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Archive for the ‘Union Transfer’ Category

Boot & Saddle R.I.P. (2020)

Posted in Boot & Saddle, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on November 10, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[CLOSED: November 11, 2020] Boot & Saddle

COVID-19 has officially closed one of my favorite clubs of all time.  I hoped beyond all reason that all of my favorite clubs could weather this storm.  And hope in the back of my mind that they are able to resurrect it somehow if this Pfizer vaccine comes to fruition.

The official word:

After seven years and 1,500+ shows, we are now forced to close Boot & Saddle.

With Covid-19 cases back on the rise in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and around the country, the thought of having 200 people standing shoulder-to-shoulder in our small indoor bar early next year has faded. After eight months without a show, and without a clear reopening date in sight, we no longer have the luxury of paying the bills and expenses for two closed venues. And so, we have made the difficult decision to close Boot & Saddle for good. We hope that this decision will assure that our sister venue, Union Transfer, can survive well into 2021.

We sincerely appreciate all the support over the years. From everyone who saw a show, had a drink, or played on our stage. We are proud of having provided a stage on which local Philadelphia artists can develop and grow alongside national and international touring acts.

It has been a fun and enjoyable experience from start to finish: transforming an old country & western bar, which was shuttered for eighteen years, into a bustling, live music venue with its iconic neon sign lighting up Broad Street. Boot & Saddle was where the likes of Lizzo and Sam Smith made their Philadelphia debuts. It is also where legendary icons like Thurston Moore and Psychic TV performed for intimate crowds. Where gigantic local bands like The War on Drugs, Circa Survive, and The Menzingers played unforgettable, secret shows. We like to think that over the last few years we helped contribute to the best music scene in the United States.

None of this would have been possible without all the hard work of our entire staff, past and present, especially Gina, Andy, and both Jeffs, who did an incredible job in making South Philadelphia’s first music venue in 30+ years into an incredible success.

In memoriam, we will be creating an R.I.P. Boot & Saddle Benefit T-shirt, if you feel inclined to support the venue one last time. Portions of the proceeds will go towards continuing to pay our full time staff’s health care during the pandemic, as well as keeping the lights on at Union Transfer (for which we very much intend to not have to make an R.I.P. Union Transfer Benefit T-shirt). Check our social media channels in the coming days for that!

We would like to take this final opportunity to remind everyone that local independent venues in our city and across the country are in grave danger. Live Music Venues were the first businesses to close and they will be the last to re-open. As other restaurants, bars and stadiums begin to re-open, our doors remain shut. We cannot sell you a contactless takeout or curbside delivery concert. Without some form of assistance, our local music scene right here in Philly, along with countless others across the country, may collapse. We will keep our socials active, so that we can from time to time pass along news and actions that you can take, to help ensure that the remaining venues in Philly stay open.

For the next week, we will keep the neon lights on at Broad Street to remind everyone of what was. Grab a pic while you can and tag us.

Thank you for the memories, and we hope to see you at Union Transfer.

– xo B&S

Here’s the shows I’ve seen there [with many more planned for 2020/2021, sigh]

11/7/2016 Dilly Dally
11/7/2016 Marge
11/7/2016 Palm
12/4/2016 Jason Anderson
12/4/2016 Strand of Oaks Winter Classic II
5/10/2017 Family Crest
5/10/2017 Oh Bree
9/28/2017 Torres
9/28/2017 Aphra
3/8/2018  Jessica Lea Mayfield
3/8/2018 Mal Blum and the Blums
3/12/2018 Active Bird Community
3/12/2018 We Were Promised Jetpacks
5/9/2018 Sloan
7/26/2018 Japandroids
7/26/2018 Mannequin Pussy
12/7/2018 Strand of Oaks Winter Classic IV
12/7/2018 Carl Broemel
12/7/2018 Joe Pug
2/1/2019 claud
2/1/2019 SOAK.
4/15/2019 Big Heet
4/15/2019 Gurr
4/15/2019 Priests
5/10/2019 Kevin Devine
5/10/2019 John K. Samson
5/10/2019 Shannon Moser
6/5/2019 Ages and Ages
11/18/2019 Blushing
11/18/2019 Lovelorn
11/18/2019 Ringo Deathstarr
12/12/2019 Strand of Oaks Winter Classic V
12/12/2019  Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner
2/7/2020 Garcia Peoples
2/7/2020 Suffacox Mach 2
2/21/2020 Sloan: Navy Blues tour

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Diet Cig / Sad13 / Thin Lips (First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA, November 4, 2020) [rescheduled date–POSTPONED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Diet Cig, First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA, Philly Music Fest, Postponed, Quarantine, Sad13, Speedy Ortiz, Thin Lips, Union Transfer on November 4, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: November 4, 2020] Diet Cig / Sad13 / Thin Lips [rescheduled from May 14 Union Transfer]

indexI was really bummed when this show was postponed.  I was even more bummed when it was moved to the Church. I really liked the venue when we first arrived, but by the end, I was hot and sweaty and crowded and worn out.

Then back in September, the venue sent out this message

We that brief note of optimism, now for the bad news: The rescheduled show w/ Diet Cig has now been officially “canceled”. When we rescheduled this show a few months back, we thought we would be in a much different place than where we are currently.

Exactly NOT what I wanted to experience in a club.  So this postponed makes sense to me.  Maybe next time they’ll move them back to a bigger venue.

I have wanted to see Diet Cig ever since I saw them on a Tiny Desk Concert–they are a bundle of energy and the duo play super catchy pop punk.  I wanted to see them before they lost their energy.

I missed them the first time they came around and last time around they played at the First Unitarian Church, a venue I dislike.  So when they announced this show at Union Transfer I was so excited.  This cancellation was a major bummer for me.

Especially since now that they rescheduled it is apparently being moved to the Church again (does this mean sales are really poor?)

Sad13 is the solo moniker of Sadie Dupuis the singer of Speedy Ortiz.  They were wonderful live (and I was right in front of Sadie to watch her terrific guitar work).  I don’t really know much about the Sad13 songs but I assume they will be great if she is behind them.

I saw Thin Lips at the Philly Music Fest and they were absolutely fantastic.  I loved them and was looking forward to seeing them again.  They play catchy pop punk with pointed lyrics.  Outstanding.

So, I sure hope all three can come around for the postponed date (and I hope it sells better and has to get moved out of the Church into a bigger venue).

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Einstürzende Neubauten: The Year of the Rat Tour (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 31, 2020) [CANCELLED]

Posted in 2manydjs, Cancelled, Coronavirus, Einstürzende Neubauten, Philadelphia, PA, Quarantine, Union Transfer on October 31, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: October 31, 2020] Einstürzende Neubauten

indexEinstürzende Neubauten are infamous–they have been making noise (their name means collapsing new buildings) for forty years.

It never even occurred to me that you might be able to see them live.  Apparently,

The last time the Berlin-based band attempted a tour across the Atlantic was back in 2010.

Unfortunately, Blixa Bargeld and Co experienced heavy losses when their ten date 30th-anniversary tour of the US was held up by bureaucratic red tape.

Neubauten had two cancel the tour just two days before the first gig at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, at the time stating:

“While the US Department of Homeland Security did issue approvals for the band’s visas, it was not done in time to secure the appointments at the overseas embassies and consulates that represent the necessary final step in the process.”

Their earliest music was largely noise and mechanical sounds. They have morphed over the years (Blixa Bargeld played with Nick Cave for many years).

What began in 1980 in the Berlin Wall City in impetuous noise constructions went through countless metamorphoses and can still be called the avant-garde today. To avoid the impressive work outstripping the band, Blixa Bargeld, NU Unruh, Alexander Hacke, Jochen Arbeit and Rudolf Moser always set new artistic goals.

I wonder who was going to open for them.

I would really enjoy seeing them live. However, I would never be going to a show on Halloween night–I have kids after all.

It’s a shame that this whole tour was cancelled–I would imagine they would never try coming back to the States. But if they do, I will certainly try to get there.

eineilish

 

 

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Soulwax (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 8, 2020) [rescheduled date–CANCELLED]

Posted in 2manydjs, Cancelled, Coronavirus, Philadelphia, PA, Quarantine, Soulwax, Union Transfer on October 8, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: October 8, 2020] Soulwax [rescheduled from February 29]

indexAfter having this concert postponed for technical reasons back in February, I was quite interested in seeing it in seeing the rescheduled production.  So I’m pretty bummed that the whole tour has been cancelled.

I hope they decide to try again when it’s safe.

I haven’t thought about the Belgian band Soulwax in about 15 years.  I bought their 1998 album Much Against Everyone’s Advice and then really enjoyed brothers David and Stephen Dewaele’s side project 2ManyDJs (whose release As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2) was an amazing mash-up album).

I really had no idea they were still making muisic (and apparently putting on incredible shows).

BrooklynVegan said

If you’re never seen Soulwax live, David and Stephen Dewaele treat a live band show like a DJ set, with songs flowing into one another, and builds and drops. (Their 2006 show at long-gone Brooklyn club Studio B was one of the best shows I saw that decade.) You can get a feel for what to expect on their 2017 album, From Deewee which is a seamless one-hour set they recorded live in their Deewee studio in one take.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to go to this show, but then the show was inexplicably postponed.

As Brooklyn vegan put it

Dammit! Soulwax were to have started their first U.S. tour in forever beginning in February but they’ve just announced that it’s been postponed. It’s not visa issues, for once, but production design for the group’s new stage set:

We are always committed to delivering the best show we can and have designed a brand new set up which sadly just won’t be ready in time for March. We are working on new dates – please look out for an announcement very soon.⁣

We would like to thank everyone who bought tickets for these shows and look forward to seeing everyone later this year.

 

soulwax

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Waxahatchee / OHMME (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 5, 2020) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Cancelled, Coronavirus, Jeff Tweedy, OHMME, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Union Transfer, Waxahatchee on October 5, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: October 5, 2020] Waxahatchee / OHMME [rescheduled from April 14; moved to May 16, 2021]

indexI’ve seen Waxahatchee twice–once with a full band and once solo.  I like her, although I wasn’t sure I wanted to see her again.  She has a new album out and I’ve heard it’s much more mellow than her last couple, so that doesn’t really appeal to me.

Since then, though I have heard a few songs and really enjoyed them.  I would definitely consider going to this show now.

However, Ohmme is phenomenal live.  I saw them open for Jeff Tweedy and I have wanted to see them again.  I’d prefer a headlining show (but I seem to keep missing out on those).  However, this would have been a solid double bill.

wxa

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Ty Segall and the Freedom Band (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 2, 2020)–[POSTPONED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Fuzz, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Ty Segall, Ty Segall and the Freedom Band, Underground Arts, Union Transfer on October 2, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: October 2, 2020] Ty Segall and the Freedom Band [moved to August 19, 2021]

indexTy Segall is one of the more prolific artists out today.  He’s in about a dozen bands, and he releases a solo album (or two or three) a year.  He plays a garagey rock that has lots of energy and fuzz.

I can’t say I like all of music mostly because I haven’t even heard most of it. But everything that I have heard I’ve enjoyed.  And every live videos I’ve seen of him makes me think that his live show is not to be missed.

I was hoping to see him playing with his band Fuzz also this year, but that was postponed as well.  It’s interesting that Fuzz was going to play at the tiny Underground Arts while Ty and his Freedom Band were going to play at the much larger Union Transfer.

I hope both shows go on as planned–it would be a fun comparison.

tysegall

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Begum Rokeya–“Sultana’s Dream” (1905) [Projections Box] (2020)

Posted in Ann VanderMeer, Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Begum Rokeya, Black Lives Matter, BUMPER, Coronavirus, Crying, Hindus, Hingston & Olsen, India, Japanese Breakfast, Kenny Rogers, Muslims, Octavia Butler, Philadelphia, PA, Philly Music Fest, Politicians, Projections Box, Quarantine, Rebecca Romney, Religion, Sci-fi, Science, Sexism, Tears for Fears, The Districts, The Future, The Indian Ladies Journal, The Used, Union Transfer, Utopia on September 28, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JAPANESE BREAKFAST-Live at Philly Music Fest @Ardmore Music Hall, Philadelphia PA, September 25, 2020).

I saw Japanese Breakfast back in 2018 at Union Transfer.  It was a really fun show.  Since Michelle Zauner is from Philly she really made the show personal. 

During the introduction to her set for Philly Music Fest, the announcer said that he’d been trying to get Japanese Breakfast to play this festival since it began.  So one good thing about the pandemic was that the band was still in Philly and not world touring.

We got to watch the band come out from back stage, take up their instruments and start “Diving Woman.”  This song has a wonderful, memorable bass line and a jamming guitar solo from her lead guitarist.

For this show she had the addition of Molly on violin.  Molly added so much to the upbeat and poppy “In Heaven.”

Michelle put down the guitar for “The Woman That Loves You,” a shorter song that was followed by the funkier “Road Head.”  This song is really catchy and has a very interesting slide sound from the bass.

It was funny to see her not playing the guitar because usually when she just had the microphone, she would interact with the crowd some.  But she only had the video monitor to look at.  Nevertheless, after the song she said “it feels great to feel like you have a purpose again.”

They played a new song–the first time the band played it together–called  “Kokomo Indiana” which is from the perspective of a love-lorn 17 year-old boy whose girlfriend moved to Australia for a summer exchange program.  It was a slower song with a slide guitar melody.

Michelle returned to the guitar for “Boyish” the catchy song from her old band Little Big League, with the chorus

I can’t get you off my mind
I can’t get you off in general
so here we are we’re just two losers
I want you and you want something more beautiful

Up next was “The Body is a Blade” with some slinky guitar lines.  After the song, someone triggered a sample of a crowd cheering, which was fun to hear and made Michele laugh.

Michelle put the guitar down again for “Essentially,” with a dynamite bass line that runs through the song.

Then she sat at the keyboard for the next song.  A new one called “Tactic.”  This is the first time she’s sat at the keyboard, “I feel very professional.” Her guitarist also played keys for this slow song.

She commented that it was lovely to see The Districts play–they are rehearsal space buddies and she felt it was surreal hearing them practice for the same show that her band was.

Then it as time for an old classic, the bouncy “Heft,” with a really nifty guitar line after the chorus.

During the quarantine, Michelle made a quarantine music project with Ryan from Crying.  The band is called BUMPER, and they released an EP called Pop Songs 2020.  She did a countrified version of the song “Ballad O” which was a look at both perspectives from Kenny Roger’s “Don’t Take Your Love To Town.”  Peter plays the slide guitar and the drummer sings the male parts.

She announced that her bass player Devon was going to get married (cue the fake cheers from the sampler) and so she was going to play a sing about marriage, “Til Death.”  This is the first song I’d heard from Japanese Breakfast many years ago and it always sounds great live.  The opening verse feels even more poignant today:

all our celebrities keep dying
while the cruel men continue to win

Then came a surprise cover: Tears for Fears’ “Head Over Heels.”  Musically it sounded spot on and I enjoyed her vocal take on it–not unusual or weird, just very differed with her voice instead of Roland Orzabal’s.  Then for the “da da da da” part at the end, three of The Districts came out (with masks on) to sing into one of the microphones.  It was a wonderful moment of live spontaneity (or not, but still) that is what makes live shows so much fun.

They followed that with a ripping version of “Everybody Wants to Love You.”  The drummer sang the backing vocals on this part to good effect.

Michelle took a moment before the last song to use her platform and say that of course “Black Lives Matter.  Not just saying it, it means marching and fighting.  Please vote.  We must work to defund the police and invest in our communities.”

That’s another thing I’d missed about live shows–bonding over good causes.

They ended with a “goofy” cover of a “Taste of Ink” by The Used.   I don’t know the song or the band, but it was a jangly bouncing song and the most rocking song of the night.

And then it was over.   While it was nice not having to drive an hour to get home, I still would have preferred to be there (although maybe not right now).

Diving Woman [§]
In Heaven [¶]
The Woman That Loves You [¶]
Road Head [§]
Kokomo, Indiana [new]
Boyish [Little Big League song]
The Body is a Blade [§]
Essentially [newish]
Tactic [new]
Heft [¶]
Ballad 0 [BUMPER song]
Til Death [§]
Head Over Heels [Tears for Fears cover]
Everybody Wants to Love You [¶]
Taste of Ink [The Used cover]

[§] Soft Sounds from Another Planet (2017)
[¶] Psychopomp (2016)

[READ: September 24, 2020] “Sultana’s Dream”

During the COVID Quarantine, venerable publisher Hingston & Olsen created, under the editorship of Rebecca Romney, a gorgeous box of 12 stories.  It has a die-cut opening to allow the top book’s central image to show through (each book’s center is different).  You can get a copy here.

This is a collection of science fiction stories written from 1836 to 1998.  Each story imagines the future–some further into the future than others.

As it says on the back of the box

Their future.  Our present.  From social reforms to climate change, video chat to the new face of fascism, Projections is a collection of 12 sci-fi stories that anticipated life in the present day.

About this story, Romney writes

I first learned about Muslim Bengalese feminist and writer Begum Rokeya through a massive landmark anthology: Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s The Big Book of Science Fiction published in 2016. …  The story was first published in The Indian Ladies Journal in 1905…. She simply switches the roles of men and women in her Muslim society.  This may seem like a simple trick, but … writers of science fiction have long known that sometimes a switch on perspective is all it takes to illuminate truths that are otherwise obscure.

This story is pretty simple and straightforward.  A woman, Sultana, falls asleep.  She dreams (or is it real?) that a woman named Sister Sara has come to walk her through the streets of Darjeeling. (more…)

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Edward A. Johnson–Light Ahead for the Negro (an excerpt) (1904) [Projections Box] (2020)

Posted in Afrofuturism, Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Coronavirus, Edward Bellamy, Hingston & Olsen, Octavia Butler, Philadelphia, PA, Philly Music Fest, Politicians, Projections Box, Quarantine, Racism, Rebecca Romney, Sci-fi, Sexism, The Districts, The Future, Union Transfer, Utopia on September 27, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE DISTRICTS-Live at Philly Music Fest @Ardmore Music Hall, Philadelphia PA, September 25, 2020).

I was supposed to see The Districts play at Union Transfer on March 12.  COVID-19 had just found its way into New Jersey and Pennsylvania and I was being very cautious so I decided to skip the show.  It was a safe decision, but one that I now regret as it would have been a pretty great final show of the year.

Last year I went to one night of the Philly Music Fest and it was terrific.  This year, the Philly Music Fest was all virtual.  The live shows were played at Ardmore Music Hall and there were some prerecorded shows as well.

If this were a show I could have attended (apparently, some “golden tickets” were given out to a few people, but I have no idea how), the two live bands are exactly who I would have wanted to see.  The Districts opened for Japanese Breakfast.  And in the live stream, Arnetta Johnson & Sunny played before The Districts and Zeek Burse played in between them.

So here was my chance to see The Districts playing live.  I’m actually not sure if I would have gone had I gotten a golden ticket (I have read that 25 people were in the place including the band).  When they played Union Transfer, they played 26 songs in what must have been quite a long show.  For this show, they only had about 45 minutes.  So they played 10 songs from their last two albums and a new song.

They opened with “My Only Ghost,” which opens the new album.  It’s a quiet song with a nifty bassline and a lot of atmospheric keys.  It’s an unusual song for them, with a lot of gentle falsetto singer.  But it works as a good opener.

Up next was “Nighttime Girls,” a 2018 single that I didn’t know.  It rocks with echoing whammy bar guitar chords.  The band really started having fun with this song.  When the song ended a slow drum beat thumped as they prepped for the next song.  They thanked everyone for coming out and talked about how excited they were to play live again.  a

Then they launched into “Fat Kiddo” from Popular Manipulations.

The camera came up behind them to show that there was a video monitor in front of them where they could see the people watching online.  After shouting out to a few people, they started the ripping “Sidecar” with the really fun “hoo hoo hoo” singalong part.

After some more chatting with more of the “zoomers” and acknowledging the few people in the audience whom they cannot see, they play the wonderful new “Hey Jo.”  It was great to hear this live.

As the band tuned up there were samples of tweeting birds and a slow rumble of bass and drums.  Singer Rob Grote says, “someone’s putting on quite the show on zoom,” before jumping into a great sounding “If Before I Wake.”  The band sounds really tight as they jump between the quiet verses and the loud ones.

Then one of them looks at the screen and says “hey that’s my apartment!  that’s my girlfriend.”  She says “you guys are great. Love you!” It’s nice they unmuted her for that.  They play the moody “And the Horses All Go Swimming” (which they did not play at UT) and there’s some wild soloing at the end.  I think the band would have been bouncing around if there was an audience, but they are pretty animated.

Up next was the slow whistling opening of “4th of July.”  It was followed by the faster “Salt” complete with gang vocals during the chorus.

The set was nearing the end and they played their fantastic new song “Cheap Regrets.”  This is one of my favorite songs of the year.  I love that it’s totally retro sounding but not retro at all.  It’s got a great bassline and keys.  They rocked this out to a roaring ending.

They ended the show with a new song that is quiet and pretty with a flute-like keyboard and mellow guitar.  There’s some great changes in the song and some really cool guitar parts.  It might be called “Do It Over.”

And that was it.  Was it as good as being at a live show?  Not really.  But it was still petty great seeing them play live and have a good time.

My Only Ghost [¥]
Nighttime Girls [single]
Fat Kiddo [¶]
Sidecar [¥]
Hey Jo [¥]
If Before I Wake [¶]
And the Horses All Go Swimming [¥]
4th of July [¥]
Salt [¶]
Cheap Regrets [¥]
Do It Over [new]

¥ = You Know I’m Not Going Anywhere (2020)
¶ Popular Manipulations (2017)

[READ: September 24, 2020] Light Ahead for the Negro (an excerpt)

During the COVID Quarantine, venerable publisher Hingston & Olsen created, under the editorship of Rebecca Romney, a gorgeous box of 12 stories.  It has a die-cut opening to allow the top book’s central image to show through (each book’s center is different).  You can get a copy here.

This is a collection of science fiction stories written from 1836 to 1998.  Each story imagines the future–some further into the future than others.

As it says on the back of the box

Their future.  Our present.  From social reforms to climate change, video chat to the new face of fascism, Projections is a collection of 12 sci-fi stories that anticipated life in the present day.

About this story, Romney writes that this is an early example of Afrofuturism and of utopianism.  It follows in the tradition of Edward Bellamy’s 1888 Looking Backward in imagining a future society that has changed for the better due to a vastly different political climate.  As with most such vision, Johnson’s world manages to be both too optimistic and too pessimistic.

In his 2006, news outlets no longer produce racist content, yet there are only 11,000 Bloack doctors…. The main characters’ conversations about “now and then” are in reality, a survey of cutting edge political thought on issues of major concern to Black citizens of 1904: voting disenfranchisement, lynchings, reconstruction, employment, poverty, education and more.

Johnson was a practicing attorney when he wrote this and he later became the first African American to be elected to the New York State legislature in 1917.

The book opens in 1906 with the narrator flying in a dirigible to the South.  He is planing to help the Negroes in the South adjust to their new citizenship.  But the dirigible hits bad weather and he is lifted up into the atmosphere only to come back to earth in the year 2006.  (more…)

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Best Coast / Mannequin Pussy (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, September 16, 2020) [rescheduled date–CANCELLED]

Posted in Best Coast, Cancelled, Coronavirus, Mannequin Pussy, Philadelphia, PA, Quarantine, Union Transfer on September 16, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: September 16, 2020] Best Coast / Mannequin Pussy [rescheduled from March 20]

indexThis show was rescheduled from March 20.

Best Coast was one of the first bands whose show/tour was postponed by the coronavirus.  The band quickly rescheduled their March show for September, which was a relief and an indication that everyone thought things would be back to normal by the fall.

Then on May 12, I was sent this update:

Some sad news to share, the re-scheduled September 16th show w/ BEST COAST has now been outright canceled.

Right now our business, like so many others in the live music industry, is feeling the effects of this shutdown. It’s been eight weeks since we had a show, and our doors will likely be closed for at least a few more months. Although our shows have been temporarily paused, the hard work of our staff, operating costs, and continued expenses have not.

As of May 12, there’s no explanation for why (I’m sure that will be on their site).  Is it just preemptive cancellation or a way for people to get refunds rather than holding on to tickets?  Who knows.

I do hope that concerts will resume by September, but I guess it’s not looking to good for that.

best coast

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They Might Be Giants: 30th Anniversary Flood Show (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, September 8, 2020)–[rescheduled date–POSTPONED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, They Might Be Giants, Union Transfer on September 8, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: September 8, 2020] They Might Be Giants [rescheduled from March 13; moved to April 15, 2021]

indexThis was one of the first shows that was postponed because of the coronavirus.  The new date was scheduled very quickly and, as it turns out, too soon.

Now, like most shows, it is being pushed back about a year from its original date.  Boy I hope it holds out.

I am still very much looking forward to it.  Don’t give up on us yet, Johns!

March was going to be a very busy concert month for me.  This was to be the first of four shows in five nights.  This show was going to be for me and S.–a night of They Might Be Giants performing Flood!

It turned out to be the first of dozens of shows cancelled or postponed by the coronavirus.

Obviously, my main concern is for everyone’s safety, including the bands!

My selfish concern though is that once the shows are rescheduled that all of these shows will be scheduled on the same day!

Let’s hope the rescheduled dates also do some social distancing.

tmbg

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