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Zeta (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, March 13, 2025) [RX BANDITS]

March 13, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 22, 2024] Zeta

I was not familiar with Rx Bandits when they announced this show.  Indeed the only reason I was interested in this show at all was because Zeta was announced as the opener.

I had seen Zeta once and they blew me away. I would do just about anything to see them again.  So if just going to Asbury Park is the requirement, I was there.

I bought this ticket from the box office (always fun), although I had never really heard of the RX Bandits.  I was psyched to see Zeta.

Imagine my surprise then, when they announced another show in January–this one headlining.  So I got to see them in Jan and then again in March.  And this show was very different.

Well, not very different.  But quite different.  For one thing the stage was huge.  At the Foto Club, they were crammed around the drum kit.  Here, they all had space to move around.  But the focus, as always was on drummer Chino Sandoval–front and center and a whirling maniac.  They are still touring their fantastic new album, and I’m not entirely sure what they played from it.

I’m assuming the first two songs were the same as last time, but after that, I lost track.  I feel like the set was a little different because at one point Juan Chi stepped away from the mic and literally just screamed the vocals into the crowd.  There was some chatter before that but as soon as he started singing like that everyone was silent (even though I believe he was singing in Spanish).

As always, Antonio Pereira loomed behind the drums with his awesome bass sound.

Daniel Hernandez was on the other side of the stage.  He rapped a song and I’m fairly certain he sang part of Bulls on Parade by Rage Against the Machine.  I admit that their sound was a little fuzzy (opening act problems) and they were really loud.  So I didn’t really understand a lot of what they were singing (it being mostly Spanish as well).  But the intensity is unmatched.

After every few songs, the crowd around me roared it’s approval, with a few “holy shit” moments.   This was especially true the two times that Chi hopped on the bongos and Hernandez played his own small drum kit.  It’s all percussion and bass, playing rhythmically and it’s awesome.

Sadly I’ll never know what the set list was, but it doesn’t matter.  I loved the show, Iloved that they clearly won over new fans and it was especially cool that two of the guys remembered me from January when we chatted for a little while.

 

2025 Asbury Lanes 2025 Foto Club 2023 Underground Arts
¿Por qué cargamos el peso de la melancolía del mundo entero sobre nosotros? £ ¿Por qué cargamos el peso de la melancolía del mundo entero sobre nosotros? £ La flor de la palabra @
¿Por qué sentimos la necesidad de romper con todo? £ Completar ∞
Privilege ¿ La flor del tiempo @
La flor de la palabra @ El Canto de La Victoria @
Completar ∞ Afrontar ∞
La flor del tiempo @ Sufrir ∞
Steps ¿ Magia infinita ∞
The Truth ¿
Yo el peor de todos (somos cosmos) XXV §
Shadows ¿
The Wild ¿
unknown setlist Magia infinita ∞

 

¿ Was It Medicine to You? (2025)
@ Todo Bailarlo (2022)
∞ Magia infinita (2018)/reissued 2024
£ L’Antiteoria del Todo (2016)
§ single (2013)

 

Posted in Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, Rx Bandits, Zeta | Leave a Comment »

Kraftwerk: Multimedia Tour (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, March 6, 2025)

March 8, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: March 6, 2025] Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk are one of the most influential bands of all time–and most people don’t know them.  They created electronic music and have been sampled hundreds of times.  I never even considered that I would see them live.  And then they announced a 3-D tour celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2022.

It was fantastic.

The four members stood in front of these tiny platforms and played their electronic music while visuals were projected behind them.  In the previous show, we had 3-D glasses, but they were not used for this show.

I couldn’t believe how crowded it was when I arrived.  I’m used to arriving a few minutes before the opening act and having my pick of location.  But there was no opening act.  I even arrive earlier than usual, but the place was packed!  I was in the middle behind some really tall dudes and then I decided to move to the side.  At a weird angle, but pretty close.  Last time I couldn’t really see the humans, so it was neat being up close to be able to see them a little.

But it also came with the consequence of a lot of people around me talking.  There were drunk college women, of course, but there was something even worse.  A pretentious Kraftwerk fan and he wouldn’t shut the hell up about how great everything they were doing was.  While it was happening!  Lucklily most of the music was loud enough that it mostly drowned him out, but ugh.

Kraftwerk is the same line us as when I saw them three years ago.  Ralf Hütter is the only guy still in the band from the beginning.  Of the other three, Fritz Hilpert has been on board since 1987, Henning Schmitz since 1991 and Falk Grieffenhagen since 2012. Continue Reading »

Posted in Franklin Music Hall, Kraftwerk, Philadelphia, PA | 1 Comment »

The Spirit of the Beehive (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 5, 2025) [THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE]

March 7, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: March 5, 2025] The Spirit of the Beehive [rescheduled from November 9, 2024]

I saw The Spirit of the Beehive seven years ago and they were outstanding live.  Here it was all this time later and I was able to see them again.

I enjoyed them–they were weird and fun to watch.  I wasn’t sure I ever needed to see the again, but I figured I’d see what they’d been up to for the last 7 years.

Their set was wild and chaotic.  Again, I was right at the barrier, so I’m sure I missed a lot.  Like last time, I couldn’t tell if the songs were really short or much longer.  The first song I thought might have been three different ones.  It was made even mor confusing because the musicians would switch instruments in the middle.  Their third guitarist Phil Warner, switched from electric to acoustic and back again in one song.

I also really enjoyed watching drummer Sean Hallock keep time to all of the different changes and styles of music (often in one song).

Zack Schwartz was on the far side from me and I felt like I heard his vocals the least, although his guitar was clear.  Bassist (mostly) Rivka Ravede has a fantastic bass sound–I loved when you could hear it over the rest of the music. She also sings on nearly every song, which is great–it adds so much dimension to the songs to have two (or three) lead vocalists in one song.

I was right in front of Corey Wichlin who sang a lot of lead parts in very different vocal styles–it was often hard to know who was singing.  He also played guitars and keys and the occasional triangle. Continue Reading »

Posted in Kassie Krut, Palm, Philadelphia, PA, Polo Perks <3<3<3, The Spirit of the Beehive, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

Kassie Krut (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 5, 2025) [THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE]

March 6, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: March 5, 2025] Kassie Krut [rescheduled from November 9, 2024]

I saw The Spirit of the Beehive seven years ago and they were outstanding live.  Here it was all this time later and I was able to see them again.  The opening band was Kassie Krut who I’d never heard of. I looked them up and found out that Kassie Krut was formed from Palm!

The band was formed by Kasra Kurt, guitarist, who wanted to explore more electronic music and Eve Alpert (both of who are phenomenal guitarists but who play no guitars on the album).  They were joined by Matt Anderegg on drums.

Their EP is loud and dancey and fun, but very noisy.  And live they were noisy, noisy and more noisy.  As with Polo Perks, this may have been because I was so close to the stage.  But I believe that all of the sounds were coming from the overhead speakers (there were no guitar amps to have sound coming from the stage).  Whatever the case I absolutely could not hear Eve singing (except the quieter bits of Reckless) and I couldn’t hear Kasra at all when he took to the mic.

Matt was on my right playing an electronic drum kit,  It was fun to watch because the bass pedal was literally a pedal hitting a small pad, slightly larger than the pedal itself, but it was cavernously loud.  The rest of the pads that he played generated all kinds of percussive sounds. Continue Reading »

Posted in Kassie Krut, Palm, Philadelphia, PA, Polo Perks <3<3<3, The Spirit of the Beehive, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

Polo Perks <3<3<3 (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 5, 2025) [THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE]

March 5, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: March 5, 2025] Polo Perks ❤ ❤ ❤ [rescheduled from November 9, 2024]

I saw The Spirit of the Beehive seven years ago and they were outstanding live.  Here it was all this time later and I was able to see them again.

Originally, the opening band was Kassie Krut, but sometime more recently they added Polo Perks ❤ ❤ ❤ to the roster.

I’d never heard of him and didn’t know if the ❤ was part of his name (it is) or if it’s supposed to be three asses or what (I still don’t).  Apparently, he is a NYC drill pioneer.

His DJ came out first, set up a folding table, laid down a laptop and a mic and started a beat.  Then Polo Perks came out on stage.  His DJ tried to get everyone really hyped up.  I was at the barrier and couldn’t see who was behind me.  But the guy next to me knew a lot of the words. Continue Reading »

Posted in Kassie Krut, Palm, Philadelphia, PA, Polo Perks <3<3<3, The Spirit of the Beehive, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

Nish Kumar in “Nish, Don’t Kill My Vibe” (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, March 2, 2025)

March 3, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 2, 2025] Nish Kumar

I know Nish Kumar from Taskmaster, where he was hilarious.  I have since grown to love him from his appearances on various podcasts, including his own Pod Save the UK.

When he announced that he was touring the US and playing Philly, I grabbed my wife and I tickets immediately.

And holy crap was he funny.  He ranted for 90 minutes and we never stopped laughing the whole time.

Most of his material is political (and there’s so much to choose from in 2025), but there were also personal observations (his poor therapist gets mentioned A LOT), and even a joke or two about his fridge and his mom.

In his current tour, he is upfront with how his therapist warned him against discussing traumatic unprocessed memories on stage, saying that re-telling unprocessed memories can re-traumatise you.

What’s his comedy like?  It’s fast, angry and very funny.  Think Lewis Black but less deranged sounding.  He’s also got a wonderful outsiders perspective on the US that can make you see thinks a little differently, although as he points out, his radical left wing base probably sees things this way already.  But, as a Brown person, he brings a whole new perspective on, well everything.

Like how Indians should be pleased that they are getting represented in politics, even though these people are the worst representatives of their culture who routinely abuse and put down their own people. Continue Reading »

Posted in Amy Annette, Nish Kumar, Philadelphia, PA, Taskmaster, Underground Arts | Leave a Comment »

Amy Annette (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, March 2, 2025) [NISH KUMAR]

March 2, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 2, 2025] Amy Annette

I didn’t know if Nish Kumar would have an opening act.  Since the show was starting at 9PM (!) on a Sunday night, I hoped he didn’t.

But then I remembered that comedy opening acts aren’t the same as concert opening acts.  They don’t stay on for all that long and there isn’t a 30 minute gap between performers.

So when Amy Annette was announced, I was ready to be entertained.  I found out after her set, once Nish came on, that Amy is his girlfriend of 13 years.  This made me happy for two reasons.  The first was that her set was only about 20 minutes, and it seemed crazy to travel all the way from the UK just to do 20 minutes.  And also, her material is so very different from Nish’s I wondered how he might pick someone to warm up that was doing completely unpolitical material.

So, the fact that they are dating was great!  They get to travel together and we all got some exposure to a comedian that we (or I, at least) didn’t know but now want to see again.

Amy’s humor is so very different from Nish’s.

She began with a really funny bit about bread. Yes, bread!  She had some good audience interactions to find out others’ bread choices.  And one of the respondents was a man named Paulie who would come back later. Continue Reading »

Posted in Amy Annette, Nish Kumar, Philadelphia, PA, Taskmaster, Underground Arts | Leave a Comment »

The Bevis Frond / Oneida (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, March 1, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

March 1, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 1, 2025] The Bevis Frond [moved from October 11, 2024]

I feel like I’ve always been aware of The Bevis Frond, but I don’t think I’d ever heard them.

When they announced their first US tour in 25 years I grabbed a ticket without even being sure if I really liked them,  So I listened to them a bunch and, yes, I do like them.

I felt lucky to be able to go to one of these shows as there were only 8 shows on the tour.

And then in late August it was announced

The Bevis Frond’s first US Tour in over two decades has now been re-scheduled for 2025. Fans can expect a selection from the Frond’s colossal catalogue as well as new music from their recent Fire releases, for what promises to be an historic live show.

When the new tour was announced, I was pretty excited to have one of my first shows scheduled for 2025.  And I was looking forward to this show for months.

And then, my family had plans during the day of March 1.  And the day was very good and we enjoyed ourselves quite a lot.  And we dithered about what time t o head home.  And the thing that bummed me out the most is that we dithered long enough that by the time we got home, we were just late enough that I wouldn’t have been able to make the show.  If we had stayed out later to have made it undoable entirely that would have been fine. But to make it so that I basically was just unable to go was a real bummer especially since I doubt he’ll be back for another tour.

Oneida is described as an experimental band from Brooklyn.  But the few songs I listened to weren’t that experimental.   They strike me more as a garage rock/psychedelic lumbering entity.  Joyful Noise, their record label says

Oneida has long straddled gray-area boundaries between the NYC punk/psych/rock world and the art/experimental world, playing at gritty rock clubs and elevated cultural institutions, including the Guggenheim, MoMA PS1, ICA London, MassMOCA and the Knoxville Museum of Art. The band has been known for extended live improvisational performances,

I’m guessing they would have been pretty fun.

Posted in Johnny Brenda's, Oneida, Philadelphia, PA, The Bevis Frond | Leave a Comment »

Father John Misty (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, February 28, 2025)

March 1, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: February 28, 2025] Father John Misty

Back in 2016, while touring his second album, Father John Misty played XPNFest.  I had been planning on going that day but for some reason couldn’t make it.  He wasn’t the only person I wanted to see, but I was interested in seeing him for sure.  And that’s the year that he had what I guess was a breakdown on stage.  As one person on reddit said

People came to see FJM and he gave them a 20 minute set without even playing a single song of his because what…it’s part of his “character”?

So I’ve been kind of against him since (I held the grudge a lot longer than WXPN did since they play his music all the time–and I know it’s stupid to hold a grudge since I wasn’t even there, but whatever).  The grudge finally ended this year with his great new album.  We enjoyed the new songs so much that we decided to see him at the Fillmore

Sadly, we arrived quite late.  Actually it wasn’t even that late–quite long before Destroyer went on.  But it was packed and we were very far back. I had no idea he would be that popular (or that the show would sell out).  The one fun thing is that I ran into an old school friend Susie and it was great seeing her and catching up with her.

After Destroyer, the crowd adjusted and damnit I was behind a tall dude for a bunch of the set.

I really liked his first two albums.  I grew a little tired of him for a while, but still enjoyed the singles that came later. Continue Reading »

Posted in Destroyer, Father John Misty, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia | 1 Comment »

Trupa Trupa / The No Good Crowd (Silk City, Philadelphia, PA, February 28, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

February 28, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: February 28, 2025] Trupa Trupa / The No Good Crowd

I Trupa Trupa is a band from Gdansk Poland.  Their music is moody and cool and I’ve heard they are great live.  They came to Philly in 2022 but by the time I heard about the show, I had tickets to TWO others shows that night (one had been rescheduled to this date).  Now, almost three years later, they have announced their second show in Philadelphia.  And it’s the same night that my wife and I have  tickets to see Father John Misty.

Here’s how the band describe themselves on bandcamp

Trupa Trupa is a post-punk band from Gdańsk, Poland, known for their unique blend of brooding leftfield rock and psychedelic influences. They combine dark, introspective melodies with rich, experimental sounds to create their own distinctive space in the world of alternative guitar music.

They definitely have a dark 80s vibe, which I think would get more people into them.

No offense to Father John, but I would 100% rather see Trupa Trupa.  But we already have the tickets and I’m sure Father John will be enjoyable.

But, damn.  What bad timing.  I do hope they come back again in a couple of years.

I don’t know The No Good Crowd, but their bandcamp pages says

Formed in 2023, guitarists Jamie Olson and Jim McGuinn have history going back to Philly’s beloved indie rockers Cordalene(2000-2005), with Jamie forming the rootsier Midnight Singers not long after, where he was joined by drummer Neil Simpkins. Later Jamie formed the even more rootsy Atlantic Coast Ramblers with bassist Brendan Skwire, and putting us all together, we become The No Good Crowd.

I just listened to them and, wow I do not care for them.  So I guess that’s something.

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Silk City, The No Good Crowd, Trupa Trupa | Leave a Comment »

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