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Archive for the ‘Union Transfer’ Category

Dinosaur Jr. (Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, November 26, 2016)

Posted in Dinosaur Jr., J. Mascis, Jane's Addiction, Lou Barlow, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on November 26, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 26, 2016] Dinosaur Jr.

2016-11-26-22-33-27I saw Dinosaur Jr. open up for Jane’s Addiction this summer.  I enjoyed their set (in fact, I was really going mostly to see them although I did like Jane’s as well).  But after it was over, I realized that I didn’t want to see them as an opening act. I needed a full show.

So even though it had been just a few months, when I saw that they were doing a headlining tour, I decided to check them out again.  And I’m really glad I did.  They played twice as many songs and were on more than twice as long.

The guys were able to stretch their songs out more and to pick from a really diverse set of songs.  2016-11-26-23-15-04Of course, being the headliners didn’t mean anything fancy–their stage set up (amps and more amps) was exactly the same as this summer.  And it’s possible that J. Mascis talked even less.  They were there simply to rock.

2016-11-26-22-59-14The only time that bassist Lou Barlow spoke was to berate people for complaining that they couldn’t hear the vocals.  The same thing happened at the summer show as well.  Barlow seemed pretty angry as he told us that we were standing in front of the guitar amps and that the vocals were coming through the house speakers.  So if we wanted to hear the vocals we needed to move to the back of the club.  “It’s Fucking Physics!”  I didn’t move back (the show was pretty crowded and I had a good spot), but I was able to hear the vocals much better than at the Summer Stage show.  I had planned that I would stand nearer the back to see if it was true, but I had a hard time passing up the chance to be so close. (more…)

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Easy Action (Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, November 26, 2016) [DINOSAUR JR.]

Posted in Dinosaur Jr., Easy Action, Laughing Hyenas, Negative Approach, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on November 26, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 26, 2016] Easy Action

2016-11-26-20-44-16I had never heard of Easy Action when I saw that they were opening for Dinosaur Jr.  When I looked them up online I was taken to a Swedish glam metal band.  I was fairly surprised.

Then somehow I figured out it wasn’t that Easy Action.  Rather, this Easy Action is the creation of singer John Brannon.  Brannon is apparently notorious (or at least well-known), although I had never heard of him. He was in the punk band Negative Approach who I had heard of but didn’t know (they only released an Ep and an album).  And then later Laughing Hyenas who I also don’t know.  He formed Easy Action in 2001 and they released a second album in 2005.  And not much since then.

During the show, Brannon said it had been a couple of years since they’d played together and he thanked J. for getting them all back on stage.

About the only thing that Easy Action had in common with Dinosaur Jr. was that they were loud.  I arrived a few minutes into their set and I could hear them outside the building.  When I walked in the room, it was so loud that I had to stuff the earplugs in my ears as I ran to the bathroom. (more…)

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Shellac (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 25, 2016)

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Shellac, Union Transfer on October 26, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 26, 2016] Shellac

2016-10-25-22-32-01My friend Andrew asked me if I wanted to go to see Shellac.  They were a band I liked in the 1990s and had kind of forgotten about, although I did get and enjoy their album from last year, Dude Incredible.  And I thought that they would be a fun band to see live.

Shellac is known as Steve Albini’s band.  Albini is a famous record producer and famously cantankerous dude.  But people love the clarity and crispness of the sounds he gets.  On the Shellac albums, the guitars are so sharp and piercing that they feel textural.  But he also doesn’t mix things super loud, so nothing is overloaded.  Things are sharp and crisp.  And that is the same for the drums.  Drummer Todd Trainer’s snare drum really pops and the rest of his kit is just as sharp sounding.

On the other end is bassist Bob Weston.  Weston has one of the best bass sounds I’ve ever heard.  Deep and resonant, clean but not pretty.  While the guitar may be the most notable thing about Shellac, it’s the bass that sounds so impressive on those records.  And the three together make loud aggressive sorta punk, with Albini’s spoken/screamed lyrics.  This was definitely a show to bring earplugs to.

The sound of Shellac is quite minimal and, appropriate, so was the stage show.  Before the show Andrew and I joked that the blue gels covering the lights would be too much embellishment for the band.  And indeed, when they came on stage, there were eight white spotlights that lit them from the back.  And that was it.  It was all about the sound. (more…)

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Shannon Wright (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 25, 2016) [SHELLAC]

Posted in Kishi Bashi, Philadelphia, PA, Shannon Wright, Shellac, Twain, Union Transfer on October 26, 2016| 2 Comments »

[ATTENDED: October 26, 2016] Shannon Wright

2016-10-25-20-43-31My friend Andrew got us tickets to see Shellac. When I looked to see who was opening, the site listed “Shannon Wright.”  I had never heard of her.  I had t laugh that the blurb on Shellac was literally two sentences.  While Wright’s was 8 large paragraphs.

It made me excited to see her, but I had no idea what to expect.  And then she came out with just her guitar (and flashbacks to Kishi Bashi’s opener Twain came hurtling at me).

But Wright was no Twain.  She started with a looped guitar melody–rather pretty.  And then she turned it off–that appears to be her “tuning music” because once she started playing–it sounded nothing like that loop.

Wrights play a very aggressive guitar–she doesn’t strum of pick so much as pluck those string so that they slap back against the guitar.  Her low notes are percussive and her high notes are painful.  She uses no pick, so it really emphasizes this abrasive style.  Her songs have a very steady rhythm on the low notes–very easy to bob your head (or in some cases seriously headbang) along to, while the melody gets hammered out on the high strings. (more…)

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Kishi Bashi (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 4, 2016)

Posted in Guster, Kishi Bashi, Philadelphia, PA, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Tall Tall Trees, Union Transfer on October 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 4, 2016] Kishi Bashi

2016-10-04-22-03-10This is our third time seeing Kishi Bashi, and our second time seeing him with our friends Liz and Eleanor.  We all saw him together the first time when he opened for Rodrigo y Gabriela.  And they were hooked just like we were.  They have since seen him with his string quartet, which we didn’t.  I’ve liked him so much solo that I didn’t know if I wanted to see others playing with him.  Well, Tuesday’s show was a full band and it was phenomenal.

He is an amazing solo performer with his loops and improv and his fantastic stage presence.  But when he has other people to play off of, he completely soars.  And, since he was the headliner, he added a great light show (and confetti!).  And it also mean that even though we had heard these songs live before, in this setting they were completely reworked and different.

Kishi Bashi’s newest album is the disco-infused Sonderlust in which he more or less switches from his signature violin to keyboards.  But the music, while quite different from his earlier records is still very Kishi Bashi–that voice and those melodies are unmistakable. (more…)

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Twain (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 4, 2016) [KISHI BASHI]

Posted in Kishi Bashi, Philadelphia, PA, Twain, Union Transfer on October 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 4, 2016] Twain

2016-10-04-20-30-56 Kishi Bashi has been an opening act for two great bands that I’ve seen.  So I was really curious to see who his opening act would be.  I’d looked up Twain online but all I got from the brief glimpse was that it was a duo from Brooklyn.

When we got to the venue, there were some big drums and keyboards around the stage and I thought maybe they belonged to Twain.

Well, indeed, they did not, for in this show Twain was just one guy and his guitar (actually two guitars).

And his first song was very disconcerting.   Lyrically, Twain seems to come from the state-everything-I-see school of lyrics.  He mixes this with a hippy world view and a pretty big obsession with death.  And his delivery is stark and sharp and, yes, pretty unpleasant. (more…)

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Gogol Bordello (Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, April 7, 2016)

Posted in Gogol Bordello, Philadelphia, PA, Punks, Russia, Steve Albini, Union Transfer on April 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 7, 2016] Gogol Bordello

2016-04-07 22.47.46It was two years ago that I saw Gogol Bordello and I put them on my list of bands to see again–their live show was that much fun.  So they played two nights at Union Transfer.  I chose the first night (Thursday rather than Friday) although I’m not exactly sure why.  I think it turned out to be the right choice because Friday night’s show sold out and if my show was intense, I can’t imagine what a sold out show is like.

This show was part of their tenth anniversary tour.  Not ten years since the band formed, but ten years since their first big album, Gypsy Punks (which was recorded by Steve Albini!).  And their plan was to play that entire album, and some other songs.  I only found out about this entire album thing a few days ago.  It turns out that it’s the GB album I don’t own (I don’t own their earlier ones either), so I had to quickly scramble to see what songs were on it.  Well, it turns out that most of those songs have been played live or appeared elsewhere, so I knew a pretty good amount of them.  Phew.

They came out to roars from the crowd and they launched right into the lead off track from the album.  “Sally” features some intense screaming from one of the women in the band, and one of the women came out and supplied it for the song.  And I knew that this set was going to be a lot of fun. (more…)

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Xylouris White (Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, April 7, 2016) [GOGOL BORDELLO]

Posted in Dirty Three, Gogol Bordello, Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, Xylouris White on April 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 7, 2016] Xylouris White

xylourisI saw Gogol Bordello a few years ago and the show was fantastic.  For many bands, seeing them once is enough, but for GB, I had to see them again.  So I was pretty psyched that they were going to play at Union Transfer an excellent club in Philly.

When I looked on their site, they said that the opening act was going to be Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas.  I checked out their stuff and it was good.  But that must have been for a previous tour, because when I got there, the listed opening act was Xylouris White.  I couldn’t even imagine what that meant, much less how to say it.

So imagine my surprise when the band came out and it was a guy (with crazy hair) on drums and then a guy with crazier hair and a big beard on what turned out to be a Cretan lute.  And that was it. (more…)

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Built to Spill (Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, October 2, 2015)

Posted in Built to Spill, David Bowie, Helvetia, Philadelphia, PA, The Smiths, Union Transfer on October 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 2, 2015] Built to Spill

2015-10-02 23.54.05 As I mentioned, I was supposed to see Built to Spill back in 2001 (11 days after 9/11).  I didn’t feel like going into the city or listening to live music so I didn’t go.  I recently learned that they did play that night.  And I’ve seen their set list.  And I think I’m probably happy I didn’t go.  I preferred going to this show with only the preconceived notion that my friend Jay has seen them about a dozen times (and met Doug Martsch) after a show) since I introduced him to them just a couple of years ago.  So I was pretty psyched.

But I was not as psyched as the two guys who run up next to me (I could touch the stage) just giddy with excitement that “the legend” was going to be just five feet away from them.  It sounded like they might have had a present for him (but who knows what that meant).  They talked about the set list they were sure he would play.  And they nearly melted when he came out on stage.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen quite that much adoration at a show.  It seemed almost teeny bopperish to me, which I find especially amusing since Martsch is an old balding guy with a big beard who barely looks like he ever smiles.

But then there he was, indeed just a few feet from me. And that was pretty awesome. (more…)

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Helvetia (Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, October 2, 2015) [BUILT TO SPILL]

Posted in Built to Spill, Clarke and the Himselfs, Fleetwood Mac, Helvetia, Judas Priest, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on October 4, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 2, 2015] Helvetia

2015-10-02 21.51.07After Clarke finished his set, he removed his tambourine from the hi hat and took his guitar.  And then Helvetia came out and used the same tiny drum set.  It turns out that there is all kinds of connectivity between Clarke, Helvetia and Built to Spill.  Clarke’s record was released by Brett Netson’s label.  Brett Netson is the second guitarist for Built to Spill.  And, as it turns out, the bassist and third guitarist for Built to Spill (Jason Albertini and Jim Roth) are the two guitarists for Helvetia.

I had never heard of Helvetia.  So imagine my surprise that they released their 8th (!) album that night.

As the band was setting up, Zeke Howard, the drummer, projected a cool swirling pattern on his drum head.  Which I can assume only we in the front could see since his kit was so small (see the swirl here).  About mid way through the set, the projector had moved a bit and I think a helpful fan straightened it out for him. (more…)

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