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Archive for the ‘Venues’ Category

Merce Lemon (Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, July 22, 2025) [THE DECEMBERISTS]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Melt, Merce Lemon, The Decemberists, Wind Creek Event Center on July 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 22, 2025] Merce Lemon 

I didn’t know Merce Lemon before this show.  Normally I look up an opening band, but I just didn’t for this show.

They came out as a five piece (although Merce Lemon is apparently the lead singer and it is her project).  She was joined by Reid Magette who played some utterly fantastic lead lines in the songs.  Pat Coyle on drums was fun to watch because the songs weren’t complicated, but he threw in lots of flourishes here and there to make them really come to life.  Alvin Row was playing lap steel for the whole show.  Sometimes his leads lurred with Reid’s but overall he provided some great ambient sounds.  And Benji on nass occasionally made some great feedbacking noises on these otherwise mellow songs.

Merce described her band in an interview with Post-Trash:.

My drummer Pat Coyle plays under his name. Benji, who plays bass, also plays under Clear Creek SP. Reid, my guitarist, plays under I4A, which stands for Ideas for Advertisements. Spencer, who played keys on the album, plays ambient music under the name Alvin Row. We recently played a show at my friend’s sauna, which has an outdoor space. He was playing ambient lap steel, and it made me cry.

They played six songs, each one at least 5 minutes long.  The songs started out quietly but they usually had really exciting moments and the crowd was easily won over by them.  The last song in particular had a great build up and conclusion.

Merce never mentioned the band’s name (or anything more than I’m Merce) and I don’t know what songs they played, except for a Bonnie “Prince” Billy cover of “I See a Darkness.”

I’m hopeful that someone will post the setlist as I really don’t know what they played.

But yeah, overall a very enjoyable opening act.

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“Weird Al” Yankovic: Bigger & Weirder 2025 Tour (TD Pavilion Stage at the Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, July 19, 2025)

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, Funny (ha ha), Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Milo Murphy's Law, Paul Simon, Philadelphia, PA on July 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 19, 2025] “Weird Al” Yankovic

This was my tenth time seeing Weird Al.  That’s pretty exciting.

I didn’t know if he’d be doing another tour (he hasn’t put out any new music (aside from soundtrack songs) in over ten years!  But this was a bigger and weirder tour.  In practice, this meant that there were more people on stage than ever before–four other people on stage aside from his long-lasting regular band.

Probyn Gregory – backing vocals, trumpet, trombone, tuba, guitars, percussion ; Scheila Gonzalez – backing vocals, saxophone, clarinet, percussion ;  Payton Velligan – backing vocals, guitars, percussion ; Monique Donnelly – backing vocals, keyboards, percussion.

I asked my whole fam if they wanted to go and all three of them said yes, rather excitedly I might add.  But that was a long time before the show.  And so my daughter wound up working and my son wound up going to a concert in Wisconsin!  I was able to sell my two tickets for basically face value and my wife and I enjoyed the show by ourselves.

I assumed that this show would be a kind of greatest hits show, but it turned out to be chock full of songs I hadn’t seen live before and, some that I had never even heard before!

They opened with Tacky, but there was some kind of technical difficulty, so I’m not sure how much of the song they were going to play.  I would have enjoyed hearing it, but it’s not a big deal.

Then he surprised the heck out of me by opening with Mission Statement, the CSNY inspired song that mocks corporate speak.  It sounded great with the backing singers doing harmonies.  Then came Polkamania!  I knew this medley, but not very well.  I had forgotten that he put it out in 2024 as a single covering the ten years since his last album.  It was really fun seeing Billie Eilish in a Weird Al concert.

After the drum solo, they played Everything You Know is Wrong, a song I simple cannot believe I’d never seen him play live before (I see he never played it before this tour!).  It was amazing. (more…)

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Hozier (Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Camden, NJ, July 15, 2025)

Posted in Camden, NJ, Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Gigi Perez, Hozier on July 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 15, 2025] Hozier [moved from June 10, 2025]

Last year when this tour came to this very same location, I balked at the price of tickets.  And now I regret doing so because this time around, I was going to get tickets no matter what.  In the time since last year, my whole family has just gotten more into Hozier.  So I jumped on line and scored… four lawn tickets.  Meh.  The lawn at the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion is massive.

Then, a few days before our show, he postponed it.  I gather he was feeling under the weather.  So his team rescheduled the show for almost exactly a month later.

And this turned out to be a blessing and a curse.  A curse because now my daughter couldn’t go (she was away).  But my wife was happy to come along, so that was cool.  But it was also a bummer because the rescheduled date was the same night that I had a ticket for Phish at the Mann.  And the exciting thing about that was that I had pit tickets for the first time.  So I was bummed not to go.  But as part of the deal with rescheduled shows, people were allowed to get rid of their tickets if they couldn’t make it.    I asked the kids if they wanted lawn or seats and they said they were fine with lawn.  So I grabbed two tickets for my wife and me in the middle of the lower tier.  And the view was awesome.

My son and I had seen him at World Cafe Live a couple of years ago–when he was prepping for this tour, I believe (but that can’t be right, surely).  When we saw him, he had the full band, but there was no stage show.

So I was blown away by the visual effects he employed. Whether it was close ups of the band or clips of videos to really impressive 3D videos that floated around the stage.  It was magnificent.  But the most magnificent thing was his voice.   If he wasn’t feeling well last month maybe he wouldn’t have sounded as amazing as he did tonight.  And wow did he sound great.

He opened with a quiet song with some cool lights shining just on him.  And then slowly the whole (ten-piece) band was revealed. (more…)

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Phish: Summer Tour 2025 (The Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, July 15 & 16, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Phish on July 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 15 & 16, 2025] Phish

Ever since seeing Phish on New Year’s Eve (and getting the full Gamehendge) I didn’t really think I needed to see Phish again.  I mean, sure there’s more songs I wanted to see live, but 17 times seemed like enough.  And then they announced these two shows at the Mann.  My plan was, if I get GA Pit tickets (the one thing I have not had for Phish) I would go.  And I won the lottery and got two Pit tickets!

And then Hozier cancelled his show in Camden and pushed it to July 15!  There was no debate about which I was going to.  I’ve never seen Hozier in a big setting like that PLUS, my whole family was going to the Hozier show.  So I’d sacrifice my Pit tickets (even though everyone says that this tour is one of the best in years).

I also sold my lawn tickets for the second night.  I don’t enjoy lawn tickets and it turned out we were exhausted after Hozier (home by 1:30AM that night), so I wasn’t too sad to get rid of the tickets.

Then I foolishly looked at the setlists.   I have a list of about 25 songs (which I really like) that I have yet to see them play live.  So I looked at the setlist and I am sadly bolding the FOUR songs they played over the two nights.  And I gotta say, Maze is one of my top want to see songs and Pebbles and Marbles was like a fingers crossed request.  So, yes I’m a little bummed.  But Hozier was awesome, and I’m sure I can see Phish again. (more…)

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Gigi Perez (Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Camden, NJ, July 15, 2025) [HOZIER]

Posted in Camden, NJ, Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Gigi Perez, Hozier on July 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 15, 2025] Gigi Perez [moved from June 10, 2025]

My daughter and I saw Gigi Perez open for Girl in Red at the end of last year.

And I was really impressed.  Her voice is amazing–really powerful and with quite a range.  On stage it was just her on guitar and a drummer (who may have been her brother?).   He triggered loops that added bass and backing vocals to her guitar and she sounded huge.

So I was pretty excited to see her again. She had recently headlined TLA, but it was the same night as DEVO, so I blew her off knowing I’d see her at this show.  For the TLA show she played 13 songs, and we saw 8 (Hozier gave her 45 minutes!).

I really like her voice and her stage presence so much.  This time she had a full band, including a killer lead guitarist.  She was pretty confident when we saw her with girl in red, but I have to assume after several month touring with Hozier in HUGE venues, her confidence must be through the roof.  The crowd was totally into her and she did not disappoint.  Her voice sounded amazing and she can run through notes like nobody.  Indeed her and Hozier make a great “who can sing louder and longer” team. (more…)

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Wavves / Beach Goons / Chokecherry (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, July 13, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Beach Goons, Chokecherry, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts, Wavves on July 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 13, 2025] Wavves / Beach Goons / Chokecherry

This show came on my radar because of Chokecherry whom I saw a few months ago and absolutely loved.  I was 100% going to go to this show to see them again.  And then I realized that they were the first of three bands and that their set would be minimal.  I’m still not sure how long or what they played.

I also thought that I had seen Wavves before (I had seen Hovvdy back in 2017–different band, same double v).  I kind of thought that I didn’t like them, but they’re pretty fun.  They have a sloppy indie rock vibe that would probably be fun live.

In fact, looking at past posts about them, I was once quite the fan of the band, but I completely lost touch with them.

I’d never heard of Beach Goons, but when I looked them up I saw this reddit thread from two years ago:

Anyone know what’s going on with Beach Goons?  Seems like the members keep changing, lots of drama/controversy around getting kicked from tours/venues and scamming fans, and more importantly — no new music in 5 years with no communication of anything in a few months it seems. Is the band still alive?

with this follow up

The scene Beach Goons is a part of has splintered apart. Some bands cancelled due to controversies or have distanced themselves away from their origins (The Frights). I don’t know about Beach Goons drama but it doesn’t surprise me considering the state of the scene since covid.

and this one

Pablo is super egotistical, i was in high school going to backyard shows showing mad support for beach goons and members as he got more famous, seemed like he grew a crazy ego, then the controversies and drama started

I listened to some of their songs and quite liked them.  I guess maybe I should have gone to this one.

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Cirque du Soleil: Ovo (Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA, July 12, 2025) (matinee)

Posted in Acrobats, Cirque de Soleil, New Brunswick, NJ, State Theatre on July 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 12, 2025] Cirque du Soleil: Ovo

My family loves going to Cirques.  We have gone to many and we’ve enjoyed them all.

But my daughter recently said that she really wanted to see a Cirque du Soleil production.  And I swear about five days later, they announced this show at the Wells Fargo Center.  And I was able to get 3PM tickets which means we would be home during the day!

On the way down, we learned that 95 was under construction and it was down to one lane in parts.  Google Maps said the wait was 20 minutes, so we left extra early.  By the time we reached the slowdown, people were literally backing up in the breakdown lane to get to the previous exit.

And they were smart because we sat in traffic for over an hour.  We missed at least 30, possibly 45 minutes of the show.  We walked in with two acts to go before the intermission.  Damn. (more…)

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Tyler, The Creator (Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA, July 6, 2025)

Posted in Lil Yachty, Paris Texas, Philadelphia, PA, Tyler the Creator, Wells Fargo Center on July 8, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 6, 2025] Tyler, the Creator

Lil I didn’t know all that much about Tyler, the Creator before this show.  All that I knew about him was from when he first came on the scene with odd Future and he wrote horrorcore raps that were pretty graphic and nasty.

I knew that his albums were well regarded, but I had no idea that he had changed his style and that he was massively popular!

My daughter has a few of his songs on her playlists.  He’s still pretty vulgar, but in much smaller doses.

I had no idea what to expect from this show.  So I was blown away when the show started and Tyler came out, by himself, on the massive stage that was full of green lights.

Then we realized the problem.  The seats that we had were pretty great–straight back from the stage and in rather comfy chairs.  But there was this massive piece of rigging in the rafters that literally blocked all of the giant screens behind him and almost cut off him from view.  It turns out that this rigging was all part of his stage show, so I can’t blame Wells Fargo Center.

Tyle came out and started dancing and rapping on the stage.  He was completely engaging and commanded the entire room.  He wore a mask with a wig (as on the album) for this part of the show.  Although really I couldn’t tell at all that he was wearing the mask–couldn’t see the screens and he was too far away to see his face.

He played six songs from the new album (I don’t know if they were played all the way through or were just snippets).  Which I only mention because in the middle of the set he played nothing but shortened versions of his songs.

After Judge Judy, the rigging moved down and then Tyler was on the catwalk in between the main stage and the B stage.  He marched around and danced and was a fun spectacle to watch while he was up there.

And then the B stage rose high in the air to connect to the catwalk and as it lowered back down, a series of panels surrounded the stage and made it look like a small house.  We couldn’t really see him inside and I thought, wow, we’ll never see this guy.  But after the first song, the walls lifted and the B stage was there for all to see–a couch, a few other things and in the center was a turntable.  For in one corner, he had a whole bunch of albums that he flipped through.

The camera was on him the whole time and while we still couldn’t see the screens, we could see him pretty well.  But we needed the screens to see that he was digging through his records and ultimately pulled out IGOR (and the crowd went nuts).  He brought the record to the turntable and put it on.  I’m very curious to know if IGOR’s THEME was playing from the record he put on or not.

Then he proceeded to play three songs from Igor, including a snippet of Are We Still Friends, which everyone went nuts about.  (more…)

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Lil Yachty (Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA, July 6, 2025) [TYLER, THE CREATOR]

Posted in Lil Yachty, Paris Texas, Philadelphia, PA, Tyler the Creator, Wells Fargo Center on July 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 6, 2025] Lil Yachty

Lil Yachty followed about 15 minutes after Paris, Texas.  He was also on the small stage in the middle of the floor. When he came running out, the noise was loud, the lights were bright and the fog was thick.

I had listened to Lil Yachty before the show and I really liked his style.  I was intrigued by the Wikipedia blurb:

Lil Yachty has called his style “bubblegum trap.” His songs have sampled sounds from Mario Bros., Charlie Brown, the theme from Rugrats, the startup sound of a GameCube console.  Themes in his works include clouds, cotton candy, the Super Nintendo, and scenes from Pixar films. Rolling Stone described his music as “catchy, intentionally dinky-sounding tunes packed with off-color boasts delivered in a proudly amateurish singsong.”

It was exactly the kind of alternative hip hop that I like.

But his sound was overwhelmed by the venue.  Any subtlety in his music was lost and mostly it just felt like the bass was going to knock the building down.  The girls in the seats next to us were thrilled with Yachty and they screamed and sang along.  But I couldn’t hear the words and the music kind of just got melded together.  He also didn’t do very much on stage, just wandering around the stage and mostly engaging with the folks in the GA Pit, with his back to us at least 90% of the time.

He was very gracious about us being there to watch him (and not getting a hot dog or some shit).  I’m fascinated that he played 22 songs in 45 minutes.  I think this show made me realize that rappers don’t necessarily play their whole song–sometimes snippets or even a verse will suffice.  Although many of Yachty’s songs are short (many under 3 minutes, he still had to cut some parts to squeeze all of this in.

So even though I couldn’t really hear anything that was going on, his set moved pretty quickly and I enjoyed watching everyone really getting into him.

 

  1. the BLACK seminole [TAPE]
  2. Gimme da Lite (Southside & Lil Yachty song) §
  3. pRETTy ⇓
  4. SOLO STEPPIN CRETE BOY ⊥
  5. Split / Whole Time ¾
  6. Pardon Me ¾
  7. Hate Me (ian cover) ‰
  8. Ron Artest (Babyface Ray cover) (with Babyface Ray) §
  9. Yacht Club ⊗
  10. NBAYOUNGBOAT ½
  11. Flex Up ¾
  12. Coffin ¾
  13. From the D to the A (Tee Grizzley cover) >
  14. Minnesota ∼
  15. Broccoli (DRAM cover) ¥
  16. iSpy (KYLE cover) ∝
  17. One Night ∼
  18. TESLA ⊥
  19. Poland
  20. Strike (Holster) ⊥
  21. drive ME crazy! ⇓
  22. WE SAW THE SUN! ⇓
  23. A Cold Sunday π
π Something Ether EP (2024)
⇓ Let’s Start Here (2023)
⊥ TESLA EP (2023)
¶ single (2022)
¾ Lil Boat 3 (2020)
½ Lil Boat 2 (2018)
∼ Lil Boat (2016)
⊗ Nuthin’ 2 Prove (2018)
Others
¥ DRAM-Big Baby Dram (2016)
∝ KYLE-Light of Mine (2016)
> single (2017)
§ single (2023)
‰ single 2024 

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Paris, Texas (Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA, July 6, 2025) [TYLER, THE CREATOR]

Posted in Lil Yachty, Paris Texas, Philadelphia, PA, Tyler the Creator, Wells Fargo Center on July 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 6, 2025] Paris, Texas

My daughter really wanted to see Tyler, the Creator, so I grabbed us tickets.  I knew him a little (from what she had played me), but I didn’t know the other two opening bands at all.

When I read about Paris, Texas I was intrigued.  The group is a duo, featuring Louie Pastel and Felix and what I was most interested in was their description: an eclectic mix of rap & hip-hop, fused with the guitar-driven elements of alternative rock, including grunge, punk, metal, emo and new-wave.

When we arrived, we could see that the main stage was bathed in green.  But when the lights dimmed, the tiny stage in the middle of the pit suddenly lit up and Paris, Texas ran up to the small stage to perform their set.  They had a DJ with them and the three guys prowled the stage.

They also set the basic tone that everyone would have their back to us when at the center stage.  It was clear that the performers were gearing their set to the GA Pit area.   I realized pretty quickly that the people who rushed to be first at the stage were actually pretty far from the action once the band started.  (more…)

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