September 27, 2025 by Paul Debraski
[ATTENDED: September 27, 2025] Clairo-–All Things Go [Day 2]
Clairo was up next. She’s a big deal and it was almost surprising that she was so low on the bill. But I can’t really see her headlining a big festival because she is pretty low key and doesn’t do a big show. Although having said that, I do like that her set was designed with a theme in mind–something like lounge singer, I guess.
Clairo wore a dress that was split vertically into half balck and half white, so when she turned one way or the other she looked all in one color.
When he set started she and her band were all seated together off to the side with cocktails. It was very funny–they toasted each other.
And the set had that vibe, I genuinely don’t get the Clairo love by young people as she seems very old lady to me. Or maybe they like her chill vibe.
I find most of her songs pretty boring–not a lot happens in them. I mean how do you write a song called Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and have it be a slow song that’s 2 minutes long where nothing happens. Continue Reading »
Posted in All Things Go, Bartees Strange, Carol Ades, Clairo, Columbia, MD, Faye Webster, G Flip, Gigi Perez, Hazlett, Hey, Nothing, Hippo Campus, Lucy Dacus, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Orion Sun, Paris Paloma, The Backseat Lovers, Wallows, Wild Rivers, Zinadelphia | Leave a Comment »
September 27, 2025 by Paul Debraski
[ATTENDED: September 27, 2025] The Backseat Lovers-–All Things Go [Day 2]
There’s something about the name The Backseat Lovers that I find distasteful. Which is weird because I like bands called Tropical Fuck Storm.
I had no idea what they sounded like before this show, but I assumed if the curators picked them, they must be pretty good (especially since they’re all boys in the band).
On paper they’re a band I should totally like–described as psychedelic indie rock with a bit of a jamming component.
And yet I never really got into them. I’m not sure why
But the crowd loved them, even singing along intensely to Pool House. And that’s all that matters.
They certainly did some fun things like the way Snowbank Blues built and then suddenly dropped the sound. And I enjoyed the way the band rocked out the loud parts.
But there was just something…maybe too much acoustic guitar? I also feel like the songs didn’t really have a hook? Maybe if I was in a pit I would have been more engaged with them, but I just never felt it. Continue Reading »
Posted in All Things Go, Bartees Strange, Carol Ades, Clairo, Columbia, MD, Faye Webster, G Flip, Gigi Perez, Hazlett, Hey, Nothing, Hippo Campus, Lucy Dacus, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Orion Sun, Paris Paloma, The Backseat Lovers, Wallows, Wild Rivers, Zinadelphia | Leave a Comment »
September 27, 2025 by Paul Debraski
[ATTENDED: September 27, 2025] Paris Paloma-–All Things Go [Day 2]
After Paris Paloma, they played Wild Rivers on the screen. But I wasn’t that into them.
And soon enough Gigi Perez came out. I had just seen her a few months ago opening for Hozier. This was actually my third time seeing her since she opened for Girl in Red last year.
I have enjoyed her each time–she had a great voice and great stage presence.
This time I was really impressed with her band. Her lead guitarist in particular really shone.
I noted last time that she was pretty confident when we saw her with girl in red, but I have to assume after several month touring with Hozier in HUGE venues, her confidence must be through the roof. And at this event, the crowd was totally into her (one girl had a sign that said, Gigi you saved my life.”
And she did not disappoint. In fact, I enjoyed her more this time than last time.
Continue Reading »
Posted in All Things Go, Bartees Strange, Carol Ades, Clairo, Columbia, MD, Faye Webster, G Flip, Gigi Perez, Hazlett, Hey, Nothing, Hippo Campus, Lucy Dacus, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Orion Sun, Paris Paloma, The Backseat Lovers, Wallows, Wild Rivers, Zinadelphia | Leave a Comment »
September 27, 2025 by Paul Debraski
[ATTENDED: September 27, 2025] Paris Paloma-–All Things Go [Day 2]
After G Flip, we hung in place for Paris Paloma to come out. I knew her song Labour and really liked it but I didn’t know anything else about her.
She had a very cool backdrop–white drawings and her name in white on a black background. I really couldn’t stop looking at it and even drew it a bit (I had brought a sketch book).
The opening from her album (a looped vocal line of “my mind (now)”). Paris came out in a long flowing white dress.
She and her sang the lead vocals and moments later the song kicked in.
Paris played acoustic guitar and the rest of her band was a guy with a guitar. And they made a big sound. I love the way my My Mind turned so big with her voice so powerful.
She played an interesting mix of quiet songs (drywall) and song with bigger (somewhat darker) choruses (as good a reason). Both guys sang harmony on the choruses and really made the vocals huge. Her guitarist also played bass and there were definitely keys coming from somewhere–maybe triggered by the drums?
She said she’d hear the festival described as Lesbian Coachella and that was exactly where she wanted to be.
Her newest song Good Boy is great–a total diss of powerful man. It opens with a woman saying “I knew one day I’d have to watch powerful men burn the world down, I just didn’t expect them to be such losers.” Continue Reading »
Posted in All Things Go, Bartees Strange, Carol Ades, Clairo, Columbia, MD, Faye Webster, G Flip, Gigi Perez, Hazlett, Hey, Nothing, Hippo Campus, Lucy Dacus, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Orion Sun, Paris Paloma, The Backseat Lovers, Wallows, Wild Rivers, Zinadelphia | Leave a Comment »
September 27, 2025 by Paul Debraski
[ATTENDED: September 27, 2025] G Flip-–All Things Go [Day 2]
The weather was a but threatening and we didn’t really want to see anyone at the Chrysalis Stage, so we decided to park in the Pavilion. We missed the end of Hazlett and saw some of Bartees Strange on the video screen. So G Flip was up next.
I had no idea who G Flip was just a few weeks ago but I saw some kind of headline that she was dating someone. I had never heard of either of them and the way it was written I didn’t know who or what a G Flip was. So I looked her up and was really interested to see that she is a multi instrumentalist singer from Australia.
They set up the band’s kit and her drum set had a digital screen on the bass drum head. This is the first time I’d ever seen this and it was really fun and interesting–all kinds of images and words were projected on it. Super fun.
She had a few pink platforms that she danced and jumped around on. She had a ton of energy and was really fun. She wore a sleeveless shirt and bandana on her head. Her first song Disco Cowgirl was a big dancey disco song. There was even a keytar (they are really making a comeback). Continue Reading »
Posted in All Things Go, Bartees Strange, Carol Ades, Clairo, Columbia, MD, Faye Webster, G Flip, Gigi Perez, Hazlett, Hey, Nothing, Hippo Campus, Lucy Dacus, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Orion Sun, Paris Paloma, The Backseat Lovers, Wallows, Wild Rivers, Zinadelphia | Leave a Comment »
September 26, 2025 by Paul Debraski
[ATTENDED: September 26, 2025] Noah Kahan–All Things Go [Day 1]
Noah Kahan was the headliner for Friday night.
I know that I exist in a musical world that is all of my own so I didn’t know Noah at all. I was aware of his song Stick Season because my daughter played it for me, but it seemed like he was basically a folk singer. So I guess I don’t understand kids these days.
Anyhow, I was surprised that he would be the headliner, but clearly no one else was.
But I was pretty happy that it wasn’t just him and a mandolin. He had a full band and they rocked much harder than I thought they would. Although it was pretty fascinating to hear the crowd react so powerfully to a dude with a mandolin.
But he had a full band and they harmonized really nicely. He also seemed genuinely funny and nice. (I’m Noah Kahan and I’m here to ruin your evening). Continue Reading »
Posted in All Things Go, Caroline Kingsbury, Columbia, MD, Joy Oladukin, Lucius, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Noah Kahan, Sharon Van Etten, Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory, Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory, Sunday (1984), The Beaches, The Last Dinner Party, The Marías | Leave a Comment »
September 26, 2025 by Paul Debraski
[ATTENDED: September 26, 2025] The Last Dinner Party-All Things Go [Day 1]
I was most excited to see The Last Dinner Party. They had only played Philly once but I had tickets to another show that night. Ugh. So this was my first time seeing them. And they were terrific.
The opening strains of Prelude to Ecstasy played over the speakers as they came out on stage. The five women up front filled the whole stage–keys (Aurora Nishevci) , guitar (Emily Roberts), vocals (Abigail Morris), guitar (Lizzie Mayland), bass (Georgia Davies) with their drummer back on the riser.
They opened with Burn Alive and it was cool to hear these songs come to life. The problem for me was that the woman next to me felt compelled to scream every single word.
The empowering anthem Caesar on a TV Screen came next and Aurora played keytar which was fun to see. She rocked out next to Emily–who plays some phenomenal solos.
Count the Ways played live for the first time 2 nights ago in New York City. Abigail went over to acknowledge the ASL interpreter and to thank them–she said they didn’t know they had one.
Abigail introduced the next song as being from the first record and you might know it. And Lizzie said no you won’t this is from the new record. Abigail laughed “I don’t know my own setlist.”
Second Best opens with gorgeous acapella harmonies from all of them. It’s a great song, continuing their streak of great songs. And of course since they were new, the woman next to me couldn’t sing them.
On Your Side has some really gorgeous quiet moments that showcases how great their voices are.
Aurora sang Gjuha next after giving a brief introduction about it (it’s about her relationship with her mother tongue). Everyone sang backing vocals and Emily played the mandolin–absolutely lovely. And it segued right into the rocking Sinner. It was really fun to see Abigail dancing around the stage with abandon. Lizzie sings some lead vocals on this song too, which I didn’t realize.
Then came another new one Agnus Dei. Which Abigail introduced as “This is a song about a boy–ew!”
After a moment with a QR code to donate to Palestine, Abigail said she was really sorry for what was happening on our country and it was not a time to be scared–letting us really know how the rest of the world sees us right now.
Aurora started playing the piano up on the riser and as Abigail walked up the risers and as they started the next song Aurora gasped and stopped playing–she was attacked by a huge moth. Everyone laughed–“you guys have some massive bugs here.”
They returned to Portrait of a Dead Girl which builds to some great sing alongs–over and over again as well as the really fun “give me the strength.”
I didn’t realize that the band doesn’t have a drummer. They use session drummers for tour (wonder why). For this show they had Victoria Smith who was great–she totally rocks. Continue Reading »
Posted in All Things Go, Caroline Kingsbury, Columbia, MD, Joy Oladukin, Lucius, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Noah Kahan, Sharon Van Etten, Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory, Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory, Sunday (1984), The Beaches, The Last Dinner Party, The Marías | Leave a Comment »
September 26, 2025 by Paul Debraski
[ATTENDED: September 26, 2025] All Things Go [Day 1]
My daughter and I went to All Things Go in 2023 and had a great time. We didn’t go last year, but this year we decided to go again–for all three days (last time it was two).
The first day was a Friday and my daughter had a half day of school. So we left after classes and got to MD in pretty decent time. The early shows on Friday were great and I would have loved to see Lucius (having just seen them) and Sharon Van Etten (having seen them a few weeks earlier), but it was fine that we arrived too late for them. But my huge YES was for The Last Dinner Party, a band I could have seen when they played Johnny Brenda’s but my wife and I had gone to a meh show elsewhere that not instead. So I really wanted to see them!
We arrived, got good ADA parking (phew) and used our fast pass entry (yay). We could hear The Beaches playing and they sounded great. My daughter went for food and I grabbed a seat as we watched a video of The Marías playing. I was a little bummed we didn’t see them (although I hadn’t heard of them at all before this) because their set sounded really good.
In a bizarre coincidence, we ran into my niece/her cousin while getting food. It was great to see her (she lives in DC). She was really looking forward to seeing Noah Kahan. Then we parted–thought we might see her at Noah but we didn’t.
Then we headed down to the Chrysalis Stage (which was pretty packed) in time to see The Last Dinner Party. My daughter and I have different wants at a show. I like to be really close and she is cool hanging out and letting the music wash over her.
So I snuck down as far as I could and enjoyed TLDP very very much. I even got a photo of the setlist. Continue Reading »
Posted in All Things Go, Caroline Kingsbury, Columbia, MD, Joy Oladukin, Lucius, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Noah Kahan, Sharon Van Etten, Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory, Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory, Sunday (1984), The Beaches, The Last Dinner Party, The Marías | Leave a Comment »
September 26, 2025 by Paul Debraski
[DID NOT ATTEND: September 26, 2025] Lambrini Girls / Edging
As seems to happen a lot, I heard about Lambrini Girls and how their shows were amazing. And then I saw that they were playing Underground Arts.
Their bio says “Imagine your nan is in the boot of your car with a croissant in her mouth and hears bikini kill for the first time. That could be you. It will never be us as we are not bikini kill and we are not your nan. We are Lambrini Girls. Bon appetite xoxox.” The band currently consists of Phoebe Lunny and Selin Macieira-Boşgelmez (bass). Lunny has a kind of shouting/speaking style (not all that unusual) and her accent remains very strong (also not very unusual among British bands).
Their name comes from Lambrini, a brand pear-based alcohol “aimed at the undiscriminating female drinker.” And they have a song called Cuntology 1010, which is pretty funny while also being very pointed. They seem like they would be a ton of fun live.
But my daughter an I had left for All Things Go earlier in the day, so I couldn’t go to this one. I hope they come back next year.
I hadn’t heard of Edging, who describe themselves as “landscaper punks from Chicago” because their three founding members connected through landscaping jobs. They play noisy punk and singer Faith Callaway has a great raw singing style. But what makes them stand out is that their punk is accompanied by a saxophone (like X-Ray Spex). Or, as I saw: “70s-style punk splattered with technicolor saxophone.” They seem like they’re a lot of fun.
This would have been a great show.
Posted in Edging, Lambrini Girls, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts | Leave a Comment »
September 25, 2025 by Paul Debraski
[DID NOT ATTEND: September 25, 2025] Pool Kids / Truth Club / Pony
I saw this very show two days earlier in Asbury Park. It was terrific. All three bands were great.
I love Pool Kids, one of my favorite new bands. I saw Truth Club open for Indigo de Souza last year and I saw Pony open for Fucked Up in 2022. Both opening bands were great then and they were great two nights ago. I’ve even seen Pool Kids at the Ukie Club in 2023.
So, this would have been another great opportunity to see them.
But since I’d seen then just a couple of days ago, I didn’t need to see them all again. Although my friends’ daughter drove all the way from Scranton to Asbury Park to see them and was planning on driving all the way to Philly to see them tonight.
Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Pony, Pool Kids, The Ukie Club, Truth Club | Leave a Comment »
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Clairo was up next. She’s a big deal and it was almost surprising that she was so low on the bill. But I can’t really see her headlining a big festival because she is pretty low key and doesn’t do a big show. Although having said that, I do like that her set was designed with a theme in mind–something like lounge singer, I guess.
I Just Read About That... 