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Speedy Ortiz: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, August 4, 2023)

August 6, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: August 4, 2023] Speedy Ortiz

I feel like I have seen Speedy Oriz a few times.  But I had only seen them once before.  It was a very memorable show, though, with me getting to stand right in front of Sadie Dupuis as she played and sang.

Here it is five years later (after they opened for Foo Fighters in Fenway a few days after I saw them), with a new album out soon.  I bought a ticket for their Johnny Brenda’s show in a few weeks, but I decided to give the Free at Noon show a go.  (This time it only cost me 3 hours of sick time).

I was pretty no nonsense about this one.  Sucked it up and paid for parking (it had just started raining) and I felt like I was cutting it a little too close to be driving around.  I was bummed for them that it was so sparsely attended, but maybe they’re just not that big of a band.

But it meant I could get up nice and close and watch them play.

They were so spread out on  the big stage.  I felt like bassist Audrey Zee Whitesides (now a permanent member of the band) was miles away.  I was in between Saide and Andy Moholt.  Last time I couldn’t really see Moholt but he was fun to watch this time, playing weird chords and lots of solo frills 9as well as a keyboard).  Initially his lead guitar was way too loud, but they mixed it down pretty quickly.

I’m guessing my location was to blame for how loud Joey Doubek’s drums sounded.  Or more specifically, his one cymbal.  When he crashed it a lot, it really drowned out everyone else. I’m sure you won’t hear that when it gets uploaded to the streaming playback, but it was quite loud to me (I probably should have moved).

They played 8 songs in half an hour.  Four from the new album (released Sept 1) and four oldies.

I was surprised and delighted that they started with “The Graduates” a favorite of mine.

The new songs sound great–a bit heavier and a bit more unusual with the guitar chord choices and whatnot.  And Doubek’s drumming was much louder and more intense on the new songs.  Sadie said that Scabs had something to do with striking postal workers.  I’ll have to listen to the playback to get the details (she was drowned out by the applause).

The folks around me were definitely fans as they sang along to the older songs like “Silver Spring.”

Audrey said that the last time they played World Cafe, they played all of Twerp Verse.  They didn’t want to do any duplicates for this show, but they did want to play a song from each album, so they played “Lucky 88” my favorite off of Twerp.

They ended with the new song “You SO2” (which continues the album’s trend of Sadie’s lyrics being more narrative than rhyme based) and finished with “Plough” a great song from their debut.

Seeing this made me wonder if I still needed to go to Johnny Brenda’s, but it’s a few weeks away and I expect they’ll probably play at least twice as many songs, right?

It’s great to have them back.  I’m looking forward to more new music from them.

Free at Noon 2023 PhilaMOCA 2018
The Graduates € Buck Me Off ⇓
Scabs ¥ Lean In When I Suffer ⇓
Ghostwriter ¥ Lucky 88 ⇓
Silver Spring ⊗ Raising The Skate €
Plus One ¥ The Graduates €
Lucky 88 ⇓ Silver Spring ⊗
You SO2 ¥ Plough ♠
Plough ♠ Alone With Girls ⇓
I’m Blessed ⇓
Taylor Swift [single]
You Hate The Title ⇓
Moving In ⇓
Villain ⇓
Swell Content €
Dvrk Wvrld €

 

¥ Rabbit, Rabbit (2023)
⇓ Twerp Verse (2018)
€ from Foil Deer (2015)
♠ from Major Arcana (2013)
⊗ from Sports EP (2012)
[single] from (2012)

Posted in Free at Noon, Philadelphia, PA, Speedy Ortiz, World Cafe Live | Leave a Comment »

AJR (Live at Wind Creek Steel Stage at PNC Plaza, Bethlehem, PA August 3, 2023)

August 5, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: August 3, 2023] AJR

I listen to a radio station in my garage (it’s the only station I can get in that I like).  They play alt rock and that includes a significant amount of AJR.  In my mind, AJR was a fun band who through weird sounds into their songs (like “Here We Go”) or used pitch-shifted vocals to make a killer hook.

When this show was announced at Musikfest I assumed it would be really fun–kind of wacky and a general good time.

I had no idea that it would be so popular (and the only headliner that was sold out).  My friends were taking their daughters to the show and I noticed that there were a LOT of kids at the show.  However, I wasn’t the only old person there (without kids).

What I learned right away was that they had a lot of songs that I didn’t know.  And when I looked them up I learned that they were more of a pop band before they branched out into a more unique style.

The show it self was fun, but not in any way that I imagined.  I was assuming there’d be a huge production–lots of videos or costumes or something goofy.  But it was exactly the opposite.  Extremely minimalist.  Adam was on bass on my right.  Jack was singing in the middle and Ryan was on my left with his keys and samples.  Behind them was a drummer Chris and a trumpeter Arnetta.  And that was it.

There were some videos, but they were mostly background.  The real action was Jack scampering around the stage and dancing and jumping and being generally wild and fun.

I didn’t know the opening song, but it was boppy and clappy and really set the stage for the rest of the show.

But what surprises me about the fan base is that it skews really (really) young, but their songs are far from youth appropriate.

Three O’Clock Things

I feel like everyone I know right nowIs hooking up and getting wasted (without me)And maybe sex is overrated but we’re too shy to ever say it (say it)So we pretend we’re all amazingIt’s three AM I should be sleeping (sleeping)

and

“Sober”

… Won’t you help me sober upAll the big kids they are drunkAnd I want to feel something again

But “Three O’Clock Things” has this great ending:

Isn’t this obvious? Am I insane?Let’s blame our parents ’cause they taught us their waysStay out of politics, stay on the fenceStay out of all of it to keep half your fansIsn’t this obvious? Am I insane?There might be two sides to everything that you sayIt’s all a bit cloudy but there’s one thing I knowThat if you’re fucking racist then don’t come to my show

And “Sober” has the super catchy “hey now hey now” part and everyone sang along.  To everything.

Jack did a fun live remix of “I’ve Got No Strings” (from Pinnochio) on his sampler.

Looking at the setlist, I’m surprised that the songs I know best are not from the past album but the previous one.

“Way Less Sad” is again, pretty dark but fun.  There was a great trumpet solo and Arnetta came from the back to dance out front. 

I also didn’t quite realize how much trumpet was in their songs (I gather that Ryan makes most of the music on his sampler).  But “The Dumb Song” is full of even more trumpets.

They played a sampled message from their dad (which is even more touching since he died just a month earlier, which they didn’t address at all).

Ordinaryish People is kind of a fun number with some clever lyrics

Your hippie friends call you a sellout‘Cause you buckle down and get a jobYou still get high, but you’re no hippie, no hippieBut all your work friends think you are

After this song, Jack interacted with the audience.  He said that during the above song he sings “you’re not stupid, you’re just special” and usually points to a section of the crowd.  This time the person he pointed to had like a Ratatouille moment and Jack could see him flashback to being 9 years old and bringing home a report card with all D’s on it and his mom saying “you’re not stupid, you’re just special.”  Ryan said the woman in frnt of him was staring at him for the whole show–like uncomfortably staring at him.  So when it came  to his part of the song where he sings something like “this is for you” he waved right to her and… she was on her phone!

Then Jack asked for a hat to come up from the audience and Ryan wore the cat in the hat style hat for the next couple of songs.

They followed that with a cover of “the greatest song ever written” (All Star by Smash Mouth) and then the first song that I knew really well: “100 Bad Days.”

When the song was done, all five gathered around one mic in the center for an acoustic version of “World’s Smallest Violin.”  After a couple more sings I didn’t know, they played “Burn the House Down,” a massive song that I was delighted to hear live.  It was followed by “The Good Part,” a fun song that is fun to sing along to.

They introduced “Bang” with a visual description of how they make their songs.  It was fun and funny and somewhat informative.  When the song was finally ready to go (that insanely hooky trumpet) the whole crowd was ready to “Bang!” along with them.

They took an encore break and came back to play “Weak.”  This is an older song that has had some recent success and the crowd loved it.  They ended the song by leaving and then coming back with marching band instruments and parading the stage.

The show was really quite short–about 75 minutes.  And considering there were lots of things between songs (crowd interactions and whatnot), they probably only played an hour’s worth of music.  But that’s all fine for me as they played all the songs I wanted to hear and it let me get home at a decent hour.

The only real gripe I have about the show is that the people in front of me moved over one seat each to take advantage of some empty space and it meant that the one tall guy at the show was right in front of me.  And he was a dancing fool, so he was constantly blocking my view. Even from row E, I couldn’t see that great.  Thanks a lot, jerk.

SETLIST

OK Overture [taped intro]

  1. Bummerland Ø
  2. 3 O’Clock Things Ø
  3. I’ve Got No Strings Remix (Dickie Jones cover)
  4. Sober Up €
  5. Way Less Sad Ø
  6. The Dumb Song [single]
    Message from Dad [tape]
  7. Ordinaryish People  Ø (followed by audience interaction (see Note) & Ryan getting a Cat in the Hat hat)
  8. All Star (Smash Mouth cover)
  9. 100 Bad Days Δ
  10. World’s Smallest Violin {acoustic) Ø
  11. I Won’t [single]
  12. Karma Δ
  13. Burn the House Down €
  14. The Good Part €
    How We Made Bang
  15. Bang! Ø
    Encore
  16. Weak €

Ø OK Orchestra (2021)
Δ Neotheater (2019)
€ The Click (2017)

Posted in AJR, Bethlehem, PA, CHAPPO, Livingston, Musikfest, The Flaming Lips | Leave a Comment »

Livingston (Live at Wind Creek Steel Stage at PNC Plaza, Bethlehem, PA August 3, 2023) [AJR]

August 4, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: August 3, 2023] Livingston

Back in 2015 and 2016 I went to headline (ie not free) shows at Musikfest.  The Flaming Lips! and Avett Brothers.  Since then, there hasn’t been a single headline artist I’ve wanted to see at Musikfest.  They have REALLY drifted into the country realm and it’s kind of sad.

So I was intrigued when it was announced that AJR was a headliner.  AJR is one of those bands that gets played on one of the radio stations that I listen to.  I thought that I knew a half a dozen AJR songs and I found them insanely catchy but not cloying.  What I especially liked was their use of weird sounds.  So I figured I grab a ticket.   And I managed to get one in the first five rows (which is pretty good since the show did sell out).

Originally their show was set for Friday the 4th, but it was moved to Thursday the 3rd. And  that worked out great because that was preview night at Musikfest.  In other words, Friday night would be a zoo.  While Thursday night was like a petting zoo.

I had friends who were going to the show and they arrive literally as I was leaving the house.  They got a great parking space and said the line to get in was a little long.  I arrived at 6:45 (Livingston was supposed to go on at 7) and the line was so long, that I walked into the seating area at 7:25.  Musikfest, do better!

I hadn’t heard of Livingston. In fact, I hadn’t even heard that there was an opening act until a few weeks ago (glad there was).  Livingston is a TikTok star from Texas.

He should not be confused with the British band of the same name (who I had never heard of).  [from Wikipedia]

Livingston is a rock band originally formed in London in 2002. The band is composed of Beukes Willemse, Jakob Nebel, Chris van Niekerk, Phil Magee and Jan Siekmann. Livingston have released two albums with the third album Animal due for release in autumn 2014. The band’s breakthrough came with their first album “Sign Language” and the commercial success of the single’s “Broken” and “Go” in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

This singer is Sloane Livingston.  I could hear his bass while I was outside.  I couldn’t really hear him.  As I got closer I saw that he was in a sleeveless shirt and was kind of rapping or something.  The music was way too loud and his rapping was way too lame.  I walked up to my seat and I think someone may have been in it, so I just moved to another seat until his set was finished.

I have very little memory of the event except that he said that his ability to do this in front of us meant that dreams to come true and that AJR has apparently had him open for them a few times.

If he becomes huge, I’ll be able to say I ignored him when he opened for AJR.

Posted in AJR, Bethlehem, PA, CHAPPO, Livingston, Musikfest, The Flaming Lips | Leave a Comment »

King’s X / Trope (The Vogel, Red Bank, NJ, August 4, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

August 4, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 3, 2023] Kings X / Trope

I’ve seen King’s X five times, all within the last ten years.

I’ve enjoyed all of their shows although I started to find them a little samey.  Nevertheless, I enjoy them and, since they’re all suffering from some kind of health issues, who knows how much longer they’ll tour.

So when they announced two shows near me, I thought I might be able to go.

I had tickets for another show on the third and I had another show on Sunday, so I decided I didn’t need to go to either of these shows.  I would have liked to go to this one to check out The Vogel, the small venue inside of the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank.  But there will be other times I’m sure.

I’ve seen the setlist that they played this night and it was the same as the night before and those were similar to previous years.  So I really didn’t miss all that much. Continue Reading »

Posted in Count Basie Theatre, King's X, Red Bank, NJ, The Vogel, Trope | Leave a Comment »

Sparta : Wiretap Scars 20th Celebration Tour (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, August 1, 2023)

August 3, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: August 1, 2023] Sparta

Since 2020 I have had four opportunities to see Sparta. Two were cancelled because of the pandemic.  One saw them opening for Get Up Kids (a show I was interested in, but not enough to go) and now this one.  And while those two cancelled shows were probably good, seeing them for this one was undoubtedly better.

Sparta formed out of the breakup of At the Drive-In (Mars Volta was also formed from that breakup).  Sparta sounded more like ATDI because the songs were short and punky, even though Cedric the lead singer went on to Mars Volta.  Guitarist Jim Ward sings lead on Sparta songs and his voice is unique and sounds just as great as it did when Wiretap Scars came out twenty years ago.

The band came out–a trio now–with Matt Miller on bass and Neil Hennessy on drums. Jim Ward stood on the far side of the stage (not too far away) and the band launched into the album.

It was great to hear these songs live.  I hadn’t listened to the album in quite awhile, although I did listen to it a week ago to refamiliarize myself.  And I remembered how much i loved at least half of the album.  And the rest I enjoyed.  Hearing (and feeling) the guitar riffs and the excellent bass lines was fantastic.

The crowd wasn’t as dense as I would have thought and there was surprisingly, no mosh pit (which I appreciated).

The whole album sounded great–fresh and new and really great live. Continue Reading »

Posted in Geoff Rickly, Philadelphia, PA, Sparta, Thursday, Underground Arts, Venezuela, Zeta | Leave a Comment »

King’s X / Trope (Sellersville Theater, Sellersville, PA, August 3, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

August 3, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 3, 2023] Kings X / Trope

I’ve seen King’s X five times, all within the last ten years.

I’ve enjoyed all of their shows although I started to find them a little samey.  Nevertheless, I enjoy them and, since they’re all suffering from some kind of health issues, who knows how much longer they’ll tour.

So when they announced two shows near me, I thought I might be able to go.  However, the first show was on the same night as the AJR show that I had tickets for.  So that was not going to happen.  The show sold out, though, so good for them.

I’ve seen the setlist that they played this night and I have to say they really aren’t mixing it up much at all these days.  Which is a shame.  I know that they have some songs that they “have to” play but there’s a bunch in here that they could switch out.  I mean, I would like to see them once more, but I’d hope they’d throw in a few other songs next time. Continue Reading »

Posted in King's X, Sellersville Theater, Sellersville, PA, Trope | Leave a Comment »

Geoff Rickly (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, August 1, 2023) [SPARTA]

August 2, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: August 1, 2023] Geoff Rickly

Geoff Rickly is the singer for Thursday, a band from New Jersey who I had never even heard of when I saw them open for My Chemical Romance last year.

I wasn’t really looking forward to his set (I would have missed this one if he was first), because I didn’t love the Thursday set.  It was fine and I may have liked it more if I was closer.  But it was fine.

However, as a solo performer, Rickly was fantastic.  He told little stories before each song.  He said that since Thursday torued with Sparta 20 years ago, he was going to play mostly Thursday songs (instead of his solo songs).

I didn’t know any of them, and at first I didn’t think the set would be that enjoyable, but he put so much passion into his singing that “Time’s Arrow” blew me away.  He had lots of fans in the audience who knew all the words and it was fun to hear them singing along.

He told us about a lawsuit that the band faced back ten years ago or so that cost them $100,000 which they did not have.  So they wound up doing a lot more shows to make some money.  They even did an “emo cruise.”  He said that he had written a solo osng which he thought was perfect and after the show the Captain of the theater told him to never play that song on a ship again. Continue Reading »

Posted in Geoff Rickly, Philadelphia, PA, Sparta, Thursday, Underground Arts, Venezuela, Zeta | Leave a Comment »

Zeta (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, August 1, 2023) [SPARTA]

August 1, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: August 1, 2023] Zeta

Zeta (pronounced Zeh-tuh) is a band “of immigrants from Venezuela” as they put it.  They are now based in the U.S. trying to deal with the immigration deal.

I had listened to a little of their music before the show and I was absolutely intrigued.  I arrived just before 7:30 but they had already started by the time I came in.  I don’t think I missed too much, but as I got to the stage, the band was in full flight.

There were four members of the band.  As I walked in Juan Chi (Juan Ricardo Yilo) was whaling lead guitar and singing.  Right in the front of the stage was drummer Eduardo Sandoval.  He was front and center because this is a band that loves drums.

The wall of sound was really loud, but not harsh.  Sandoval was a maniac on the kit–it was amazing to have such a fun drummer right in the front of the stage.  Standing behind him was bassist Antonio Pereira.  Pereira was the one constant through the set–his bass was fast and steady keeping the song moving forward and also keeping it in perfect time.  He kept everybody moving. Continue Reading »

Posted in Geoff Rickly, Philadelphia, PA, Sparta, Thursday, Underground Arts, Venezuela, Zeta | Leave a Comment »

Dan Frey–The Future is Yours (2021) [audiobook 2021]

July 31, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[LISTENED TO: July 2023] The Future is Yours

I didn’t know much about this book, but the blurb sounded good.

And wow, was it a a well-told future/time-travel story.  I also really enjoyed that whole cast that was employed for the book.  Usually a single narrator is fine, but there were so many different voices in this story that having multiple narrators was great.

I had known Cary Hite from a Mike Chen novel so his familiar voice was great.  He reads the part of Ben Boyce a young entrepreneur who has great ideas for how to get startups to work.  He is best friends with Adhi Chaudry (read by Vikas Adam).

Adhi is a once-in-a-generation genius.  He writes a thesis that postulates creating a kind of time travel machine using quantum computers.  Fortunately, there’s not a lot of hard science here, so you don’t really have to know what they’re talking about (I also have no idea if what they postulate is feasible in reality).  The thesis is so theoretical that Stanford doesn’t want him to defend it because they think it’s more philosophical than computer science based.

Adhi struggles with things a lot (he is bipolar) but Ben is always there for him.  Ben believes in him 100%.  So when Adhi gets a job at Google (and hates it) and Ben has tried a few startups (that have failed), Ben asks Adhi about that thesis.  And what they might be able to do with it. Continue Reading »

Posted in Aneesh Chaganty, Beer, Cary Hite, Catherine Ho, Dan Frey, Dion Graham, End of the World, Joshua Kane, Kyla Garcia, Marriage Trouble, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Natasha Soujek, Quantum, Ron Shapiro, Technology, Thérèse Plummer, The Future, Vikas Adam | Leave a Comment »

Pool Kids (The Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, July 28, 2023)

July 30, 2023 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: July 28, 2023] Pool Kids

Wow was it hot in The Ukie Club.

After two bands (and the inability to buy water at the bar–I can never catch a bartender), I splashed water on my face in the bathroom and prepped for Pool Kids.

The band set up, left the stage and then moments later came on stage to a familiar song that I realized I had no idea the name of.  And you probably don’t either.

It was “Sandstorm” by Darude.  You know it.  Everyone knows it. When I looked up the song the top comment on YouTube is “This song would have well over a billion views if people could actually find it”  And it’s true no one knows the name of it. [The video is quite good too.]

Anyhow, the band came out to it, getting everyone pumped, and then the song slowed and wavered as they kicked into the opening chords of “Swallow.”  There’s some great guitar lines on this song and even though there’s some mellow middle parts (on record–live it’s much heavier), the crowd immediately started slam dancing.  Several people who were up front headed for the sides and I moved over a bit to let them get their dancing out. Continue Reading »

Posted in Chase Petra, Philadelphia, PA, Pool Kids, Sweet Pill, Sydney Sprague, The Ukie Club, Ukrainian American Citizens' Association | Leave a Comment »

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