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Archive for the ‘The Met Philadelphia’ Category

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, Taskmaster, 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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Vampire Weekend (The Met Philadelpia, Philadelphia, PA, May 31, 2025)

Posted in Geese, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, Vampire Weekend on June 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 31, 2025] Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend’s first two albums are perfect.  They are two of my favorite albums and any time I listen to them, it makes me smile.  I had wanted to see them for a while, but I wasn’t sure if they would be as good as the records live.  And then suddenly they were selling out bigger venues than I wanted go.  I had tickets to see them in 2019 but couldn’t make it.  Somehow I missed when they played The Mann in 2024 (I was too buys that weekend anyhow) and finally I was able to snag tickets for one of the two nights at The Met.

I saw after that they played a different set for each night, so it’s a bummer I couldn’t go to both.  But having finally gotten so see them I can yell at my younger self because they were fantastic live.

After Geese left the stage, a giant Vampire Weekend banner dropped in front of the dark curtain.  A whole bunch of folks in dayglo yellow set up the stage area–bringing out a piano and drums as well as a mic stand.

Having never seen them I honestly wasn’t sure if this was the show–just a trio in front of the band’s name.  And I was fine with it because they sounded great.

It was just the original trio singer/guitarist Ezra Koenig, drummer Chris Tomson, and bassist Chris Baio.  They opened with  the quiet Hold Me Now and then segued into a far more rollicking Oxford Comma (And I was in heaven because they’d already played on of my favorites songs).  And then they played Blake’s Got a New Face, which my wife and I had just been singing.  It was great.

It was sometime during the next song Ice Cream Piano that I realized that there were more sounds coming from the stage than these three guys could possible make.  And soon after, the pulled back the VW curtain to reveal a huge band behind them.  The revelation was quite a delightful surprise and it wasn’t until they started the next song, Classical (which I never no the name of) that I realized how great the whole huge band sounded.  There were two drummers, keys, several guitars and lots of backing singers.  During the instrumental section of the song, one of the guys in the dayglo shirt did a very sexy dance in the spotlight.  It was pretty fun.

And how to describe the backdrop?  It looked like they were in an underground tunnel, like a concrete bunker with multiple ins and outs.  It looked really convincing.

Ezra typically played guitar but for a few songs, like Connect, he put down the guitar and walked the stage while singing. (more…)

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Geese (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 31, 2025) [VAMPIRE WEEKEND]

Posted in Geese, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, Vampire Weekend on May 31, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 31, 2025] Geese

There had been some buzz around Geese when they were announced as openers for this show.  I knew their song Cowboy Nudes and found it odd but very catchy.

As this show came around, they started playing another song on the radio and I realized that Geese is pretty weird. So I was curious what their live show would be like.  We arrived pretty early, but the pit was already pretty crowded.  Turns out Geese already had a huge fanbase.  The front of the pit was full of big time Geese fans.

They opened their set with Islands of Man, and I thought that the most distinctive thing about the band (Cameron’s voice) was rather subdued. The song starts softly and fairly quietly with interesting guitar parts from Emily Green.

And the rest of the band was amazing too.  As the show went on, I couldn’t take my eyes off of drummer Max Bassin–he was doing some wild and complex parts.  And midway through the show I realized that bassist Dominic DiGesu was playing some amazing fills too.

For Jesse, Cameron continued to sing in a kind of subdued manner, until the bridge where he got a little shouty.  And it worked really well with the jamming music.  Tomorrows Crusades was super catchy with a great guitar line and Cameron singing in a kind of falsetto.  (more…)

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Japanese Breakfast / Ginger Root (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 16, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Ginger Root, Japanese Breakfast, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on May 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 16, 2025] Japanese Breakfast / Ginger Root

When this show was announced, it sold out pretty quickly.  We were bummed because we saw Japanese Breakfast on Halloween a couple of years ago when she said she’d be going to Korea for a year or so.

But soon after, they announced another show on the night before (I always think it’s funny to have the second show come before the first show, but realistically I suppose it doesn’t matter to the band unless they were planning on going all out for that final show.

So when they announced night 2 I grabbed tickets right away and we enjoyed yesterday’s show from the pit.  The shows were almost the same although I’m a little bummed that they did a final encore of Everybody Wants to Love You which they didn’t do for us.  But I’ve seen the song a few times so it’s no big deal.

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Japanese Breakfast (The Met Philadelpia, Philadelphia, PA, May 15, 2025)

Posted in Ginger Root, Japanese Breakfast, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on May 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 15, 2025] Japanese Breakfast

We had seen Japanese Breakfast play their last American show for a year or so on Halloween 2023.  It was a lot of fun and felt like a really special night.

When they announced their new album, For Melancholy Brunettes… I was concerned because that sounded like a bummer of an album.  And, first single Orlando in Love wasn’t especially gripping.  It was pretty, but didn’t really have a hook.

But I knew that they always put on a good show so it was definitely worth seeing.

The curtain rose on a giant clam shell, which Michelle Zauner came out and sat in and played Here is Someone and Orlando in Love.

She switched from acoustic to electric guitar and returned to the clamshell throughout the show.

The rest of the stage was cool too, with a nautical theme and billowing smoke.

They played three songs from the new albums, with Honey Water being the most upbeat.  But they didn’t stay on this vibe for the whole show because they moved on to the Soft Sounds album, playing three great songs, Road Head, Boyish and The Body is a Blade.

Then it was back to the new album for the bouncy Mega Circuit and the more chill Leda.

They only played one song from Psychopomp, and then moved up to Jubilee for the bouncy Slide Tackle.  A few more new songs were followed by Kokomo, a really fun song from Jubilee. (more…)

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Ginger Root (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 15, 2025) [JAPANESE BREAKFAST]

Posted in Ginger Root, Japanese Breakfast, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on May 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 15, 2025] Ginger Root

Japanese Breakfast announced a show at The Met and it sold out instantly.  But then they announced another show (for the day before) and I grabbed us a ticket.

Ginger Root opened both shows.  I didn’t know them, but they seemed to have a good following.  And the band was full of charisma.  They are an indie band from California led by Cameron Lew.  He describes the music as “aggressive elevator soul.”

And Camerom Lew is a fantastic front man.  He is also the creative force behind the visual and audio components of Ginger Root.  Indeed video may be more important that audio for the band.

Ginger Root was without a doubt the best live band I have seen for music that I didn’t really like all that much.  Not that the music was bad, it just wasn’t quite my vibe.  But the live show was so good I would 100% see them again.

As they took the stage there were two video screens that announced We are your openers for this evening.  We’ll be done in ~40 minutes.

And as soon as the band started, their on-stage cameraman began filming them and projecting it on the screens.  He used all kinds of old-school effects, giving the video and almost 80’s feel.  Especially when the screens were bordered with a white line and the legend: You’re listening to Ginger Root. (more…)

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Devo (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 1, 2025)

Posted in Devo, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on May 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 1, 2025] DEVO

As with most people my age, Devo has been (intentionally or not) part of my life for most of my life.  Even if I didn’t know their earlist stuff, Whip It was unavoidable in the days of MTV.

I never considered seeing them.  In fact I hadn’t really thought about them at all since college.  But a few years ago we saw a Mark Mothersbaugh exhibit in a Denver Museum and I went on a really deep dive of his stuff (and obviously I know he makes all kinds of great soundtracks).

Devo has played live over the last decade, but this was their first time playing Philly since 2008.  And I had heard that the shows on this tour were great.  So I was excited to see them.

And what a show!  They’ve always been a very visual band and this continued in their live show.  And the crowd responded in kind.  There were many people dressed in yellow jump suits.  There were countless energy domes, including one that a guy custom fit the inside with duct tape and other gadgets so it fit him perfectly (he of course had on a yellow jump suit too).

It opened with a funny video showing a where are they now look at the guy who tried to make them stars in the 1970s.  (Very funny, but also quite pointed).

They opened with one of their “new” songs (from 2010) which I vaguely knew.   And the backdrop was a full scale visual assault of colors and videos.

The band were dressed in black suit jacket and pants (with Devo printed on the lapel).  Mark Mothersbaugh looks a lot like Steve Martin now which is somehow even more fun. (more…)

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