hope that when they reschedule the tour that they tack on an extra Philly day so that we can enjoy them again without the fear of contagion hanging over our heads.

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Destroyer (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, March 8, 2020)

Posted in Dan Bejar, Destroyer, Philadelphia, PA, The New Pornographers, Underground Arts on March 8, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 8, 2020] Destroyer

I really enjoy Dan Bejar’s work with New Pornographers.  I haven’t loved all of his Destroyer albums, but Destroyer’s Rubies is fantastic and Kaputt is a lot of fun.

When New Pornographers toured recently, Bejar was not a part of the group.  So when I saw that Destroyer was touring a few months afterward, I thought it would be a good way to complete the set.

I had read that the Destroyer live show was pretty terrific, but I had also read that Bejar felt the best shows were when he faced the band rather than the audience.  So who knew what might happen.

The crowd around me was pretty excited to be sure.  A guy behind me was practically vibrating and he yelled “I love you Dan” at several points.  It may have been the only time that a singer has not acknowledged such a declaration, even in a cursory way.

This show was also the first time I went out while we were under the looming threat of the Coronavirus.  Things had not gotten serious yet, but it was coming.  I even brought a tube of hand sanitizer (this was before they were all sold out).  I was very aware of the fact that I was not touching anyone or anything and I’ve never seen the line for the bathroom be so long because people were washing their hands!

I also never would have guessed that this would be my last concert for … who knows how long (at least two months, by my estimate).

So Dan and the band came out.  There were six musicians with him. (more…)

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Nap Eyes (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, March 8, 2020) [DESTROYER]

Posted in Alvvays, Nap Eyes, Philadelphia, PA, Ryley Walker, Underground Arts on March 8, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 8, 2020] Nap Eyes

I saw Nap Eyes open for Alvvays nearly three years ago.  I was mesmerized by their mix of deadpan, melody and noise.  Since then I’ve really enjoyed their first two albums.  I missed their third one entirely somehow, but I was really looking forward to seeing them again.

I was especially looking forward to watching guitarist Brad Loughead because he managed to play really pretty melodies and then fill them awash with all kinds of distortion.  It had been three years since I’d seen them, but when they came out on stage I looked at Loughead and though, wow, he looks an awful lot like Ryley Walker.

Well, sure enough, it WAS Ryley Walker, whom I had just seen him on New Year’s Eve doing some wild improvisational guitar playing. (more…)

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Soulwax (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, February 29, 2020) [POSTPONED]

Posted in 2manydjs, Cancelled, Philadelphia, PA, Soulwax, Union Transfer on February 29, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: February 29, 2020] Soulwax [moved to October 8]

soulwax

I haven’t thought about the Belgian band Soulwax in about 15 years.  I bought their 1998 album Much Against Everyone’s Advice and then really enjoyed brothers David and Stephen Dewaele’s side project 2ManyDJs (whose release As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2) was an amazing mash-up album).

I really had no idea they were still making muisic (and apparently putting on incredible shows).

Brooklyn Vegan said:

If you’re never seen Soulwax live, David and Stephen Dewaele treat a live band show like a DJ set, with songs flowing into one another, and builds and drops. (Their 2006 show at long-gone Brooklyn club Studio B was one of the best shows I saw that decade.) You can get a feel for what to expect on their 2017 album, From Deewee which is a seamless one-hour set they recorded live in their Deewee studio in one take.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to go to this show, but then the show was inexplicably postponed.

As Brooklyn Vegan put it:

Dammit! Soulwax were to have started their first U.S. tour in forever beginning in February but they’ve just announced that it’s been postponed. It’s not visa issues, for once, but production design for the group’s new stage set:

We are always committed to delivering the best show we can and have designed a brand new set up which sadly just won’t be ready in time for March. We are working on new dates – please look out for an announcement very soon.⁣

We would like to thank everyone who bought tickets for these shows and look forward to seeing everyone later this year.

I’m more interested than I have been in a decade.

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We Were Promised Jetpacks (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, February 29, 2020)

Posted in Boot & Saddle, Frightened Rabbit, Jersey City, NJ, We Were Promised Jetpacks, White Eagle Hall on February 29, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 29, 2020] We Were Promised Jetpacks

I saw We Were Promised Jetpacks two years ago at Boot & Saddle, a wonderfully intimate place to see a band.  Although I had read that when they played slightly bigger venues, they really maximized the stage space.  In particular, guitarist Michael Palmer was a wild man.

Last time, lead singer Adam Thompson had a shaved head and he looked kind of fierce.  For this show, his hair was grown back and he was giddy, smiling up and down at everyone and clearly enjoying himself.

What was also different was Michael Palmer.  When he came out, I thought–I don’t remember him looking like that at all. Did he grow his hair super long?  And why is he so mellow over there?  Well, it turned out that that was not Michael Palmer. Palmer retired after last year’s tour (which I was supposed to go to but then couldn’t).  This new guitarist was Andy Monaghan from Frightened Rabbit. His playing was excellent, but he was not a very dynamic performer.  That just meant that Thompson was the main focus as he strode around the stage and hammed it up for the people up front to take pictures. (more…)

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Slaughter Beach, Dog (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, February 29, 2020) [WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS]

Posted in Jersey City, NJ, Modern Baseball, Nap Eyes, Slaughter Beach Dog, We Were Promised Jetpacks, White Eagle Hall on February 29, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 29, 2020] Slaughter Beach, Dog

I had heard, vaguely, of Slaughter Beach, Dog but I didn’t know anything about them.  So I was really surprised that a band with a name like that wound up playing quiet folky music.

The band was a three piece, but aside from singer guitarist Jake Ewald, I don’t know who else was on stage.

I found out after the show that Ewald was previously the singer/guitarist for Modern Baseball, a band I’d heard of but didn’t know.  I also read that Ian Farmer, bassist for Modern Baseball played on the latest Slaughter Beach, Dog album.  But I’m not sure if that was him on stage.

So they came out on stage, and Jake Ewald was soft spoken and funny.  Had I known he had been a front man for so long, I wouldn’t have assumed he seemed a little nervous or shy up there.  Perhaps that’s just the persona for Slaughter Beach, Dog (I have no idea what he was like for Modern Baseball).

They played about seven or eight or ten songs. (more…)

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Sarah Harmer (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, February 27, 2020)

Posted in Canadian Music, Kathleen Edwards, Philadelphia, PA, Sarah Harmer, Weaves, Weeping Tile, World Cafe Live on February 27, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 27, 2020] Sarah Harmer

I don’t remember when I first heard Sarah Harmer.

I think it was back in 2000 with her first album You Were Here.  (She has an album that she recorded before it but it wasn’t officially released until later).

You Were Here had the song “Basement Apt.” which was a reasonably big hit.  I also checked out her previous band Weeping Tile who are unjustly overlooked.

Harmer put out consistently great records, including I’m a Mountain, a bluegrass album that is totally awesome.  It took her five years to release the next album, Oh Little Fire, because she became an environmental activist and performed music mostly in guest roles.

Now it’s been ten years since Fire and she is back with a new album called Are You Gone.

She told us that this was the second night of her tour–a warm up for the big times in Canada.  Sarah had a four piece band with her.  She introduced them twice and I couldn’t make out a single name in the bunch.  But I was able to look them up. (more…)

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Chris Pureka (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, February 27, 2020) [SARAH HARMER]

Posted in Chris Pureka, Genderqueer, Philadelphia, PA, Sarah Harmer, World Cafe Live on February 27, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 27, 2020] Chris Pureka

I had not hear of Chris Pureka before this set, but they really blew me away.

Pureka has been making music for about twenty years and they have a fantastic stage presence.

Chris is never rushed, calmly getting things set up between each song and maybe chatting with us–or not.

For the first song, “Holy,” they played acoustic guitar and the song was really quite pretty.  But it was when Pureka turned away from the microphone and yelled a “Hey!” that I really paid attention to how they were singing.  Pureka’s voice is quiet, but when they did those “Hey”s their voice was loud and filled the room.  Fantastic.

Introducing “Tinder” Pureka says that they wrote the song back in 2009 when tinder had an entirely different (and nicer) meaning.

One of the cooler things was Pureka’s use of an electronic drum pad.  What I especially liked what their sparing use of it.  Because whenever that cavernous echoing drum jumped in to keep the beat, it made the song so much bigger.  But the spare use of it meant that it gave the song parts some extra oomph.

Pureka played acoustic and electric guitar and for the fourth song, they sat down (after joking about how the microphone was going to fall into their lap for sure).  The reason for sitting was because in addition to the electronic drum, there was also a tambourine and Chris used both feet to add the drum and a tambourine to these songs. (more…)

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Sloan: Navy Blues tour (Boot & Saddle, Philadelphia, PA, February 20, 2020)

Posted in Boot & Saddle, Canadian Music, Consolidated, Jersey City, NJ, Sloan, White Eagle Hall on February 21, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 20, 2020] Sloan

This is my fourth time seeing Sloan (and S’s second time).  This is the second time I’ve seen them tour an album in its entirety.  (If only I’d gone to see the Twice Removed tour!).  These album tours are just fantastic.

The shows never feel like a nostalgia show.  The band was rocking and totally into it.  Plus, you get to hear songs that they never play live (“Chester the Molester”?).  What makes it even better is that set two (the non-album set) often has some deep cuts (because they’re not playing the songs from the album they just played).

So in total I heard 16 songs that I haven’t heard them play live before.  Sweet.

We arrived on time, but since it was sold out and there was no opening act, it meant we were pretty far back.  Fortunately, we managed to move past the mountain man in front of us.  The band came in and Chris Murphy literally had to squeeze past me to get to the stage (I love Boot & Saddle).  Less cool were the fans who followed the band to the stage and pushed their way in front of us,

Recent shows at B&S have had poor lighting, but I believe the band brings their own lighting crew (and a giant 4 like on the 4 Nights at the Palais Royale album), so the lighting was excellent all night.  As was the sound! (more…)

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