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Archive for the ‘Union Transfer’ Category

Mike D / Angelnumber 8 (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 19, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Angelnumber 8, Mike D., Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on October 19, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 19, 2026] Mike D / Angelnumber 8

When Mike D announced this album and tour I assumed it would sell out in a second.  But I don’t think it sold out at all.

I had listened to one song from the album and didn’t think that much of it, so I didn’t bother getting a ticket.  I’ve never seen the Beastie Boys, and decided I didn’t want to go this way.

But I may have been a bit harsh.   A review from MidBrow Philly says

the most glaring absence from Thank You — the intricate vocal interplay that defined the Beastie Boys — is evident. Despite this, the record’s fun, kitchen sink approach of arrangement and production takes your mind off of what’s not there. Ultimately, Thank You is a busy, fearless record that doesn’t contend with the legacy of Diamond’s old band as much as it adds to his own.

Diamond’s vocals throughout the set were processed through an unrelenting wall of distortion and delay, giving the songs a rough but otherworldly texture.

According to the setlist, he did a couple of Beastie Boys (Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun) songs and the set was about an hour.

Angelnumber 8 opened the show. There’s very little about him online. He has a few songs on Tidal and yet there’s an article about him that dates back to 2021–which talks about how it is to find out about him online.  Tidal shows a new EP this year with 5 songs each about 2 minutes long. The songs are kind of chill raps.  hard to imagine what he’s like live.

And here’s the Mike D show from UT thanks to Jim Powers.

 

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Plini / Night Verses / Portraits (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 17, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Night Verses, Philadelphia, PA, Plini, Portraits, Union Transfer on October 17, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 17, 2026] Plini / Night Verses / Portraits

I saw Plini open for Animals as Leaders a couple of years ago,  It was a night of technical guitar brilliance and impressive guitar showoffery.

Plini is Plini Roessler-Holgate, an Australian guitarist who has been recognized by all of the famous guitar gods [for instance: Steve Vai described him as “the future of exceptional guitar playing.”]  It was an amazing display of skill and speed.   Instrumental guitar songs full of incredible fingerwork.  The impressive thing was how smooth and easily he played his blistering solos–as if his fingers were longer than anybody else’s.

I completely didn’t register this show when it was announced and only realized that this was that guy a few days ago.  There was no way I was going to the show as I had a lot of other things going on, but I’m a little bummed I missed it.  Just a little.

I hadn’t heard of Night Verses (I don’t really follow the amazing-guitarists line of music anymore], but apparently they are one of those bands.  And their story is kind of interesting too

In 2017, the post-rock outfit Night Verses collectively decided it was time for a radical change. After five years and two critically acclaimed full-length albums, singer Douglas Robinson was going to leave the fold and the remaining members would forge ahead as a three-piece instrumental unit.

Having listened to them before and after, they made the right choice–they are so much better as an instrumental outfit.

Portraits are “a progressive instrumental (for the most part) band featuring guitarists Joshua De La Victoria & Joseph Anidjar.”  More technical mastery.  Rather less interesting than some, but still impressive.

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Show Me the Body / Lip Critic / Combust (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 14, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Combust, Lip Critic, Philadelphia, PA, Show Me the Body, Union Transfer on October 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 12, 2026] Show Me the Body / Lip Critic / Combust

Despite my enjoyment of noisy. abrasive bands, I am turned off by certain band names. Show Me the Body is one I don’t care for–I just assume with a band name like that your songs are all about murder.  But I don’t know anything about their music.

Turns out they are a post hardcore band whose music includes a banjo.  They play a kind of murky, punk-industrial vibe, mixes brimming with thorny and clangorous textures.  And the banjo is often distorted and wild.  And with lyrics like “Radical love compels me to fight” they clearly aren’t singing about committing murder anyhow.  It’s kind of interesting although I didn’t love it.

I was mostly interested in this show for Lip Critic. I saw Lip Critic last year and the blew me away.  I’d never want to listen to their records, but live, they were incredible.  Noisy and chaotic with two drummers and a guy who plays keys/samples/something.  And a singer who commands the room.  I definitely want to see them again, but not as the middle band between two others I didn’t know.

Combust is a pretty much straight up old school hardcore band (nice not to see the “post” before hardcore).  I’m glad to know there are still new hardcore bands coming up.

 

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Sugar: Love You Even Still 2026 Tour (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 13, 2026)

Posted in Bob Mould, J. Robbins, Jawbox, Philadelphia, PA, Sugar, Union Transfer on October 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 13, 2026] Sugar 

Sugar hasn’t toured in some 30 years.  For some reason I thought I had seen them back the first time, but I’d actually seen Bob Mould doing a solo tour (with a band) and they played Sugar songs.

I’ve seen Bob several times, both by himself and with a band, but I was really excited to see Sugar and, while it wasn’t THAT different from when he plays a solo show (with a band) it was all Sugar and there were several songs sung by David Barbe, the legend from Athens.  And Malcolm Travis (I had no idea his history) was on drums.

There was a MASSIVE banner that read SUGAR behind them and, aside from lighting changes, there wasn’t much more spectacle.  Because this (as with most things Bob does) was all about the music.

After an opening tape of The Beatles’ She Said She Said (which I joked was played at the loudest volume I’ve ever heard The Beatles played) the band came out.  Malcolm sat at the drums, David grabbed his bass and Bob headed to the guitar.  For the whole show, nobody changed instruments, they just played 23 songs in 90 minutes and left us exhausted and elated.

Bob was his usual antsy self, stomping around the stage like a boxer warming up. He was dripping sweat by the end of the first song.  They opened with the first three songs from Copper Blue.  I have seen Bob and I’ve seen him play a few Sugar songs in recent years, but as soon as David sang the backing vocals on The Act We Act, it was a real Sugar show.

I deliberately didn’t listen to any of the albums before the show for fear that I’d be upset if they didn’t play the song I wanted to hear and I was pretty thrilled by how much all of this music that I’d listened to so much came back to me.

Hearing the opening bass line of A Good Idea (a very Pixies like song) was wonderful and watching Bob play that rising guitar note was just as cool .  We all sang along to “that’s a good idea, she said she said.”  There was an older woman in front of my wife.  She was short with long gray hair and for the first couple of songs, she was completely consumed by the music–raising her arm (something I particularly hate) and dancing and moving and backing into my wife–she took up way too much space.  She settled down after the opening salvo of songs, but it was fascinating.  We were annoyed by her, but also appreciative of how into it she was.

I loved hearing Changes, and probably would have happily had them play the entire album straight through (but they had to save a few songs for the end).  They  sprinkled songs from File Under: Easy Listening throughout the set.  So up next came the David Barbe sung Company Man.  I didn’t recognize it at first–David’s mic seemed a little quiet and/or he was singing a little too quietly.  His backing vocals (which were usually higher) sounded great.  But he was a little muffled on lead.   I hadn’t thought of Company Man in a long time and it was cool to hear it–Bob’s screams at the end gave it even more punch. (more…)

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J. Robbins (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 13, 2026) [SUGAR]

Posted in Bob Mould, J. Robbins, Jawbox, Lungfish, Philadelphia, PA, Sugar, Union Transfer on October 13, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 13, 2026] J. Robbins

I could have seen J. Robbins open for Bob Mould last year.  But I wound up not going to that show.  I have one Jawbox album but I didn’t really remember all that much about it.  So I wasn’t that excited for this solo show.  In the past he has played with backing musicians, but for this show it was just him and his acoustic guitar.

And it was fantastic.

He was great right from the start.  He asked who was there the night before (“Me too!”).  He played a slightly different set for us than for night 1 saying that having the two nights together meant that he could play songs he didn’t usually get to play.

He started playing and the sound of his guitar was great–loud but clear.  And his voice was also clear–powerful and unflinching.  And the words were wonderful.  Not just the topic, but the way with words.  I loved the lyric Shield from me the words I struggle to find.

He played one Jawbox song (I didn’t know it but the crowd went nuts for it).

The first five songs were in an interesting open tuning.  Interesting enough that a nerdy guy behind me asked what tuning he was using (it was a very quiet room for him).  He demurred and just said an unusual one.

He switched tuning for the next few songs.  The first was a Burning Airlines song.  That’s a band I’d never heard of and (obviously) didn’t know he was in.  After one more song he introduced a song saying it was his favorite song in the world by a weirdo Baltimore band that he loved called Lungfish.  I’d never heard of them either.

The final two songs were just as good as the rest.  I see he typically opens with Anodyne.  And after Abandoned Mansion, he thanked us and left.

A solid 30 minutes of great acoustic guitar playing.  He was compelling and his voice sounded fantastic.  I’m now going back to see what else I’ve missed by him.

  1. (Unknown)
    (“nothing behind. Shield from me the words I struggle to find”)
  2. Exquisite Corpse ♣
  3. Winter Sun §
  4. Soldier On ⊗
  5. Static (Jawbox song)
  6. Outside the Aviary (Burning Airlines song)
  7. Old Soul ♣
  8. Love Is Love (Lungfish cover)
  9. Anodyne ⊗
  10. Abandoned Mansions ⊗


♣ Basilisk (2024)
⊗ Un-becoming (2019)
§ single (2019)

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Sugar: Love You Even Still 2026 Tour / J. Robbins (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 12, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Bob Mould, J. Robbins, Jawbox, Philadelphia, PA, Sugar, Union Transfer on October 12, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 12, 2026] Sugar / J. Robbins

Sugar hasn’t toured in some 30 years.  For some reason I thought I had seen them back the first time, but I’d actually see Bob Mould doing a solo tour (with a band) and they played Sugar songs.

Sugar is Bob’s poppiest band and every song is a delight.  I was so excited when they announced a reunion tour.  The first few dates were NYC only and I considered going.  But it seemed likely they’d add more dates and here they were with two nights at Union Transfer.  I deliberately got night two, so I didn’t go to this first night.

But I’m super psyched for tomorrow.

I have one album from Jawbox, their last.  J. Robbins was the singer and main dude behind the band.  I’m not sure what got me to buy it (that was back in 1996 after all).  I may have been the Tori Amos cover.  They were a post-hardcore band before that was a thing.  I probably would like it now if I listened to it.  Maybe I’ll give it a listen before the show (but I see he’s not playing any songs from it so…)

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Daði Freyr: Too Much Not Enough Tour (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 9, 2026)

Posted in Atomic Kitten, BRÍET, Daði Freyr, Iceland, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on October 9, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 9, 2026] Daði Freyr 

Daði Freyr has played Philadelphia 3 times and I’ve seen them all.  My wife and I enjoyed him enough last time, that I knew I’d have to grab tickets for this tour as well.

Once again, I felt a little bad for not knowing all of the words to his songs because EVERYBODY else seemed to know every word.  But that’s ok, because we were there for the undeniable Eurodance that Daði creates

The previous two times, he had other musicians with him (Ylva Øyen on drums and keys and Pétur Karl on guitars and synth), but this time it was just him.  He had two banks of keys.  Behind him was a guitar and a bass.  Mostly he triggered the songs on his keyboards and he sang along.  He played solos on the keys and manipulated the sounds from time to time.

The tech was much more sophisticated this time.  There were four panels in the back which were connected by horizontal lights.

The theme of this show was Planet Daði.  A planet that exists where everyone is Daði.  Then a spaceship landed and out came a Daði.  And soon they were interbreeding (hilarious pictures of hands with eyes flying around or looking like giraffes).  The screens were filled with videos for each song–mostly Daði in the same white robe that he wore on stage–see it is a cult!–singing along or playing instruments.

And then he came out on stage in that white robe and started singing Somebody Else Now, not even a new song!  The crowd was. in the lyrics of P.E.R.F.E.C.T., “Fabulous, Wonderful, Super nice, Magical, Excellent, Fantastic, Such a snack.”  They sang and danced and responded to everything Daði did. (more…)

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Russian Circles / Pelican (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 4, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Pelican, Philadelphia, PA, Russian Circles, Union Transfer on October 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 4, 2026] Russian Circles / Pelican

Russian Circles played Union Transfer last year and I didn’t know anything about it.  I’d never heard of them until this show and I only investigated because of Pelican who I like.   They are a three piece instrumental band from Chicago.  They are very heavy and not very math rock influenced.  But their instrumentals convey a lot of intensity.

Pelican is an American post-metal band also from Chicago known for their heavy, atmospheric and almost entirely instrumental style.

I would have liked to check this out but I had tickets for another show this evening already.  So many shows in October.

I’d been vaguely aware of Pelican for a while, and when this show was announced, I listened to a bunch more and was really excited to see them.  When they came to town last year I really wanted to see them, but the show was the same night as another commitment.  I was excited to see them coming back, but once again, the timing was terrible.

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Public Image Limited (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 2, 2026)

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Plague Vendor, Public Image Ltd, Union Transfer on October 3, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 2, 2026] Plague Vendor

I was torn about this show from the get go.  John Lydon has (possibly) become a right wing stooge like Morrissey (there are those who say he is mocking the MAGA camp, who the hell knows).  I didn’t really want to give him any money (although I did feel bad about his wife dying and all that).

And yet, I’ve loved most of PiL’s output (at least up through 9) and have never seen them live.  Reviews suggested that on their last tour, at least, they were still great live and so I grabbed a ticket.  There were many other shows that night that I was interested in.  Indeed, we almost went to Karina Rykman at the last minute.  And, boy oh boy do I wish that we had.

Public Image Limited was the worst show I have ever been to.

I’ve been reading other reviews of this tour in which people were blown away by this show and I can’t tell if they are all crazy or if John was just really off tonight.  And yet, people around me seemed to really enjoy it as well.  I’m not sure what rubbed me the wring way so badly.

Now, I know all about John and his antics–his utter disdain for the audience, the “did you ever get the feeling you’ve been swindled,” everything.  I was expecting a performative asshole.  I was actually worried that he might get in my face and give me shit for something I was or wasn’t doing.  But instead, what I got was an old fat guy who didn’t even sound like Lydon.  Lydon has the most distinctive (borderline irritating) high pitched voices in music.  And yet, when he sang (if you can call it that) his voice was deep and gravelly.  It’s hard to imagine that his voice can’t get high pitched and whiny anymore, but maybe he can’t?  And yet it’s not like singing where you have to hit the high notes, this is just a high whiny sound.  Can you really lose that ability? (more…)

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Plague Vendor (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 2, 2026) [PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Plague Vendor, Public Image Ltd, Union Transfer on October 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 2, 2026] Plague Vendor

I was torn about this show from the get go (see main post) and when I listened to Plague Vendor briefly, they were interesting but not compelling.  So I wasn’t that excited when they came out on stage.

Three guys came out and they started playing an awesome, simple bass and guitar riff.  The bass and guitars sounds fantastic and I was instantly hooked.  Their outfits (the bassist was wearing like a Sears cowboy outfit from the 70s, including a glittering belt buckle that said Bill.)  The guitarist had a fringe of hair that fell in his face and I couldn’t see him at all.

After a minute or so of this riffage, a guy came out on stage in black pants, a black muscle shirt and lots of tattoos.  His hair was soaking wet and he was an absolutely lunatic.  He started singing the first song fairly calmly and then the chorus exploded and his voice exploded too.  It was fascinating.

During the instrumental parts, he lined up the bottles of water (one of which he dumped all over his head midway through the show).  He seemed unhappy with the microphone stand and at one point he threw it into the photographer pit and then later climbed down to get it.  He complained about the lights twice saying how hot it was up there.  He even said I don’t know where the hell I am and I’m sure you don’t either, so let’s just play music.

I didn’t really like him, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of him.  And it’s a good thing I didn’t, because suddenly, he was standing on the barrier singing right at us.  He was holding on the a fan’s hand (and head at one point) just wobbling and singing.  (more…)

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