Feeds:
Posts
Comments

So what happened here?

June 10, 2022 by Paul Debraski

For nearly fourteen years I was able to keep up this daily blog of books and music.

About a year ago I got a promotion and that changed everything.  I no longer had the time to post everything I wanted to.  Heck, I didn’t even seem to have the time to read all the short stories I wanted to.  Amusingly (or not), just before this new position, I had gotten a print subscription to the New Yorker.  This now means that I (like many others) have a two-foot stack of New Yorker magazines that I haven’t even looked at yet.

For a few weeks I was limiting myself to only the concerts that I went to because that was a little easier to write about.  Although back in the good old days, I used to include photo and links, and I pretty much have neither now. And I’m several shows behind as well.

So I’m still reading books and I think I may try to post some thoughts about them from time to time.  I’d also like to think I have time to write about my concerts, but even those are proving to be challenging.

So let’s consider the blog on hiatus more or less, with occasional posts about things I’ve read or listened to.

The good thing is that I like the new position and wouldn’t change it for the world. I guess I never realized how much down time my old position gave me!

Posted in Paul Debraski | 3 Comments »

Built to Spill (Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park, NJ, June 3, 2026)

June 5, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 3, 2026] Built to Spill

Built to Spill is a fascinating band.  I’ve seen them seven times.  They change their setlist nightly which is awesome, and even some of the bigger “hits” don’t get played every show.  They didn’t play Carry the Zero the last time I saw them and there’s no song that they’ve played at every show (I Would Hut a Fly is pretty close).

So they are an indie rock band who tour a lot but who don’t put out a ton of new music.  And yet their fan base is devoted (and pretty obnoxious).  The age range is pretty broad, but there are a mix of twenty-somethings scattered in there who are awful–drunken bros and chatty girls.  The girls next to me couldn’t stop talking and taking pictures of each other and the bros at the bar were audible during the quiter moments–one of them even said something about the bass player which was borderline salacious.

This is the third time I’ve seen the band with this lineup: Melanie Radford on bass and Teresa Esguerra on drums.  It’s the most times I’ve seen them with the same players.  And they have really been gelling.  Onec of the most fun parts of the shows is when Dug does a lengthy improvised solo and Melanie steps back and looks over at Teresa and they smile and get into a tight groove.  It’s great!

Teresa plays in Prism Bitch who opened for BtS back in 2019 and Melanie Radford plays in Blood Lemon who opened for BTS in 2022.  As a trio, they are fantastic.  A friend of mine says he misses the larger band, and yea, it is cool when there are two guitars playing off each other, but this format give Dug a lot of space to play around.

Every setlist is different, even from show to show.  I’m intrigued, though, that they never play songs from Ancient Melodies of the Future (I’ve only seen them play one song from that record).  But as for the other albums, he mixes it up.  And tonight’s show started with Some Other Song and Spiderweb.  The crowd was really loud after his solos–I’m fascinated that there’s so many people who enjoy jammy guitar solos.

I was psyched to hear The Plan, a personal favorite.  It was followed by The Wait which I haven’t seen them play since 2019.

By this time I was getting really annoyed by the girls near me.  They were talking so much.  And I wanted to let it not bother me but they were so annoying.  But they were also apparently really into the show.  They were excited by Center of the Universe, but I have to wonder what songs they really like.

They started Tomorrow, a song I had not heard them play before and a guy at the far left of the crowd shouted They’re Playing My Song!  And he bounced his way to the middle right in front of me, obnoxiously singing and facing everyone until he pushed his way to the barrier ans shouted along. Security came a few moments later and the loud girls next to me started shouting No No, He didn’t…  whatever.  At that point I had to leave the area because I hated everyone.  I was glad my wife hadn’t come because the crowd was awful. Continue Reading »

Posted in Built to Spill, Guerrilla Toss, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

Guerilla Toss (Asbury Lanes, June 3, 2026) [BUILT TO SPILL]

June 3, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 3, 2026] Guerilla Toss

Back in December, Built to Spill and Guerilla Toss played a show at Union Transfer.  I was really excited to go, but it was right after my surgery so I couldn’t make it.  I was especially bummed because I have wanted to see Guerilla Toss for a while.

So it’s awesome that they continued the tour together this summer.

I had heard a lot about Guerilla Toss’ live show and how wild it was.  Reviews I’ve read suggest that back in 2014, Guerilla Toss was a wild band with nudity and short sets.  They have now become far more traditional, but they are still plenty weird.  It’ sjut that now there are catchy, danceable moments within the noise.

So, this show wasn’t particularly wild, but the songs were great and weird and singer Kassie Carlson is a wonderful presence onstage (with great vocal dynamics).  She has a diverse delivery style, sounding at times like the B52s, but also making some fascinating squeaky sounds.

Their bassist Zach Lewelleyn has some fantastic bass lines in the songs.  He’s also either really tall or playing a fairly small bass guitar.  Guitarist Arian Shafiee (who founded the band) plays equally weird riffs and chords.

I couldn’t really see Peter Negroponte (another co-founder) on drums, but he did sing backing vocals a lot. Continue Reading »

Posted in Built to Spill, Guerrilla Toss, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

Just Mustard (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, May 29, 2026)

May 30, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 29, 2026] Just Mustard

I saw Just Mustard open for Fontaines D.C. back in 2022 and they were amazing. They are a five piece band from Dundalk, Ireland.  They make a fantastic noisy mess of shoegaze combined with a wall of noise and singer Katie Ball’s droney vocals.

The band exuded seriousness and they were exceptional musicians.  Drummer Shane Maguire played some amazing and unexpected fills and when he hit the snare hard (which wasn’t always) it cracked to attention. I was right under guitarist David Noonan, who made an amazing array of noises.  Many sounded like guitars, many more did not.  And he was LOUD.

Next to Katie was bassist Rob Clarke who held the whole thing together.   He played simple (sometimes two note) melodies that were absolutely essential to the rest of the band.  And next to him on the far side of the stage was guitarist Mete Kalyon who played a lot of rhythmic sounds (not so much rhythm guitar as rhythmic sounds–his playing was very percussive.  He also generated really cool noises and the music was mixed so that all of the noise came from all over the place.

They opened the show with the noise and really never let up.   Endless Deathless has some squealing guitars–a catchy melody played with sharp sounds.  The drums were fast, the bass was fast and Katie’s vocals were slow and almost soothing.  And that was the pattern for the 75 minute set.

David’s pedals array was dynamic and he used it throughout–I often saw him twisting knobs and tapping buttons–usually while playing the noises.

The fascinating thing is watching Katie–while all of the sounds are looping around the room and she’s not singing, she stands, expressionless, not even tapping to the beat.  It’s unsettling.  Although when she plays the tambourine (from time to time) her rhythm is perfect.

I loved on Seven the simple rumbling bassline and Katie’s quiet vocals occasionally interrupted by almost machine-like waves of guitar.  And then, midway through the song, everything shifted as David pressed his left hand down on the strings near the pickup and played a melodic but percussive clicking, while Mete played more of those machine-like sounds and the whole band just exploded into sound–tension and explosion over and over in one song.

Despite the noise there were many moments that were really quiet–almost shoegazey.  This was especially evident when Katie sang in her quiet style over the waves of sound with only a simple bass line keeping the song on track.  A song like I am You is even creepier since Katie’s voice is almost childlike/ghostly, softly singing “I am you….”

Although I really enjoyed watching David, I was utterly transfixed by Shane Maguire, who almost refused to play bass/snare/bass/snare.  For some songs he played a rhythm on the toms (check out That I Might Not See which only has snare for one section of the song), for others he played all the toms in a row for nearly the whole song.  He hit the rim of the drums, he used some of the cymbals.  It was so interesting and made the song so vibrant.

I don’t know if I realized David was singing as well last time I saw them (he was on the far side of the stage and not visible to me).  I almost didn’t realize he was singing tonight because his microphone was almost literally above my head.  But I did hear a voice that wasn’t coming from Katie and looked up and there he was singing lead on a couple of songs.  And on Deaf he unleashed some serious throat-shredding screams.

There were a couple of genuinely quieter, more conventional songs, like Dandelion (which people around me were excited to hear).  And Pigs opened quietly with a slow three note bass line and percussive sounds from David.  Then Shane gave a drum fill and the noise squealed in (briefly) until returning to that slow quiet section.  I was amused that Rob had sunglasses on the whole time (and it was plenty dark already, how did he see anything?)  The quiet extended middle had Shane playing solely on the rim of the snare drum for a few bars.

Pollyanna was even more fascinating because Rob played a rumble of notes and then generated feedback–and that was the rhythm of the song.  It was fun to watch the stoic bassist creating this wall of feedback.  They played a couple of songs that I had heard last time, like Seven and I am You.  I can’t say I recognized them from four years ago, but there was something about the pulsing echo and two note “melody” of Still that seemed really familiar.  And it’s a song like this–with all kinds of noises going on that it’s remarkable you can hear Katie’s tambourine near the end.

Seed seems like the perfect set ender for them.  As soon as the song started, Mete put down his guitar and started playing with his pedals.  Midway through the song, Rob did the same thing.  By the end everyone was just manipulating noises into walls of feedback.  A crushing end to an intense set.  So glad they came back to Philly.

 

2026 2022
Endless Deathless ⇓ Seven §
Silver ⇓ I am You ♥
Out of Heaven ⇓ Mirrors ♥
Seven § Tainted ϖ
I Am You ♥ Frank §
Deaf ϖ Still ♥
Frank § Seed ♥
Dandelion ⇓
That I Might Not See ⇓ possibly played
Pigs ϖ Curtains ϖ
The Steps ⇓
Pollyanna ⇓
Still ♥
We Were Just Here ⇓
Seed ♥

⇓ WE WERE JUST HERE (2025)
♥ Heart Under (2022)
§ single (2019)
ϖ Wednesday (2018)

Posted in Johnny Brenda's, Just Mustard, Miss Grit, Philadelphia, PA | Leave a Comment »

Miss Grit (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, May 29, 2026) [JUST MUSTARD]

May 29, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 29, 2026] Miss Grit

I saw Miss Grit open for Metric back in 2022.  At that show it was Miss Grit with a guitar and a guy with a keyboard.  She sounded a but like early, noisy St. Vincent, with lots of cool guitar sounds.

Here it is four years later.  Miss Grit was by herself on stage, but still with a guitar.  She had all of her backing music on various machines and she played and sang along.  These songs were of a different vibe than the previous show.  These songs were a bit more dancey.  Abut more electronic (kind of like St. Vincent’s later work, actually).  Although the person she most reminded me of was Mitski with her quiet vocals.

There was a guy in front of me who was very theatrical (and he was happy to tell you just how theatrical he was).  He was there just for Miss Grit, I believe and took lots of pictures, including a several of him with her behind him.  He was a character for sure, but I found him a bit much.

Anyhow, Miss Grit had set up a camera so that there were multiple images of her behind her on screen. It wasn’t much, but it was a cool effect.

It turns out she played only songs from her most recent album Under My Umbrella (last time it was all songs from her Follow the Cyborg album, which hadn’t com out yet).  The only thing weird about this format is that most of the songs had minimal guitar.  She played on every song, but the melody was mostly on the backing tracks.  Nothing wrong with that, but her guitar skills are really good, so it’s a shame they were underutilized (like new St. Vincent).

The slower, moodier Where is My Head was very cool sounding.  Although the songs all had a similar feel.

When she started Waste Me, a bunch of people responded excitedly, so maybe that was a single?  It was a little catchier, but not radically different from the other songs.

It was a chill set, especially given how noisy Just Mustard was,. but I enjoyed it and was glad to see her again.

 

2026 2022
Tourist Mind ∇ Perfect Blue ⇔
Mind Disaster ∇ Your Eyes Are Mine ⇔
It Feels Like ∇ Nothing’s Wrong ⇔
Where Is My Head? ∇ Lain (phone clone) ⇔
Stranger ∇ Buffering ⇔
You Will Change ∇ Follow the Cyborg ⇔
Waste Me ∇ Syncing ⇔
Like You ⇔

∇ Under My Umbrella (2026) [did not play Won’t Count on You and Overflow]
⇔ Follow the Cyborg (2023) [did not play 사이보그를 따라와and The End]

 

Posted in Johnny Brenda's, Just Mustard, Miss Grit, Philadelphia, PA | Leave a Comment »

Witch Club Satan (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, May 27, 2026)

May 28, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 27, 2026] Witch Club Satan

I found out about Witch Club Satan last year.  I’m not sure how I stumbled upon them (maybe Instagram?)  Anyhow,  I was immediately struck by the band:  three Norwegian women in corpse paint singing black metal.  And they were great.  They sang about different subjects (for black metal) and they were fearless.  They had great screams and were completely intense.

I didn’t really think they’d come to the States since they seem pretty niche, and yet, soon enough it was announced they were coming to the States for the first time, bring their tour: Founding of the North American Coven.  And they were coming to Underground Arts.  I grabbed a ticket immediately since I never know if shows like this will sell out.  It didn’t and I was able to invite my son along and grab a ticket day before.  He’s technically not allowed in Underground Arts yet (it’s 21+) but evidently, as long as I let them know ahead of time and follow some basic rules, he was allowed to come along.

He loved the venue (it is very cool) and he loved Witch Club Satan (Penelope Trappes not so much).  Actually, we were both blown away by Witch Club Satan.

The lights went down and they started playing a deep, synthy chord It went on for a few minutes (too long, tbh), but I think they were still setting up because shortly after, the band walked from behind the stage, holding incense.  They walked through the crowd, slowly, making eye contact with everyone nearby.  It was so impressive and the crowd was rapt.

When they arrived on stage lead singer and guitarist Nix (Nikoline Spjelkavik) welcomed us to the coven and they launched into Hysteria.  It was amazing seeing them up close.  The three women wear corpse paint and have blackened eyes and markings.  And from this distance it was easy to see that they blackened their teeth as well.  For the first couple of songs they wore knitted sweaters with openings for their breasts, as well as knitted horned headgear. Nix invited everyone to dance or take their tops off.

Bassist and singer Hedda (who is filling in for Victoria Røising who just had a baby!) was awesome.  She also sang and used a violin bow and a sword on her bass.

The songs are black metal–heavy, short, fast and growled.  I wished I had listened to their music a bit more just so I knew what was happening.  I was able to take a photo of the setlist before they came out so I knew what they were playing, but there were some notes on the page that made things a little unclear.  And after Water Girl, all three women came to the front of the stage to sing the mournful Mother Sea, a completely non black metal story/song that was really intense.

After the song they left the stage and showed a video on the stage.  A few minutes later they returned wearing nothing except for floor-length black wigs (and flesh-colored underpants).  They stood on stage and proceeded to spit blood on the stage and into the crowd (I got some on my glasses!).  Nix leaned into the crowd and whispered into the ear of the woman near me–wonder what she said.

For the intro of Black Metal is Krig, Nix shouted out that there would be no mercy for the mercyless–not for the warmongers, not for Netanyahu.  For the final song of this section, Mother, the three women came to the front of the stage again and they sang/screamed the word Mother (hearing their drummer Johanna Holt Kleive–who did sing occasionally) scream the word Mother in a high pitched wail sent chills up my spine).

They returned for the third part of the set in new outfits–denim and sequined, um, torn headgear and clothing.  They looked insane, and being able to see Nix’s eyes through this mask was really creepy–especially as she made eye contact with everyone.  For You Wildflower, Hedda walked into the crowd and shouted the intro to everyone and people individually

You don’t give up, you don’t give up
The sky shivers, you don’t give up
The ground breaks, the heart aches (Motherfuckers)
The heart aches, the heart aches
They keep lying, they keep lying
The dictators, the small dicks
You keep pushing, you keep pushing (Motherfuckers)
You keep pushing
You keep breathing, you keep breathing
The sun’s shining on your resistance
You keep fighting, you keep fighting
You show up, you keep fighting
You wildflower

It was awesome.  Their “single” Fresh Blood, Fresh Pussy” is certainly catchy and it sounded great.  And then for Witchcraft Techno, Nix crowd surfed (despite being mostly naked) and was safely transported to the stage.  Before the last song, she told us that we reminded her of Norway which was both good and bad.  We were very polite but we were also very uptight and se wanted to see people dance with them.  I was (pleasantly) surprised that there had not been a mosh put up to this point.  I think all eyes were on the stage instead of thinking about dancing.  But the crowd did oblige for the final song and a pit was started.

And that was that.  Their set was about an hour and it was exhausting.  I’m so glad I bought a shirt before the show, but I do regret not buying the tour vinyl of their album.  And, if by any chance, they played nearby again, I would see them in a second.

  • Intro
  • Hysteria ∇
  • Wild Whores ∇
  • Water Girl
  • Mother Sea ∇
  • I Was Made By Fire ∇
  • Black Metal is Krig ∇
  • Salvation ∇
  • Mother ∇
  • You Wildflower ®
  • Fresh Blood, Fresh Pussy ∇
  • Witchcraft Techno
  • Solace Sisters §

® single (2025)
∇ Witch Club Satan (2025)
§ single (2022)

Posted in Penelope Trappes, Philadelphia, PA, Type O Negative, Underground Arts, Witch Club Satan | Leave a Comment »

Penelope Trappes (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, May 27, 2026) [WITCH CLUB SATAN]

May 27, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 27, 2026] Penelope Trappes

I found out about Witch Club Satan last year.  I was immediately struck by the band:  three Norwegian women in corpse paint singing black metal.  And they were great. I didn’t really think they’d come to the States since they seem pretty niche, and yet, soon enough it was announced they were coming to the States for the first time.  I grabbed a ticket immediately

I didn’t know Penelope Trappes before this show.  I listened to a few minutes of a song and got the idea that she was a kind of ambient singer.

She came out on stage with a bow tied around her head with the ends raised above her head like horns or rabbit ears.  She had an electronics board and proceeded to make ambient sounds on it.  She is Australian, but lives in England.  She did say Fuck Ice, which–yes indeed!–but is she here long enough to know about ICE?   I don’t know how much international attention they are getting.  But she was immediately on our side after saying it.

She sang, often sounds, sometimes words.  The first song (I honestly don’t know if she was playing a song, multiple songs, or improvising) lasted about 20 minutes.  I only say this because that’s when she said thank you.  There were lots of changes throughout the 20 minutes and they could have been different songs but there’s no way to tell–her latest album is about 45 minutes and it’s possible she was playing the whole thing, but again, I don’t know.

Correction, I recalled a few words when she sang, and “violent hope” was one of the phrases. It’s from “Red Dove” which comes about half way through A Requiem.  It also featured synths ala Philip Glass which  rather liked. Continue Reading »

Posted in Penelope Trappes, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts, Witch Club Satan | Leave a Comment »

Dry Cleaning (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 6, 2026) [rescheduled date]

May 7, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 6, 2026] Dry Cleaning [rescheduled from February 1, 2026]

Back in February, Dry Cleaning had to reschedule their American tour until May.  Back in 2022, a family emergency prevented me from going to this show.  I was interested in Dry Cleaning who at the time were a kind of trendy British band.  They are of the spoken deadpan vocal/wild guitar noise variety.   I thought they’d be fun to see live once.

So I was glad I did get to see them live.  But what I figured by the end of the night was that you will enjoy them a lot more if you know their songs well.  This is more or less true for a lot of bands; however, there are many bands that I’ve seen where I didn’t know them at all, but I was blown away. With Dry Cleaning, it’s hard to hear the spoken, deadpan words.  So if you focus on the words, you miss out on all the interesting music being made. And if you focus on the music, the words just become another sound.

So I definitely didn’t get the most out of the show.

They are such an odd band to experience because the Tom Dowse plays really noisy, odd and, at times, abrasive guitar sounds.  Lewis Maynard plays some really interesting bass lines melodies and sometimes thumps along with the Nick Buxton on drums.  Regardless of what the band is doing, Florence Shaw speaks at the same volume and speed.

They opened with Sliced by a Fingernail a new single with really random loud guitar noises.  Dowse is interesting to watch as he moves around a bit generating these sounds.  But the bassline is catchy and Florence even doo-doo-doos sometimes.  Which isn’t that unusual since she does occasionally “sing” lines like that.  But mostly it’s a quiet spoken word vocal which is often drowned out by the music. Continue Reading »

Posted in Dry Cleaning, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, YHWH Nailgun | Leave a Comment »

YHWH Nailgun (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 6, 2026) [DRY CLEANING] [rescheduled date]

May 6, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 6, 2026] YHWH Nailgun [rescheduled from February 1, 2026]

I hadn’t heard of YHWH Nailgun (pronounced Yahweh Nailgun) before this tour.  They are a noise/experimental band from New York who originated in Philly.  I’m not sure if they were especially excited to play Philly since no one said anything before during or after the set.

Zack Borzone came out to the mic and made some noises–coos or barks or some such.  And he only got stranger from there.  Once the music started, he flapped his arms, he squatted down and stomped his feet.  He danced and swung his arms around and looked like he might fall over any second.  But he never did–controlled chaos.  Were there words?  I assume so.  Were they understandable? No.  Was it mesmerizing?  Absolutely.  He was also content to stare out at the crowd, making eye contact with everyone.  Unsettling.

Since I didn’t know anythig about them I didn’t know if the songs were as short as they seemed (they are–the longest song on their new album is 1 minute and 20 seconds.  And most of the time when the songs ended abruptly after 75 seconds with no indication that they were ending, there was a pause before everyone applauded. Continue Reading »

Posted in Dry Cleaning, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, YHWH Nailgun | Leave a Comment »

Bloodywood (Theatre of Living Arts [TLA], Philadelphia, PA, May 5, 2026)

May 5, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 5, 2026] Bloodywood

My wife and I saw Bloodywood open for Babymetal about a year ago.  We loved everything about them–their intensity, their positivity and just how heavy they were.  So when they announced a headline tour I grabbed a ticket for myself, my wife and my son.  My son had a final exam the next morning so he opted not to come.  (Smart kid).   So that left my wife and I.  Normally I love seeing opening bands–some of my favorite live bands are band I first saw when they were an opener.

But I looked at this lineup and saw three openers–bands that I have never heard of–and told my wife that we could skip them all.  She had something to do until around 6:45, so we left a little around 7.  I figured we’d get into Philly with a bunch of extra time and then stroll in around 9 right after the third band finished.

Well, we didn’t realize it was Cinco de Mayo and had no idea that South Street was blocked off in a number of places because of some kind of free taco festival.  And we got caught in the middle of it.  We drove about a mile in 45 minutes, finally escaped the chaos and found a parking garage.  When we walked to South Street, there were crazily drunken people everywhere and police on every corner.  We negotiated the cops and entered the venue at around 9:15.  My wife later told me she thought they were going on at 9 so she was panicky and didn’t understand why I wasn’t.  Well, there was no merch line, so I bought a shirt and we headed into the packed room.

I don’t really like being so far back, but TLA is fairly small, so even being n the back isn’t so bad.  Aside from the guy who inexplicably felt the need to put both his hands over he head for most of the songs, I could see fine and the sound was great.

So Bloodywood is a metal band from New Dehli who started out as a band making heavy metal parodies of Bollywood songs.  In 2016, Katiyar quit his job as a corporate lawyer and together with Jayant Bhadula formed a two-piece band with the intention of “destroying pop songs”.

Now, live, the band is a six-piece.  Katiyar plays guitars and flute!  Bhadula sings and growls.  Raoul Kerr officially joined in 2019 and does rap vocals.  The touring band since 2019 includes Vishesh Singh on drums, Roshan Roy on bass and Sarthak Pahwa plays the dhol (an Indian drum that sounds amazing). Continue Reading »

Posted in Ankor, Bloodywood, Ladrones, Philadelphia, PA, The Pretty Wild, Theatre of Living Arts | Leave a Comment »

The Afghan Whigs (Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, May 1, 2026)

May 2, 2026 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: May 1, 2026] The Afghan Whigs

I hadn’t really thought about seeing The Afghan Whigs.  I liked a few of their early albums, but hadn’t really thought about them much at all once they got back together in 2011.  Two of my friends had raved about the band live, though, so when they announced this show and that it was a 40th anniversary tour (instead of a new album tour) I grabbed a ticket right away.

Upon entering the venue, a sign said that the Whigs and Mercury Rev would like us to enjoy the show with out eyes, not with our phones.  Now, I like to take some pictures and I like to grab clips of songs here and there, but I try to be very considerate in my camera usage.  I never hold mine above my head.  So I was on board with this request–it didn’t forbid some photos but it didn’t want a lot.  And for the most part the audience around me was good–but it seemed like Greg Dulli was getting annoyed by some of the people up front who were filming a lot of the show.

I didn’t really know what to expect from the show.  I didn’t think they’d do anything fancy, and they didn’t.  I also had the idea that Greg Dulli had a devoted fanbase of women of a certain age.  He does and they were there in force and they were loud!  And it was a great show.  Sure the ladies screamed a lot but it was in good fun and Dulli seemed to enjoy it.  At one point he winked at someone in the front row and tossed her a pick.

I had listened to some of the newer albums, and, basically, they all have the same tone and vibe, which I like and that meant that any song they played would sound good.  And they did.  I didn’t know most of the songs in the set very well, but the band was great, Dulli sounded great and I have a really good time.  They only played one song from their most recent album (which they toured not too long ago, so that makes sense.  They played the most songs from their previous two albums, but touched on their entire catalog. Continue Reading »

Posted in Mercury Rev, Philadelphia, PA, The Afghan Whigs, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

Older Posts »