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Archive for the ‘XFinity Mobile Arena’ Category

Rush (Xfinity Mobile Arena, NY, August 21 & 23, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Rush, XFinity Mobile Arena on August 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 21 & 23, 2026] Rush

Rush concerts part 2.  It’s crazy that I could have seen them six times.

So, having missed the MSG shows, and really knowing I wasn’t going to go to any of them, I kept my eyes on the Philly shows.  Those did not sell out entirely and I did keep watching those special seats to see of the prices ever went down.  And they just never did.

By this time we were back from vacation and were not quite on crunch time for bringing our daughter to school.  But initially I had a ticket to a show the night before this (and didn’t go because of the weather) and we had a ticket to a comedian the following night (but didn’t go because we’re lame).  Nut in all honesty, a Friday night going to Xfnity Mobile Arena sounds like a nightmare.  You’d have to leave at like 4.  Insanity.

So really that only left the 23rd.   But by the time that show came around I had accepted that I wasn’t going to go so I didn’t even look.

And despite the massive accolades from strangers and relatives (Montreal), I’m really not that bummed I missed out.  It sounds like it would have been fun, but I really don’t feel like I missed out.

And good for me.  Plus, there’s always that DVD.

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In high school and some of college, Rush was my favorite band.  No questions asked. My best college friend and I bonded over the band.  I didn’t go to enough shows during college–why didn’t I drive to Binghamton with him?

Since college I have listened to them a lot less, although i did really enjoy all of the albums they put out.  And I was super psyched to see their final tour before Neil died.

Geddy and Alex said they would never be Rush again and it sounded like they were both content to play music with other people and do their hobbies.  And then this was announced.  I wasn’t upset (it’s not like The Who or Slayer who have farewell tours all the time).  And I Was really excited that they had replaced Neil with Anika Nilles–if only because it upset so many people that there was a “girl drummer.”

When the shows were first announced I didn’t intend to go.  I didn’t feel it was necessary even if it had been over a decade since that last show.

And then I saw the prices.  Jaysus.  I have local friends who are much bigger Rush fans than me and they were jumping in paying $500/$600 a ticket, which is crazy–but was nowhere near the high end of prices.  As the dates grew closer and I heard great things about the shows, I kept my eyes on tickets.  Despite the immediate crush of sales, I don’t think all of the nights sold out.  And I’d also heard that dynamic pricing tends to get cheaper the day of the show.  Of course, that would still mean driving all the way into New York for a pain in the ass trip to MSG.

Ultimately, I decided not even investigate tickets.

And let’s see.  The 28th, I had a ticket to see Metric.
The 30th, I could have gone, but we were going on vacation two days later and that felt like a huge time commitment–this was the only day I seriously considered though.
And Aug 1 & 3 were were on vacation.

Back in the day, a Rush show was exactly the same night after night.  Possibly even note for note.  But this tour, they have been mixing up setlists like crazy and, while I’m not mad that I missed all the shows, I would have been really bummed if I went to one of the nights and the setlist was better on a different night.  I mean, let’s be honest, any Rush setlist is a good one, but …  The 30th featured all of 2112, which was pretty cool.

Plus, I’ll BET they release a show or two on DVD.

 

 

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Laufey / Suki Waterhouse (XFinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia PA, October 24, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Laufey, Philadelphia, PA, Suki Waterhouse, XFinity Mobile Arena on October 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 24, 2025] Laufey / Suki Waterhouse

I first heard Laufey on WXPN and liked the weird, unexpected song she had released, Silver Lining.  It was a fun breath of unusual jazzy standard style music.  I assumed it was kind of a fluke song like when Bjork released It’s Oh So Quiet (Laufey is also Icelandic).  But then I found out that that is the kind of music Laufey releases–jazz pop standards.  Nothing wrong with it, indeed, I like it in small doses, but I wouldn’t want to see a full concert of it.  And that’s how I know I’m completely out of step with the world because she played XFinity Mobile Arena, the largest venue in Philly.

I blew off seeing Suki Waterhouse earlier this year and regret it.  I would like to see her, but this would be a terrible way to see her, I suspect.

And on a purely personal level, we came to this venue the night before for Billie Eilish–I can’t imagine going to this huge place two nights in a row.

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Billie Eilish (XFinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia PA, October 23, 2025)

Posted in Billie Eilish, Philadelphia, PA, XFinity Mobile Arena, Young Miko on October 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 23, 2025] Billie Eilish

Our history with Billie Eilish shows is interesting.  I bought tickets in 2019 to see her in NJ.  Then COVID came along and the show was postponed and then cancelled.  I bought tickets again in 2021 and we finally got to see her in 2022.  When she announced a show at Wells Fargo Center in 2024 I wasn’t sure if my daughter cared that much and so I didn’t get tickets.  The show sold out and everyone raved about it and she was bummed we didn’t go.  And then, ever so nicely, Billie announced that the tour was continuing and she was going to play in Philly AGAIN at the same venue.  So this time I was able to surprise her.  The tickets weren’t as close as they were in Newark, but her stage design was a huge rectangle on the floor and she came pretty close to us throughout the show.

And this show was basically the same as the 2024 show.  The only real difference was the middle acoustic songs that she and her backing singers played.  And the fact that the venue was then the Wells Fargo Center and is now the XFinity Mobile Arena.

As happened half the time at this venue, the traffic was terrible.  We left early and assumed we had plenty of time.  But even when we pulled in the lot, all of the ADA was taken!  Good grief.  However, it was cool that we parked right near the Billie 18 wheeler which had her logo on it (photo op!)  Nevertheless, we were going to miss some if not all of Young Miko, the opening act.  I didn’t know anything about her.  She seems to be a chill rapper who sings in English and Spanish.

Since we has already missed half of her set, we decided to just get on the merch line (which moved really quickly!). Having acquired our merch, I did the typical dad thing of figuring out that if half of the people there bought a shirt she made $500K on merch alone.  But good for her and even better for her because she happily donates to good causes and calls out rich men who don’t.

We had pretty great seats, unexpectedly.  I mean, I knew where the seats were that I bought, but I didn’t expect them to be so good.    So her stage was a square (rectangle?) on the floor of the arena.  There was a vertical lighting rig in the middle of the square on which they projected videos and also had a crane of some sort that lifted her up and down throughout the show.

The show started with some videos on the middle screens–mostly static.  And then suddenly Billie was floating above the screens.  On either side of this big screen in a lower area were her band members–2 on either side facing each other.  We were closest to the bass and drums.

When Billie lowered to the stage, she proceeded to run (pretty fast) all around the stage.  She sang and waved to all sides of the square. She stood at corners and sang. She lay down in some places.  She made sure that everyone had a good view of her.

I don’t really know her new album all that well, but she is such a great performer that I didn’t care.  I enjoyed her delivery, her energy and the whole entertainment package of her show.  Like last time the girls screaming around me were far louder than the music.  In fact, listening back to the videos I took, the audience is always louder than Billie (but are in fine rhythm).

Perhaps the most interesting part of the show was when she asked everyone to be quiet so she could loop her vocals for When the Party’s Over.  She explained that she needed silence or the looping wouldn’t work.  People were okay and then people yelled at them to shut up and the Billie started and of course someone shouted I love you and Billie just shook her head and carried on (that voice did not get looped that I could hear).

During Bad Guy (easily my favorite of her songs), she grabbed one of the many cameras ringing the stage and ran around with it showing all of the band members.  And of course the crowd shouted every word.  Duh! (more…)

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