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Archive for the ‘White Eagle Hall’ Category

[CANCELLED: October 24, 2023] Thurston Moore reading Sonic Life

This summer, Thurston Moore announced that he would be touring to read his new book Sonic Life:

Thurston Moore has a new memoir on the way, Sonic Life, which he describes as telling “the story of my childhood and teenage years as I fell in love with music (for the most part unbridled rock ’n’ roll) and how it drove me to New York City, where I would co-found Sonic Youth.”

A couple of weeks ago, he cancelled the tour.  I wasn’t planning on going, but it still sucks that he feel so crappy.

To all my dear Sonic friends and family,
It utterly bereaves me to pass on the news that I have been advised by my medical team here in the UK to cancel my upcoming USA book tour. For years I have been dealing with a longstanding health condition, though it has never seriously stopped me from touring and recording. Regardless it’s always been an underlying issue and as I reach my mid-60s this year it has become rather, and consistently, debilitating. After a recent consultation, my doctors have strongly advised against me flying anywhere under any circumstance until they get it all sorted out.

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[CANCELLED: May 9, 2023] Belle and Sebastian 

Last year we had to miss the Belle and Sebastian show because of my daughter’s graduation.

I didn’t expect them to announce another tour so quickly (or to release another album so quickly).

But the chance to see them in a relatively small space like White Eagle Hall was pretty exciting.

Then on January 24, we got this message

Unfortunately Belle and Sebastian’s show at White Eagle Hall has been canceled. Tickets will be refunded as soon as possible, please see below for a statement from the band: (more…)

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[ATTENDED: April 6, 2023] Guster

It was only a few months ago that we saw Guster in Montclair.  And yet here they were back again in New Jersey!

They’re playing Philly tomorrow night and it was be incredible to see them two night in a row, but the second night is the same as night as the five-times rescheduled Bikini Kill show. so, you know, priorities.

Karina Rykman’s set was so much fun but we had no idea how good this night’s set was going to be.

This is my tenth time seeing Guster and my wife’s ninth (she couldn’t make the Free at Noon that I went to).  So we pretty much know what to expect at a show by now.

But the guys really mixed it up quite a lot for this one.

In addition to their super fun set design (desk lights suspended from the ceiling all set up with LEDs to glow different colors), they also played a setlist that was totally killer. (more…)

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[ATTENDED: April 6, 2023] Guster

I’ve seen Karina Rykman play with Marco Benevento three times.  She is an amazing bass player with a great sound, great instincts and great jamming skills.

I was supposed to see her a few times, but the shows were cancelled for one reason or another.

So how awesome was it that she was going to open for Guster?

I didn’t really have a good sense of what her live show would be like.  Her recorded solo stuff is rather synthy and kind of discoey, which I really didn’t expect.  So who knew what we were going to get.

Well, her band, Chris Corsica on drums and Adam November on guitar were outstanding.  The songs had a kind of disco feel (especially from the guitar playing from November) and the occasional very disco bass line that Karina threw in.  But they felt modern as well.

The songs grooved and were groovy, taking the most fun aspects of disco and marrying them to a heaviness and thumping sound that worked really well.

I hadn’t really heard Rykman sing before and her voice is quiet and somewhat angelic.  She must have some kind of processors on her mic because it sounded like there were harmonies a lot of the time. (more…)

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[DID NOT ATTEND: March 10 & March 11, 2023] Marco Benevento / Mike Dillon’s Punkadelic ft Nikki Glaspie & Brian Haas

I saw Marco Benevento at Ardmore Music Hall about a year ago.

His shows are so much fun.  He’s a fantastic performer and his band is terrific.

The fact that he was playing two venues within easy driving distance of me seems like a no-brainer in terms of me going to see him.  And yet, I felt that I needed a week without shows since I have a bunch coming up.

Sorry Marco.  I still love you. (more…)

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[DID NOT ATTEND: December 16, 2022] The Lemonheads / Juliana Hatfield / On Being an Angel [moved from April 21, 2022]

Back in 2018, I saw Evan Dando play a solo set in Jersey City.  It was him with an acoustic guitar and he played over forty songs.

It was a shambolic affair, but fun.  I didn’t really feel compelled to see him again, but I thought it would be fun to see him with a band.  And when he announced this 30th Anniversary of It’s a Shame About Ray, my favorite album of theirs, I grabbed a ticket.

This show had been announced for a pretty long time before any other American dates were added.  I never bothered to get a ticket for it and eventually it sold out.  I’d much rather go to Union Transfer than a sold out White Eagle Hall show.  So, it was an easy decision.

It sounds like he played some extra or different songs at WEH (we didn’t get Mrs. Robinson).   But that’s okay.

Leah Hennessey was supposed to open but she was replaced by Juliana Hatfield and On Being an Angel.

I was a big fan of Juliana Hatfield back in the 90s.  I thought she was the bomb.  She had toured Philly back in 2015 and I considered going because it was the Juliana Hatfield Three playing again (I should have gone!).  She also played in 2019, but I wasn’t quite as sure about that one for some reason.  But here she was opening for The Lemonheads!

A few minutes after On Being an Angel cleared their stuff, Juliana came out.  It was just her and her guitar plugged into a tiny amp.  The volume was perfect  She sounded great.

On Being an Angel are a four-piece from Austin.  Given that they were opening for Lemonheads and Juliana Hatfield, I was expecting a sound that fit in with them.

They were actually a bit heavier and a bit more fuzzy than I would have expected.  And I loved their sound instantly.

And then singer Paige stepped up to the mic and…we couldn’t hear her at all.  Was it Union Transfer’s fault?  That seemed unlikely.  We were very close to the stage and that can certainly impact how you hear a band, but it seemed like the lead guitar (from Nick) was just cranked up super loud and drowned out everything else.

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[DID NOT ATTEND: October 30, 2022] We Were Promised Jetpacks / Breakup Shoes

I’ve seen We Were Promised Jetpacks a couple of times and they put on a ripping show.  I had seen them play White Eagle Hall back in 2020 and it was fantastic–the crowd was really responsive.

But recently one of their original members left and they seem to have changed their sound a bit.  I didn’t enjoy it quite as much.  But they tour around here all the time, it seems (especially for a band from Scotland).  I’m curious if their shows will be as intense.  However, this show was right in the middle of a bunch of shows–I had been to shows the four nights previous.  So I had to give up something and this was it.

So, I’m sure WWPJ will be back again.

Breakup Shoes reminds me of The Housemartins/non-funny Barenaked Ladies–soda pop sweet, surf-flavored indie rock but with dark lyrics that you might not pick out.  All of this wrapped in a more 90s sound–buzzy guitars and fuzzy production with guitar solos.

I rather enjoyed the few songs I heard.

 

 

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[CANCELLED: September 23, 2022] Spiritualized (moved to November 6, 2023)

I wasn’t planning on going to this show in Jersey City (I was going to Union Transfer) because this show was on the same night at the Saucerful of Secrets show.

However, it was worth noting that this show was cancelled too

Spiritualized have canceled tonight’s show at Jersey City’s White Eagle Hall. No explanation has been given, but Thursday night’s show at Philadelphia’s Union Transfer was also canceled — less than an hour before it was supposed to start — and the venue sent messages to ticket holders, writing, “We are incredibly sorry but tonight’s Spiritualized show will NOT take place tonight. There is an medical emergency w/ a member of the touring party. We’ll send out more details asap but tonight’s show is 100% not happening. – UT”

We don’t know who that member of the touring party is but we’re hoping everyone is ok.

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[DID NOT ATTEND: September 10, 2022] Neko Case / Sean Rowe

Two opportunities to see Neko Case, and I missed them both.

I had wanted to see Neko Case for a while.  But then a few years ago I got to see her with The New Pornographers, which was like double the fun.

When she announced this new solo tour, I thought it would be cool to see her again (even though she posted a kind of nasty message about people taking pictures at her shows).  I actually blew off a much more interesting show this night: Destroy Boys, Jigsaw Youth, Pinkshift and Softcult assuming I would go to see Neko.

But then there was a Lunar Faire and my daughter asked if I could take her and her friend.  So I went to the Faire instead (it was super fun).

Sean Rowe is an alternative folk singer-songwriter and musician.  An avid naturalist, Rowe often speaks of his fascination with the woods and his connection to the land.

I hadn’t heard of him but he sound like a good fit with Neko.  However, when I listened to his song online, I hated his deep, slow vocal style.

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[CANCELLED: May 21, 2022] Vagabon / Maneka

There is evidence that Vagabon was supposed to play White Eagle Hall on May 21, 2022.  But there is very little of it. There’s no announcements of the show/tour.  There’s np posters or fliers.  And if you look at the website for White Eagle Hall, there a post announcing the show, but not one cancelling it.

I have wanted to see her for a few years now.   I loved her debut album, but i believe her follow up records sound quite different, so maybe I missed my chance back in 2019 when I didn’t see her with Angel Olsen.

Maneka used to be in Speedy Ortiz.

I listened to a track off his new album and it was mellow and almost a little boring.  But then I read that his previous album was wild and crazy and it is.

Turns out Maneka is really hard to pin down and would probably be amazing to see live.

Here’s a little blurb from Pitchfork.

After parting ways with Speedy Ortiz in 2017, Brooklyn-based musician Devin McKnight adopted the moniker Maneka to experiment with genres beyond his indie-rock roots.   …  McKnight came into his own on Devin in 2019, and he cranked his energy up to 11 by blending heavy metal and noise-punk with hip hop and jazz. On Dark Matter, McKnight continues to ask what it means to be Black in the indie scene while expanding his musical range in surprising ways.

McKnight likens America’s racist history to dark matter—an invisible force that binds the country together. “America has this really dark energy. How has it been this fucked up for so long and no one’s done anything about it?” he has said. On Dark Matters, he confronts that energy directly, writing lyrics that attack racism at its roots. On “Winners Circle,” an unusual fusion of trap drums, shoegaze guitars, and a double-time hardcore outro, he plays on the theory that Beethoven might have been a person of color who lightened his skin to pass in his own scene, singing, “Don’t paint a smile in the place where that shame hid/Play that brand new shit/That No. 9 shit.” On “The Glow Up,” he grapples with generations of racism—“And how do you explain this?/The seat in the back is meant for me?/And how do you explain this?/The ones we lost hanging from the trees”—over syrupy electric bass and guitar. And on the psychedelic “Runaway,” over dueling electric and acoustic guitars, he comes brutally to the point: “Stored in the bones/Is the feeling/You don’t belong here.”

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