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Knotfall (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, May 19, 2026) [MINT FIELD]

May 20, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 19, 2026] Knotfall

Knotfall is another band from Philly. I’m guessing that the band is the project of singer/guitarist (and for one song, drummer) Sami Rahman.  Because there have been different people on the different releases.

They totally threw me for a loop when I listened to them because I thought that they were basically a shoegaze band (since Mint Field is).  August in the Water starts their album and this set.  It has quiet guitars and soft vocals.  It’s quite lovely and I could see how they fit with Mint Field.  The song built to a louder sound, but still rather shoegazey (actually I found that his voice sounded a bit like Grandson and sometimes like Pavement).   But as the song reached the end, he started screaming in an intense, voice cracking sort of way.  And then the song dropped down to quieter moments again.  It was surprising on record but it was even better live.

Beyond Memory had an early Cure feel with lots of fuzz and I loved when the song broke and the two guitars played a really cool and clear riff–that blasted through the fuzz.  But the bigger surprise came at the end of the song when it shifted gears into a really heavy sound and really dark almost doom metal riff.  It was great and really intense–I would have happily let that riff continue for several more minutes, but it stopped after just a few runs through.

Sami told us that five of the six songs they were playing were from their recently released debut album.  Surprisingly they didn’t have any for sale and their shirts (which were really cool) were only Small-Large. Continue Reading »

Posted in Knotfall, Mexico, Mint Field, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, Sherrie | Leave a Comment »

Sherrie (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, May 19, 2026) [MINT FIELD]

May 19, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 19, 2026] Sherrie

I like going to PhiaMOCA, it’s so casual and it’s such a great space to meet and chat with a band.  For whatever reason, I was early for this show.  When I walked in (probably at 7:30) Sherrie was still doing a sound check.  It was pretty weird and slightly awkward.  But it was hot out and cool inside, so I did some NY Times puzzles and listened to the band get ready for the show.

Sherrie is a band from Philadelphia.  When I saw that they were opening for Mint Field, I went to their bandcamp site and saw that they had three songs out.  I hadn’t realized until writing this that each of these songs came out at a rate of one a year, and that none of the songs were released in the last five years.

I can’t find out much about the band.  The lead singer is Rae and there’s a guy who has been with Sherrie since the beginning, whose name is Drew.  Their Instagram page has a few things up before COVID and then nothing until 2024.  Ah, and then I see that their first gig was at Ortlieb’s in March 2024–they were a two piece.  Then they played Johnny Brenda’s in April of this year as a five piece.  For this show they were a four piece.

Sherrie describes their music as dream pop, but it feels more like bedroom pop to me–remarkably spare, although it is sweet.  There’s not a lot of movement from the band–except for the last song when the Rae walked over to the keyboard that someone else was playing and pushed a button to change the sound of the keys.  She stayed for a bit and then turned it off again. Continue Reading »

Posted in Knotfall, Mexico, Mint Field, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, Sherrie | Leave a Comment »

Dethklok (Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, May 14, 2026)

May 16, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 14, 2026] Dethklok

So I was aware of the show Metalocalypse, but didn’t know much about it.  When Dethklok toured last time, I read about how interesting it was to have a cartoon band like Gorillaz (but heavy metal) play live.

I didn’t know much about their music.  I listened to a few songs and was cool with them.  I expected a funny kind of show with the band playing behind or beneath animated versions of themselves.

But instead, what we got was the band in darkness (literally, you couldn’t see their faces at all) and clips from the show on the screen behind them.  So it was kind of the worst of both worlds.  It wasn’t new animation of the band playing these songs, it was just random clips–or maybe clips from the show when they played these songs?  But there were lots of repeated clips, so that wasn’t as much fun.

It also meant that those of us who didn’t know the show really had no idea what was going on.  My son, who didn’t know anything about the show thought they were villains and not the world’s most favorite band

The set opened with a video–Is Dethklok Back?  And it was pretty funny.  So I assumed the whole show would be funny in some way.  But it wasn’t.  It was serious death metal–fast, heavy and completely ununderstandable.  The songs were short and there were definitely songs that people liked more than others, but it was more or less a blur of noise. Continue Reading »

Posted in Amon Amarth, Bethlehem, PA, Castle Rat, Dethklok, Metalocalypse, Wind Creek Event Center | Leave a Comment »

Amon Amarth (Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, May 14, 2026) [DETHKLOK]

May 15, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 14, 2026] Amon Amarth

This was my fourth time seeing Amon Amarth.  I didn’t really need to see them again, which is why I didn’t want to pay full price for these tickets.  But when they went on sale, I happily grabbed a pair for my son and I.

They hadn’t put any new music out since 2023 (except for one single), so I didn’t expect there to be much difference between this show and the last time we saw them.  But I have to say, they really do mix up their shows from tour to tour.  Yes, there are some songs that I have seen at every show, but there were 9 songs (out of 15) that I hadn’t seen them play before.

We were really close to the stage (just outside of the Pit, which I did think might be fun to join in on) and could easily see singer Johann Hegg (who had a horn of mead (I assume) on his belt and a swagger in his walk) smile and really seem to enjoy himself and the fans.

For this tour they had a video screen set up behind them. They also had the giant inflatable Viking statues (I was so surprised that they were inflatable the first time I saw them, they were quite impressive (but what else could they be?)).  They opened with Raven’s Flight and I really enjoy the way the band walks around acknowledging the audience and making everyone feel a part of the show.

Up next was Shield Wall, a song I’ve seen at every show and which somehow I forgot meant that there would be two guys on either side of the stage waving giant shields around.  The first time I saw them I was really impressed by their stagecraft–even as an opening band.  And it continues with each tour.

Then there were a whole slew of (to me) new songs.  I don’t really know their recorded music very well, so it’s all new to me, but this block featured songs from 2008, three songs from 2006’s With Oden on Our Side (their third album and one I haven’t heard them play anything from before) and even one song from their debut album.  This was such a fascinating mix of songs to me since on their 2024 headline tour they played one song from 2004 and every thing was 2008 or newer.  There were some really cool visuals for these songs, too. (Okay they had a couple of albums before that but I feel like they don’t really count). Continue Reading »

Posted in Amon Amarth, Bethlehem, PA, Castle Rat, Dethklok, Saxon, Wind Creek Event Center | Leave a Comment »

Castle Rat (Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, May 14, 2026) [DETHKLOK]

May 14, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 14, 2026] Amon Amarth

I have really enjoyed going to Amon Amarth shows.  When this one was announced I was interested partly because I was interested in Dethklok (since they are a cartoon band).  But the tickets were really expensive.  Until Live Nation had a sale.  I think I got them for $35 instead of $80.

The last time my son and I went to Wind Creek, it sucked bad.  The parking was a nightmare, the crowd was smelly and the place basically sucked.  He said he’d never want to go back, but he made an exception for this show.  And once again, the parking was terrible,  At least we found a spot on the main concourse this time.  But it took us a while to get into the venue (jeez, the security line is insane).

So we walked in right as Castle Rat had started.  I didn’t know much about them although I had listened to a song or two.  I had also heard that their live show was fantastic.  So I did want to check them out.

And, in a nutshell, yes, their live show is amazing. Continue Reading »

Posted in Amon Amarth, Bethlehem, PA, Castle Rat, Dethklok, Wind Creek Event Center | Leave a Comment »

Courtney Barnett (The Fillmore, Philadelphia, PA, May 12, 2026)

May 14, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 12, 2026] Courtney Barnett

Before Courtney started, a woman near us was talking to someone who had not seen her before and she said to be ready because she rocks a lot harder that you may think.  And she totally does.  For a trio, her band totally ripped. And when she soloed, it never felt like a bass player playing behind one guitar.

I can’t remember what the audience was like for her last time, but this time I found them really awful.  There were some metal dudes to the side of us who were headbanging and almost moshing.  But it was only the few of them and they did not sit well with the other people around us.  There was a guy who was very chatty with everyone around him throughout the set and the poor woman in front of me really could never see well no matter how she arranged herself until she finally moved elsewhere about half way through the set.  I think once she moved I felt better too.  But my poor wife was behind a woman with very long white hair, which we initially thought would be a safe place, but she proved to be a writhing, arm waving irritant, who never moved up into the ample space in front her.  So yea, even though Courtney was great, the show was annoying.

But you can’t blame Courtney for her fans,

She came out on stage and launched right into Stay in Your Lane, the ubiquitous single from her new album.  The song is fun, but it’s even more fun when she gets to do her live guitar work around it.

I’m intrigued to see that eight years later, her second and third songs of her set were the same: City Looks Pretty and Avant Gardner (which the crowd went berserk for). Continue Reading »

Posted in Courtney Barnett, Kurt Vile, Momma, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Truman Sinclair | Leave a Comment »

The Joy Formidable (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, May 13, 2026) [rescheduled date]

May 13, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 13, 2026] The Joy Formidable [rescheduled from March 8, 2026]

In early February, The Joy Formidable said that they had to postpone the East Coast part of their tour due to the expenses of touring.  I honestly don’t understand how two months could have made much of a difference, but it did move from a Sunday that was quite busy to a Wednesday when I could have also gone to see Avatar (The Joy Formidable won out).

I had seen The Joy Formidable four years ago.  I didn’t really know them that well, but they were always on the periphery of my interests.  And wow, the blew me away live.  I was really excited to see them again.

In the intervening years, their drummer decided to call it quits and Bass plater Rhydian Dafydd put out a solo album and singer/guitarist Ritzy Bryan put out music as Shy Western.

So this show was billed as an intimate evening with The Joy Formidable and it suggested that Rhydian and Shy Western would be opening or something.  I arrived pretty early (minimal traffic) and was all set to get a spot near the stage.  But it turned out that the show was (mostly) seated.  The floor was all seats and the slightly raised section was also all seats.  My ticket did not get me floor seats, which was just as well as I really enjoyed my elevated seat in the front row.

Well, it turned out that Ritzy and Rhydian were the only two on the tour.  And the set was primarily Joy Formidable songs, but with one Rhydian and one Shy Western song thrown in.  I assumed from this that the set might be mellow and acoustic (no drummer), but in fact, they proceeded to rock out from the start.  Rhydian had a drum pedal thing so that he could tap out loud drums while playing and singing.  When I saw them last time, their drummer was great, so this was a little less exciting, but the drums really added a lot to the sound.  In fact, the sound was pretty big as they played The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie.  The song has a pretty powerful ending and just as they hit the last chord, the lights went out.

We were all very impressed at this unexpected high tech coordination.  Until we realized that all of the power was out.  Total coincidence that it was right on the beat.  The room was almost entirely dark, but there were a few emergency lights on.  We soon learned that the power failure was on the whole block.  With no real indication of how long it would last, the two decided to play some acoustic songs.  They sat on the edge of the stage and played Maw Maw Song.  This song had been starting off Set 2, so they were just winging it at this point. It was quiet in the place but even without amplification, Ritzy’s voice sounded great.

I’m not sure if they asked for requests or someone asked for A Heavy Abacus, but they hadn’t been playing that at other shows, so we got a one of a kind song.  Midway through the song the power cam back on.  For the most part it was only small things that started powering up.  The amps had powered up by this time but there was no light yet.  So there was some sense of aha! when they started to play The Greatest Light Is the Greatest Shade (It didn’t make the stage lights come back though).

They played Austere in the dark (there as something really cool about this vibe, because we could see them somewhat with the ambient light) and then half way through Ostrich, the lights fully returned.

Throughout the whole thing, they were always polite and funny and the crowd I think enjoyed it all knowing we were get something unintentionally special.  After  a gorgeous Into the Blue (everything was normal now), they played a Welsh song Yn Rhydiau’r Afon.  They had mentioned that they’d seen all of the Welsh names in the area (they didn’t even mention Bryn Mawr, which is just down the road).  So it was fun to have a little discussion of Wales and the Welsh language.

Ritzy has just released her album under the name Shy Western.  It came with a book called Hugger.  For whatever reason (maybe the name), I thought that Shy Western would be a fairly mellow album, but I was totally wrong.  I’m not sure why people make solo albums that sound similar to their band albums, but I can see how this differs from TJF songs.  They ended the set with Interval and then left for a little break.

When they returned, they had a third person with them!  Byron Owens (who was also selling their merch) sat behind them.  They started with Little Blimp–I’m curious what Maw Maw Song would have sounded like loud now.   Owens played percussion on this one–it’s amazing how much those little shakers added to the song. Then they played Cradle with Owens playing spoons!

After Cradle, they played a Rhydian Dafydd song.  And so, that was how the billing played out.  The two members of Joy Formidable played one song from Shy Western and one from the Rhydian Dafydd album.  Make the Sign was a ripping song with noisy guitars and a driving bassline.  It proved to be one of the louder songs of the night and I am totally excited to check out the rest of his album.  And when they moved on to Whirring and their cover of the Kinks Strangers (A song I didn’t know) Owens played the saw!  The saw solo on Whirring was amazing.  Ritzy had a cough during Strangers–I was doing so well this tour.

They played a few songs that they’d played last time.  (Greatest Light, Ostrich, and Whirring).  But the ended the set with a Kinks cover and a terrific version of Wolf’s Law.   I’m not sure why they didn’t squeeze in The Leopard and the Lung which they’d been playing at other shows, but I guess they wante dto keep the number of songs the same at each show.

Nevertheless, they promised that they’d be coming back again sooner rather than later, which I’m pretty excited about.

 

 

2026 2022
 Set 1 (Ritzy and Rhydian) The Greatest Light Is the Greatest Shade ℜ
The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie ℜ
(Power went out (right on the beat, it was pretty cool) as the song ended)		 I Don’t Want to See You Like This ℜ
Maw Maw Song ϖ
(played on the edge of the stage in the dark, Ritzy on acoustic guitar and Rhydian on mandolin)		 Y Bluen Eira ∇
A Heavy Abacus ℜ
(played acoustically on the edge of the stage. Power came back mid song)		 Ostrich ℜ
The Greatest Light Is the Greatest Shade ℜ
(Power to audio only–lights had not come back on yet–played electric but in the dark)		 CSTS (Come See the Show) (bonus on ⇔)
 Austere ℜ
(Played electric but in the dark)		 Into the Blue ⇔
Ostrich ℜ
(Lights returned mid-song)		 Cradle ℜ
Into the Blue ⇔ Sevier ⇔
Yn Rhydiau’r Afon ‰ Silent Treatment ϖ
Hugger ©
(Shy Western song)		 Chimes ⇔
Interval ⇔ The Leopard and the Lung ϖ
Set 2 (with Byron Owens on percussion) encore
Little Blimp ϖ   Gotta Feed My Dog ⇔
Cradle ϖ Whirring ℜ
Make the Sign φ
(Rhydian Dafydd song)
Whirring ℜ
Strangers
(The Kinks cover)
Wolf’s Law ϖ

⇔ Into the Blue (2021)
∇ AARTH (2018)
‰ Arthuthrol A split single (2016)
ϖ Wolf’s Law (2013)
ℜ The Big Roar (2011)
♠ A Balloon Called Moaning (2008)

SHY WESTERN
© Hugger (2026)

RHYDIAN DAFYDD
φ Ad.un.iad (2026)

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Rhydian Dafydd, Ritzy Bryan, Shy Western, The Joy Formidable | Leave a Comment »

Momma (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 12, 2026) [COURTNEY BARNETT]

May 13, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 12, 2026] Momma

This was my third time seeing Momma.  I was super excited to see them the first time and looked forward to seeing them headline a little bit later.

I bought tickets to this show not even caring who the openers were.  But I was pretty happy to see that Momma would be one of them.

Momma have been playing live for a while now and their set is pretty smooth.  After the last time I saw them, they posted online a complaint about 40 year old men with no kids standing in front of the young girls who can’t see.  I get the sentiment but it came across really nasty.  And it made me feel like they don’t really enjoy themselves on stage.

And I felt that way through the whole set.

Bands don’t have to be cheerful and smiling–many bands aren’t-but I get a feeling of almost disdain from the band.  Which is only weird because their songs are so warm and welcoming.  Or maybe it was the audience who gave me the weird vibe for the show.  I was kind of puzzled by the audience during Courtney’s set as well, but something just felt off to me. Continue Reading »

Posted in Courtney Barnett, Momma, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia | Leave a Comment »

Truman Sinclair (The Fillmore, Philadelphia, PA, May 12, 2026) [COURTNEY BARNETT]

May 12, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 12, 2026] Truman Sinclair

My wife does not care for opening acts.  I always make her sit through them (and sometimes she admits she likes them).  But this show happened to be on a night that she had something to do right up until we were about to leave.  So, I said I didn’t care if we missed this first opener Truman Sinclair, but I did want to see Momma.

So we left probably 30 minutes later than I normally like to leave.  And we hit ZERO traffic.  And parking was easy and there was no line yet so we wound up seeing all of Truman Sinclair’s set.

I’d never heard of the guy, but he had a youthful charm (he’s 23) and a really good sense of melody.  He’s from Chicago but lives in L.A

His second song sounded a lot like a Neil Young song (the chords and harmonica are similar to Heart of Gold).  Although his voice sounds nothing like Neil’s

His songs were mostly slower (Sit By the Fire–I’m not very fond of lines like “I’ve got you you you you you,” but whatever. Continue Reading »

Posted in Courtney Barnett, Kurt Vile, Momma, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Truman Sinclair | Leave a Comment »

Biffy Clyro (Theatre of Living Arts [TLA], Philadelphia, PA, May 7, 2026)

May 8, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 7, 2026] Biffy Clyro

Four years ago I saw Biffy Clyro at Union Transfer.  They were great.  And I couldn’t get over how back home in Scotland they typically headline festivals of thousands of people.  They recently had a film made about the: Biffy Clyro: Cultural Sons of Scotland in which they played a concert for some 50,000 people.  And yet here they were playing 1,000 person clubs.  But they put on a show as if they were playing for 50,000.  It was awesome.

They had initially announced the tour for December 2025 and there was no Philly date.  But they had visa issues:

“Some [expletive] genius put the wrong start date into our work visa, so when we received our visas in the last couple of days, we realised it doesn’t begin until after our tour is meant to finish,” he said in an Instagram video, adding: “We are so angry about this.”

But their problem is my luck because the newly scheduled dates now included a Philly show.  Whoo hoo!

Last time, they were the trio that they have always been.  But for this tour, bassist James Johnston was seeking treatment for addiction issues and wasn’t able to tour.  In his place was  Naomi Macleod, who has plays bass with Empire State Bastard, Simon Neil’s side project with Dave Lombardo–wish I had gotten to see that!  They also brought out touring guitarist Mike Vennart (who is also in ESB).

As always, the other two guys were shirtless from the get go.  I was in front of singer/guitarist Simon Neil, who puts everything he has into a live show.   His vocal cords must be totally shredded by the end of the night.  Naomi was in  the middle and her bass was excellent.  I couldn’t really see Mike that well, but it was clear when he was adding extra parts to the song (especially when one of them had an acoustic and the other had the electric). Continue Reading »

Posted in Biffy Clyro, Philadelphia, PA, Raue, Theatre of Living Arts | Leave a Comment »

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