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Archive for the ‘The Fillmore Philadelphia’ Category

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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Rosali (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, September 27, 2018) [GRAHAM COXON]

Posted in Aimee Mann, Graham Coxon, Philadelphia, PA, Rosali, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Foundry on September 27, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 27, 2018] Rosali

Rosali opened for Graham Coxon.  She is a Philadelphia-based singer songwriter with two albums out (her last album got some pretty glowing reviews).

She has a lovely voice which reminded me of Aimee Mann.  In fact, a number of times I thought that she might be singing an Aimee Mann song.  But the problem was that there were no hooks in her songs.  There was nothing to hold on to.

She also had very little stage presence.  She stated as much, confessing that stage banter wasn’t her thing.  No kidding.  One time she asked if anyone watched the news today, after some mild boos, she didn’t follow it up.  Every other time that she tuned, she was basically quiet.  In fact, she never said her name, the most basic thing you do when tuning your guitar.  (I arrived a few minutes late because of the incompetent staff, so maybe she had introduced herself before I got there, but I’m not entirely sure it was her). (more…)

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First Aid Kit (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 8, 2018)

Posted in First Aid Kit, Heart, Kate Bush, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Union Transfer on September 8, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 8, 2018] First Aid Kit

Seven month ago Sarah and I saw First Aid Kit (sold out) at Union Transfer.  Now here they were back in Philly seven months later playing at the larger Fillmore.

We both enjoyed that earlier show a lot (obviously).  I wasn’t sure if it was smart seeing the band again on the same tour (as with Sloan, there was a lot of duplication).  But there was something quite different about this show compared to the first one.

The (very beautiful) poster was different and this leg of the tour was called the Rebel Hearts Tour (whereas the first one was called the Ruins tour).  So what this meant was that they were still playing mostly songs from their new album Ruins, although not all of them, and, indeed, not the title song.  But they’d added a new song (woohoo!) and one from Ruins that they didn’t play last time.

In a nutshell, it felt like a very different show even though it was more or less the same show. (more…)

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Julia Jacklin (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 8, 2018) [FIRST AID KIT]

Posted in First Aid Kit, Julia Jacklin, Phantastic Ferniture, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Union Transfer on September 8, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 8, 2018] Julia Jacklin

I had heard about Julia Jacklin from NPR, so I was intrigued to see her live.  Jacklin is Australian, but you can’t really tell from her singing voice (or her speaking voice, really).  Although the way she enunciates “buh sket ball” makes her sound conspicuously non-American.  I had heard a song called “Don’t Let the Kids Win” which contains that basketball.  The title is amusing and I knew she was lyrically dense, so Iassumed there’d be amusing lines throughout the show.  But indeed, no.

Jacklin is not a partier, but nor is she a downer either.  She is thoughtful and inquisitive.  Her music, even live, is fairly spare–except when it’s not–and she sings pretty quietly–except when she doesn’t.

She was charming and funny–delightful in an opening act.  She played a quick six songs and that was that.

“Lead Light” has a kind of old school swing to it, almost 50s rock and roll.  I enjoyed the way the song built and stopped several times.

Her band, three Canadian guys, Harry (lead guitar) Eddie (bass) and Ian (drums) kept perfect accompaniment and backing vocals. (more…)

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