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Archive for the ‘The Fillmore Philadelphia’ Category

Powerwolf / Unleash the Archers (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 12, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Powerwolf, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Unleash the Archers on September 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 12, 2024] Powerwolf / Unleash the Archers

My I’ve never heard of Powerwolf but I saw this big announcement that

German Metal Juggernauts Powerwolf Announce Their First Ever North American Dates

And I briefly got caught up in the excitement, but I was going to shows the two nights before and had had two Pearl Jam shows a few days before.  So I didn’t get tickets.

I’ve since listened to them and, well, I do certainly love melodic anthemic metal and as the Wikipedia summary says

The group uses religious themes and images, as well as corpse paint, gothic-tinged compositions and songs about werewolf and vampire legends.

This show was either a super fun headbanging sing along or a massive moshpit that I would have hated.

Unleash the Archers are a Canadian power metal band from British Columbia.  The first song I listened to by them was Northwest Passage which features the lyrics

Ah, for just one time, I would take the Northwest PassageTo find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort SeaTracing one warm line through a land so wide and savageAnd make a Northwest Passage to the sea

It is sung in a sea shanty style, without music for much of the song.  I’m so intrigued by the band.  Not sure that I like them, but they have piqued my interest to be sure.

Although listening to a bit more, I’m not interested in seeing them.

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Starset : Immersion (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 10, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Starset, The Fillmore Philadelphia on September 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 10, 2024] Starset 

My son and I have seen Starset twice.  Each show has been pretty fantastic.

When this show, the Final Chapter, was announced I really wanted us to go.  Especially since it was a 2 set night of only Starset.

But it was the same night as the Bikini Kill show which we already had tickets for.

The fact that we didn’t go to Bikini Kill makes us missing this show hurt a little bit more.

However, I had gone to a show on 9/7, 9/9 and then 9/11 and 9/12.  I’m not sure I could have made it.

Still, I’ll be this show was great and I’m bummed they didn’t swing back through the area once again with it (and maybe they still will).

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Waxahatchee / Snail Mail / Greg Mendez (Fillmore Philly, Philadelphia, PA, September 8, 2024)

Posted in Greg Mendez, Philadelphia, PA, Snail Mail, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Waxahatchee on September 8, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 8, 2024] Waxahatchee / Snail Mail / Greg Mendez

I would have liked to go to one of these two Waxahatchee shows.  I wouldn’t have gone to both shows, but I had a hard time deciding which one to go to.

It turns out in the end that it didn’t matter, because we wound up going to Pearl Jam shows on the 7th and the 9th.  I joked with my wife that I was going to try to go to this show too, but we had been standing for hours for Pearl Jam and then would be standing for Pearl Jam for hours the following day. So I had to give it a miss–even though I’ve heard the show was outstanding.

I love Gladie and would love to have seen them again, but when I saw this lineup, I had to choose the night with Snail Mail, a band I have wanted to see them since about 2018, but it keeps not happening.  This is now the seventh time I could have seen them but didn’t. (more…)

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Waxahatchee / Tim Heidecker & The Very Good Band / Gladie (Fillmore Philly, Philadelphia, PA, September 7, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Gladie, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Tim Heidecker, Tim Heidecker & The Very Good Band, Waxahatchee on September 7, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 7, 2024] Waxahatchee / Tim Heidecker & The Very Good Band / Gladie

I would have liked to go to one of these two Waxahatchee shows.  I wouldn’t have gone to both shows, but I had a hard time deciding which one to go to.

I love Gladie and would love to have seen them again.

I wasn’t sure about Tim Heidecker and his band.  I assumed it would be serious and not goofy but I genuinely didn’t know what to expect.  Here’s an interesting revue from his 2023 tour

From cultfollowing.co.uk

Having a man who, just forty minutes ago, threw TicTacs around the stage and screeched about TikTok, stare through your soul as he covers Bob Dylan’s Shot of Love classic, Lenny Bruce, is an incredible feeling. Fear of God. Fear of Death. Tim Heidecker and his No More Bullshit tour, accompanied by The Very Good Band have it all. 

So it might have been interesting to see.

But we then got tickets to Pearl Jam for this night so I as glad I didn’t choose this one.

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Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls / Amigo the Devil / Bridge City Sinners / Micah Schnabel & Vanessa Jean Speckman (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, June 22, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Amigo the Devil, Bridge City Sinners, Frank Turner, Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls, Micah Schnabel, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Vanessa Jean Speckman on June 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 22, 2024] Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls / Amigo the Devil / Bridge City Sinners / Micah Schnabel & Vanessa Jean Speckman

I had been wanting to see him for a long time because I’d heard his live shows were amazing.  I saw him last year in a solo (more or less) performance.  And it was great.  So next, I wanted to see him with his band because I’ve heard the band version is even wilder with a more punk aesthetic and I do love a fun punk show.

For the last couple of years he has disappointed me by having a show on Mother’s Day and then on Father’s Day.  This year it was the week after and I was sure I would be able to go.

And then my son and his friend had car/motorcycle trouble about 90 minutes away.  There was no way I could go out and have fun while worrying about them.  So I stayed home (they had made arrangements to get home by then, but had been out in the heat and sun for nearly ten hours).

So, yet again, I miss Frank Turner and his band.  Luckily, he never stops touring, so I’m sure they’ll be back again, on some other inconvenient holiday, no doubt. (more…)

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Amon Amarth / Cannibal Corpse / Obituary / Frozen Soul (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA, May 13, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Amon Amarth, Cannibal Corpse, Frozen Soul, Obituary, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia on May 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 13, 2024] Amon Amarth / Cannibal Corpse / Obituary / Frozen Soul

When this tour was announced I had the choice of seeing them at The Wellmont in NJ or the Fillmore in Philly.

I chose the Wellmont because it is smaller and I thought it would be more fun.  I see too many shows in Philly anyway.

It worked out for the best as my wife and I were going to see Neil Young on Sunday night, so this left the rest of the week free.

I’ve really enjoyed Amon Amarth in the past and since my son and his friends enjoyed them when we saw them last year, it was a no brainer for the fur of us to see them headline.

I wasn’t to thrilled with the rest of the lineup, honestly.  I’ve seen Cannibal Corpse a few years ago and once was enough (although now that I heard what a genuinely nice guy Corpsegrinder is, I certainly like them a lot more).  It’s fascinating though that they’ve been a band since 1988 (and appeared in Ace Ventura Pet Detective!  They were an integral early band in the Tampa death metal scene.

Obituary is another super old school band from Tampa (formed in 1984, so even older).  It’s kind of weird that Amon Amarth, who is a Swedish band and not really a death metal band (they’re all about Vikings, but they do sing in a growly way) would invite two early death metal bands.

I know of them (their logo is very familiar) but I guess I never listened to anything they did.  They are heavy and fast but the singer actually does a kind of high voice when he sings (as well as some growling).  It’s a different vibe to be sure and more of what I think about with 80’s metal bands.

Frozen Soul is a death metal band from Texas.  They formed in 2018.  I had not heard of them and wasn’t really that interested in seeing them anyway.  They are heavy death metal with growling vocals.

If it weren’t for the headliners I ‘d have had n interest in this tour at all.

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The Decemberists (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 8, 2024)

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Ratboys, The Decemberists, The Fillmore Philadelphia on May 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 8, 2024] The Decemberists     

This was our fourth time seeing The Decemberists (which is frankly too low a number for how much we love them).  But this show was on my birthday!  Imagine that.

I have actually never been to a show on my birthday before, mostly because I like to spend my birthday with my family.  But this was a band that my wife wanted to see as well, so we invited the kids along too, for a fun birthday night.

Sadly, my daughter was on crutches so she chose to stay home, but my son came even though he didn’t think he knew The Decemberists very well.

It turns out he knows them from osmosis and recognized a lot of songs from having heard his parents play them.  He was also pleasantly surprised by how much they rocked (my wife likes the folkier side and she plays them more).

And the show opened with a folky vibe.

There were light fixtures out front and Colin Meloy wandered out with his acoustic guitar and played “Red Right Ankle.”  He sounded great and the ambient lighting was perfect.  He described it as singing in a grotto.  Then Jenny Conlee came out with her accordion and the rest of the band came out soon after.  Nate Query with is upright bass, Chris Funk at his guitar and Lizzy Ellison singing as they played a lovely June Hymn.

They stayed acoustic for the new song All I Want is You complete with Victor Nash on horns and keys.  John Moen came out, the cool lights were removed and the “grotto” was taken away.  They spread out and used the full stage which was delicately designed with floral patterns and curtains.

With the full band out they played Don’t Carry it All with Chris Funk playing lap steel guitar.  Then they played the new song Burial Ground, after which Colin apologized for rhyming the word malaria in the song in case anyone in the audience was currently suffering from it.

The Decemberists could play pretty much anything in their catalog and I’d be happy.  And now that they have so many albums out there are fewer and fewer older songs that they can squeeze in.  So if they can only fit one part of The Crane Wife, I’ll take it.

After a rousing and fun The Sporting Life, with a little coda from The Smiths, Ellison got to show off her vocal chops with a fantastic The Queen’s Rebuke/The Crossing.  The Hazards of Love remains my favorite album of theirs and I love any song they play from it (this was the only one tonight).  But the heavy jamming during The Crossing was great–with some serious metal chords blasting out between the Hammond organ chords. (more…)

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Ratboys (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 8, 2024) [THE DECEMBERISTS]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Ratboys, The Decemberists, The Fillmore Philadelphia on May 8, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 8, 2024] Ratboys

I saw Ratboys headline a show in November and it was great.  They have been together since 2010, formed by singer/guitarist Julia Steiner and guitar wizard David Sagan.

When I saw them, Steiner told us how pleased she was to have so many different guitars on tour with her, because they were all tuned differently–it made things so easy!  She had a flying V, which was in standard tuning.

That’s the only guitar she used for this set, so I’m guessing all six of the songs they played were in standard tuning.

The set opened the same with, with the blistering rocker “Making Noise for the Ones You Love.”  It’s like a statement of purpose that totally rocks for like 90 seconds before there’s even vocals.

Morning Zoo slows things down and lets you know the diversity of the band’s sound. (more…)

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Cherry Glazerr (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, March 11, 2024)

Posted in Cherry Glazerr, Ex-Pilots, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Foundry on March 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 11, 2024] Cherry Glazerr 

After Ex Pilots and the obnoxious guy who was talking about how much he didn’t like Cherry Glazerr, a new guy behind me popped up who was a truly crazy fan.  He said he was going to start crying as soon as singer Clementine Creevy came out.   He also shouted her name and said “I love you” about six times.  It wasn’t scary stalker territory but I could see how she could have been unnerved by him.  He sang/screamed too loudly for a bunch of songs and then I think people got him to calm down (it’s a small venue after all).

I’d wanted to see Cherry Glazerr for a while.  I could have seen them in 2019, but they played a date that I couldn’t make.  Then in 2022 they were the openers for the Alt-J/Portugal the Man show that I really wanted to go to but couldn’t make.  Of course, it’s always more fun to see a band like this headlining a small venue, so this show at The Foundry was perfect.

They opened with the slow, moody, “Touched You With My Chaos,” with Clementine sing/shouting “I said that I loved you” and the creepy intense fan screaming it along with her.

But he wasn’t the only one super psyched to be here.  The two women in front of me bounced and screamed to each other for song after song.  And a guy who pushed his way to the barrier was literally leaping three feet in the air to land with every drop in a song.

I don’t really know the band’s output all that well, but I recognized a few songs like “Told You I’d Be with the Guys” with the sharp guitar line and screamed lyrics. (more…)

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Ex Pilots (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, March 11, 2024) [CHERRY GLAZERR]

Posted in Cherry Glazerr, Ex-Pilots, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Foundry on March 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 11, 2024] Ex Pilots

I was not familiar with Ex Pilots before this show, but a guy behind me certainly was.  he was one of those guys who feels the need to talk loudly about whatever he thinks he knows a lot about.  He was pretty annoying, but he was right: people are going to come away from this show as Ex Pilot fans.  At the very least, I became a fan.

He also went on some crazy rant about Cherry Glazerr saying he’d never heard of them but thought they were some kind of 90s female grunge sound which he was never into (I was shocked that the the women around him didn’t pound him).  he also said he was surprised that there was only one opening band because most shows have like four.  Ugh, men.

But he was right about Ex Pilots.

I really enjoyed the way Hammer started as a fast rocking song and then after a minute it shifted gears to a slower, heavier rocking sound and then immediately shifted again into a lighter bouncier verse.  According to their recording, this song is only two minutes long.  It changed gears about five times and I was hooked.

“Exactly Like You” is a quieter song with echoing guitars.  It has very few words (only the title is sung) and at two minutes long, the vocals don’t come in until the half way part.

There were lots of fascinating things about this band.  There are six members in the band, including three guitarists!  And yet despite this, lead singer (and from what I can see, the main Pilot) Ethan Oliva played most of the lead guitar lines too.

After two new songs (I always think it’s funny bands ask if it’s okay if they play a new song, especially if hardly anyone has heard their older songs) they played “Nick Song” has a really catchy vocal melody.  “Bad Aibling” has a rocking shoegaze feel.  Most of the songs were about two minutes long but “Aibling” stretched out to 3! (more…)

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