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Archive for the ‘Union Transfer’ Category

The Beths (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, December 6, 2025)

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Phoebe Rings, The Beths, Union Transfer on December 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 6, 2025] The Beths

This is my third time seeing The Beths, a New Zealand band that’s taking the U.S. by storm.  Las time they played here they sold out Union Transfer.  This time, they sold out TWO NIGHTS at Union Transfer.

We immediately got tickets to night one and for the first time, saw them from a chair off to the side (thanks ADA seating).  Although they interact so nicely with the front, that it’s kind of a bummer to not be in on the action.

But the sound was great (I know it always sounds better further back, but I like being close).

So The Beths are a four piece: Elizabeth Stokes, singer and guitarist.  Jonathan Pearce who plays lead guitar. Benjamin Sinclair on bass and Tristan Deck on drums.  They are delightful and funny and play fantastic songs.  Liz is a great songwriter and the boys make divine harmonies.

Last time they played nearly all of their then new album.   This time they played nine out of ten songs from their newest album.  And they opened with the title track a bouncy song that had everyone delightedly singing along.

After the even punchier No Joy they played two older songs one from Expert and one from Future Me Hates Me.

Then they moved back to the new album with the super fun first single Metal.

At one point during these songs, Benjamin did something that made a tin whistle fly into the air which he caught and started playing.  Later both Benjamin and Jonathan activated the tin whistle cannon and we were delighted to see them snatch the instruments out of the air and start playing.  The also have some shakers in their songs.  Liz uses a banana shaped one.  If you go to Benjamin’s review of the following night, you can read about the amusing trick they played on Liz and her banana. (more…)

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Liv.E (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, December 3, 2025) [EARL SWEATSHIRT]

Posted in Cletus Strap, Earl Sweatshirt, Liv.E, Niontay, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, ZeLooperz on December 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 3, 2025] Liv.E

After seeing Tyler the Creator earlier this year, I thought my daughter might also enjoy seeing Earl Sweatshirt, his former partner in Odd Future.

After ZeLooperz, Liv.E (pronounced liv) came out.  She spoke to the audience a bunch, said she had lost her voice in Vegas (Chris Angel took it).

Then the beats started and she changed things up by singing instead of rapping.  She has a kind of quiet voice but she can scream as needed (even if she lost her voice).

I didn’t know any of her songs either, but some of them were quite pretty.  Overall the set was back to the mellow vibe.  I enjoyed it when she started singing the Schoolhouse Rock 12 song. (more…)

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Phoebe Rings (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, December 6, 2025) [THE BETHS]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Phoebe Rings, The Beths, Union Transfer on December 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 6, 2025] Phoebe Rings

I hadn’t heard of Phoebe Rings and then I found out that she (I now know that Phoebe Rings is a band name and no one in the band is named that) was opening for The Beths on Saturday and Sunday and opening for Speedy Ortiz on Monday.

The Beths and Phoebe Rings are from New Zealand and, it turns out that Phoebe Rings and Speedy Ortiz are on the same record label.

Phoebe Rings began as the solo project of musician Crystal Choi, and is now a four-piece made of jazz students (guitarist Simeon Kavanagh-Vincent, bassist Benjamin Locke and drummer Alex Freer).

We arrived and had ADA seats.  Then we laughed as the tallest person in the room stood in front of us.  We could still see just fine, but it was hilarious how much taller he was than everyone else.

Phoebe Rings was delightful.  They are described as dream pop but they were a bit more like jazz pop.  I’d even go so far as to say they were like lounge music.  There was an early Stereolab vibe musically (not lyrically). (more…)

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ZeLooperz (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, December 3, 2025) [EARL SWEATSHIRT]

Posted in Alexey Ekimyan, Cletus Strap, Earl Sweatshirt, Liv.E, Niontay, Philadelphia, PA, Quadie Diesel, Union Transfer, ZeLooperz on December 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 3, 2025] ZeLooperz 

After seeing Tyler the Creator earlier this year, I thought my daughter might also enjoy seeing Earl Sweatshirt, his former partner in Odd Future.

It had been about 50 minutes and the third act was bouncing on stage.  ZeLooperz brought some much needed energy to the stage.

He was fast and funny–loud and interactive.  He has some great song titles (not sure if he played them or not though): JayJay-Z, Bustin Jieber.

He immediately shouted a Hands Up!  Which most people did.  It was during his set that I realized how short most of the songs have been.  Most are around the 2 minute mark.

About half way through he brought a guest on stage (Quadie Diesel) and he rapped a song while everyone on stage danced around.  And then he had a dance contest–he cleared the floor–but don’t worry this ain’t no mosh pit, this is for the ladies, this was “Skinny Dip.” (more…)

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Niontay (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, December 3, 2025) [EARL SWEATSHIRT]

Posted in Cletus Strap, Earl Sweatshirt, Liv.E, Niontay, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, ZeLooperz on December 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 3, 2025] Niontay

After seeing Tyler the Creator earlier this year, I thought my daughter might also enjoy seeing Earl Sweatshirt, his former partner in Odd Future.

After Cletus Strap, Niontay was up.  He came out in a huge puffer jacket and had excellent locs.  He is also a mumble rapper (he even has a song called mumbleman).  He too had a lot of people videoing him while walking around him on stage.

Pitchfork loved Niontay back in 2024:

His flow is all over the map: He can lay a stone-faced delivery over a hearty chipmunk-soul loop fit to soundtrack a downtown New York streetwear shop, or raise his pitch to Florida-fast-music levels–a relentless marathon of cold punchlines and flexes.

And that seemed right.  He had a lot more variety than Cletus, although overall the tone was similar.

At some point possibly during Cletus’ set, Earl Sweatshirt came up on stage too.  He stood behind the table with the DJ and may have done some DJ work too–it was hard to tell.  So by the middle of Niontay’s set there were nearly a dozen people on stage, mostly just hanging around while the person rapping took center stage. (more…)

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Cletus Strap (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, December 3, 2025) [EARL SWEATSHIRT]

Posted in Cletus Strap, Earl Sweatshirt, Liv.E, Niontay, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, ZeLooperz on December 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 3, 2025] Cletus Strap

After seeing Tyler the Creator earlier this year, I thought my daughter might also enjoy seeing Earl Sweatshirt, his former partner in Odd Future.

What was fascinating was that Tyler’s show was MASSIVE.  He sold out Wells Fargo Center.  He had two stages, lots of lights, and a whole routine.  Earl’s show was at Union Transfer and didn’t even have a backdrop.  There was no light show, just the venue’s lights.  And all of that is totally fine, it was just such a contrast.

It was also interesting that there were FIVE artists on the bill and I hadn’t heard of any but Earl.

There was a table in the middle of  the stage.  There was a DJ (possibly unnamed).  He had a laptop or two.

Up first was Cletus Strap. (more…)

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Ghost Funk Orchestra (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, November 19, 2025) [PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS]

Posted in Ghost Funk Orchestra, Philadelphia, PA, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Union Transfer on November 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 19, 2025] Ghost Funk Orchestra

I was really excited to see the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets again.  I had no idea who might be the support act (last time it was Acid Dad which was awesome).  I didn’t know who Ghost Funk Orchestra was and wasn’t really sure what to expect, but the name is fairly apt.

They are an orchestra–at least on stage there were some nine people up there.  Although Ghost Funk Orchestra is the brainchild of composer/multi-instrumentalist Seth Applebaum and it started as a one man band.

But for our show on the right side of the stage were a trumpeter, a baritone sax player (Stephen Chen, the only person whose name I got because he was very very popular–he also plays with San Fermin) and a trombonist.  Their bass player stood with them as well.

I was delighted with how no one in the band looked like anyone else–Chen dressed in a button down shirt and the bass player wearing what looked like a cowboy outfit with large silver buttons (stars?) down the outside of his pants.  The trombonist had long hair an a beard while most everyone else had short hair.  It felt like a motley crew thrown together to make great music. (more…)

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Boris: Do You Remember Pink Days? Tour (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, November 2, 2025)

Posted in Boris, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on November 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 2, 2025] Boris

It’s fascinating to think that Boris almost called it quits a few years ago.  Since then they have shown a seriously revitalized interest in touring and revisiting their older albums.

This tour was the 20th anniversary of their classic Pink.  But the tour was titled Do You Remember Pink Days? because they threw in some other songs from the same year (they were quite prolific in 2005).

They also didn’t play the album front to back which was an interesting choice except that there are several different versions of the album so there is no real definitive track listing or anything else.  (You’d have to be crazy to try to be a Boris completist).

They had some fun merch and I debated buying one of Wata’s cute frog stuffed animals, but I didn’t.  And I still kind of regret it.

After the glory of Agriculture faded away, the stage was set–Atsuo’s gong brought close to the front (it was just the trio again for this tour).  I was right in front of Takeshi and his doubleneck bass/guitar and I was pretty far from Wata who seemed to be shrouded in fog for most of the show.  I tend to be on Takeshi’s side more often than not because I think the fanboys really like to be near Wata.  But as it turns out, Takeshi sings a lot of this album, so it was a good place to see all the action. (more…)

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Agriculture (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, November 2, 2025) [BORIS]

Posted in Agriculture, Boris, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on November 2, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 2, 2025] Agriculture

I had never heard of Agriculture, but I knew that Boris’ opening bands could be pretty intense.  And that was the case here.  They call their music ecstatic black metal and that description, while slightly vague, is really spot on.  There is screaming and growling, speed and heaviness but also a lot of brightness and beauty.

They came out with an absolute blast of noise–screaming  guitars slamming drums and after a minute, guttural growls.  It was intense and a bit overwhelming.

And then imagine when two minutes in, the song shifted to a simply strummed and quietly sung section (that still had super fast drumming).  The quiet music remained but the growling guttural vocals continued.  And then back to the melodic part again.

I was standing in front of singer Dan Meyer who had a big beard and did a full body stomp each time the song was about to kick in. (more…)

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The Beta Band (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 30, 2025)

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, The Beta Band, Union Transfer on October 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 6, 2025] The Beta Band

When The Beta Band’s 3 EPs came out, I was totally on board.  It was weird–electronic but folky, tape manipulation and craziness but also catchy melodies. And then it got a huge boost on the movie High Fidelity and I felt strangely vindicated.  I bought their second album too.

And then I pretty much forgot about them.  They put out another album in 2004 but I didn’t get it and then they broke up.

When this tour was announced–20 years(ish) since they broke up and 23 years since they played Philadelphia, I immediately grabbed a ticket, assuming it would sell out in a second.

When the date rolled around, I wasn’t entirely sure I still wanted to go.  I mean, how much did I really like that album?  But since there was no opening act and it promised to be a fun show, I went.  And I’m really glad I did.

When I arrived there was a hooded and face-covered DJ playing songs.  I don’t know who he was–maybe he was in the band?  And around 15 or 20 minutes later, the show opened with a short film they made (presumably a long time ago or maybe it was a recent film using old footage) and it was hilarious.  Very Terry Gilliam in its cheap-lookingness and absurdity but a really fun look at the guys doing silly things twenty some years ago.

And then the band came out.  The four original Betas were present and were wearing color coded jumpsuits: Robin Jones (yellow; drums), John Maclean (pink; keys), Richard Greentree (green I think; bass), Steve Mason (gray, I think; vocals and guitar).  Of course, unexpectedly to me, they switched instruments a bunch.  There was even a secondary drumset for Steve to play which said Jack’s Away on the drum head.  They were immediately fun and kind of silly but very serious about the music.  And they immediately did not play The Three EPs in order. (more…)

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