Results tagged “livemusic”

          

Opening band Gallows was pretty damn hardcore. Lead singer Frank Carter jumped out into the middle of the floor and sang almost the entire set in the midst of the pit. But Gallows are off the few remaining tour dates because their crazy antics have beat their bodies. So the very British band (as evidenced by the amount of times Frank said the word "fuck") flew back to England. I'm still undecided as to whether I actually liked them or not, but I was pretty entertained by the spectacle of the whole thing. However, Gallows must have gotten the bad kids all riled up because before AFI got to their encore I had shit stolen.

When watching a concert, there are many thoughts that may pop into one's head. "Oh, this is pretty cool, maybe I'll buy their album." Or, "This is putting me to sleep." When I saw Shonen Knife live at Johnny Brenda's on Monday, the thought that immediately popped into my head was, "I wish I could bake this band in to a cake so I could eat them!" That's a weird thing to say, but Naoko (guitar), Etsuko (drums) and Ritsuko (bass) would totally understand I meant it as a compliment.

Rather appropriately, Prince's "Party Like It's 1999" served as ring entrance music to the the main event at The Get Up Kids TLA show. The newly reunited band is currently touring to support their Something To Write Home About 10th Anniversary CD + DVD. After the new year they're off to see our friends in Australia and Japan, but it sure was nice to have them visit us in Philly for two dates.

Today we were supposed to share with you, dear readers, an interview with guitarist Jade Puget. However, Jade's quotes were rather unfortunately sacrificed to the recordings gods (thanks a lot technology), so we're not able to recount everything we got to talk about, but we can give you some small nuggets of info along with our take on AFI's new album, Crash Love.

We've been waiting for this tour since the "Very Last" Reggie and the Full Effect show at the TLA in September of 2008. Back then The Get Up Kids reunion and Someting to Write Home About 10th Anniversary Live DVD was just a rumbling on the internet. Fortunately, a rumor fueled by James Dewees is a reliable one indeed. The Get Up Kids' keyboard player and Reggie founder dropped hints all along his tour that a reunion would be upcoming, and all but confirmed it during the encore at the TLA.

With a name like Princeton (Myspace), I formulated a vision of a young band from my great homeland of East Coast, New Jersey (Philadelphia Metro Area, naturally), breaking out onto the indie rock scene. And so I was slightly disappointed to find out that my completely baseless guess as to the band's name origin couldn't have possibly been more wrong. Sure enough, twin brothers Jesse and Matt Kivel named their band after the place where they spent most of their childhood. Unfortunately, that place isn't crawling with ivy and preppy college students (or fortunately maybe, depending on your opinion). These boys mean Princeton Street, Santa Monica. As in California. West Coast, Pacific Ocean, sand, sun, surf—all that nonsense. But I'm not going to hold that against them as their first full-length album is pretty damn cool.

Canadian musicians The Weakerthans are one of the few bands (actually, the only one we have found so far) that can tug so effectively at your heartstrings while singing from the perspective of a cat.

The Rx Bandits (MySpace and Twitter) played at the Theater of the Livings Arts on South Street on Wednesday. They're touring in support of their new record, Mandala (iTunes / Amazon).

We covered Kiss Kiss's last record release, when they put out Reality vs. the Optimist and we have good news: they still bring the awesome. Their newest release, , due out July 7, is just as hyper-kinetic and jarring as their first effort. The differences? Well, there's a more calculated organic approach.

The Trocadero is the kind of venue that has something for everyone: all ages are welcome downstairs, and those of us who like to enjoy a brew with our rock can congregate upstairs. This dynamic was especially interesting on Saturday night, when we caught New Found Glory touring in support of their most recent effort, Not Without a Fight (Amazon).

Valentine's Day came and went. Roses were bought and hearts were filled and, probably, some were broken. Cupid choked a little on the rough city air and kept right on flying, gone for another year. Trash cans filled with empty cardboard hearts, once full of chocolate, now bereft of their rich and sumptuous treats.

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $8. You can get 'em here.

When we went to check out Murder By Death at the First Unitarian Church on Sunday night, we thought we knew what to expect. Thanks to R5 Productions, we're used to the quality all-ages shows the Church always delivers. We hadn't seen Murder By Death live before, but we'd been hooked ever since we first heard Like the Exorcist, But More Breakdancing.

HOW MUCH: $5. Get 'em here, or at the door 30 minutes prior to showtime. Tickets reserved online are held at the door until 5 minutes prior to showtime.

It's such a beautiful word, isn't it? Say it with us: F r i d a y.

Sorry we're late but here's the scoop on a couple of tonight's goings-on.

We are so dedicated to bringing you the most comprehensive music coverage that we possibly can, that, as you may have read here or here, we covered both Thursday's and Friday's shows at the Electric Factory. Both featured performances by The Gaslight Anthem, Thrice, Alkaline Trio and Rise Against. This review will cover the first two groups. The Gaslight Anthem played an express set that felt like it ended before it began. They had drive and moxy, but their sound was confusing. Sometimes they were an Alkaline Trio offshoot, and other times they had a decidedly more mainstream "classic" rock sound. Their singer belted out a Springsteen-esque growl on more than one occasion.

HOW MUCH: $15 if you get 'em now, $17 at the door.

Does your boss deserve to be wished a Happy Boss' Day?

On this day in 1967, the Outer Space Treaty went into effect. Since then, over 90 countries have agreed that our planet's nuclear annihilation will have to originate on the surface thereof rather than from orbiting weapons of mass destruction.

Sometimes, though, we do miss it. But not today!

Happy birthday Casey Affleck. We're sorry you have to share a birthday with Muqtada al-Sadr, but it also happens to be the IBM Personal Computer's birthday, too. So call it even?

Happy birthday Mulder, uh, we mean David!

HOW MUCH: Free!

Why did the Phillyist cross the road? To get to...

In a jumble of misunderstood credential arrangements, I arrived at the Popped! Philadelphia music festival last Saturday more or less as a spectator with a photo pass. No interviews, no all-access backstage pass, no video cameras, and not even an idea to give the Phillyist world an artsy camera perspective of the small details involved in being there. Despite my skepticism of the changed nature of this festival, and the frustratingly unorganized course leading up to it, Saturday, no question, was a success.

Never wear a short-sleeve button-down shirt and a $300 tie at the same time. You just look like a wealthy classless fool!

HOW MUCH: $40 per night or $200 for 7 nights (once a week). Call 215-253-4276 for details and to sign up. Class size is limited so hurry up and get jiggy with it.

You know it's bad when the dry cleaning lady gives you a disapproving look and tells you she can't guarantee success on the first try.