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Archive for the ‘The Met Philadelphia’ Category

Illiterate Light (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 8, 2019) [THE HEAD AND THE HEART]

Posted in Geddy Lee, Illiterate Light, My Morning Jacket, Neil Young, Newport Folk Festival, Philadelphia, PA, Promise of the Real, Rock duo, The Head and the Heart, The Met Philadelphia on October 8, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 8, 2019] Illiterate Light

I had heard of Illiterate Light from NPR, but didn’t really know them.  They played at Newport Folk Festival but were early on Saturday and we arrived after them.

Traffic getting to this show was terrible and I was annoyed that we’d miss Illiterate Light (or part of their set anyhow).  S. said she didn’t mind missing the opening act as long as we made it for The Head and the Heart.

We walked in just as Illiterate Light took the stage and we got seated around the middle of the first song.  And I couldn’t get over how loud they were (particularly opening for a not-especially-loud band like The Head and the Heart).  They had big rocking guitar and crashing drums.

Then I looked up and realized that there were only two of them on stage. (more…)

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The Tallest Man on Earth (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 7, 2019) [CANCELLED]

Posted in Cancelled, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, The Tallest Man on Earth on October 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: October 7, 2019] The Tallest Man on Earth

I was pretty excited to see The Tallest Man on Earth since last year I had to skip the show for my own personal reasons.  So I was bummed that on June 20, I was refunded my money because this tour was going to be cancelled.

Kristian himself sent out this apology:

Hello Sweet People,

The universe has gotten in the way of my plans and I have to cancel 8 shows on my fall tour: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Boston and New York.

I’ve never done this before and it was an incredibly hard decision, but ultimately it is less of a choice than a necessity. I’m very sorry and I will find a time to make up these shows as soon as I can. Tickets will be refunded in full. If you have already purchased tickets you will be receiving information on getting a complete refund. You can also go here [thetallestmanonearth.com/refunds] for all the information you need.

Also, to avoid raising any concern, please know that I’m fine. I’m healthy and I feel good. No other shows will be affected this year. I hope I haven’t ruined your plans too much and I can’t wait to make this up to you. I am going to think of a really fun way to do that.

Ok, be well, talk soon.
Kristian

 

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Tiny Ruins (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 2, 2019) [ALDOUS HARDING]

Posted in Aldous Harding, New Zealand, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, The Tallest Man on Earth, Tiny Ruins, Underground Arts on October 2, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 2, 2019] Tiny Ruins

I had originally planned to see The Tallest Man on Earth at the Met Philly on this night.  But some time ago he cancelled the entire North American tour.  Which is a bummer, since I’d really like to see him.

However, that allowed me to go to that night’s other wonderful offering–Aldous Harding.

Tiny Ruins opened for Aldous.  Tiny ruins is a band from New Zealand led by songwriter Hollie Fullbrook.  In fact, for this tour, Tiny Ruins was only Fullbrook and her guitar.

She came out front and sang about a half dozen songs in her beautiful voice accompanied by her exquisite guitar playing.

She opened with “Tread Softly” and she admitted the words were written by W.B. Yeats.  But she promised that the words for all of the other songs were her own.

I enjoyed listening to Hollie speak, although her accent wasn’t as strong as I imagined it would be. (more…)

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Of Monsters and Men (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 10, 2019)

Posted in Hozier, Iceland, Of Monsters and Men, Philadelphia, PA, The Head and the Heart, The Met Philadelphia on September 10, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 10, 2019] Of Monsters and Men

Back at Christmas 2011, S. bought me the debut albums by Of Monsters and Men and The Head and the Heart.  I instantly fell in love with both bands (and sometimes can’t tell who is who when I hear one of their songs).  This concert might help me distinguish but we’re also seeing The Head and the Heart in the same venue in a month.

But maybe the spectacle of this show will help me distinguish them.

Because it was a wonderful spectacle.

I love thinking about how this band of six or seven musicians from Iceland somehow conquered the world with their singalong anthems.  It’s also fascinating to me that they only released their third album this year.

I really like the new album.  It sounds a bit different (more synthy, poppy) but it remains very OMAM.

They played a lot from the new album which was fine. In fact, they played 19 songs in total, spanning all of their records, but focusing mainly on their first and third releases. (more…)

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Lower Dens (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 10, 2019) [OF MONSTERS AND MEN]

Posted in Lower Dens, Of Monsters and Men, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on September 10, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 10, 2019] Lower Dens

Back in 2010, Lower Dens did a Tiny Desk Concert.  I watched it in 2015 and really liked them.  Everything that I liked about them involved the interplay of singer Jana Hunter’s guitar with either the vocals or the bass.   So I was pretty happy to see that they were going to open for Of Monsters and Men.

A few days ago I listened to the new Lower Dens album and really didn’t like it all that much.  It’s more synthy, but that’s not why I didn’t like it.  I certainly liked the lyrics, but I just didn’t like the whole delivery.

I didn’t really know what to expect when the band came on stage.

Front and center was Jana Hunter.  Hunter looked very masculine (I loved the shirt Hunter was wearing), but that was rather puzzling because I thought the singer was a woman.  Plus the whole set was very synthy and didn’t sound like those early songs at all.  I genuinely wondered if I had the wrong band in my head.

I have since read that Hunter is gender fluid, so that’s cool.  Hunter’s voice really does run the gamut from low to high, so Hunter’s gender doesn’t make any difference to the voice.

But that still doesn’t change the fact that I was really bored by the set. (more…)

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Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, April 20, 2019)

Posted in David Gilmour, Geddy Lee, Guy Pratt, Nick Mason, Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets, Philadelphia, PA, Pink Floyd, Richard Wright, Spandau Ballet, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, The Met Philadelphia, Voivod on April 20, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 20, 2019] Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets

While I, like many people my age, love Pink Floyd, (I mean Dark Side of the Moon is the most popular album in history or whatever), I have always really enjoyed their early stuff.  Not the Syd Barrett stuff, exactly, but the stuff from that era: Ummagumma, Meddle, Atom Heart Mother.

When I saw that Nick Mason was touring with some non-Pink Floyd guys, I was intrigued.  I’ve always thought that Mason was an underrated dude (when the rest of the band has huge personalities it’s easy to get overlooked).  He also seems like just a nice fella.

Then I read that this tour, dubbed Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, would focus on the pre-Dark Side of the Moon era of psychedelia and experimentation. Mason says he wished to revisit songs that were staples of early Pink Floyd shows from 1969–1972, as well as other songs that were never performed live by Pink Floyd during this era. Mason said the group was not a tribute band, but that they wanted to “capture the spirit” of the era.  And they were going to play some of “Atom Heart Mother,” my personal favorite.

The band would consist of Dom Beken on keys, Lee Harris and Gary Kemp on guitars and vocals, and long time Pink Floyd collaborator Guy Pratt (man, he has played with EVERYBODY) on bass and vocals. (more…)

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Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, April 20, 2019) [NICK MASON’S SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS]

Posted in Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly., Philadelphia, PA, Sam Duckworth, The Met Philadelphia on April 20, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 20, 2019] Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. 

This was my first show at the relatively recently opened Met Philly.  I was quite pleased with its location and ease of access.  It’s a few blocks from Union Transfer and, for the time being, anyway, there was ample free on street parking a few blocks away.

I was quite unhappy with a couple of things, though.  The seating was good–I was near the back of the lower section, behind the soundboard.  That was fine (although the bright computer screen of the soundboard did kind of suck (and the engineers could have crouched more when the moved.  The biggest problem with where I was sitting though was the exits.  Like most sections of seats, this was a basic U shape.  You enter in the right upright of the U and then go down to the bottom of the U and then back up the left upright to get to your seats.  The problem is that at the top of the left upright, it is a total dead end.  You can’t go out, but neither can you cut across.  Through almost all of the show, I saw people on my side of the aisle get out of their seat, walk up and then a few seconds later walk back down and then cut in front of everyone in our section.  What kind of crappy layout is that?

This being a mostly middle aged show, the number of people cutting in front of us was staggering.

I imagine other sections do not have this problem, but who knows.

The other problem was with the announcement of the show.

It stated: Doors 6:30 Show: 8:00.  I arrived a few minutes before 8, looking forward to seeing this musician with the great name Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.  As I walked in, he was already playing, so I assumed it took me longer to get in than I realized.  Then he told us thanks and this was his last song.

He clearly went on at 7:30 (usually doors at 6:30 indicates a 7:30 show, but it clearly said 8PM on all materials.  So I got to hear one and a half songs by this musician, which is a real bummer. (more…)

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