Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘River Stage’ Category

Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory: XPoNential Music Festival: River Stage (Wiggins Park, Philadelphia PA, September 20, 2025)

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, River Stage, Sharon Van Etten, Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory, Wiggins Park, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA, XPN Fest, Xponential Music Festival on September 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 20, 2025] Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory

Sharon Van Etten and her new band The Attachment Theory headlined Saturday night’s Festival.  I saw SVE in 2019 (I loved her debut album).  But I wasn’t really sure I needed to see her again.  Then she announced a Free at Noon and I went.  And I regretted not seeing her full show at Union Transfer.  So I was pretty psyched that she was headlining tonight.  After Kathleen Edwards, we headed over and managed to get a spot standing pretty close to the stage.

The sun was setting and the atmosphere was building  And soon Sharon and the band came out.

It’s a little weird to start out by singing Who wants to live forever over and over, but I guess it works to build an atmosphere as the song got bigger and louder.  But for me the show really kicked of into high gear when they played Afterlife.  It’s a slow song with a lot of keys (Teeny Lieberson) and then a great bass line (Devra Hoff–whose bass work is outstanding both fretted and fretless). And when the chorus barrels in–the backing vocals are just gorgeous (Sharon picks the best backing vocalists).

They followed it up with the great single from the album, Idiot Box.  Another great bass line from Devra and Sharon picked up the guitar to play the main guitar line.  It’s such a great catchy song and it’s really fantastic live. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Molly Tuttle: XPoNential Music Festival: River Stage (Wiggins Park, Philadelphia PA, September 20, 2025)

Posted in Molly Tuttle, Philadelphia, PA, River Stage, Wiggins Park, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA, XPN Fest, Xponential Music Festival on September 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 20, 2025] Molly Tuttle

We had seen Molly Tuttle at Newport Folk Festival six years ago.  But only for about a minute.  She was playing with Billy Strings on a small stage and we popped in briefly on our way elsewhere.  This year I really liked her song That’s Gonna Leave a Mark and I was interested in seeing her live.

But something has to give when you’re there for so long, and so we decided to get food and merch during Molly’s set.  She sounded great and it was fun hearing her music as we walked around.

Unlike Tune-Yards, someone did keep track of her setlist, but there’s no recording of her set on WXPN–I wonder why.

I associate her with Billy Strings so much but his star has shot to the heavens and hers has gone up a little.  I’d be happy for her if she had more success although I don’t think I’d want to see her live again.

It turns out that she veers more into country than I like.  And while I like bluegrass, I’ve learned that I like instrumental bluegrass a lot more than vocal bluegrass. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Soccer Mommy: XPoNential Music Festival: River Stage (Wiggins Park, Philadelphia PA, September 20, 2025)

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, River Stage, Soccer Mommy, Wiggins Park, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA, XPN Fest, Xponential Music Festival on September 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 20, 2025] Soccer Mommy

I saw Soccer Mommy in 2021 and again earlier this year in January.  I didn’t need to see her again, but I was really excited that she was on the bill and I was excited for my wife to see her as well because they previous show was great.  And the weather was perfect for this set.

It’s a standard set up: Sophie Allison (who is Soccer Mommy) plays guitar and sings.  She has a fantastic four piece behind her–Rollum Haas: drums, Nick Widener: bass, Julian Powell: guitar and Rodrigo Avendano: guitar/keys.  The band is really good and they bring these songs to life live in a more powerful way than on the album.

The setlist varied a bit from January but in a shorter set she played all of  the hits.  And there is something really fun about being outside on a gorgeous day with a great musician playing songs just fifteen feet away from you.

She opened with Circle the Drain (every time I’ve seen her I’ve been surprised that she leads off with her hits).  And she followed it with Driver, which is on of my favorite songs of the year.  I love how heavy the verses were and then how soft the chorus was.  It sounded great live.

She told us that her song Abigail is about the character of Abigail in Stardew Valley. My wife loves Stardew and was quite tickled to hear that that’s what the song was about (she didn’t know the song).  It’s a slower song which Sophie said she wrote when she was having some writer’s block. But it proved to be a delightful song. (more…)

Read Full Post »

XPN Fest: Overall thoughts: mostly highs, and not just temperature (Wiggins Park, Philadelphia PA, July 22-24, 2016)

Posted in Colvin & Earle, Darlingside, David Wax Museum, Esmé Patterson, Father John Misty, Kids Corner, Kississippi, Kurt Vile, Marina Stage, Mavis Staples, Philadelphia, PA, River Stage, The Districts, The Felice Brothers, The Record Company, The Revivalists, Tommy Stinson, Wiggins Park, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA, XPN Fest on July 25, 2016| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 22-24, 2016] XPN Fest

2016-07-24 15.34.58Even though I go to a lot of shows, I don’t really love Festivals.  I actually enjoy concerts too much to enjoy Festivals.  Which sounds dumb, but I’d rather see a band I like on their own play for a full set than for 30 minutes with a bunch of people who don’t really want to see them.

I’ve been to a few festivals over the years, and I have thought about going to other ones, but since I typically don’t want to spend a few days in the sun (and a few hundred dollars), I don’t go.

But the past two years we have seen some great headlining acts at XPN Fest.  And we thought it would be fun to go for the day, bring the kids and just have a fun day outside with music and vendors.  We bought tickets before the lineup was even announced.

WXPN members get half-priced tickets (which is cheaper than some of the regular shows I’ve been to) and kids’ tickets are $15 for the three days.  Perfect.

In the past, I have loved most of the headliners, but this year I didn’t really like any of them. The three day pass includes lawn seats to the headliners, but we wound up not using them at all. (more…)

Read Full Post »

The Districts–XPN Fest: River Stage (Wiggins Park, Philadelphia PA, July 24, 2016)

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, River Stage, The Districts, Wiggins Park, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA, XPN Fest on July 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 24, 2016] The Districts

2016-07-24 14.47.59 Despite the heat of Saturday, we were prepared to go back to the Fest on Sunday–with plans to pop into the Aquarium before the show.  I had wanted to see three artists on Sunday, but we only managed two.

I knew The Districts from WXPN , and I’d heard that their shows were a lot of fun.  And that was spot on.

This was the only show we watched at the River Front stage–the larger of the two.  Rather than fight the sun, we hung out on the periphery in the shade and, while we weren’t all that close, we could see the band fine and the sound was outstanding–it was actually a little better off to the side then in the front where it was  little ear-piercing.

Unlike the other bands we saw, The Districts were there to rock out and rock out they did. (more…)

Read Full Post »