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Kevin McDonald: Superstar (with Dave Hill opening) (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, August 27, 2025)

August 27, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: August 27, 2025] Kevin McDonald: Superstar

I saw Kevin McDonald do a bit of storytelling last year.  In this very venue.

This year he was back again, this time bringing his musical Kevin McDonald: Superstar to the MOCA.

I didn’t really know what to expect.  I had read that it was a musical, but what does that mean?  Well, when the show started, Kevin and guitarist John Wlaysewski came up on stage and play 2 songs that Kevin wrote.  One was all about grass (not that kind of grass, backyard grass).  Then he told a long story about Johnny Rotten and an AIDS test (which he told in a slightly different style last year but which was still very funny).  And then another song “Just Keep Dancing.”

Then Dave Hill came out on stage.  I hadn’t heard of Dave, but he is apparently quite well known (well known enough to play a ripping guitar solo version of the Canadian and American national anthems before a hockey game (easily found om YouTube).  Dave is also a comedian.  He came up on stage and played a hilariously self-deprecating character (who was secretly loving all of the fame).

He told a few stories and then played some songs.  Even though he is a massively talented guitarist, his songs were hilarious.  He played Danzig’s Mother by getting the sound just right on his guitar, singing the word Mother and the first line and then mumbling his way through to the next time he screamed Mother (just like everyone else who has no idea what the words are).  When he took requests, someone (of course) shouted Freebird (gag), and he said, ok you asked for it I’m playing the whole thing.  He played 30 seconds of the intro and said, there you get the picture.  After a very long song/story about being a part of the biggest meat heist ever, he stayed up on staged and introduced the players for the evening.

It was John and Dave on guitars, Joe Moore as the narrator and Robin Rothman as a few characters (she has an amazing voice). Continue Reading »

Posted in Dave Hill, John Wlaysewski, Kevin McDonald, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, Robin Rothman, Scott Thompson, The Kids in the Hall | Leave a Comment »

Coheed & Cambria / Taking Back Sunday / Foxing (Mann Center, Philadelphia PA, August 27, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

August 27, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 27, 2025] Coheed & Cambria / Taking Back Sunday / Foxing

I like Coheed and Cambria more in theory than practice.  I have one album by them, but I love the whole concept of everything they do.  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.

I have thought about seeing them a few times (when I blew them off in 2022, a guy in Salem, MA said I was a fool for not going), but I’m never compelled enough to go–especially if I have a few other shows around it.

This appears to have been a co-headline tour with Taking Back Sunday having the other spot.  Taking Back Sunday has been around forever and yet I don’t think I know a single song by them.  I know they’re an old school emo band, but I wasn’t really into that scene in the late 90s, early 2000s, so I missed a lot of these bands.  And I’m not willing to dive into their catalog at this time.

Foxing seems like an odd band to have on the bill as well.  Although Foxing is a pretty odd band themselves.  I have seen them twice and they were absolutely fantastic live–even though I barely knew any of their music.  I considered going to this show just for Foxing, but that would have been very silly indeed.

Maybe one of these years I’ll get to a C&C show.  And I would definitely like to get to another Foxing show.

 

 

Posted in Coheed & Cambria, Foxing, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Taking Back Sunday | Leave a Comment »

Wisp / Dream Ivory / Aldn (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, August 23, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

August 23, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 23, 2025] Wisp / Dream Ivory / Aldn

I had never heard of the band Wisp.  They were announced as an opening band for the System of a Down show so I checked them out and enjoyed them.  I was looking forward to seeing them [UPDATE: we arrived too late and missed them entirely].

I was absolutely fascinated that they (she) had a headlining gig at Union Transfer a few days before the show (apparently Wisp has a big online following).

But this show was smack dab in the middle of our vacation so there was no way I could go anyway.

Luckily Gloss was at the show and recorded all three bands (see below). Continue Reading »

Posted in Aldn, Dream Ivory, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, Wisp | Leave a Comment »

Silversun Pickups / Girl Tones (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, August 23, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

August 23, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 23, 2025] Silversun Pickups

I saw Silversun PIckups at this venue last year.  Even though they are from the West Coast, they sure seem to play NY/NJ/PA a lot.  Which is great!

I really enjoyed their show last year, and was excited to see them again.  Then we wound up scheduling our vacation and this show was right in the middle of it.  I was able to sell my ticket (at a big loss, but it’s better than nothing).

Setlist tells me they played the exact same set (with a couple fewer songs!) with one cover that was different.  I wouldn’t have minded the same setlist, but it certainly lets me know I didn’t miss anything too major.  But I’d certainly see them again.

Girl Tones is a duo of sisters Kenzie and Laila Shultz.  Both classically trained musicians, Kenzie “transitioned from cello to guitar and Laila from piano to drums in an effort to electrify sentient beings from this galaxy to the next.”  They “explore every corner of rock ‘n’ roll, flawlessly mastering everything from punk to indie while still maintaining their signature fiery impact.”

The first part of their EP is simple (guitar and drums) delicate pop with the vocals being high and airy.  But the second half of the EP rocks pretty riffing hard and almost sounds like a different band.

I’m curious to see what they’re like live.

Posted in Girl Tones, Montclair, NJ, Silversun Pickups, Wellmont Theater | Leave a Comment »

LSD and the Search for God / A Country Western (Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, August 22, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

August 22, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 22, 2025] LSD and the Search for God / A Country Western

I love the band name LSD and the Search for God.  I like it enough that I considered going to  this show without knowing anything about them.  It turned out to be during our vacation so I obviously didn’t.

LSD and the Search for God has only put out two EPs since 2005 (the second one in 2016).  But evidently they have a cult following (my daughter happened to ask me about them a couple of weeks ago after hearing about them on TikTok).

They play a delightful shoegaze style and I think I would have really enjoyed seeing them in a small place like the Ukie Club.

A Country Western is from Philly.  I hadn’t heard of them, but this review from Post Trash is intriguing:

A Country Western are always trying something new. … Their first work they put out, Phenom is very ambient in nature, with the mix of the few vocals blending into the downtrodden sound. The self-titled EP has a lot more forceful rhythms with beats akin to trip-hop. The EP is often grating in its sound but in an unaggressive abrasive fashion. birdfeeder, the band’s first album, took a more upbeat approach to the slowcore sound, including more succinct song structures similar to their friends in feeble little horse.  On A Country Western’s new album Life on the Lawn they once again tweak their sound into something new and dial up the energy ever so much more. They keep the general vibe reflective of their namesake, but instead of using the stylings of slowcore, they opt for a more straight forward alternative country rock approach.

That’s an interesting review, but I’ve listened to a few songs from their new album and I don’t hear any country in their sound (which is fine with me).

Posted in A Country Western, LSD and the Search for God, Philadelphia, PA, The Ukie Club | Leave a Comment »

clipping. (The Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, August 15, 2025)

August 18, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: August 15, 2025] clipping.

I haven’t been to the Ukie Club for two years.  A lot of good bands play there and it’s easy to get to and to park around, but something about the club feels so young (although Ty Segall did play there and he’s not young).  The last time I was there, I wrote:

Wow was it hot in The Ukie Club.

And this time I say, holy crap was it hot in the Ukie Club!  I sweated from the second I walked in and my shirt was soaked so thoroughly that it was still wet when I got home an hour after the show ended.  There were a/c units on, but they did nothing near the stage.

But even sweating constantly couldn’t ruin a fantastic show.

We saw clipping. open for The Flaming Lips back in 2017.  They were supposed to play Philly during COVID and now, finally, after eight years, they have returned.

For the last show I had just learned about them (and liked them) about a month before this show.  And I wrote

Lest this seem like a vanity project for Diggs, producers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes [Snipes is a sound designer, film composer, and experimental musician who records glitchy, snarky pop-deconstructionist noise music under the name Captain Ahab; Snipes and Hutson are also in the noise band Unnecessary Surgery] are the forces behind all of the music.  The group began in 2009 as a remix project, with Hutson and Snipes taking a cappellas of mainstream rap artists and making power electronics and noise remixes of them to amuse themselves. Diggs joined in 2010 and began to write his own raps over their compositions.  By the way, if we can trust Wikipedia, Diggs and Hutson met in grade school, and Hutson and Snipes were college roommates.  And for the record, Hamilton premiered in Jan 2015.

Unlike last time, I was right up front for this show.  I could have gotten closer but I was enjoying leaning against the pole that’s about six feet from the stage. Continue Reading »

Posted in Captain Ahab, clipping., Daveed Diggs, Fatboi Sharif, Hamilton, Open Mike Eagle, Philadelphia, PA, The Ukie Club, Ukrainian American Citizens' Association, Unnecessary Surgery | Leave a Comment »

Open Mike Eagle (The Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, August 15, 2025) [CLIPPING.]

August 16, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: August 15, 2025] Open Mike Eagle

I saw Open Mike Eagle headline at Milkboy at the end of 2023–I was really happy to have finally seen him live.  He played a lot of songs from my favorite album of his and I really enjoyed his style and the way he interacted with the crowd.

I actually found out about this show because Open Mike popped up on my concert radar.  I was psyched to see him again.  And when I saw he was opening for clipping, I grabbed a ticket as fast as I could.  I assumed it would sell out and it did but not as quickly as I would have thought.

After OME’s set, Daveed Diggs said he drove all the way from Chicago and basically came out on stage with no prep work.  If that’s true then this set was even more impressive than I originally thought.

OME started with a song from Brick Body Kids Still Daydream, the album that introduced him to me (I am surprised to see he’s put out 5 albums since then!).  He didn’t play Brick Body Complex last time, and I was all there for it.

There was a guy in front of me who knew all the words to everything (except the new songs) and he was thrilled to be up so close to Mike.

He rapped four more songs that he had done last time.  And I was delighted to hear them again. I like I’ll Fight You and I really like Very Much Money.  Microfiche is from a great EP. Continue Reading »

Posted in Captain Ahab, clipping., Daveed Diggs, Fatboi Sharif, Hamilton, Open Mike Eagle, Philadelphia, PA, The Ukie Club, Ukrainian American Citizens' Association, Unnecessary Surgery | Leave a Comment »

Goose: Free at Noon (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, August 15, 2025)

August 15, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: August 15, 2025] Goose

It seems like Goose and Geese both came out last year.  But in fact Goose has been around since 2014 and Geese since 2016–so it’s taken both of them about ten years to get serious attention.

It’s also funny that the bands have such similar names since they are so very different.  We saw Geese open for Vampire Weekend and they were kind of jammy but were decidedly weird.

Goose on the other hand is a pretty conventional jam band.  Four members (guitar (Rick Mitarotonda), bass (Trevor Weeks), keys (Peter Anspach–since 2017), drums (Cotter Ellis-since 2024)

I haven’t been going to very many Free at Noons lately.  It is such a hassle especially for a 30 minute show.  On the other hand it’s an opportunity to see a band (sometimes a really big band) in a small, intimate setting.  Goose, for instance, has sold out Madison Square Garden and is about to play the Mann Center.  I wasn’t even sure if I really wanted to see them, and yet this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Especially since my office was closed for air conditioning work. Continue Reading »

Posted in Free at Noon, Goose, Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA | Leave a Comment »

Fatboi Sharif (The Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, August 15, 2025) [CLIPPING.]

August 15, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: August 15, 2025] Fatboi Sharif.

I haven’t been to the Ukie Club for two years.  A lot of good bands play there and it’s easy to get to and to park around, but something about the club feels so young (although Ty Segall did play there and he’s not young).  The last time I was there, I wrote:

Wow was it hot in The Ukie Club.

And this time I say, holy crap was it hot in the Ukie Club!  I sweated from the second I walked in and my shirt was soaked so thoroughly that it was still wet when I got home an hour after the show ended.  There were a/c units on, but they did nothing near the stage.

I didn’t realize the show went on at 8:30 and arrived at 7:45, so I was sweating for no reason.

Around 8:30, a guy cot up on stage behind some gear and he started playing loud beats.  He talked about what he was playing and really tried to get the crowd hyped up.  I assumed this was Fatboi Sharif, but it turned out it was DJ Boogaveli, Fatboi’s DJ.

Because a little while later Fatboi Sharif came up on stage.  The music was loud and his delivery was good, but I really couldn’t follow him very clearly.  I listened to a few of his recorded songs and his delivery is much cleaner.

The fascinating thing is that he brought several guests up on stage–and then stayed to the side while the guests did their own songs.

The first guest was EightyNiner Grant who I liked.  And then came GDP who i liked less (although on Fatboi’s album, I like his delivery quite a lot).

The set was pretty enjoyable.  I would probably have liked it more if I knew his stuff already, but I am intrigued to be sure.  (He is from Rahway, NJ).

Posted in Captain Ahab, clipping., Daveed Diggs, Fatboi Sharif, Hamilton, Open Mike Eagle, Philadelphia, PA, The Ukie Club, Ukrainian American Citizens' Association, Unnecessary Surgery | Leave a Comment »

Dropkick Murphys / Bad Religion / The Mainliners (Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ, August 13, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

August 13, 2025 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 13, 2025] Dropkick Murphys / Bad Religion / The Mainliners

Dropkick Murphys are a Celtic punk band from Massachusetts.  I feel like it’s possible I saw the singer in a pub in Boston when I lived there, but possibly not.  I have their debut album, but hadn’t really listened t them in a couple decades.  Btu they are the most vocally outspoken band against the current fascism that going on in our country and or that I respect the hell out of them.

I also know that Celtic punk is fun as hell.  And while I may not listen to their records, I am certain a show with them would be an incredibly fun time (although at the Stone Pony Summer Stage, I imagine the loud and very drunk fan base would be pretty intolerable.

I’ve been a fan of Bad Religion since, oh who knows, a long time.  Although I haven’t really listened to them that much in the last few years.  I’ve also never really thought about seeing them live.  Interestingly, S. saw them live at City Gardens a few decades ago (clearly she is cooler than I).  I guess I don’t care enough about them to make the effort.

The Mainliners are young guys playing old-school style punk band, “taking inspiration from such legendary SoCal bands as TSOL, Descendants, and DI, and drawing comparisons to others in the vanguard, from The Circle Jerks to The Adolescents.”  Their recordings even sound like they are from the 70 and 80s.  They definitely would have gotten the crowd going.

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Bad Religion, Dropkick Murphys, The Mainliners, The Stone Pony, The Stone Pony Summer Stage | Leave a Comment »

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