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Archive for the ‘The Met Philadelphia’ Category

Broken Social Scene (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, July 28, 2026) [METRIC]

Posted in Broken Social Scene, Metric, Philadelphia, PA, Stars, The Met Philadelphia on July 29, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 28, 2026] Broken Social Scene

When You Forgot It in People came out back in 2002, I listened to it quite a lot, but then Broken Social Scene fell of my radar.  I knew about a couple of projects over the years, but had no idea that they were still a going concern.  Earlier this year WXPN started playing a new song by them.  Indeed, the band put a new album out this year.

Two years ago, Broken Social Scene toured You Forgot It in People.  I grabbed a ticket and then lost some interest as the show drew closer.  I had a show lined up for the following two nights.  So I blew off the show.  Reviews made me realize I missed something fun and interesting.  Indeed, the family in front of me at this show said they have seen Broken Social Scene some 25 times.  So I was glad to finally get to experience them live.  And wow, what a fun spectacle.

Broken Social Scene is a loose collective of musicians who come and go.  For this show, the fewest number of people on stage at any given time was 7.  With it maxing out at around 15.  The main components of the band are Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning and drummer Justin Peroff.  We learned midway through the set that earlier this summer, Justin was injured in Vancouver.  They had cancelled some shows, but Justin fully recovered and was playing with them tonight.  Two other guys have been with the band since almost the beginning, Andrew Whiteman who was on the far side of the stage.  I couldn’t see him too well, but he sang lead a few times and did some solos. Right in front of me, and most intriguing to me was Charles Spearin who played a double neck guitar/ bass.  I’d never seen one quite like this.  It was really small, but Spearin jumped back and forth between bass and guitar throughout the set.  Sam Goldberg also played guitar but switched off to bass once in a while.  During the first song, Cuase= Time, all three–Goldberg, Spearin and Whiteman all played the solo together.  Brendan Canning mostly played bass, but occasionally played guitar and keys.

Kevin Drew was center stage wearing a baseball at that said Captain, which I found amusing.   He was definitely the captain, introducing new people and telling stories between songs.  He also sang most of the songs, but not all of them. (more…)

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Stars (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, July 28, 2026) [METRIC]

Posted in Broken Social Scene, Metric, Philadelphia, PA, Stars, The Met Philadelphia on July 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 28, 2026] Stars

When this tour (dubbed All the Feelings) was announced, I knew I was going immediately.  Stars, Broken Social Scene and Metric?  Three great Canadian bands who have all played with each other?  It sounded wonderful.

Stars is a fantastic band and it took me far too long to see them live.  But now that I have, I’ve seen them every two years since that first time.  I was a little bummed that they weren’t the middle band for this show, but, as it turned out, they spent a lot of time on stage with Broken Social Scene, so it was no big deal.

The actual big deal, though, was that the show started at 7 instead of 8.  I probably could have gone home after work and been home for a second and then headed down to Philly, but I decided to go directly from work (which was a very smart idea).  I arrived way too early so I went to Federal Donuts to get a chicken sandwich only to find out that this location’s grill was off.  I also found out that Federal Donuts has closed a lot of their locations (No!).  So I’m not sure if this location (on 7th) no loner serves chicken (is the grill closed permanently?).  Devastating.

So, with no dinner, but a six pack of donuts, I headed over to The Met, got to my secret free parking spot, and listened to my audio book.  But there was threat of thunderstorms.  I didn’t want to get into the venue too early, but I also didn’t want to get soaked, so I headed in around 6:15.  Merch was okay, but I didn’t get anything.  I moseyed down to the pit and happily stood behind the front row of people (a nice short woman in front of me).  This family was very nice and had seen BSS many times.

Right on time, Stars came out and, as usual, Torq was his funny engaging and charismatic self.  Amy Millan looked wonderful and seemed to be having a great time as well.  And their onstage rapport is always amazing together.  Torq talked about how great it was to be able to do something with your best friend.

The rest of the band has remained the same for 20+ years.  Last tour I learned that bassist Evan Cranley and guitarist Chris Seligman are the main composers of Stars’ music while Torq Campbell and Amy Millan write lyrics.  Drummer Pat McGee and lead guitarist Chris McCarron keep everything going.  And Torq played melodica a bunch. (more…)

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Holly Humberstone / Diva Smith (Theatre of Living Arts [TLA], Philadelphia, PA, June 9, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Holly Humberstone, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, Theatre of Living Arts on June 9, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 9, 2026] Holly Humberstone / Diva Smith

Holly Humberstone opened for Girl in Red the first time we saw them.

She was really good.  I wrote:

Well, I was impressed by her.  She played guitar, keyboard, piano and created live beats on the drum machine while singing.  And her voice was really lovely too.

Her songs are on the pop side but with some good loud guitars from time to time.  “Please Don’t Leave Just Yet” was the synthy song (that featured sped up samples of her voice trilling in the background.  I enjoyed the way she jumped from the synth rack to the piano mid-song.

She has a new album out, but I don’t need to see her again.

Diva Smith was born and raised in Los Angeles and is now based in New York City.  She offers an “idiosyncratic take on the modern pop artist. Growing up in a musical household, Diva was influenced by listening to the likes of Bread and Fleetwood Mac as a child, learning the piano at 8, and picking up the guitar by 10. Diva’s sonic interests led to her becoming her own creative, beginning to record her music in 2016.  Her self-proclaimed “therapy pop” ballads reminiscent of Bon Iver meets St. Vincent.”

I can almost see the comparison.  There’s definitely a Bon Iver vibe (his more electric sounding stuff) and her voice sort of sounds like the softer St. Vincent.  But listening to her songs, it’s really not that compelling.

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St. Vincent Live with Orchestra / Ruby Plume (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, June 6, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Ruby Plume, St. Vincent, The Met Philadelphia on June 6, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 6, 2026] St. Vincent Live with Orchestra / Ruby Plume

I have seen St. Vincent four times and each time has been amazing.  I told myself that I would never miss a show if I could.  Then she announced this show with an orchestra–the Philly Pops.  I’ve seen two bands with orchestras.  Sigur Ros was mind blowing.  King Gizzard was pretty cool.  But the thing that I love about St. Vincent is her unpredictability.  You never really know what you’ll get or what she’ll do.  When I saw her last time, she climbed up the box seats in the Met and sat with an audience member.  She even crowd surfed.

The thing about an orchestra is that there is no room for improvisation.  You have an entire orchestra who has learned the music and is ready to play it as written.  It works great for Sigur Ros because that’s what their music is like.  But St. Vincent—well, I listened to the Live from London CD and it was good.  But not good enough for me to want to see.  Basically, I knew what I was getting and didn’t need to experience it.  I’ve heard it was great, and I’m sure it was.  But I don’t regret not going.

Ruby Plume‘s bio says that she is an alt folk-pop artist from Nashville whose intricate storytelling and lush guitar melodies form a liminal, daydreamy musical canvas. Her vocals carry a quiet intensity, layering youthful clarity over emotional depth reminiscent of artists who defined alt-pop for a new generation. Ruby’s songs are subtly prismatic-shifting effortlessly between vivid emotions and elusive mystery, warmth and introspection.

Damn, that is some fifty-cent word verbiage there.

Seeing some other setlists, it looks like she played six songs, including a Joni Mitchell cover and a Bob Dylan cover. Having listened to a couple songs, she is a gentle folks singer with a pretty, slightly muffled voice.

 

 

  1. We Put a Pearl in the Ground
  2. Hell Is Near
  3. Reckless
  4. Violent Times
  5. Black Rainbow
    [The Strangers on Live record]
  6. Marrow
  7. The Bed
  8. Smoking Section
  9. Now, Now
  10. Live in the Dream
  11. The Nowhere Inn
  12. Digital Witness
  13. Los Ageless
    [The Party on Live record]
  14. New York (Walked through crowd)
  15. Paris Is Burning
    Encore:
  16. Candy Darling
  17. Slow Disco

 

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Sleep Token / Empire State Bastard (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 20, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Empire State Bastard, Philadelphia, PA, Sleep Token, The Met Philadelphia on May 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 20, 2024] Sleep Token / Empire State Bastard

I had not heard of Sleep Token when this show was announced. I soon found out that they are huge and sold this show out in like a second.

Sleep Token are a masked, anonymous band (which I love).  So it immediately intrigued me when I heard they were coming.

Their music is heavy, but the verses and singing sound very soft alt rock.  It’s kind of a weird mishmash of styles.

And while they have a huge following, there are also plenty of haters, saying things like

  • They’re gothic-flavored pop music with heavy music dispersed throughout. Very generic production that rides all the current trends.
  • “wow, this is like Katatonia but bad”
  • I literally physically cringed listening to one of their songs because of how processed the vocals were. Sounded so overproduced and synthetic. They seem like a band that will succeed with their merchandise and image of something alternative for those unexposed to metal.
  • Admittedly I’ve only listened to their cover of Hey Ya, but it’s the kinda song that makes you never want to hear another song from the artist ever again.  —  I Just listened to it and it is terrible.
  • They are quite unique in all the different genres they blend into their songs but each different style they attempt just sounds very generic and not done well in my opinion.  There is also a weird effect on the singers voice which gets annoying very quickly for me.

Of course, that’s just a few naysayers but I tend to agree with that vibe.  I asked my son about them and he dismissed them.

The whole reason I was interested in this show was for Empire State Bastard.

Empire State Bastard are a Biffy Clyro’s singer guitarist Simon Neil and touring guitarist Mike Vennart (of Cardiacs and formerly of Oceansize).  The album and tour featured Dave fucking Lombardo on drums.  Simon Neil is a lunatic and while he has a great voice, he also loves to shred his vocal chords.  And  this whole album is him shredding his vocal chords.  This is heavy heavy metal.

And this was the only Philly date for this band.  I’m annoyed that people who didn’t care about them got to see them and I didn’t.  Maybe I could have asked The Met for a ticket just for the openers.

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Nick Offerman (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, April 12, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Nick Offerman, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on April 12, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 12, 2026] Nick Offerman

Whenever I think about comedians that I like, they’re usually British.  Because I receive ads for comedy clubs, I feel like there are hundreds of American comedians and I don’t know any of them. So I forget that there are quite a few American comedians who I really like.  Nick Offerman makes me laugh in anything he does and yet for some reason I have never really thought about going to his stand up show.

I had gone out the night before, but my wife wasn’t really interested in going out on a Sunday night, so we blew him off.  I’ll have to put him on my list of comedians to make sure I see at least once.

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Waxahatchee / MJ Lenderman / Brennan Wedl (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, April 12, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Brennan Wedl, MJ Lenderman, MJ Lenderman and the Wind, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, Waxahatchee on April 12, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 12, 2026] Waxahatchee / MJ Lenderman / Brennan Wedl

My wife and I saw Waxahatchee two years ago.  Katie always puts on a good show, but we weren’t feeling this one.

I feel like people have been talking about MJ Lenderman for a while (although there are a lot of guys who go by 2 initials and their last name so I may be thinking of someone else).  But I see that he’s been putting out music since 2019.

I also saw know that he’s been playing with Wednesday and did a song with Waxahatchee.

His voice is a distinctive twang/whine that I sort of don’t like but kind of do.  It’s that whole alt-country thing that I mostly don’t like but maybe do.

The review from WXPN says

Lenderman and Waxahatchee took their seats on stage next to one another and backed by their band — Cole Berggren on banjo and keys and Colin Croom on pedal steel, lap steel, and electric guitar. They alternated between Lenderman and Waxahatchee songs, and threw in some cover songs, too.

I’m sure this was delightful for big fans of both artists, but I’m casual at best, so it wasn’t for me.

I’m more intrigued by Brennan Wedl‘s name than their music.  Wedl is a Minnesota-raised, Nashville-based songwriter.  She has a pretty hefty country twang for a Minnesotan.  She and Wxahatchee do a cover of Kathleen Edwards’ 6 o’clock News, which earns them some props.

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Wanda Sykes (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, March 27, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia, Wanda Sykes on March 27, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 27, 2026] Wanda Sykes

Whenever I think about comedians that I like, they’re usually British.  Because I receive ads for comedy clubs, I feel like there are hundreds of American comedians and I don’t know any of them. So I forget that there are quite a few American comedians who I really like.  And Wanda Sykes is one of them.  I don’t know much about her standup, but she cracks me up whenever I see her.  I didn’t hear about this show until recently and we had had tickets to Lucius for quite a while already.

When I looked at the tour poster I saw that she was only doing six dates!  And Philly was one of them.  That makes me think she doesn’t tour very often and I’ll have to keep an eye out in case she comes back any time soon.

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Rainbow Kitten Surprise / Common People (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, March 13, 2026//The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, March 14, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Common People, Montclair, NJ, Philadelphia, PA, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, The Met Philadelphia, Wellmont Theater on March 13, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 13 & 14, 2026] Rainbow Kitten Surprise / Common People

With a name like Rainbow Kitten Surprise,  I thought this band would be a lot weirder.  I liked some of the songs I’d heard back in 2023 but they cancelled that tour.  Fever Pitch was a cool song with interesting components–lots of fun things going on in under 3 minutes.

The rest of their songs are similarly unexpected, and yet they aren’t quite as compelling.  I have heard  that their live show is unforgettable, but I had a lot going on and my son had just come home from school, so I blew off this show.

Common People are a newly formed band (2025) and they have a oxymoronically named classic indie sound.  They have five songs on Tidal and I like all of them.  Catchy, garagey, a good sound.  Fuzzy guitar solos, I’ll keep an eye on them because I’m definitely interested.

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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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