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Idles (The Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 13, 2021)

October 15, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: October 13, 2021] Idles

I saw Idles two years ago and the show was amazing.  A raw, raucous punk show with all kinds of slam dancing, crowd surfing (including the band), and shouting.  But also an incredible feeling of warmth and love from the band.

I’m gathering that the band always opens with “Colossus.”  A loud, slow, rumbling repeating bass note from Adam Devonshire shook the whole place.  And then Joe Talbot came out and started singing the slow, quiet introduction.

But the band and the crowd were just waiting in anticipation for the BOOM, when the song took of and the pit started flailing around.

Since I saw them last, they put out a new album, with another one on the way.  The only played one song from the forthcoming album, but they did play a bunch from Ultra Mono.  They sprinkled the songs throughout the set, interspersing classic tracks with the new ones.

Continue Reading »

Posted in Full show video, Gustaf, Idles, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia | Leave a Comment »

Gustaf (The Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 13, 2021) [IDLES]

October 14, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: October 13, 2021] Gustaf

I had not heard of Gustaf when this show was announced, but when I looked them up, they promised to put on a fun show.  And boy did they ever.

Gustaf is a five-piece from Brooklyn: Guitarist Vram Kherlopian, lead singer Lydia Gammill, bassist Tine Hill, vocalist/percussionist Tarra Thiessen and drummer Melissa Lucciola.  They are a classic old school art-punk band.

They make weird music and they have a lot of fun.  It was a terrific set.

The band was spread out across the stage with guitarist Kherlopian in front of us on the left.  It was fun watching him playing and not playing.  The kind of guitar work that is sparse and punchy.  The other side of the stage had the rhythm section.  Lucciola and Hill were the backbone of the band, keeping things grounded while the rest of the band did their weird things.  Thiessen might have been having the most fun as she played a Chock Full O Nuts Coffee can for percussion and often had her voice manipulated to sound deep and slow. Continue Reading »

Posted in Gustaf, Idles, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia | Leave a Comment »

St. Vincent (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 11, 2021)

October 13, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: October 11, 2021] St. Vincent

I have seen St. Vincent three times and each time was a totally different experience.

The first time was in 2015 at XPN Fest.  She was so good that I wanted to see her again on that tour (since her set was a little shorter due to the co-headline).  But she did not tour that album again.

In fact, when she toured again, it for Masseduction and that tour (in 2017) was radically different.

So here it is four years later and this tour was also radically different–and in no way even close to that first tour either.

I bought S. and I tickets but since I didn’t have a good handle on the seating areas of the Met, the seats sucked (practically the last row).  Luckily, the Met is pretty small, so even sucky seats aren’t bad.  The thing is though, that Annie Clark has so much going on, you want to be close to her when she does it.

For her new album, St. Vincent went away from the technology and sexiness of the previous two records and dove into a wholly retro experience.  It was quite a change (and, once again, really minimized her amazing guitar playing).

This concert was a theatrical spectacle.  The background was an excellent retro design of a city scape.  It didn’t change much, but dramatic lighting changed the look of the set in nearly every song–from day to night to midday to whatever else was going on. Continue Reading »

Posted in Full show video, Philadelphia, PA, St. Vincent, The Met Philadelphia | Leave a Comment »

Ali Macofsky (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 11, 2021) [ST. VINCENT]

October 12, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: October 11, 2021] Ali Macofsky [Cassandra Jenkins]

I hadn’t heard that there was going to be an opening act for the St. Vincent tour.  In fact it wasn’t until the night of the show that I found out there would be one at all (although I see that the information was publicly available, I must have been searching the wrong way).

We were supposed to have Cassandra Jenkins as an opening act, but the St. Vincent team, decided to limit the number of people on the tour to prevent COVID infections, so Cassandra was removed.  I don’t know if Ali Macofsky did the entire tour but she was clearly slated to open the first few shows and she did our shows, so I’ll assume she was on board the whole time.

Ali Macofsky is a comedian whom I had never heard of.

She is young and, shall we say a kind of shock comic (she has a history of working with Joe Rogan I have just found out.  In 2021 that would have instantly made me hate her.  I don’t know if he was as much of a douchebag in 2019 when she worked with him (and maybe she still does, I’m not willing to find out). Continue Reading »

Posted in Ali Macofsky, Cassandra Jenkins, Philadelphia, PA, St. Vincent, The Met Philadelphia | Leave a Comment »

Dead Can Dance / Agnes Obel (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, October 12, 2021) [rescheduled date, rescheduled again, then CANCELLED]

October 12, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[CANCELLED: October 12, 2021] Dead Can Dance / Agnes Obel [rescheduled from April 17, 2020 and April 23, 2021]

On September 30, I received notice that show would be postponed once again.  Dead Can Dance cited reasonable concerns about COVID and travelling around the world.

Then on October 11, I received notice that the show was cancelled entirely.

There’s no word from the band on this except t o say that they are trying o reschedule shows for Fall of 2023.  Presumably the venue just didn’t want to wait that long.

So, while I was looking forward to this show, I can wait until 2023.

As April came closer and closer I was sure that Dead Can Dance was going to cancel this tour for good–so many other bands have done so.  But I’m happy they didn’t–even if I don’t have fantastic seats for this show.  This just feels like one of those shows that I’m going to be really happy to experience and I can wait a few more months.

I really enjoyed Dead Can Dance’s mix of cultural touchstones on their earlier albums. I have a bunch of their releases up until they broke up.

Somehow I missed their reunion entirely.  I also missed their subsequent reunion and new albums.

They haven’t played in this area for 8 years and I was pretty pleased to finally experience them live.  I bought a ticket for this show and then a few days later it was announced that they would be playing the State Theatre in New Brunswick.  Since that venue is about three times closer to me, I snatched up a great seat for that show and figured I could sell the Philly ticket.

Then a couple months ago the Theatre announced that the New Brunswick show was unexpectedly cancelled. No reason was given.  I don’t think it was sales as it looked like they sold well.  So that sucked, but I was glad I still had this ticket.

Agnes Obel is a Danish born singer who plays quirky atmospheric chamber pop.  I have heard great things about her for many years but never really investigated her music.  I was looking forward to learning about her in this setting.

She was actually scheduled to open for The The on their 2018 tour.  However, the three New York area shows had different openers, so I didn’t get to see her then.

I hope they all come back around together.

Posted in Agnes Obel, Cancelled, Coronavirus, Dead Can Dance, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, The Met Philadelphia | Leave a Comment »

The Menzingers (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, October 9, 2021) Philly Music Fest Night 4

October 11, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: October 9, 2021] The Menzingers

I saw The Menzingers open for Weezer back in 2016 and really enjoyed them.  I’d been wanting to see them again mostly because I was really far from the band when I saw them and couldn’t really get into it the way I might have liked.

So when they were listed as headlining two nights of Philly Music Fest I knew I had to see them.  Especially in a small place like Ardmore Music Hall.

I have only been to Ardmore a couple of times.  My favorite show there was Marco Benevento where the sound was outstanding.  Even right up against the stage.  Well, for this show I was right up against the stage (although as more and more people crowded into the place, I moved away from the band’s more devoted (and a little crazy) fans.  But apparently I never got far back enough because literally all I could hear the whole show was Tom May’s guitar.  And May tends to play lead licks and solos, so I never really got the backing chords of Greg Barnett unless May wasn’t playing anything (which happened from time to time).

Obviously it was more fun being able to see bassist Eric Keen and drummer Joe Godino (who I couldn’t see at all last time), but it was weird having the sound so disjointed.  Throughout the set I tries moving further and further away from the stage, but I was never able to get further to the middle. Continue Reading »

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Marco Benevento, Philly Music Fest, Weezer | Leave a Comment »

Terry Pratchett–Lords and Ladies (1991) [Discworld #14] [Witches #4]

October 11, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: Fall 2021] Lords and Ladies

The Discworld Witches are back for another story.  (This is the fourth Witches story which puts them on equal footing with Rincewind at this point).

I have been reading all of the Discworld stories in order (obviously?) and I wasn’t looking forward to this one because of the lousy cover.  I mean, look at that.

But this book turns out to be great.  In addition to the enjoyable story, Sir Terry sets the record straight on elves.  They are nasty.  They are wicked.  They are not cute, they are cruel.  And they don’t appear in Discworld because generations ago they were locked out

The only way they can get back in is via the Dancers, a ring of magnetized iron stones.  Or technically they can’t get in there because the iron stones keep the elves away–elves can’t abide iron.  But when the time is right the worlds get close and the elves try to see if they can somehow get someone to magic away the iron.

And it turns out this is a time of convergence.  Crop circles begin appearing around Lancre and that can only mean that the universe of Elves is nearby.

So what is wrong with elves exactly?  They enter the minds of humans using glamour, to try to make them see the world differently.  Yes, Witches enter into human and animal minds, but only temporarily.

Here’s what they say about elves.  And what those words mean.

  • Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
  • Elves are marvelous.  They cause marvels.
  • Elves are fantastic.  They create fantasies.
  • Elves are glamourous.  They project glamour.
  • Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
  • Elves are terrific.  They beget terror
  • No one ever said elves are nice. Elves are bad.

Granny and Nanny can remember the stories about the elves.  But Magrat is too young, to sweet to believe that elves are bad.  She would believe that the elves are magical and fantastic in a good way.  She would not understand why they must be kept out.

And so Granny and Nanny do not tell her.  Continue Reading »

Posted in Casanunda, Death, Discworld, Elves, Fairy Tales, Funny (ha ha), Granny Weatherwax, Greebo, King Verence, Magic, Magrat Garlick, Mustrum Ridcully, Nanny Ogg, Terry Pratchett, The Dean, The Librarian, Unfinished series, Violence, Voodoo | Leave a Comment »

Control Top (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, October 9, 2021) Philly Music Fest Night 4 [THE MENZINGERS]

October 10, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: October 9, 2021] Control Top

I saw Control Top open for Ted Leo a couple of years ago and they were amazing.

I have been wanting to see them again live.  They’ve had a few shows cancelled and there was no real plan for them to play again in 2021, but then they were asked to play Philly Music Fest and I grabbed tickets right away.

Control Top is a trio of bassist/singer Ali Carter, guitarist Al Creedon and drummer Alex Lichtenauer.  They play a mix of raging screaming songs and somewhat more mellow raging songs.

Carter’s hair was dyed silver and looked pretty great.  She played a perfect combination of looking very nice and then raging really intensely.  It was great being up close and watching her expression change as she went from verse to angry chorus. Continue Reading »

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Control Top, The Menzingers | Leave a Comment »

Terry Pratchett–Small Gods (1992) [Discworld #13]

October 10, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus

[READ: Fall 2021] Small Gods

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Small Gods satirizes religion.  On the Disc, it is common understanding that gods exist because people believe in them.  They come into existence when someone begins to believe and they grow more powerful the more people believe.  But some gods have few followers and they are known as the small gods.

One such god is Om.  Om once had a huge following, there was even a town named after him, Omnia.  But over the years, people started fearing the religious leaders who enforced the “rules of Om” or out of habit.

Om has been depicted in statues as a massive scary creature.  But when Om decided to manifest himself this time, he came as a turtle.

There’s a fascinating side bit about how eagles are the only animals that can kill turtles.  They bring a turtle very high in the air and drop it on a rock.  The eagle plagues Om throughout the book. Continue Reading »

Posted in Brother Brutha, Camels, Death, Discworld, Funny (ha ha), Gods, Magic, Om, Philosophy, Religion, Terry Pratchett, Unfinished series, Violence | Leave a Comment »

highnoon (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, October 9, 2021) Philly Music Fest Night 4 [THE MENZINGERS]

October 9, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: October 9, 2021] highnoon

Philly Music Fest started in 2017.  I went to a show in 2019–a great line up!  Last year was online only, but this year it was back.  The lineup was different and wonderful.  And, thankfully, the two bands I wanted to see most were on the same bill.

I hadn’t heard of highnoon.  Artist Kennedy Freeman launched Highnoon in 2019.   Now Highnoon is led by Kennedy Freeman with longtime collaborator, Justin Roth on drums, Brendan Simpson on guitar, and Nathan Avila on bass.

I listened to their music and found it pretty and quiet.   Their new EP, Divers is their first body of work since their debut record, Semi Sweet.

I wasn’t expecting a pretty rocking set from this seemingly quiet foursome.  Actually, singer Freeman maintained a pretty quiet level throughout, but she was counterbalanced by some pretty wild guitar shredding from Simpson.  I took some really cool videos of Simpson’s playing, but at this time, Instagram decided that it would no longer allow me to move my video up or down to get the main part of the video into focus. Continue Reading »

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Control Top, highnoon, Philly Music Fest, The Menzingers | Leave a Comment »

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