I had heard of Blu deTiger and knew her song “Figure It Out” which I quite liked.
I didn’t realize that she was a bass player and lead singer–she played some great lead bass lines and did some good funky riffs too.
Blu has been playing bass since she was seven and has been in bands on and off for many years so she has her stage show down really well–she’s flirty and funny and knows how to play an audience.
It also turns out that she’s something of a TikTok sensation, but somehow my daughter wasn’t familiar with her.
My daughter’s friend invited her to go see Girl in Red at the Rooftop at Pier 17 in New York City. Part of the deal was that I went as well. Which was cool as I enjoyed the last Girl in Red show quite a lot.
Best of all, the friend’s dad (who I like, so that’s a relief!) was driving.
We got into the city, did not get to use the parking space I pre-paid for (who know why) but found another garage after some fruitless and frustrating driving around.
We grabbed a slice nearby and walked down to the Pier. Which has some very cool art and a very excellent walk way up to the rooftop.
We arrived after binki had started. I’d never heard of this Pennsylvanian rapper. The sound was terrible where we were, but I realized we were right in front of one of the massive speakers so I moved us to more of the center and the sound was much better and we managed to get in the shade (late August sun can be brutal). Continue Reading »
[ATTENDED: July 29, 2022] Kings X [rescheduled from August 21, 2020 and June 11, 2021]
Back in 2017, after seeing King’s X for the fourth time, I felt like I didn’t really need to see them again–they tended to play a lot of the same songs after all.
But then two big things happened. One. There was a pandemic and bands didn’t tour for several years. And two. Which was possibly more shocking, King’s X released a new album. Their first in fourteen years! The album came out in 2022, so I’m not sure if the proposed show in 2020 or the original rescheduled show in 2021 would have had the new songs, but this new show sure did!
Even with a new album out, King’s X didn’t venture too far from their old path when they played this show. Indeed, this show’s setlist was pretty much the same as the one five years ago. The big difference was that they did play some of the album’s songs. The kicker, though, was that they took out some of their more popular song to accommodate them!
All shows start with “Welcome to the Groove Machine,” which makes sense. It’s a statement of purpose. You get to hear dUg Pinnick’s bass sounding lower than anything that can be imagined. You get to hear Ty Tabor’s guitars sounding incredible, and everyone will cheer for Jerry Gaskill’s dynamic drumming and harmonies. Continue Reading »
It had been five years since I’d seen King’s X and I was pretty excited to see them again. I didn’t care who was opening for them. I was a little happy that it wasn’t Kings of Spade again (nothing against Kings of Spade, they’re actually pretty awesome, but they had opened for King’s X the last two times, so it was nice to mix it up).
Instead was a band called Big Handsome.
This is a hilarious name for a band. And I was delighted that the guys didn’t take themselves seriously. But they also totally kicked ass.
Big Handsome is a “Hard rock power trio from Quakertown, PA.” The band has Steve Seachrist on bass and vocals, Ziggy Bang (or Zippy Who) on guitar and vocals, and Adam Beigler on drums and vocals. It’s possible that they are still in high school–I wasn’t very close to them but they have the intensity of a young high school band which I loved (realistically they are probably not in high school, although Ziggy does look very young). Continue Reading »
I had just seen Nada Surf in November and didn’t really need to see them again. But never pass up a chance to see a great live band, right?
Well, it turned out to be the same night as my rescheduled King’s X show. I have seen King’s X more often than Nada Surf, but I hadn’t seen King’s X in five years and they are getting up there in age. So I opted for King’s X. I think I made the right choice as I’m not sure if I’ll need to see King’s X again, but I’m sure Nada Surf will be back again.
I was supposed to see Hurry open for Restorations back in 2020 but COVID cancelled that show. Here’s what I said about them then:
Hurry is a band from Philadelphia, originally the solo project Matt Scottoline. They are described as 90’s rock revivalists and all of their influences are bands I like. Some of their songs online are a little slower than I expected, but they do have some uptempo ones as well.
At this point I hope they open for someone else I want to see.
[CANCELLED: July 28, 2022] Courtney Barnett / Lucy Dacus / Samia
My wife and I were pretty excited about this show, We’ve had tickets to see Courtney Barnett a couple of times recently and they’ve all been cancelled. We have seen her before and she is great live. So this–a small stage outside on a lovely summer night–sounded amazing.
Add in Lucy Dacus who I have seen a number of times and my wife has seen once, and it was a great night.
Opening for the pair was Samia, a singer I don’t know, but whose name I have heard a lot.
It’s fair to say I don’t love The Mann Center. The venue itself is amazing, but the whole getting there and parking scene is dreadful. And so it was tonight as we arrived on time, but by the time we parked, the Samia set was in full swing. As we were walking to the entrance, we heard her play “Stacy’s Mom,” which was her last song.
And since someone has done the dirty work for me, I’ll let Rocking the Burbs give the report:
As Lucy Dacus’ 7:30pm set time approached, workers began covering up equipment with tarps and plastic on the stage. Shortly after, it was announced that everyone should take shelter in the TD Pavilion to ride out the impending storm. Over an hour later, the rain and lightning finally arrived – at that point, most felt confident that the show would eventually re-start albeit with shortened set durations. The rain finally did stop, but Dacus’ gear was drenched in the process – the announcement came at 9:30 that the show was cancelled. Well, that was unexpected.
It certainly sucked that we waited that long to find out that it was cancelled. At that point even if it had gone on, how late would we have been there? We probably should have just left. But whatever.
The craziest thing is that we were going to look at merch but decided to wait a little while. We decided to look just as we were ushered under the Pavilion.
[ATTENDED: July 26, 2021] The Linda Lindas [postponed from July 21, 2022]
I was excited to take my daughter to see The Linda Lindas since she is the same age as they are. She didn’t really know their music (I heard about them when they played at a library in LA), but I thought she’d enjoy the show and the venue.
But when the show was postponed (it was pretty cool that it was only postponed five days), the new date was on a night that she has a 4H commitment. So she couldn’t go.
So, I went since I wanted to see them while they were still buzzed about. If you know them at all, you know that they are four teenaged girls who made a great punk song called “Racist Sexist Boy” about their experiences with a racist sexist classmate. They did a pandemic-era show at the L.A. library and made huge news.
The foursome are great musicians, they write rocking, relevant (to them) punk songs and, most important, they have a ton of fun. At the time of our show, the drummer, Mila de la Garza, was possibly not yet 12. She played a solid drum, sang her heart out, drew a cat under her nose like a mustache and had a great time. Continue Reading »
[DID NOT ATTEND: July 27, 2022] Coheed & Cambria / Alkaline Trio / Mothica
I’ve been a fan of Coheed & Cambria for a while. Not a huge fan–I like them more in theory.
They are a complicated prog metal band and it takes some time to get into their new stuff. Plus, their music is all part of a lengthy story. Lead dude Claudio Sanchez has a grand vision and it’s easy to get left out of it.
But I wanted to be a part of the grand vision so I grabbed a ticket for this venue which is on the Temple University campus.
But by the time the show came along, I had been to a couple of shows already this week and this was a big one, with three bands in a venue I didn’t know anything about.
Plus, we were seeing Lucy Dacus and Courtney Barnett the following night [had I known that it would be rain-cancelled, that might have changed my mind].
UPDATE: I saw a person wearing a shirt for this tour in Salem, MA just after Halloween. He told me I was a fool for not going.
Initially Dance Gavin Dance were supposed to open however, in June, this was revealed
Dance Gavin Dance removed from Coheed And Cambria tour following sexual assault allegations
Instead, Alkaline Trio were put in place. I don’t really now them, although they’ve been around forever. They’re a punk band from Chicago. I guess they are always a three-piece. Their sound is pretty good although it’s very simple compared with Coheed.
Mothica is the project of McKenzie Ellis, a singer from Oklahoma City. She’s got a kind of dark electro emo goth vibe thing going on. I imagine she’d be fun live.
[ATTENDED: July 26, 2021] Bacchae [postponed from July 21, 2022]
I was excited to take my daughter to see The Linda Lindas since she is the same age as they are. She didn’t really know their music (I heard about them when they played at a library in LA), but I thought she’d enjoy the show and the venue.
But when the show was postponed (it was pretty cool that it was only postponed five days), the new date was on a night that she has a 4H commitment. So she couldn’t go.
So, I went since I wanted to see them while they were still buzzed about.
The opening band I hadn’t heard of. They are called Bacchae (a good start for a intellectual show, right?). They are a Washington D.C. based punk band with really smart lyrics.
They released their last album just in time for the pandemic. Continue Reading »
[ATTENDED: July 24, 2022] Mitski [rescheduled from March 25, 2022]
I saw Mitski back in 2018. She sold out Union Transfer and while I enjoyed the show very much, I remember being disappointed that I was so far back and behind so many tall people that I couldn’t really see her performance all that well.
In that time, Mitski has taken off even more with the young people. Both of my kids love her (as does a large section of the youth). When this tour was announced, there was no question that I would get four tickets for my two kids and one of their friends.
I figured it wouldn’t be that hard, since she was playing at a pretty huge venue. But the presale sold out in like 5 seconds. And the main day sale also sold out in like 5 seconds. The bots were all over this tour. It was so obnoxious.
My kids really wanted to see her but there was no way I was spending a ton of money on her, so we were SOL.
Then a few days before the show was to happen, it was postponed because of COVID. It’s not often that we are happy that things are postponed, but this one worked out very well for us., because a rescheduled date meant a possibility of new tickets being made available. I put my name on the waiting list. But didn’t really have much hope. Continue Reading »
I had heard of Blu deTiger and knew her song “Figure It Out” which I quite liked.
I Just Read About That... 