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Archive for the ‘The Fillmore Philadelphia’ Category

Guster (The Fillmore, Philadelphia, PA, March 23, 2019)

Posted in Guster, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Philadelphia, PA, Prince, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Van Morrison on March 23, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 23, 2019] Guster [rescheduled from January 17]

Back in January, Guster postponed their Philadelphia concert because they were going to be on Late Night with Seth Myers.  They rescheduled it for mid-March and decided that it would be a 20th Anniversary celebration of their 1999 album Lost and Gone Forever.  So although the date change sucked at the time, the new show promised to be freakin amazing.

And, as it turned out, this was the best and the worst Guster concert that S. and I have seen together (number 7 for both of us).

Why the worst?  The worst because we arrived later than we intended and wound up further back than we wanted to.  Which is not the end of the world.  But, when you’re in the back in the Fillmore, you are near the bar and all the people talking.  A lot.  Even people who claimed to love the band, even people who commented on how good they sounded (they did), even people who would sing along loudly to parts of songs, all of these people also talked through huge swaths of the show.

One woman shouted to her friends during a quiet part and I had to say something.  It was really dreadful.  I though that during the intermission, people would pile out to get drinks and we could move closer, but nope, it was jam packed.

So aside from the worst crowd I’ve ever experienced, the show was great.  The band was in amazing form, they sounded great–and the venue helped them to sound great.  It was definitely one of the best sounding shows I’ve seen from them. (more…)

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Guster (The Fillmore, Philadelphia, PA, January 17, 2019) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Darlingside, Guster, Henry Jamison, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Seth Meyers, The Fillmore Philadelphia on January 17, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[NOT ATTENDED: January 17, 2019] Henry Jamison/Guster [moved to March 23]

S. and I love Guster and will see them as often as we can.  They are a fantastic live band.  So when they announced a show on a very special day for us, we were especially excited–and even imagined requesting a shout out.

Then five days before the show on Jan 12 we received this disappointing email.

Your event is still on, but it’s been rescheduled.

Guster Fillmore Philadelphia Thursday, January 17th
NEW DATE: Saturday, March 23rd with the doors opening at 7PM

Please Note: On Thursday January 17th Guster will be appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers on NBC.

Although obviously it was pretty exciting that they were going to be on late night TV!

Then January 14, Guster sent out this email

(more…)

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Protomartyr (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, November 30, 2018)

Posted in Fists, Kogumaza, Philadelphia, PA, Preoccupations, Protomartyr, Rattle, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Foundry on November 30, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 30, 2018] Protomartyr

Protomartyr’s second album Under Color of Official Right was one of my favorite records of 2014.  I loved the noisy music that the band made while singer Joe Casey yelled his abrasive ideas at us.

They had an interesting look too, with the band looking like, as I heard described, three kids who called up their old hard-ass teacher to jam with them.

Casey looks not unlike some random drunk guy who felt compelled to get up on stage and just yell at people.  He always had a beer in his hand and had at least one in his coat pocket.  He stared us down, but also made a couple of funny jokes.

The crowd was absolutely devoted though and the slam dancing was fast and furious (despite the sign at the entrance which said there was to be none of that). (more…)

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Preoccupations (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, November 30, 2018) [PROTOMARTYR]

Posted in Canadian Music, Philadelphia, PA, Preoccupations, Protomartyr, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Foundry on November 30, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 30, 2018] Preoccupations

Preoccupations is a band from Calgary Alberta Canada.  They were originally called Viet Cong. They put out a stunning album called Viet Cong and then met all kinds of grief for the name (shows cancelled, etc), so they changed it to Preoccupations.  It’s amazing that a band as minor and indie as them would get so much grief, but whatever.

The name is different but the sound is mostly the same–abrasive angular guitars, washes of synths and/or feedback and what I will describe as lead drums, because the power and rhythm of Mike Wallace often distinguishes the songs from each other.

But despite the abrasiveness, they are not just a band of noise.  There is melodicism in many parts (interspersed with great unusual sounds from both guitars).  Plus the lyrics are really good as well. (more…)

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Rattle (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, November 30, 2018) [PROTOMARTYR]

Posted in Fists, Kogumaza, Philadelphia, PA, Preoccupations, Protomartyr, Rattle, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Foundry on November 30, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 30, 2018] Rattle

When I got my ticket for Protomartyr, I had not heard of opening band Rattle, a duo from Nottingham England.

When I got to the stage I saw that there were three drums kits up there.  I assumed that there would be minimal time between bands playing, which was true.  One thing I didn’t realize right away is that the drumset that was set up closest to me actually had two stools, one on either side of the bass drum.

It turns out that Rattle is a duo that plays exclusively drums and percussion.  And they share the drum kit and cymbals.  It was mesmerizing and fascinating.  I especially loved near the end when each drummer hit the same cymbal. (more…)

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Tenacious D (The Fillmore, Philadelphia, PA, November 8, 2018)

Posted in Dio, Hall and Oates, Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Philadelphia, PA, Post-Apocalypto, Sex, Tenacious D, The Fillmore Philadelphia on November 8, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 8, 2018] Tenacious D

I loved the first Tenacious D record and enjoyed the goofy film The Pick of Destiny.  It amuses me to no end that kid-favorite Jack Black is in one of the most vulgar comedy-metal bands ever.  I could barely find 30 seconds of curse-free material to show my kids.

I also didn’t realize that the band toured at all.  This is mostly just an oversight on my part, because it’s obvious that they do and have toured several times as a duo and a full band.

Well, S. and I were super excited to see them, even if I haven’t listened to their more recent stuff and she apparently only knew “Tribute.”  But hey it’s Jables and Rage Kage!

The crowd was very male (S. noted) and very tall.  We arrived later than we wanted to and were a little further back than was practical for people of our heights.  We probably should have moved to the side, especially when a group of really loud people moved in around us.  But we stuck it out and waited for the show to begin.

Opening act Wynchester told us we’ve never seen a show like this.  And they were right. (more…)

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Wynchester (The Fillmore, Philadelphia, PA, November 8, 2018) [TENACIOUS D]

Posted in Dio, Philadelphia, PA, Tenacious D, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Wynchester on November 8, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 8, 2018] Wynchester

Initially we thought that we might not be able to go to this show–S.’s schedule seemed like it would conflict most unjustly.  Then we thought that we might miss Wynchester but still manage to see Tenacious D.  But it all worked out and we got a decent location not too far from the very packed stage.

I had never heard of Wynchester, and I was surprised to see them described as a country band (very much unlike Tenacious D).  But it all made sense when I read that Wynchester was fronted by Kyle Gass Band vocalist Mike Bray and Tenacious D electric guitarist John Konesky.  Knowing that it was Konesky playing lead explains some of the really impressive soloing and riffage on these songs.

Wynchester came out and played some fun alt-country/country rock songs.  The songs were funny but not comedy songs.  “The Gospel of Good Times” was a good, fun opener about, well, spreading the gospel of good times. (more…)

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Courtney Barnett (The Fillmore, Philadelphia, PA, October 23, 2018)

Posted in Courtney Barnett, Gillian Welch, Kurt Vile, Philadelphia, PA, Phoebe Bridgers, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Waxahatchee on October 23, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 23, 2018] Courtney Barnett

S. and I saw Courtney Barnett back in May when her latest album Tell Me How You Really Feel just came out.  She did a few shows where she played the whole album in its entirety.  Our show sold out very quickly and I was lucky to get tickets.

This time around she played the larger Fillmore and did not sell out the venue.  Is it better to play a small club and sell out, or a larger one and not sell out?  I’m still not sure why this one didn’t.

So why would we go to see someone five months after we had just seen her?

Well, primarily because I thought that this show would be different–bigger, longer and a bit more fun. Not that the first wasn’t fun–it was.  But at that show, she had a mission to play that album and make us like it.  This time, we already had the album and we liked it, we just wanted to hear it again!

And man was this show terrific.

I assumed she would not play the album straight through again.  But I shouldn’t have been surprised that she opened with the first two songs.  The stage was bathed in red (terrible for pictures so I didn’t bother trying to get any).  However, I love watching her play guitar–her technique is so bizarre to me and yet it sounds wonderful.  It must hurt like the dickens.  You can see her playing with no pick very clearly in this clip from “City Looks Pretty.”  (more…)

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Waxahatchee (The Fillmore, Philadelphia PA, October 23, 2018) [COURTNEY BARNETT]

Posted in Katie Crutchfield, Kevin Morby, Lucinda Williams, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Waxahatchee on October 23, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 23, 2018] Waxahatchee

I really can’t get over how many artists I have seen twice this year.

I saw Waxahatchee back in April.  Katie Crutchfield and her band headlined Union Transfer.  I had no idea that she would be opening for Courtney Barnett when Courtney came back through town, but there she was.

I had enjoyed her set and was looking forward to hearing her and her band again.

So I was a little disappointed to find out that this iteration of Waxahatchee was just her.  Katie has a wonderful voice and writes pretty songs.  But when I saw them in April, I found the few acoustic solo songs she did to be a bit slow for my tastes.  Plus her band was so good! (more…)

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Graham Coxon (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, September 27, 2018)

Posted in Blind Faith, Elizabeth Cotten, Graham Coxon, Philadelphia, PA, The End of the F***ing World, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Foundry on September 27, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 27, 2018] Graham Coxon

I’ve been a fan of Blur since the beginning (I always picked them over Oasis).  I have never seen them live and it seems like I never will.  And while I enjoy Gorillaz I’m not going to see them live either.  So Graham Coxon solo was a wonderful draw for me.

My big attraction to Blur is Damon Albarn’s voice, but the music, especially Coxon’s guitar, is really fantastic too.

Coxon has released a bunch of solo albums.  I bought the first two.  The second one, The Golden D was an experimental noise fest (for the most part) and I didn’t listen to anymore after that.  Well, from what I gather, the rest of his solo albums were folk songwriting with some fantastic finger-picking guitar work. (more…)

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