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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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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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Balthvs (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 10, 2025, Night 1 of 2) [MY MORNING JACKET]

Posted in Balthvs, My Morning Jacket, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on October 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 10, 2025] Balthvs

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, the opener was BALTHVS, a band I didn’t know.

They are from Colombia and when I first heard a song, I lazily said they reminded me of Khruangbin.  I see that online people compare them to Khruangbin a lot, which seems to be unfair.  I don’t know Khruangbin all that well, but both bands have a similar vibe.  However, on further listen, BALTHVS has got its own thing down quite well.  But it’s fair to say they’re in the same general area of “World psychedelic funk.”

BALTHVS is a trio from Bogotá Colombia.  Balthazar Aguirre plays guitar and sings, Vanessa Muñoz a plays 5 string bass and sings and Santiago Lizcano plays drums.  The band came out and jumped into some amazing songs.  [Founding bassist Johanna Mercurian recently had a baby and obviously didn’t tour this time]

Year of the Snake is a cool slinky instrumental and it really showed off Balthazar’s guitar chops.  I also loved that Vanessa’s bass was complex–making great use of the five string.  And Santiago was a beast behind the kit. (more…)

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Pulp (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 9, 2025)

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Pulp, The Met Philadelphia on September 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 9, 2025] Pulp

Back I was a big fan of the Britpop scene.  I liked Blur, but I also liked a lot of the lesser bands.  Pulp’s Common People was a favorite song for me.  I also liked their This is Hardcore album.  And then I lost interest.  But it turns out they put out one more album and then hiatused.

Then this year they announced a new song and album.  Spike Island is the most infectious song they have released and I haven’t gotten tired of it at all.

So when this (rather short) tour was announced, I was intrigued, but wasn’t sure if I really wanted to go.  Tickets were fairly pricey and there weren’t any floor seats left.  But because of their “dynamic pricing” bullshit there were a few seats available near the front and I saw that the price was going down as it got closer.  When I felt the price was okay, I bought a ticket.

When I got to the venue, they asked me if I wanted to sit i the ADA section, which I hadn’t in this venue.  The guard there said it would be nicer to sit in the comfy chair than to stand the whole time.  And it was.  True, I couldn’t see the whole stage (I never saw the guy in the back on the left side.  And I couldn’t see all of the screen.  But most of the action was up front and I could see all of that fine.

The tickets were irritating because it was unclear if the show was going on at 7:30 or 8:30.  Did doors open at 6:30?  Who could tell.  I arrived at 7:30 and there was a massive line to get scanned.  I was escorted to the front of the line, which was nice, and I got into the venue quickly with no merch line (the merch wasn’t that exciting).  And then I sat and chatted with the people next to me.  They were from Maryland and had seen the show a few days ago in D.C. They had driven to Atlantic City and decided to see the show again on the way home.  He told me they bought tickets while waiting outside in their car (and paid less than I did!). He and his wife go to tons of shows and seem to often get comp tickets or really good prices last minute.

When the lights went down I moved to the other side of them to get a better angle (very comfy) and the massive band (eight piece, I think) started playing Sorted for E’s & Wizz.  I hadn’t listened to much Pulp before the show so I didn’t really recognize some of these bigger songs.

But I was so psyched that they played Disco 2000 and followed it with Spike Island.

Jarvis Cocker is a fantastic frontman (duh).  He engages the audience, he dances, he jumped on these platforms in the front of the stage and he told some amusing anecdotes.

The setlist has been mostly the same, but they did play two unique songs for us.  The new song Slow Jam is great and I’m glad we got to hear it.  Before Farmer’s Market, he asked if there was a farmer’s market in Philly (yes, and it is good, people said).  He asked if they sold grapes. And then proceeded to pull a handful of grapes from his suit jacket pocket and tossed them to audience members (don’t catch it in your mouth, you may choke).  He then threw some chocolates to the crowd (he’s not a great thrower, tbh).  But he did attempt to catch a grape in his own mouth (he missed).

For Something Changed, the original band members came to the front of the stage Jarvis Cocker played guitar and sang and he said that the four of them gathered together a few years ago to see if they wanted to play together again.  He said Candida Doyle sat at the old piano (she played keys); Nick Banks had a box drum then and tonight;  and Mark Webber sat on the settee and played guitar.

For the rest of the set the band was fleshed out by Andrew McKinney – bass (he also played on Something Changed); Emma Smith on fantastic violin, backing vocals and guitar; Adam Betts played a to of percussion and some guitar and keyboards and Richard Jones who I did not see the whole show until the end, played keys and viola.

The four (okay five, bassist) played this delightful mellow song and then shifted gears.  We sang along for many songs and then for O.U. (a very old song) he split the audience in half and one side sang O and our side sang U.  Which was quite a lot of fun.

(more…)

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Ethel Cain / 9million (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 6, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in 9million, Ethel Cain, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on September 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 6, 2025] Ethel Cain / 9million

My daughter has been a fan of Ethel Cain for a while.  We got to see her two years ago at All Things Go, but I didn’t know her at all, and I think my daughter was just getting into her.  The crowd was bananas for Ethel, and I feel like if we had tried harder, we could have gotten closer and been a real part of the show with her.

Once this tour was announced, I set out to get two tickets immediately.  And I was totally shut out.  It sold out in minutes.  I kept checking over the months to see if anything became available and there were 3 seats–each priced at over $400 so never mind.

Then I found out that a friend of ours had an extra ticket and she was trying to sell it.  So I told her I’d take it and gave my daughter a lovely surprise.

I was bummed to discover a day before the show that there were now two tickets available at a reasonable price, but I already had plans to go to the Bolero Block Party.

So, she went with them and told me that Ethel was amazing.

Even though they arrived early, they missed 9million entirely because they were on the merch line (for over 90 minutes!).  According to King’s Raleigh,

9Million is a Toronto shoegaze band helmed by the multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer Matthew Tomasi. Best known for his work with alt pop icons like Ethel Cain

So that explains the connection, because I find 9million to be way way heavier than Ethel (and far more my scene).  I would have been really bummed to have missed them if I was on the merch line, but what they didn’t know didn’t hurt them and they didn’t mind missing them.

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Rilo Kiley / Natalie Bergman (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 4, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Natalie Bergman, Philadelphia, PA, Rilo Kiley, The Met Philadelphia on September 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOTTTEND: September 4, 2025] Rilo Kiley / Natalie Bergman

The announcement of a Rilo Kiley tour was major news!  I was pretty excited about even though I didn’t really know the band.  But I knew and liked Jenny Lewis and assumed her old band would be similarly great.

But I listened to a few of their songs and didn’t really like them.  So, I saved some money and a night out (actually I went to Poppy instead).

Natalie Bergman is a singer from Chicago. She has an interesting, lovely voice but I didn’t really care for her music that much.  I mean, I wasn’t going to this show anyhow, but I do like to hear what the openers sound like.

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An Evening with Wilco (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, August 5, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, Wilco on August 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 5, 2025] An Evening with Wilco

Nothing could have excited me more than an evening with Wilco.  They are an amazing live band and I would have been so excited to be in the pit for this one.

So why didn’t I go?

Because I already had tickets that night to see Modest Mouse and The Flaming Lips–in the pit at the Mann Center.  True I’d seen both bands seven times already, but never from the pit!

So it was a tough choice, but I couldn’t do both.

Sounds like it was a great night.  But so was mine!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2025
Islands of Men ©
Jesse ⊗
Tomorrow’s Crusades Ø
Cocaine ©
Half Real ©
2122 Ø (with Interstellar Overdrive” Pink Floyd)
Cowboy Nudes Ø
Taxes ©
4D Contry ⊗
St. Elmo Ø

© G3 (2025)
⊗ 4D Country
Ø 3D Country

 

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Sarah Millican: Late Bloomer (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, June 18, 2025)

Posted in Matt Kirshen, Philadelphia, PA, Sarah Millican, The Met Philadelphia on June 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 18, 2025] Sarah Millican

I knew (and loved) Sarah Millican from Taskmaster.  I was so excited when she announced her tour and I was excited for her that it sold out and she had to add a second date!

When show time arrived, she came out on stage and gave us a little warm up.  And then she introduced her opening comedian!   I’ve never seen the headliner come out before the support act, but it was fun and classy.

After Matt Kirshen finished his set, Sarah came out and began her own.  I knew that Sarah Millican told adult jokes, and boy does she ever.  I love how demure she looks and yet how unafraid she is to talk about everything.

She had a whole book cataloging what a Late Bloomer is compared to an Eager Beaver.  Each one funnier than the next.  And on the way out she had free buttons an Eager Beaver and a Late Bloomer one.  (more…)

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Matt Kirshen (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, June 18, 2025) [SARAH MILLICAN]

Posted in Matt Kirshen, Philadelphia, PA, Sarah Millican, The Met Philadelphia on June 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 18, 2025] Matt Kirshen

I knew (and loved) Sarah Millican from Taskmaster.  I was so excited when she announced her tour and I was excited for her that it sold out and she had to add a second date!

When show time arrived, she came out on stage and gave us a little warm up.  And then she introduced her opening comedian!   I’ve never seen the headliner come out before the support act, but it was fun and classy.

Her opening act was Matt Kirshen.  Kirshen is a British comedian who has recently become an American citizen.  We all had a good laugh at his terrible timing of becoming an citizen.  He said that he liked being part of something in its final act.

His routine was really funny–it must be quite challenging to be a less well-known comedian.  But he was great and had us laughing quite hard.

He had his own show at Helium the following month and I’m sure it was really good.

I’m writing this three months after the show and can’t remember his jokes, but I know he had us laughing quite a bit.

If I think of any jokes or see any videos, I’ll add them here.  But I would 100% see him again.  He was great.

 

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Lucy Dacus (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, April 16, 2025)

Posted in Boygenius, Jasmine.4.T, Katie Gavin, Lucy Dacus, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on April 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 16, 2025] Lucy Dacus 

I have seen Lucy Dacus quite a few (six) times and she always puts on a mesmerizing show. The first time I saw her was at Johnny Brenda’s (capacity 250), the most recent was at Union Transfer (capacity 1200).  And now here she was starting off her first tour after boygenius in her former home town of Philadelphia by playing The Met (capacity 3800).

And, wow, did she step it up for this bigger venue.  She had a gigantic backdrop designed to look like a museum wall.  There were picture frames and columns and it looked amazing.  And even this was presented theatrically as for the openers and for Lucy’s first song, the whole extravaganza was covered in a dropcloth.  The band even walked through the dropcloth opening at the center of the backdrop.  When it dramatically dropped away, the crowd went nuts.

And as she sang, one (or more) of the frames would display a picture that had something to do with the song she was playing.

Because this was the Forever is a Feeling tour, she played mostly songs from that new album (she played the whole album, but not in order).  The album opens with Calliope Prelude and so did the show.  It’s a short instrumental which is primarily strings and it worked very nicely as “walk on” music.

And then she launched right into Hot & Heavy, a song that opens quietly but builds really nicely to get the whole band involved.  I was surprised that she hadn’t opened with a song from the new album, but she followed that up with five songs in a row from it.  The band includes Sarah Goldstone (keys vocals), Dominic Angelella (bass), Alan Good Parker Guitars), Phoenix Rousiamanis (violin), and Ricardo Lagomasino (drums).

First was Ankles, the big single from the album–I’m always surprised when bands play their new single so early, but it worked to keep the energy up.  This also happened to be the first Lucy album I hadn’t listened to much before the show.  So I didn’t know these new songs all that well.  But Lucy is engrossing as a performer.  And it’s fun to hear a sing for the first time in a live setting.  Like hearing the words to Modigliani–while she projected a Modigliani painting on the screen. (more…)

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