[DID NOT ATTEND: May 20, 2022] Pom Pom Squad / Chloe Lilac
I was really interested in seeing Pom Pom Squad–their album Death of a Cheerlader was really good retro-grungy pop fun.
Then I saw them (unexpectedly) open for Nada Surf and they were fantastic.
That was about six month ago and I thought they’d be even better in a headline show.
But I’d already had a ticket for another show this night (which I wound up not gong to anyway). I was feeling some seasonal concert burnout by the end of May for sure.
Chloe Lilac is a young Brooklyn singer. It seems like her earlier stuff is a little more synthy but her newest stuff has a bit more grunge (with lots of f-bombs) and would work well with Pom Pom Squad.
Chloe Lilac is an artist that has been growing exponentially as of late. All it felt like she needed to solidify this was a full body of work to represent this step up, which is now here in the form of her latest extended play DOUCHEBAG.
The EP is packed full of huge tunes, from its unapologetic and brass title track, to the confrontational ‘WHO IS EMILY?’, to the more calculated and thoughtful closer ‘JANSPORT’. Chloe Lilac has shown that she is an artist that can do it all, and do it all in the context of her razor-sharp indie pop sound.
T. was really into Beach Bunny when we saw her back in November of 2021. I was pretty surprised that she was going to tour again in May of 2022 (in fairness, the 2021 tour had been rescheduled twice and I think she was ready to play new stuff, but she had all the gear from the old tour so….). Plus, this new tour moved her from the 1500 capacity Union Transfer to the 2500 capacity Fillmore.
I had really enjoyed her at Union Transfer and was looking forward to what she’s do at this show.
Last time the stage was filled with old video game cabinets. This time it had old small TV screens.
Lili Trifilio came out with bunny ears on and jumped right in with “Oxygen.” The crowd seemed very young to me (which, I guess to me they were very young, but I believe the Fillmore was designed for a largely under 21 crowd).
My daughter seemed a little overwhelmed by the crowd and the show and decided to hang nearer to the back. She felt like she could see better, which may have been true). But i always feel disconnected from the show when I’m too far back. Continue Reading »
[DID NOT ATTEND: May 19, 2022] The Front Bottoms / Long Neck / Jordan Jensen
I heard my son listening to The Front Bottoms. I didn’t realize he liked them when I saw them last year, but when the band announced this series of shows at White Eagle Hall, I knew the shows would be great and I knew he’d like to go.
Especially with this announcement
The Front Bottoms are playing a few intimate shows in their home state of NJ this spring. They’ve announced three nights at Jersey City’s White Eagle Hall on May 18, 19 and 20. “To say that we’re very excited to play Jersey City is an understatement,” drummer Mathew Uychich says. “These shows are going to be very special.” Guitarist / vocalist Brian Sella adds, “I spent the best years of my life in Jersey City! I should’ve never left. It’s an honor to return home once again!”
But it turned out that the night before was my rescheduled Deftones show which he went to. And he was pretty wiped out from it and didn’t feel like going to another long show. So we missed out on this one. Which seems a real shame.
Long Neck is Lily Mastrodimos.
A review of her 2018 album says that she now brings along a full-fledged rock band for the ride. Powerhouse guitar backings compliment her soulful voice in this album where easy listening meets folk-punk.
She sounds great solo, but if she played with a full band it would have been great.
Jordan Jensen is a comedian. A random review from Spokane says
Jordan Jensen is an old-school comic who lets it all hang out. The emerging New York entertainer doesn’t care who she offends. The amusing humorist is reminiscent of the late Sam Kinison and the late Mitch Hedberg since Jensen delivers the hottest of takes on relationships and pop culture.
I think a comedian is not a bad opening act. Ideally, have the comedian do stand up while the bands are breaking down and setting up.
[DID NOT ATTEND: May 19, 2022] Sleaford Mods / Sorry
It’s weird to me when bands that I like feud with each other.
So it was weird to me that Idles and Sleaford Mods would have some kind of shouting match feud with each other, especially since they both advocate for the same thing (it’s not even worth getting into what the feud was about).
I love Idles. I like Sleaford Mods–but I also thought they’d be really cool to see live.
I was pleased to get a ticket for this show, but then The Front Bottoms announced a show at White Eagle Hall and my son was really keen on going to see it. So, I basically blew off this show for The Front Bottoms. Which we wound up not going to anyway. Fortunately, Sleaford Mods seem to come to Philly a bunch, so I think I’ll get to see them next year.
Sorry is a fascinating band from England with kind of spoken/sung deadpan lyrics. But defining their music is really a challenge
Matty Pywell of GigWise stated that “Listening to Sorry’s discography is to hear a safari of different sounds, as eye catching as the next. One area might contain the grumbled discontent of punk and rock, whilst if you look close enough you can catch a flash of hip-hop and jazz. Grouping them into a single genre is a fool’s errand”. Lorenz and O’Bryen have themselves talked about their genre in music, describing it as pop music, while Lorenz has stated that “It’s just a bit annoying to be called post punk or grunge because I don’t think we are that.
I actually think the music is pretty weird and not very poppy at all. They’d have been a great opening act for Sleaford Mods and I hope they come back to the US sometime too.
[ATTENDED: May 18, 2022] Ky Vöss [Wednesday cancelled]
T. was really into Beach Bunny when we saw her back in November of 2021. I was pretty surprised that she was going to tour again in May of 2022 (in fairness, the 2021 tour had been rescheduled twice and I think she was ready to play new stuff, but she had all the gear from the old tour so….). Plus, this new tour moved her from the 1500 capacity Union Transfer to the 2500 capacity Fillmore.
Of course I got her a ticket!
It also happened to be the same night as my rescheduled (three or four times) Deftones show which I was incredibly excited to go to. Which my son really wanted to go to having recently gotten into the Deftones.
I tried so many different ways to make this night happen for all of us.
Perhaps I could get a ticket for him for Deftones and we could go together. Mine was GA, but GA was upselling for like $300 (NO!). I could get him a seat in the balcony–that would suck) and even that was upselling for like $175 (NO!). Continue Reading »
There are few bands that I will travel to New York City to see anymore. Supergrass was one of them.
In It for the Money is in my Top 5 greatest albums of all time and I could listen to it again and again. I Should Coco is up there pretty high as well. And while I didn’t love their later stuff quite as much, there are still some great songs on those records.
Supergrass last played Philadelphia is 2003 (and weren’t going to play there this time) and last played NYC in 2008. They broke up in 2010 and reunited in 2019. So this was my chance to see them.
The crowd was also pretty excited. One guy near me in particular was out of his mind and talked about seeing them in L.A as well (did he really travel across the country for them?).
The lights went down, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” played out of the speakers and the guys came out. Supergrass were always presented as a trio even though singer Gaz Coombes’ brother Rob Coombes was unofficially a member for a pretty long time. It was nice to see him getting proper recognition on this tour. Even if, really all of the love was for Gaz, the face of the band. Continue Reading »
[ATTENDED: May 17, 2022] Supergrass
There are few bands that I will travel to New York City to see anymore. Supergrass was one of them.
In It for the Money is in my Top 5 greatest albums of all time and I could listen to it again and again. I Should Coco is up there pretty high as well. And while I didn’t love their later stuff quite as much, there are still some great songs on those records.
Supergrass last played Philadelphia is 2003 (and weren’t going to play there this time) and last played NYC in 2008. They broke up in 2010 and reunited in 2019. So this was my chance to see them.
The crowd was also pretty excited. One guy near me in particular was out of his mind and talked about seeing them in L.A as well (did he really travel across the country for them?).
The lights went down, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” played out of the speakers and the guys came out. Supergrass were always presented as a trio even though singer Gaz Coombes’ brother Rob Coombes was unofficially a member for a pretty long time. It was nice to see him getting proper recognition on this tour. Even if, really all of the love was for Gaz, the face of the band. Continue Reading »
[DID NOT ATTEND: May 18, 2022] Kikagaku Moyo / Nina Ryser
I saw Kikagaku Moyo in 2019 and they were amazing. I’ve wanted to see them again, but they are from Japan, and the Pandemic kept them away.
They finally announced a new show for 2022 and I was psyched. Too bad it aligned with the Deftones show that I’d been waiting to see for a couple of years. Too bad also the Beach Bunny show that I was going to take my daughter to see fell on the same night.
Then Kikagaku Moyo announced that this was going to be their last tour–they were going to break up. So I’ll never see them again.
Alas.
Nina Ryser is one third of Palberta.
I happened to see her later on in the year opening for Tropical Fuck Storm
Nina Ryser is a member of Palberta. .. Like the rest of her Palbertans, Ryser is a prolific songwriter who is classically trained but who likes to push the boundaries of what music should do. … For this little set, she and her husband played keyboards (and all manner of gadgets). The set sounded improvised, but I’m sure it wasn’t. … Most of the songs were built around a beat and a simple chord pattern. There was a droney component to it and Nina’s vocals were kind of deapan. … My favorite parts of the show occurred between songs where Nina would mess around with looping pedals and make these interesting collages out of bits of the song she’d just played. There was definitely some improv in here and I enjoyed watching her manipulate the sounds to create something cool.
[DID NOT ATTEND: May 18, 2022] Deftones / Gojira / VOWWS [rescheduled from August 22, 2020 and August 27, 2021]
I was pretty excited to see this Deftones show. But I was even more excited when my son said he wanted to go to the show with me. Well, it had sold out a long time ago and I couldn’t get a Pit ticket for a reasonable price. I didn’t want my son to be in the balcony while I was in the pit. But I also didn’t want the reverse.
But then, what happened was that I got a ticket to see Beach Bunny across town on the same night. And so, my daughter and I went to the Beach Bunny show and I gave my son the Deftones ticket. Yes, he would be by himself in the pit.
The timing actually worked out just fine, because while Wednesday bailed on our show, VOWWS bailed on their show. This meant I had to do some mathematical time keeping to see if I’d have to leave Beach Bunny early to get him so he wasn’t hanging around on the streets of Philadelphia.
But it turned out that his show ended almost exactly the same time as our show. Since our show was only ten minutes away, there was still plenty of foot traffic when I went to go get him.
He said the show was great. And Markit Aneight kindly recorded the entire Deftones set.
~~~~~~~
I was pretty excited to see this show this summer. It turned out, however, that the show was the night that we returned home from vacation. Ie, it would have been a pretty exhausting day. So, the fact that Deftones decided to postponed until May was fine with me.
I’m bummed that Poppy is no longer part of the tour because I’d really like to see her. But she is now headlining her own tour–which I don’t really want to see. I’m not sure a full show of hers would be that much fun. But hey, maybe she’ll be back on board
~~~
I saw Deftones at a lousy location (Sands Bethlehem hall), but it was one of my favorite shows that year. The crowd was pushy and shovey, but Chino came within five feet of me and the energy was amazing.
Plus at the end of the show, when a roadie threw out a drumstick, I actually got it.
I knew I’d want to see them at least one more time, but wow was I surprised to see that they were going to play The Met in Philly, which I think of as a more “delicate” hall. I’d be slightly afraid for the seats at a Deftones show.
The opening acts were really intriguing as well.
Gojira area French heavy metal band whose 2012 album I loved. Heavy and very technical I’d imagine they put on a great show.
Poppy is an absolute mystery. She’s an internet creation whose every song is is a different genre. Her latest album was really really heavy but with that fake internet sheen on it (in a Babymetal kind of way but less sincere, if that’s possible). I’ve been intrigued by here since I first heard about her, but I wouldn’t want to see her show if she was headlining. This seemed like a great way to experience her weirdness. I hope that she is still on the bill next year and that she is still into metal, otherwise it could be kind of awkward.
I really thought that this show at the end of August might go on but on May 19, they sent this note.
Due to the current regulations, and uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, we must reschedule our North American summer tour dates with special guests, Gojira and Poppy. We’re currently rescheduling the dates for 2021, and you’ll be the first to know once they are confirmed. All tickets will be honored or refunded upon our next announcement regarding the tour.
I’m glad they are promising to come back And by then, their new album (due in September) will be familiar to all of us.
There are few bands that I will travel to New York City to see anymore. Supergrass was one of them.
I didn’t care who was opening. I didn’t even care if I saw the opening band. Except that I knew I would be getting there very early to see the band as well as I could.
I had never been to Webster Hall before and didn’t know where the band would be. I walked past the merch (which was totally sold out by the time the show was over) and looked around for any signs of where to go. I was early and people were milling about. Finally I figured out the stage was upstairs (!)
So who was Heaven? Well, back in the 80s there was an Australian heavy metal band named Heaven who released a couple of albums including a cover of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” It seemed REALLY unlikley that it was them (especially since they officially broke up in 2012). But who was this other Heaven? Continue Reading »
[DID NOT ATTEND: May 15, 2022] Crash Test Dummies / Heather Maloney
I saw Brad Roberts solo a few years ago and I really enjoyed him. I have remained a Crash Test Dummies fan since the early days, even with their weirder Brad Roberts-only solo stuff.
This tour was going to be a full band anniversary tour and I was really interested in seeing them all.
I’m not sure how excited my wife was to go see them–I thought she’d enjoy it, but when the time of t he show came, we just didn’t feel like going.
I do hope they’ll come back though, as a full band would be great.
Heather Maloney was raised in Hamburg, New Jersey. She studied classical operatic singing, improvisational jazz vocals, and music theory. She’s put out at least a half dozen records, and I’m surprised I’ve never heard of her. She sounds great with a band (in the one video I watched) and can really pull of a solo show as well. She reminds me a bit of Dar Williams (with a really really great voice).
I was really interested in seeing Pom Pom Squad–their album Death of a Cheerlader was really good retro-grungy pop fun.
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