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Archive for the ‘The Met Philadelphia’ Category

John Oliver (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, December 30 & 31, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in John Oliver, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on December 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 30 & 31, 2025] John Oliver

I love John Oliver.  He is always funny and was a highlight of The Daily Show.   I understand his new (not new) show is very funny and very insightful as well, but I haven’t seen it.

His stand up has got to be fantastic.

But even without the surgery, I had no intention of going out to Philly on Dec 30th and especially not on the 31st.

It would have been a fun way to ring i the new year, I suppose, although we’d probably have been driving home at midnight.

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Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, November 14, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Joe Russo, Joe Russo's Almost Dead, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on November 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: November 14, 2025] Joe Russo’s Almost Dead

I don’t actually know Joe Russo’s Almost Dead.  It didn’t actually occur to me that the Dead in the band name is a Grateful Dead reference.  But I see that JRAD is like a Grateful Dead cover band plus more.  They are known for their intermingling of the Grateful Dead’s recognizable folk-rock and Americana sound with more contemporary Progressive Rock and Jazz Fusion influences.

I haven’t been super excited to see them.  I’m vaguely intrigued.  And then my wife won tickets to this show at XPNFest.  Actually there weren’t many concerts to choose from so she chose this and we got on the waiting list for Neko Case (which we eventually got as well).  I thought free tickets would be the perfect way to see JRAD.  And if we hated it we could leave.

But then we saw that Aaron Chen was doing a show in Newark, so we grabbed tickets to that instead.

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Kurtis Conner (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, November 9, 2025)

Posted in Danny Gonzalez, Dean Hebscher, Drew Gooden, Jacob Sharpe, Kiss, Kurtis Conner, Neil Diamond, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, The Rolling Stones on November 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 9, 2025] Kurtis Conner

My daughter and I saw Kurtis Conner three years ago.  I didn’t know him at al, but I knew my kids really liked him.  I came away from the show laughing really hard and having a really strong respect for him as a comedian.

I still have not really watched any of his YouTube stuff (what I’ve seen I like, but it’s off my radar).  But what really impressed me (and impressed me more this time) was how a YouTuber who effectively uses editing can do standup so well.  He is (mostly) comfortable in front of the audience (in fairness, everyone there loves him and there is nary a heckler in sight), and he clearly feeds off of the laughter.

Although he is (quite a bit) younger than me, I found it really interesting that his childhood sounded kind of similar to mine–defects and all.  Kurtis is a feminist and an ally, and proudly on both counts (which I found wonderful since my kids liked him so much).  But he’s also able to look back on his younger self with dismay at the way he (and kids in general) behaved.  It does make for good comedy too.  Like he regretted that when he was ten, he and his friends used to use “gay” as an insult.  Like he would be drawing and his friend would come up and he’d tell the guy to get away and stop being gay–and then go back to drawing the most detailed penis you’ve ever seen.

The show was called The Goodfellow Tour and it is named after where he grew up–on Goodfellow Street.  A road that had a ton of kids in it.  They used to play together all the time.  He had a lengthy but very funny bit about a kid in their group whom they all convinced had super fast speed.  They would do races all the time and the kid with super fast speed (who was in reality the slowest person in the world) would win. It went on all summer until the kid’s father found out.

This was all in aid of a running joke that he is a compulsive liar trying to fix that about himself.  But somehow, he keeps lying–throughout the show, even, making the jokes even funnier. (more…)

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Danny Gonzalez (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, November 9, 2025) [KURTIS CONNER]

Posted in Danny Gonzalez, Kurtis Conner, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on November 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 9, 2025] Danny Gonzalez

My daughter and I saw Kurtis Conner three years ago.  I didn’t know his stuff at all but I thought he was really funny.  So when he announced another show in the same venue I grabbed us tickets.  My son is also a fan and he wanted to go to this show too, so it was a fun night out with the kids.

We had seats in the balcony but they allowed us to sit in the ADA section.  It didn’t seem like it sold very well, which I was surprised by since last time I think it was sold out.  But we enjoyed the spaciousness of the ADA section to be sure.

Before the show started, we didn’t know if there would be an opening act.  And then Kurtis announced that his special guest would be Danny Gonzales.  The crowd went crazy, although I had no idea who he was. I see that for the last show I wrote that my daughter told me

the Holy Trinity is Kurtis Conner, Danny Gonzalez and Drew Gooden.

So, it was cool to see one third of the trinity.

Danny was very funny.  He seemed a little nervous to be doing stand up, and suggested that it was either his first time or his first time in a long while.  But he was very warmly received–that’s an understatement.  My daughter says it was very exciting to see him live.  And the one vide I can find of his introduction practically blew out the speakers of my phone (more…)

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Lola Young (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, November 4, 2025) [CANCELLED]

Posted in Cancelled, Lola Young, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on November 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: November 8, 2025] Lola Young

Lola Young’s Messy has ben one of my favorite songs this year.  I listened to some more of her record and didn’t like it nearly as much as Messy.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to get a ticket for this show.  But Lola was supposed to play at All Things Go.  However, she collapsed on stage in New York.

On September 27, Lola Young collapsed while performing during All Things Go Music Festival at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium. Now, the British pop singer-songwriter has announced she’s taking a break to prioritize her health. “I’m going away for a while,” she wrote in a statement on social media. “It pains me to say I have to cancel everything for the foreseeable future.”

“Thank you for all the love and support,” Young continued. “I’m so sorry to let anyone down who has bought a ticket to see me, it hurts me more than you know. Obviously you will be entitled to a full refund. I really hope you’ll give me a second chance once I’ve had some time to work on myself and come back stronger. Love you all, Lola x.”

I feel bad for Lola but I think when she comes back she’ll be even better.

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Of Monsters and Men / Árný Margrét (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, November 4, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Árný Margrét, Iceland, Of Monsters and Men, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on November 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: November 4, 2025] Of Monsters and Men / Árný Margrét

We saw Of Monsters and Men her back in 2019.  I was really impressed with the show–the performance and the overall spectacle was great.  This was their first time back since that show, but we had tickets to see Romesh Ranganathan tonight.

It also turns out that OMAM released a new album that I hadn’t heard–and they played the whole thing that night.  So, no big deal missing them. I have fond memories of the last show.

Árný Margrét is an Icelandic folk singer with a lovely voice.  She plays quiet acoustic guitar and has a delightfully Icelandic-sounding voice.  It makes it seem like the night would have been more mellow than I would have guessed.  But of course I could be wrong about that.  She opened for John Grant in April.  It’s funny to think I could have seen her twice in a year if I went to both of these shows.

For ease of searching, I include: Arny Margret

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Cage the Elephant / Hey, Nothing (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 25, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Cage the Elephant, Hey, Nothing, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on October 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 25, 2025] Cage the Elephant / Hey, Nothing

We saw Cage the Elephant open for Beck six years ago–I can’t believe it was that long ago.   They blew me away and I knew I wanted to see them again.

This show got lost amid a million things going on at the end of October, including Cirque du Soleil, and three other shows later that week.  Sometimes you have to give up shows that you want to see….

Hey, Nothing is a folkie duo who my daughter and I missed at All Things Go.  They seem cool and I’m sure I would have enjoyed them.

 

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My Morning Jacket (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 11, 2025, Night 2 of 2)

Posted in Balthvs, My Morning Jacket, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on October 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 11, 2025] My Morning Jacket

After such a great night last night, we wound up leaving a little bit later (figuring there was no Friday night traffic) and arrived a few minutes later than last night.  But when I walked up to the merch line there was literally one person in front of me–moments later when I looked again, the line was huge, going up the stairs.  Then we headed down to the pit.  It was a little more crowded than last night.  We were going to try to get in front of Jim, but that’s what everyone else wanted, too.  So we camped out more or less where we were the night before, in front of Carl.  We were two people back from where we were, which isn’t bad at all.

So yes, last night as pretty tiring and we’d had a busy day, but we were psyched for a second night of My Morning Jacket.  And I was super psyched when they opened with Highly Suspicious, a totally ripping song from Evil Urges and one that I’d forgotten about–it was also the first time I’d seen it live.  This was also when I learned that Carl Broemel can do so many great backing voices (including the deep, angry chanting of “highly suspicious”).  They followed it with Off the Record, one of the poppier songs off of Z.

Then Carl Broemel moved over to the pedal steel guitar and they played the short but fun Climbing the Ladder.   It was interesting that last night Carl played the saxophone on a few songs but didn’t play it at all tonight. And last night he didn’t play the pedal steel at all but he played it about three times tonight.

And it was pretty clear that if last night’s show was all about jamming, tonight show was shorter, more rocking songs.  And the guys in the front who were headbanging last night had much more cause to do so tonight.

Speaking of the pit.  Tonight’s crowd was fascinating.  There was a guy who kept walking around the pit area hugging and fist bumping people.  He switched places with people and let other be on the barrier.  In fact, one of the long-haired headbangers let some of the shorter folks switch places with him for a song or two.  It was an incredibly generous and, dare I say it, loving thing to do.  Appropriate for the next song Love Love Love, the only song they played from their previous self-titled album.  The lighting at the shows was fairly simply but effective.  They had five panels mounted behind them.  All of the panels had lights that moved and spun and changed colors. But during Love Love Love, they spelled out Love! which was pretty nice.

Up next was Wordless Chorus, one of the great MMJ songs.  The crowd went nuts and we all sang the wordless chorus over and over as Jim walked around the stage, coming over by us at last. (more…)

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Balthvs (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 11, 2025, Night 2 of 2) [MY MORNING JACKET]

Posted in Balthvs, My Morning Jacket, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on October 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 10, 2025] Balthvs

We saw Balthvs last night and really enjoyed them.  So much so that my wife and I were both looking forward to seeing them again.  I wouldn’t have minded hearing the same set again because it was so enjoyable.  But, I assume since they knew that MMJ would be playing a different set tonight, Balthvs played an entirely new set tonight as well.

Tonight, with the audience more familiar with them, they received a huge response when they came out and the guys in the front row were 100% in–jumping and headbandging and clapping.  It had to be a great reception for them.  And they continued to impress with a whole bunch of new (to us) songs.

The opening Sun Colored Eyes was a bit more mellow and groovy, but still sounded great.  All is One continued in the mellower vein with vocals from Vanessa.  She sang in a dreamy voice that made this song even more psychedelic.  There were a few transitions where the song had a five note beat that grounded the song nicely.

As soon as Balthazar played the opening riff to Bird Song, the crowd went nuts.  I didn’t know the song but I have since learned that it’s a Jerry Garcia/Grateful Dead song, so that checks.

Apparently in the middle of the song they segued into a 2 minute original, Famagusta Port and then cycled back to finish up Bird Song.

Balthazar said that they had recently been to Turkey and took some of the scene their with them, which resulted in Turkish Coffee, a song that was perfectly in keeping with their sound, but had definite Turkish influences.  Then he joked that Philadelphia wasn’t too far from the ocean and they launched into what they call Surf Medley, a three part song of surf guitar instrumentals, starting with The Chantays “Pipeline,” segueing into Dick Dale’s “Misirlou” and finally Reverend Horton Heat’s “Marijuana.”  It was fantastic–Balthazar is an incredible guitarist and they captured the surf vibe perfectly.

Up next was an older song Siente which had a little bass solo section for Vanessa to show off her chops.  (more…)

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My Morning Jacket (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 10, 2025, Night 1 of 2)

Posted in Balthvs, My Morning Jacket, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on October 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 10, 2025] My Morning Jacket

A couple of years ago we saw My Morning Jacket at the Met.  They played two nights in a row but we only went to one.  I’m not going to say the second night was better, but they played a lot of great songs that second night as well.  So when they announced two nights again, I grabbed GA tickets (to finally get up close to the band) for both nights.

We greatly enjoyed Balthvs and the fact that we were one person away from the barrier for most of the show.

The lights dimmed and the band came out and they were off, playing Steam Engine.  The song is 7 minutes on record and they stretched that thing out with some lengthy soloing and jamming.  It went over 15 minutes and the band sounded in great form.

I had thought that they might play all of Z (since they have been touring the album), but they didn’t (which is fine).  For this show they played three songs off of it.  One of them was It Beats 4U which, amazingly, I had not seen live before.

When we saw them last time, they didn’t play anything from The Waterfall.  Tonight they played two songs, the delightful In Its Infancy and, later on, Spring (Among the Living).

My two favorite MMJ albums are Evil Urges and Circuital, so I’m always excited to hear songs from them.  They played Circuital, which made me quite happy.  I don’t really know their first few records all that well–they’re a little too slow and not very catchy.  But the crowd seems to love when they play a deep cut like X-Mas Curtain (this is one of their older songs that I really do like, so I enjoyed hearing it).

Speaking of the crowd… we were in the pit and most of the people around us were VIP purchasers and other die-hards.  The guys in the front on the barrier all had long hair and proceeded to headbang through the whole show.  It was pretty funny and they made the front of MMJ’s Instagram page the following day.

And we were right in from of Carl Broemel and it was amazing watching him do…everything.  He played amazing solos, he played saxophone, he even sang fantastic backing vocals.  But it was so cool when he stepped up to the edge of the stage, about 6 feet from us and just wailed on that guitar.  (more…)

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