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Archive for the ‘Venues’ Category

We Were Promised Jetpacks (Boot and Saddle, Philadelphia, PA, March 12, 2018)

Posted in Boot & Saddle, Philadelphia, PA, We Were Promised Jetpacks on March 12, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 12, 2018] We Were Promised Jetpacks

I didn’t really know all that much about We Were Promised Jetpacks’ music, but I knew I wanted to see them live.  I had enjoyed what I’d heard but I knew there were diehard fans in the audience.

But WWPJ were also working on a new album–finishing it up by the end of the month, they said.  So there would be new songs which meant most people wouldn’t know all the songs.   This was their second night at Boot & Saddle and the final night of their tour.

WWPJ are from Glasgow.  And of course, I enjoyed hearing Adam Thompson’s accent when he spoke.  They played with one of the darkest stage lighting I think I’ve ever seen.  And since they were all wearing black, it was like a black hole up there.  Which worked well with their moody, often loud sound.

I was in a slightly bad location (up front) for them because it seemed like I couldn’t hear the vocals very clearly and that Michael Palmer on guitar was a little too quiet.

Sean Smith’s bass was a wee too loud in the beginning but that got EQ’d properly.  Darren Lackie’s drums were just perfect all night.  He used those drums like a lead instrument much of the time and that was awesome. (more…)

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Active Bird Community (Boot and Saddle, Philadelphia, PA, March 12, 2018) [WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS]

Posted in Active Bird Community, Boot & Saddle, Philadelphia, PA, We Were Promised Jetpacks on March 12, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 12, 2018] Active Bird Community

I have always loved the name of the headlining band–We Were Promised Jetpacks.  I didn’t know too much about their music but what I’d heard I’d enjoyed.

I thought it might be fun to see them in a small setting, so I grabbed a ticket (before they sold out).

The opening band was Active Bird Community who I’d not heard of.  Imagine my surprise to see they formed in 2005 (!–apparently when they were ten years old or something) and put their first record out in 2012.

The band had great stage presence (touring for years, obviously).  And they wrote incredibly catchy rocking songs.  They seemed to be having a lot of fun and I enjoyed their set a lot.  I was in front of lead guitarist Andrew Wolfson who was really fun to watch, playing with his gear and making really interesting sounds. (more…)

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The Flaming Lips (Xcite Center, Bensalem, PA, March 11, 2018)

Posted in Bensalem, PA, David Bowie, Parx Casino, Rainbows, The Flaming Lips, Unicorns, Xcite Center on March 11, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 11, 2018] The Flaming Lips

After Sarah and I saw The Flaming Lips in Philly, I really didn’t think I ‘d see them again.  I never said never, but I said, unlikely.  Then they announced a short tour which included a spot at the newly opened Xcite Center at the Parx Casino.  This was a close show in a small, seated venue.  And when I heard that they had added a few new surprises, I decided it was worth going once more.

There was some confusion in the listing.  Originally, Chappo was supposed to open for them.  They had opened for them in Bethlehem and I really enjoyed their set.  I would have been happy to see them again. Then Chappo said they were not opening (they opened on the three earlier shows).  But there was no word on who would be opening.  To make things weirder, the Parx site said the show was at 7 and the Lips said the show was at 8.

Well, I arrived at like 5 to 7, fought my way through the smokers at the casino (really??) and made it to the Xcite Center at one minute to 7.  The lady at Will Call said they’d be going on in 15 minutes and there was no opener.

Holy cow. (more…)

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The Comedy of Errors (FM Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, Madison, NJ March 10, 2018)

Posted in FM Kirby Center, Funny (ha ha), Madison, NJ, Play (Drama), The Comedy of Errors, William Shakespeare on March 10, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 10, 2018] The Comedy of Errors

Our friends Jonathan and Carrie take their kids to the Shakespeare Theatre regularly and they invited us along for The Comedy of Errors.

I’m not the only one who enjoys performed Shakespeare about 100 times more than reading Shakespeare, and I felt like this show really brought the play (which I didn’t know) to life.  It also made me laugh at how this play is basically the foundation of every mistaken identity slapstick story every written.

The play ran for a little over an hour–perfect for kids (it was listed as appropriate for grades 3 and up).  It’s usually around 90 minutes, so they cut out some stuff, I guess, which was fine.

The story itself is very funny with “two sets of identical twins, mistaken identities, colorful characters and a madcap chase sequence.”

What really impressed me about the production was that rather than having two people in the twins’ roles, they had the same actor (and actress, in this case) play both roles.  Antipholus the main character was very funny.  But Dromio, the servant, was an awesome comic character who stole the show.  I’m sorry I can’t find the woman who played him.  When it came time to have them both on stage, there was lots of very clever misdirection to allow the “double’s” face never to be seen. (more…)

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An Evening with Nada Surf (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, March 9, 2018)

Posted in Guided By Voices, Joy Division, Nada Surf, Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live on March 9, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 9, 2018] Nada Surf

Nada Surf has been on my bands-to-see-live list for some time.   Matthew Caws the lead singer and primary songwriter had played a solo gig nearby recently, but I wanted to see the whole band.  So I was really excited to see that they were going to play An Evening, which always means “no opener.”  I love a good opening band, but if I can see twice as much of a headliner, well, that’s even better!

And this was going to be a celebration of their album Let Go.  This was the fifteenth anniversary of this, their third album, and it was going to be played in its entirety.  Which is  great since pretty much the whole album is terrific.

Nada Surf has a fascinating history.  They were huge with their sorta-novelty hit “Popular.”  When they put out their second album, The Proximity Effect, the label thought there were no hits, so the band was dropped.  The guys went to France (Matthew Caws and bassist Daniel Lorca initially met at The Lycée Français de New York (The French High School of New York) a private, independent bilingual French school and also spent time in Belgium and France as kids).  The album was released and well received.  They eventually self-released it back home.

Then they released Let Go in Europe and the U.S. (with different track listings).  Caws thanked Barsuk for releasing the album basically sight-unseen back in 2002.

And the entire first set was the album front to back. (more…)

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Jessica Lea Mayfield (Boot and Saddle, Philadelphia, PA, March 8, 2018)

Posted in Boot & Saddle, Daddy Issues, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Mal Blum, Mal Blum and the Blums, Philadelphia, PA, Transgender on March 8, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 8, 2018] Jessica Lea Mayfield

I first saw Jessica Lea Mayfield (who I’d assumed was a country singer) on a Tiny Desk Concert back in 2016 (it aired in 2014 when she had just released Make My Head Sing…).  She had pink hair, electric guitars and a lot of glitter.  And her sound was decidedly grungy.  At the time I remember thinking that the contrasts she brought–her delicate voice, her simple but poignant songs, her look, and her promise that her shows get really loud–were really compelling.  So when last November she scheduled a date at Boot & Saddle, I was bummed that I couldn’t go.  But then she cancelled the date and it was rescheduled to March.  And so she became my second show in a pretty long string of shows this month.

I really like her latest album Sorry Is Gone.  And once again her look is very different–she quite glammed up on the album cover.  So I didn’t know what to expect when she came out.  And that was all the more thrilling.  When she finally did come out, green hair, blue nail polish, yellow heels and a flower dress, it was just a perfect microcosm of everything I think about Jessica Lea Mayfield.

The surprise came when Audrey from Mal Blum and the Blums came back onstage.  This time she was playing bass for JLM.  If you’re doing double duty on a night, it’s probably fun to switch instruments.  On drums was Emily Maxwell who plays with Daddy Issues.

When Jessica came up on stage, she was unabashedly polite and rather sweet.  She has a quiet voice (in song and speaking) and thanked us all for coming. (more…)

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Mal Blum and the Blums (Boot and Saddle, Philadelphia, PA, March 8, 2018) [JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD]

Posted in Boot & Saddle, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Mal Blum, Mal Blum and the Blums, Philadelphia, PA, Transgender on March 8, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 8, 2018] Mal Blum and the Blums

I was unfamiliar with Mal Blum before this show.  Mal Blum is a songwriter who plays both solo shows and with the backing band The Blums.  Mal’s songs are great–catchy melodies and darkly comic self-reflective lyrics.  But I am particularly glad to have seen The Blums because the backing band was great and really seemed to infuse the show with a lot of fun (I suppose the solo shows are fun as well, but this is all I have to go on).

Mal was front and center of course on guitar and vocals.  On lead was Audrey Zee Whitesides and she was great–playing wild solos and then backing off to let Mal take center stage again.  Barrett Lindgren was on bass and he was particularly excited to shout Go Birds! (he is from Philly and had been holding off shouting that for many shows now).  On drums was Piyal Basu who was new for this tour (no pictures apparently).  He did a great job–I particularly enjoyed the time when Audrey “encouraged” him when an upcoming tempo change was imminent. (more…)

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Spoon (Theatre of Living Arts (TLA), Philadelphia, PA, March 6, 2018)

Posted in Black Flag, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, Sneaks, Spoon, Theatre of Living Arts, Wire on March 6, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 6, 2018] Spoon

I have been a fan of Spoon for years.  I’ve never seen them before, including when they played at XPN Fest a few years ago.  Since the song “Hot Thoughts” from the new album is so damn catchy, it seemed like a great time to see them live (especially at TLA).

It took the band quite a while to get going after Sneaks went off.  And I gather they were having technical problems throughout the night.  But it sounded fantastic out by us.  Brit Daniel said he’d tell us the story later in the show.

They played a great mix of new songs and old songs.  Daniel’s voice sounded perfect and he was full of energy–interacting with the audience–high fiving, making faces–and jumping all around the stage.

On my side of the stage I was just a few feet from bassist Rob Pope.  I enjoyed the way Pope came really close to the edge of the stage a number of times, practically leaning out above us.   Just behind him was drummer Jim Eno.

The other side of the stage, obscured by fog for the first half of the show was Gerardo Larios on keys and guitar and Alex Fischel on guitar and keys and all manner of sounds.  He opened the show with some interesting noises while shrouded in fog.  As the blue lights zoomed around the rest of the band came out and they started “Do I Have to Talk You Into It.” (more…)

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Sneaks (Theatre of Living Arts (TLA), Philadelphia, PA, March 6, 2018) [SPOON]

Posted in Black Flag, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, Sneaks, Spoon, Theatre of Living Arts on March 6, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 6, 2018] Sneaks

I’m fascinated by how opening acts get chosen for shows.  Sneaks was an opener for Palm last summer.  So I have now seen Sneaks more than bands I’ve actually wanted to see.

This Spoon show was not advertised with an opening act, so I was surprised (and a little disappointed) that there was one.  I had enjoyed Sneaks as an opener for Palm. I assume it was because it was a smaller venue (PhilaMOCA fits 250, TLA fits 1,000) and we were more intimate, that the Sneaks vibe worked well.  Spoon is quite a lot bigger than Palm, so I guess that’s a step up, but it brings perils.

About the PhilaMOCA show I wrote:

She has a great raw punk bass sound–it reminds me of the sound of Black Flag… Her riffs were cool, and while repeated a lot, they were certainly interesting enough to keep a song going.

She was also accompanied by a DJ. whose name I didn’t catch.  He kept some good beats and threw in some interesting sound effects.  It gave the show a bit more spontaneity than I was expecting from a drum machine based show.

Sneaks played a whole bunch of songs (most of them are quite short about 2 minutes or so).  Each song had a cool or interesting bass riff, she sang (deadpan) around it for 2 minutes and that was it.  She also did a couple of songs with no bass, just a freestyle rap over the drum machine.  And after 35 or so minutes she was done.

 

(more…)

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Andy Borowitz–SOPAC (South Orange, NJ, March 3, 2018)

Posted in #ITMFA, #MANEA, #RESIST, Andy Borowitz, donald tRUMP, New Yorker, Political Humor, SOPAC, South Orange, NJ on March 3, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 3, 2018] Andy Borowitz

When we saw Darlingside at SOPAC, the director announced that New Yorker columnist Andy Borowitz would be performing in March.  It was just before Sarah’s mom’s birthday so that seemed like a fun present for her (and us).

I obviously know Borowitz from the Borowitz Report, but I didn’t know anything else about him.  We wondered if he voice would sound weird (it didn’t), we wondered if he would be awkward on stage (he wasn’t) and of course we wondered if he would be funny (he was).

He began the night with some general introductory material about himself and his life.  He made some good anti-Trump jokes and then explained that even though he was preaching to the choir, if he could encourage the choir to get other people to vote in the upcoming election then he had done his job.

He also had merch for sale, and 100% of Andy Borowitz’s profits from merchandise sales benefit The International Rescue Committee to aid refugees around the world.  The merch was simple and straightforward.  Shirts and hats in blue that stated: MAKE AMERICA NOT EMBARRASSING AGAIN. (more…)

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