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Archive for the ‘The Fillmore Philadelphia’ Category

The Flaming Lips (The Fillmore Philadelphia, March 4, 2017)

Posted in clipping., David Bowie, Philadelphia, PA, Rainbows, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Flaming Lips, Unicorns on March 4, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 4, 2017] The Flaming Lips

I saw The Flaming Lips back in 2015 and I was thrilled at how much bigger their show had become since 2000 when I saw them the first time.  When I saw they were touring again for their new album and were playing The Fillmore, I knew that I had to see them again, and this time I needed Sarah to experience the show with me.  She doesn’t know their music very well (she liked a couple of songs and actively disliked a number of them (mostly their noisy covers)–but I knew they wouldn’t play those).  I couldn’t stop talking about that previous show, so I think her expectations were pretty high.  And she told me they did not disappoint.

Having clipping. as the opening band was unusual because if there was ever a show I couldn’t imagine Sarah at it would be a loud, screechy vulgar hip hop band.  But it served as a palate cleanser for The Flaming Lips.

I noticed that they added even more stuff to the previous set, but it was weird that they have all of this great stuff on stage, but then they tend to obscure it as well.  Between the lights in front of the stage (how weird to see all those lights dangling in front of the performers) and the fog machines, sometimes you couldn’t even see the cool stuff going on.  But it was all part of the sensory overload of the show.

Before the show started, Wayne and some of the other guys came out and checked some things. Its was funny to see Wayne walk out on stage and wave to us.  He even shot some hand-held confetti cannons at us.  But then they went back stage and it took another fifteen or so minutes for them to start.

In front of the stage were all of the strands hanging down.  It was impossible to know what they were, until the music started and we saw that they were light strands.  And as the music swelled, Wayne conducted the lights and the music.  It was very cool. (more…)

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clipping. (The Fillmore Philadelphia, March 4, 2017) [THE FLAMING LIPS]

Posted in All Songs Considered, Captain Ahab, clipping., Daveed Diggs, Hamilton, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Flaming Lips, Unnecessary Surgery, WhiteHouse on March 4, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 4, 2017] clipping.

I first heard clipping. on All Songs Considered about a month ago.  The song was noisy and brash and vulgar and featured incredible rapping from a voice that I recognized but couldn’t place.  Then they told us that the rapper was Daveed Diggs who was Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette in Hamilton.  He won a Tony for the role(s).  And now here he was fronting this band of experimental glitch-hop.  And there he was just a few dozen feet from us. 

I love the Fillmore, but it’s one of the few venues that we don’t ever seem to be able to get very close to the stage for.  I guess the artists are a little more popular (and tend to sell out) so there’s less wiggle room at some of the other shows.  So we were further back than I would have liked.  But we could still fully absorb the spectacle.

Clipping are not exactly the kind of band I’d pair with The Flaming Lips (who sing about rainbows and love and whatnot).  And indeed, the contrast was pretty stark.  But the Lips have a crazy stage set-up and it seemed to work perfectly with the kind of static and noise that Clipping creates.  And I’m sure they loved being able to hook into the Lips’ wall of video screens behind them. (more…)

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Umphrey’s McGee (The Fillmore Philadelphia, October 21, 2016)

Posted in Disco Biscuits, Dream Theater, King Crimson, Nirvana, Philadelphia, PA, Phish, Sturgill Simpson, The Fall, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Who, Umphrey's McGee on October 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 21, 2016] Umphrey’s McGee

2016-10-21-21-25-48 As of this summer I didn’t know who Umphrey’s McGee were.  I assumed they were a country band or something.  Then I found out a friend of mine who was at the Phish show that I went to was a huge fan of Umphrey’s McGee too.  She said that they were amazing live.  I listened to some of their stuff (and learned that their debut was called Greatest Hits Volume III, which I love), and then saw that they were playing three nights at The Fillmore in Philadelphia.  So I got a ticket for the middle night to see what the story was.

And I think I picked a good night to go.  Friday night the band had an opening act, not so Saturday or Sunday.  This meant that they didn’t go on until 9:15, which was fine.  I arrived in time but I had forgotten about the long security lines (and I’m thankful for the security, but ouch, it adds ten minutes to the line).  I missed the opening song, but since the band played for nearly three hours, that was okay.

So it turns out that Umphrey’s McGee are a jam band who work within a more progressive/metal sound.  They have a lot of stops and starts and time changes and their guitar solos are superfast pyrotechnics.  Most of their songs extend to about ten minutes or more (maybe like Dream Theater if they were a jam band).

But the fun thing about UM is that they throw in all kinds of cover segments and mashups.  To my knowledge there were no mashup in this show, although they are about a to release a whole album full of great mashups. However, they did tease out sections of other songs during some of their longer instrumental jams, which was fun. (more…)

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Band of Horses (The Fillmore, Philadelphia, PA, September 24, 2016)

Posted in Band of Horses, Beck, J. Mascis, Neil Young, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia on September 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 24, 2016] Band of Horses

2016-09-24-22-06-57This is our third time seeing Band of Horses in three years.  Sarah and I loved their first three albums a lot, so in 2004 when XPNFest announced they were opening for Beck, we knew it was an amazing pairing.  They were great and we decided we needed to see them as the headliners.  The following year, they came back although this time opening for Neil Young.  We were going to see Neil anyway, so it was even better that BoH was opening.  But that set was shorter than the first!  We needed the full experience.

One year later, the busiest weekend we’ve had in a long time, and BoH was squeezed right into the middle of it.

We love The Fillmore in Philly, it’s a great venue with really good sound (and nice parking).  So it was a great place to hear the soaring vocals of Ben Bridwell.and the rest of the band.

The show was an outstanding mix of songs from four of their albums (turns out that their previous album Mirage Rock has been largely dismissed by the band and they don’t play much from it anymore).  And that’s fine because the four albums are awesome. (more…)

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Restorations (The Fillmore, Philadelphia, PA, September 24, 2016) [BAND OF HORSES]

Posted in Band of Horses, Philadelphia, PA, Restorations, The Fillmore Philadelphia on September 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 24, 2016] Restorations

2016-09-24-20-25-47Restorations opened for Band of Horses.  They’re from Philadelphia, but I didn’t know them at all.  At the end of the set the singer said that they used to practice around the corner from the venue and that it was a real trip playing here.  So that was fun.

Before the show, I looked them up and saw them described as alternative, punk and post-hardcore. I was expecting a really heavy rocking band.  But somehow, when they opened for Band of Horses, they sounded a lot more like…Band of Horses.  I’ve been listening to their stuff on the site and I’d say there’s something about the guitars of “Misprint” that reminded me of BoH.

On their studio albums, lead singer Jon Loudon has a gravelly voice, but it didn’t quite sound that way live for some reason.  And the music had the soaring quality of Band of Horses’ more rocking songs.

And it was great.  They were definitely heavier than BoH, but the overall vibe worked perfectly.

The drummer in particular played some great rhythms and really bashed the hell out of the kit.  But the whole band played well off each other.  There were quite a few guitars, occasional keys and a small horn section.

Loudon said that the trumpeter and trombonist who were on stage were playing live with them for the first time.  They added a nice touch but were not mic’d so it wasn’t always easy to hear them.  But when they came through it was good.

I don’t know any of their songs, so I can’t give a setlist, but According to some recent shows, the songs they’ve been playing are:  New Old, The Plan, Separate Songs, West River, Misprint, D, A, Let’s Blow Up the Sun, The Future, Tiny Prayers and Documents.  Confirmation of lyrics shows I have a 20 second clip of “Tiny Prayers” here.

I’ve been listening to their stuff on their tumblr site (it tickles me that their albums are called Restorations, LP2 and LP3) and it’s really good.

They were a great complement to Band of Horses (Ben Bridwell also raved about them when he came on stage) and I’m excited to hear more from them.2016-09-24-20-17-01

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The Claypool Lennon Delirium (The Fillmore, Philadelphia, August 31, 2016)

Posted in Dean Ween, Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, King Crimson, Les Claypool, Marco Benevento, Philadelphia, PA, Pink Floyd, Pokémon Go, Sean Lennon, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Les Claypool Frog Brigade, Ween, Yes on September 1, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 31, 2016] The Claypool Lennon Delirium

2016-08-31 22.23.17I saw Primus back in 1990 or so.  I’ve been a fan ever since but I’ve never seen them live again.  In 2015, Primus was touring with Sean Lennon’s band Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (who are really good, too) but my schedule conflicted so I couldn’t go.  When I heard that The Claypool Lennon Delirium were playing in Philly, I snapped up tickets.

During the above tour, Les Claypool and Sean Lennon got together to make a song and they enjoyed playing so much that they made a whole album.  And it’s as trippy and weird, as you might expect.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from them live.  I mean, it seemed like it would be an insane spectacle (Primus had recently toured Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory which was a real spectacle).  In comparison to what I imagined the show would be like, it was pretty subdued.  The backdrop was three (non-changing) banners, and aside from switching guitars and basses a few times, there wasn’t a lot of shenanigans.  In fact, the usually loquacious Les barely said more than a few words the whole night.  When he first came out he said Hello Philly and commented that we were all staring at him.  And that was pretty much it.

Because it was all about the music.  And the music was really freaking good.  There was a ton of jamming–with each guy showing off.  Les was Les and Sean really wailed on his guitar and effects.  From the picture you can see what appear to be tablets in front of them.  Were they for lyrics or chords or were they playing Pokémon Go?  Who knows. (more…)

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Marco Benevento (The Fillmore, Philadelphia, August 31, 2016) [THE CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM]

Posted in Dan Deacon, Karina Rykman, Marco Benevento, Philadelphia, PA, Sonic Youth, The Fall, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Ween on September 1, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 31, 2016] Marco Benevento

2016-08-31 20.40.39I’d never heard of Marco Benevento before this show.  I looked him up before the show and listened to one song and thought it sounded okay.  Because of a tight security force (understandable in light of recent events), I missed the opening few minutes of his set, but he played for nearly an hour, so I got a full taste of Marco’s music.

And Marco is a performer. Sitting at a modified piano in a black and white striped suit, he conducted his trio through long, groovy songs.  Andre Borger played drums.  And I was struck as soon as I walked in at how great and wild the drums were.  Many songs had a click track of some sort (I think more just electronic noises on repeat), but Borger dominated the rhythm–playing great fills and smashing the hell out of everything in sight.

But the real star of the show was bassist Karina Rykman. (more…)

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Guster (The Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, June 16, 2016 )

Posted in Guster, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Shelters on June 17, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 16, 2016] Guster        

2016-06-16 21.10.07For the third time in 14 months Sarah and I went to a Guster show.  This was a show that was originally scheduled for January (which we couldn’t go to), but a freak snowstorm kept them away.  So they rescheduled to June and we were free to indulge in one of our favorite live bands.

Guster never fails to put on a supremely fun show.   Between favorite songs, unexpected rarities, frontman Ryan Miller’s banter and general sense of good will and each guy’s ability to play just about anything, each show is a blast.  This venue was much bigger than the previous two and we were actually a little further back but we managed to get close enough to really enjoy the fun.  And the sound was amazing.

The Shelters ended and the stage was set.  It always seems to take so long for a band to come out.  And just as Sarah said they should be out by now, there they were.  They opened with “What You Wish For” a song they hadn’t played to us before–a great start!

Over the three shows we saw in the past 14 months, Guster played 40 different songs (not including two covers and an improv jam) out of 73 songs played. (more…)

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The Shelters (The Fillmore Philadelphia, June 16, 2016) [GUSTER]

Posted in Guster, Philadelphia, PA, Sloan, Social Distortion, The Beatles, The Doors, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Shelters, The Smithereens, The Yardbirds on June 16, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 16, 2016] The Shelters

2016-06-16 20.11.09The Shelters opened for Guster.  I hadn’t heard of them before going to the show, so I really didn’t know what to expect from the band.  Sarah and I arrived as they were going on, so by the time we got situated we probably missed two or three songs.

The band paints an interesting visual picture.  On the left side is guitarist Chase Simpson.  He’s got long hair and plays interestingly shaped guitars.  In the middle is guitarist Josh Jove who has slicked back hair and tends to walk to the front of the stage to solo.  On the bass is Jacob Pillot (also slicked back hair) who sort of hangs back but keeps a great rhythm.  And then in the back is drummer Sebastian Harris with long hair (looking a bit like Kurt Cobain) who pounds the hell out of the drums.

Walking into the venue, I’m not sure what song they were playing but it struck me as sounding very L.A. rock (I don’t really know what that means, but I guessed it reminded me of some of the hard rock/metal bands from the 89s/90s).  The song was good and the band was solid, it just didn’t blow me away.  They played another song (both of these were sung by Jove, I believe) that was similarly rocking and enjoyable.

Then they played “Fortune Teller.”  Simpson sang this one and the whole tenor of the band changed.  The song was a bit trippier (whereas Jove has a rocker voice, Simpson has an almost folkie voice).  I loved the song immediately.  And every song after that was really great too. (more…)

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Explosions in the Sky (The Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 20, 2016)

Posted in Disappears, Explosions in the Sky, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia on May 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 20, 2016] Explosions in the Sky

2016-05-20 21.43.53I’ve been a fan of EITS for years.  Their brand of epic instrumental has always been symphonic and grand–building up intensity and then, yes, exploding.

The band was inexplicably pretty late getting on stage (and then had to come out and fix their gear themselves).  As they came out on stage I realized that I had no idea what the band members looked like.

I was excited that I was able to get so close to the stage (the show was sold out).  And, I was pleased to realize that EITS was a no mosh pit kind of band, so things were fairly mellow so close to the stage.

The band’s set up was that there was one microphone placed kind of far to the stage (there’d be no singing tonight).  When the band came out guitarist Munaf Rayani (the only guy to talk) apologized for them being so late.   He then said they were Explosions in the Sky from Texas.  And until he said good night that was the only voice for 90 minutes (except for a half dozen of idiots standing nearby talking way too loud and taking selfies). (more…)

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