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Archive for the ‘The Ukie Club’ Category

Zeta (Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, March 20, 2026)

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Sodaseas, The Ukie Club, Zeta on March 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 20, 2026] Zeta

I’ve been a big fan of Zeta since I encountered them about 3 years ago.  I’ve now seen them 4 times and they never disappoint.  This was a tour for their tenth year of touring the US (when they left Venezuela).  I spoke to drummer Chino (who is their merch guy too) and said I was impressed that they were doing this for ten years and he said, they’d been touring the US for ten years but they’ve been a band since 2003 (which by my calculation, means he started the band when he was 13).

My son came with me to their previous headline show and really liked them.  This time I didn’t get him a ticket because we were going to Hanabie the next night.  But his plans changed and he wanted to come with me to this show, which was awesome.

By the time Zeta went on, the crowd had filled in somewhat (but, oof, what a large venue to have about 50 people show up).  Despite the small crowd, the band put on a killer show.

But the first surprise was that they were playing as a trio.  After a song, Bassist Antonio Pereira told us that Dani (their exciting guitarist/keyboardist) was staying in Venezuela because of the new T**** immigration policies.  Fuck, man, that guy ruins everything.  So, that meant the band had to redesign their songs for the stage without their most versatile member. (more…)

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Sodaseas (Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, March 20, 2026) [ZETA]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Sodaseas, The Ukie Club, Zeta on March 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 20, 2026] Sodaseas

Sodaseas is from Philadelphia.  I can’t decide if their name has some meaning beyond the apparent seas full of soda image that comes up.  It speaks to the kind of melting pot and scene that Philly has that the band’s members come from Mexico, Venezuela, Chicago, Texas, California, South Carolina, and Baltimore.  And it should come as no surprise that they sing in Spanish and in English.

They are a six-piece band with all kinds of fun instrumentation.  Alex Ramirez sang (and screamed) lead vocals and played acoustic guitars. Next was Scarlet Brigham who played viola and sang backup on a song or two.  On the far side was Paul Awdisho on bass.  In the back was Vasco Madrid on drums.  In front of us was Brent Mackesey on electric guitar (mostly lead) and in the middle was Sasha Perlman on percussion.  The percussion was primarily a djembe (or something like it) but also included an array of electronic sound effects and samples.

I note this in particular because the electronics were WAY TOO LOUD.  This seemed like the kind of thing that could have been fixed. In fact, the electronics were coming from an amp on the stage and I could have easily walked up and turned it down a bit.  Sadly, sound was a bit of an issue for them the whole set.  The acoustic guitar was possibly not plugged in at first and I was a little bummed that I couldn’t hear Alex’s voice clearly except during the quietest moments.  I’m a little surprised because I’ve been to the Ukie Club a few times and never noticed a sound issue before. (more…)

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Pool Kids / Truth Club / Pony (Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, September 25, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Pony, Pool Kids, The Ukie Club, Truth Club on September 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 25, 2025] Pool Kids / Truth Club / Pony

I saw this very show two days earlier in Asbury Park.  It was terrific.  All three bands were great.

I love Pool Kids, one of my favorite new bands.  I saw Truth Club open for Indigo de Souza last year and I saw Pony open for Fucked Up in 2022.  Both opening bands were great then and they were great two nights ago.  I’ve even seen Pool Kids at the Ukie Club in 2023.

So, this would have been another great opportunity to see them.

But since I’d seen then just a couple of days ago, I didn’t need to see them all again.  Although my friends’ daughter drove all the way from Scranton to Asbury Park to see them and was planning on driving all the way to Philly to see them tonight.

 

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LSD and the Search for God / A Country Western (Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, August 22, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in A Country Western, LSD and the Search for God, Philadelphia, PA, The Ukie Club on August 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 22, 2025] LSD and the Search for God / A Country Western

I love the band name LSD and the Search for God.  I like it enough that I considered going to  this show without knowing anything about them.  It turned out to be during our vacation so I obviously didn’t.

LSD and the Search for God has only put out two EPs since 2005 (the second one in 2016).  But evidently they have a cult following (my daughter happened to ask me about them a couple of weeks ago after hearing about them on TikTok).

They play a delightful shoegaze style and I think I would have really enjoyed seeing them in a small place like the Ukie Club.

A Country Western is from Philly.  I hadn’t heard of them, but this review from Post Trash is intriguing:

A Country Western are always trying something new. … Their first work they put out, Phenom is very ambient in nature, with the mix of the few vocals blending into the downtrodden sound. The self-titled EP has a lot more forceful rhythms with beats akin to trip-hop. The EP is often grating in its sound but in an unaggressive abrasive fashion. birdfeeder, the band’s first album, took a more upbeat approach to the slowcore sound, including more succinct song structures similar to their friends in feeble little horse.  On A Country Western’s new album Life on the Lawn they once again tweak their sound into something new and dial up the energy ever so much more. They keep the general vibe reflective of their namesake, but instead of using the stylings of slowcore, they opt for a more straight forward alternative country rock approach.

That’s an interesting review, but I’ve listened to a few songs from their new album and I don’t hear any country in their sound (which is fine with me).

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clipping. (The Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, August 15, 2025)

Posted in Captain Ahab, clipping., Daveed Diggs, Fatboi Sharif, Hamilton, Open Mike Eagle, Philadelphia, PA, The Ukie Club, Ukrainian American Citizens' Association, Unnecessary Surgery on August 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 15, 2025] clipping.

I haven’t been to the Ukie Club for two years.  A lot of good bands play there and it’s easy to get to and to park around, but something about the club feels so young (although Ty Segall did play there and he’s not young).  The last time I was there, I wrote:

Wow was it hot in The Ukie Club.

And this time I say, holy crap was it hot in the Ukie Club!  I sweated from the second I walked in and my shirt was soaked so thoroughly that it was still wet when I got home an hour after the show ended.  There were a/c units on, but they did nothing near the stage.

But even sweating constantly couldn’t ruin a fantastic show.

We saw clipping. open for The Flaming Lips back in 2017.  They were supposed to play Philly during COVID and now, finally, after eight years, they have returned.

For the last show I had just learned about them (and liked them) about a month before this show.  And I wrote

Lest this seem like a vanity project for Diggs, producers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes [Snipes is a sound designer, film composer, and experimental musician who records glitchy, snarky pop-deconstructionist noise music under the name Captain Ahab; Snipes and Hutson are also in the noise band Unnecessary Surgery] are the forces behind all of the music.  The group began in 2009 as a remix project, with Hutson and Snipes taking a cappellas of mainstream rap artists and making power electronics and noise remixes of them to amuse themselves. Diggs joined in 2010 and began to write his own raps over their compositions.  By the way, if we can trust Wikipedia, Diggs and Hutson met in grade school, and Hutson and Snipes were college roommates.  And for the record, Hamilton premiered in Jan 2015.

Unlike last time, I was right up front for this show.  I could have gotten closer but I was enjoying leaning against the pole that’s about six feet from the stage. (more…)

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Open Mike Eagle (The Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, August 15, 2025) [CLIPPING.]

Posted in Captain Ahab, clipping., Daveed Diggs, Fatboi Sharif, Hamilton, Open Mike Eagle, Philadelphia, PA, The Ukie Club, Ukrainian American Citizens' Association, Unnecessary Surgery on August 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 15, 2025] Open Mike Eagle

I saw Open Mike Eagle headline at Milkboy at the end of 2023–I was really happy to have finally seen him live.  He played a lot of songs from my favorite album of his and I really enjoyed his style and the way he interacted with the crowd.

I actually found out about this show because Open Mike popped up on my concert radar.  I was psyched to see him again.  And when I saw he was opening for clipping, I grabbed a ticket as fast as I could.  I assumed it would sell out and it did but not as quickly as I would have thought.

After OME’s set, Daveed Diggs said he drove all the way from Chicago and basically came out on stage with no prep work.  If that’s true then this set was even more impressive than I originally thought.

OME started with a song from Brick Body Kids Still Daydream, the album that introduced him to me (I am surprised to see he’s put out 5 albums since then!).  He didn’t play Brick Body Complex last time, and I was all there for it.

There was a guy in front of me who knew all the words to everything (except the new songs) and he was thrilled to be up so close to Mike.

He rapped four more songs that he had done last time.  And I was delighted to hear them again. I like I’ll Fight You and I really like Very Much Money.  Microfiche is from a great EP. (more…)

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Fatboi Sharif (The Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, August 15, 2025) [CLIPPING.]

Posted in Captain Ahab, clipping., Daveed Diggs, Fatboi Sharif, Hamilton, Open Mike Eagle, Philadelphia, PA, The Ukie Club, Ukrainian American Citizens' Association, Unnecessary Surgery on August 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 15, 2025] Fatboi Sharif.

I haven’t been to the Ukie Club for two years.  A lot of good bands play there and it’s easy to get to and to park around, but something about the club feels so young (although Ty Segall did play there and he’s not young).  The last time I was there, I wrote:

Wow was it hot in The Ukie Club.

And this time I say, holy crap was it hot in the Ukie Club!  I sweated from the second I walked in and my shirt was soaked so thoroughly that it was still wet when I got home an hour after the show ended.  There were a/c units on, but they did nothing near the stage.

I didn’t realize the show went on at 8:30 and arrived at 7:45, so I was sweating for no reason.

Around 8:30, a guy cot up on stage behind some gear and he started playing loud beats.  He talked about what he was playing and really tried to get the crowd hyped up.  I assumed this was Fatboi Sharif, but it turned out it was DJ Boogaveli, Fatboi’s DJ.

Because a little while later Fatboi Sharif came up on stage.  The music was loud and his delivery was good, but I really couldn’t follow him very clearly.  I listened to a few of his recorded songs and his delivery is much cleaner.

The fascinating thing is that he brought several guests up on stage–and then stayed to the side while the guests did their own songs.

The first guest was EightyNiner Grant who I liked.  And then came GDP who i liked less (although on Fatboi’s album, I like his delivery quite a lot).

The set was pretty enjoyable.  I would probably have liked it more if I knew his stuff already, but I am intrigued to be sure.  (He is from Rahway, NJ).

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Ty Segall / Mikel Cronin (Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, April 15, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Mikal Cronin, Philadelphia, PA, The Ukie Club, Ty Segall on April 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 15, 2025] Ty Segall / Mikal Cronin

I have tried to see Ty Segall many times and something always comes up. I’d like to see him with his band, but I’ve even tried to see him solo.  I think his solo acoustic stuff is fun, but he’s so much more wild with the band (and amplification).

There were actually FIVE shows I wanted to go to tonight.  Ty Segall’s was second on my list because I would have much rather seen Tomato Flower.

It’s possible that I’ve given up trying to see Ty Segall after failing once again.

Mikal Cronin plays with Ty Segall pretty often.  I really enjoyed his album MKII.  Like Ty, I’d rather see him all fuzzed out on amplifiers.  But I’m sure his solo stuff is fun too.

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Bleary Eyed / Hello Mary (Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, October 25, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Bleary Eyed, Hello Mary, Philadelphia, PA, The Ukie Club on October 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 25, 2024] Bleary Eyed / Hello Mary

I’ve been vaguely obsessed with Hello Mary for a couple of years now.  Looking back at shows I didn’t attend, I could have seen them six times in the past two years but didn’t for one reason or anther.

So I was really looking forward to this show.

And then, as often happens at this time of year, my daughter had a birthday party planned for that night and so I was in for the night.

Bummer. (more…)

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Fucked Up / Chastity (Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, July 18, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Chastity, Fucked Up, Philadelphia, PA, The Ukie Club on July 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 18, 2024] Fucked Up / Chastity

I saw Fucked Up back in July of 2022 and would like to see them again.

They’ve been around a few times since then and things never seem to quite work out.  I was excited about this show because I’m fond of The Ukie Club as a venue.  But then we wound up scheduling dinner with friends and this was the only night available for that.  So, sadly I had to miss them again.

But it sounds like  they’ll be back again soon.

Chastity is a one-man band project from Ontario

is for the skids, the headbangers, the freaks. Chastity is for everyone who has suffered and survived the lethal combination of suburban overculture and mental distress. Chastity is especially for everyone who didn’t survive—the ones who didn’t get out. Brandon Williams did, luckily, and his work with Chastity has been to collect people like him, who got out by the skin of their teeth.

They play surprisingly catchy (with great guitar lines and sing along choruses) song given the angst mentioned and the fact that they are opening for Fucked Up.

I’d have really enjoyed this show I think.

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