COIN & Mazie @ Mercury Ballroom - Louisville, KY
On December 4th, Nashville pop-rock band COIN and LA bedroom-pop artist Mazie brought a fun night of music to Mercury Ballroom in Louisville, KY. Having formed in 2012, COIN has developed a loyal following of fans, as evidenced by the sold out crowd this evening! The floor was packed from front to back and from side to side, as well as the balcony area, with a sea of excited fans, bursting with a fun and infectious energy for the evening ahead. Starting the night out was pop artist Mazie, who released her debut single “no friends” in 2020, which exploded online and earned her widespread acclaim and following of fans. She is like a bundle of light and fun-hearted energy on stage, laughing, smiling, and bouncing across the stage as though there is no other place she would rather be. She exudes such a fun energy that it was hard not to feel happy and joyous in her presence, and as she sang her songs, many in the crowd sang along, and those who did not know the words still danced and jumped up and down, enjoying her songs and energy. Chatting with the crowd between songs, whether it was talking about the song meaning, introducing her band, or asking the crowd “Are you a jumping kind of crowd? I guess I’ll have to see for myself”, she no doubt made plenty of new fans this evening and had the crowd ready for COIN!
As COIN came out on stage, the entire crowd exploded into a sea of cheering, screaming, and clapping. Singer Chase Lawrence is a bundle of energy on stage, and had the crowd singing and dancing along from the first lyric sung. With a kaleidoscope of colorful lights throughout the set, to screens at the back of the stage with different colorful scenes and images, their stage production was amazing. With a setlist that included tracks such as “Dreamland Sequence”, “Into My Arms”, “Growing Pains”, “Babe Ruth”, “Crash My Car”, and their brand new single “Chapstick”, the crowd was singing along to every song at the top of their lungs, with a few sing-alongs led by Lawrence throughout the set. Early in the set, Lawrence grabbed a bouquet of yellow flowers from a fan at the barricade, holding the flowers often throughout the night. Towards the end of their set, Lawrence thanked the crowd for making them feel special and told the crowd that the band was in the midst of writing and recording new music for next year! Leaving the stage briefly at the “end” of their set, they came back out saying “You’re still here!”! They ended the set with “Sagittarius Superstar” and “Talk Too Much”, capping off what was an incredible fun evening that left the euphoric energy of the evening lingering long after the music had stopped!
Mazie
Coin
The Fiery Furnaces & Fred Armisen @ Brooklyn Steel - Brooklyn, NY
Photos courtesy of Edwina Hay | November 13th 2021
Fred Armisen:
In May 2011, The Fiery Furnaces performed during the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, Spain, and the group featuring siblings Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger would go on hiatus shortly after that performance. Fast forward to ten years later, they would reform and conduct their first live set in a decade at the Pitchfork Music Festival in September 2021 and go on a brief tour which would take the band to Brooklyn, NY to Brooklyn Steel, Chicago IL’s Thalia Hall, and Los Angeles, CA to El Rey Theatre in mid-November.
Their concert at Brooklyn Steel on Saturday, November 13th began with comedian/musician Fred Armisen starting at 8 PM. He did jokes involving music such as not knowing how to dance or move when listening to songs in unusual time signatures (Slint’s “Nosferatu Man” was used as an example of this), or illustrating the history of punk via the drums starting in the 1970s through 2000s, and demonstrating how it seems like the drummer who played on Diana Ross’ “I’m Coming Out” didn’t know the song he was playing on.
The Fiery Furnaces, now expanded to a six-piece band, took the stage at Brooklyn Steel at 9 PM. Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger were joined by bassist Brian Betancourt, keyboardist Emily Lee, and drummers Noah Hecht and Cameron Wisch. The group performed songs spanning their catalog and executed them in different arrangements than their records. Eleanor thanked the audience for joining them in person for the show while understanding that not everyone who wanted to attend could due to the pandemic. Some fans traveled from out of state to attend the show and they were appreciative of them being there. The evening ended with “Chris Michaels” from their 2004 album Blueberry Boat, with Eleanor throwing her setlist into the crowd after the song was over.
Fiery Furnaces:
Alexander 23 @ The Foundry - Philadelphia, PA
Photos courtesy of Carolyn Lederach | October 9th
It’s been an interesting few years for Alexander 23. I for one was super excited to finally catch one of his live shows. If his internet presence is any indication of what his shows might be like, it’s bound to be a good time.
About this time last year, we saw the rise of his lockdown love song “IDK You Yet”, which is now up to about 300 million streams. He’s also been busy not only working on his own sad bops, but also working with artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Quinn XCII, and Jeremy Zucker.
You can tell from the joy on all the fans’ faces everyone else was also beyond excited to see Alexander live. With neon sign in tow the show in the small Foundry walls became a fun sing-a-long that makes me look forward to seeing Alexander live in larger rooms in the near future.
All Time Low @ Paristown Hall - Louisville, KY
All Time Low recently brought their current North American tour to Louisville, KY to a packed crowd! Starting the night out was pop-punk band Meet Me At The Altar. A whirl of fun and upbeat energy, they had plenty of fans in the crowd singing along from the first note! Performing a variety of songs from their catalog, including a few from their latest EP Model Citizen, they also performed a short medley of covers halfway through their set, asking “Are there any emotion kids in the building? Of course there are! We’re gonna play some covers and we want you to sing along!”. The crowd proceeded to sing along to covers from Jimmy Eat World, Limp Bizcuit, New Found Glory, and LIT. Taking about how they are an all female band, singer Edith Johnson told the crowd how growing up they didn’t see a lot of female bands and were sad about it and wondered why not do it themselves? Also this evening there was a 7 year old fan in the crowd named Zoe, whose birthday it was, so the band had everyone shout Happy Birthday! It was really fun set to start the evening out with! Next up was Nothing, Nowhere, the stage name of singer, rapper and songwriter Joseph Edward Mulherin. A mix of emo rap, trap, and indie rock, he and his band had the crowd dancing along throughout the set with their infectious energy. Moody lighting and a connection with the crowd made it a fun and engaging set!
Headlining this evening was Maryland emo pop punk band All Time Low. Having formed in 2003, they have gained a strong and loyal fan base over the years, with their 8 studio albums and fun and energetic live shows. Playing songs this evening from their extensive catalog, they also performed tracks from their latest album, 2020’s Wake Up, Sunshine. Asking the crowd if there was anyone for whom this was their first show since live shows started back, they proceeded to say “Feels good doesn’t it? Thanks for being here! It feels good to be back on a stage!”. They started things off with “Do You Want Me (Dead)?” and performed tracks throughout their set that included “Some Kind Of Disater”, ““Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don’t)”, “Once In A Lifetime”, “Life Of The Party”, “Monsters”, and “Nightmares”. Towards the end of the evening, they talked about how there was so much love in the room this evening and how they could feel it coming off of everyone and how when they play shows, everyone in attendance becomes a collective family for a while. They then talked about how love is love no matter who you love! They ended the evening with “Dear Maria, Count Me In”, capping off the evening by shooting off a massive confetti cannon, sending colorful bits of confetti throughout the crowd! It was a fun way to end the set and left people buzzing long after the music ended!
MEET ME AT THE ALTAR
NOTHING, NOWHERE
ALL TIME LOW
Lewis Del Mar @ The Foundry - Philadelphia, PA
LANY @ The Met - Philadelphia, PA
Photos courtesy of Carolyn Lederach | October 8th
It goes without saying that LANY has been extremely busy during the COVID times with releasing not just one but two albums. Personally, mama’s boy was one of my favorite albums from 2020 so I was super excited to see some of those songs live, and Malibu Nights remains a solid pop album I still listen to frequently. Along with the new bops on gg bb xx, there were plenty of LANY classics scattered throughout the night partnered with some great graphics displays.
Philadelphia was one of the first stops on LANY’s current GG BB XX US Tour. The show certainly presented its challenges, mostly with the venue fire alarms going off not once, but seven times due to the haze machines. Despite multiple cut-offs mid-song, the crowd didn’t let it stop the songs from continuing, frequently picking up the lyrics from where the house sound got cut off, it really created some magical moments.
Glass Animals @ The Mann Center- Philadelphia, PA
Photos courtesy of Sophia Ragomo | September 28th
After missing concerts for the last year and a half, there are few things more satisfying than their return. Glass Animals at The Skyline Stage was a joyous comeback to touring that helped everyone remember how much we all love live music. Their set was high energy and captivating, and the stage was decked out with stunning lights and visuals in every color that brought each song to life. Highlights from the show included single “Tangerine,” “The Other Side of Paradise,” and “Youth.” If you are interested in catching Glass Animals live, they are playing a few dates on the West Coast before touring the UK in November.
Les Savy Fav & Heavy Lag @ Market Hotel - Brooklyn, NY
Photos courtesy of Edwina Hay | September 12th 2021
Performing their first hometown show since January 2019, Les Savy Fav headlined Market Hotel in Bushwick, Brooklyn on Sunday, September 13, 2021. Although their previous concert at Elsewhere sold out, this one wasn’t, perhaps due to factors such as it starting at 9 PM on a Sunday rather than a Friday or Saturday night, the New York City public school year starting the following day on Monday, September 13th, New York City employees returning to their offices the next day as well, and concerns about the spread of COVID-19. The event was vaccinated only so attendees had to show their proof of vaccination and photo ID before entering the show upstairs.
Brooklyn’s Heavy Lag kicked off the evening with a great set at 9:15 PM and joked about being out of practice since they hadn’t performed in front of people in some time. The group features Greg Thornberg of Ellen and the Degenerates (which broke up in 2019), Anthony Careccia of Up for Nothing, and Josh Goan (who was in both acts). They performed with a fairly new drummer and remarked that they only have two songs on their Bandcamp page at the moment so hopefully, they’ll record more of their material with their newest member in the near future.
Les Savy Fav’s performances are a rare treat as two members of the band (guitarist, Seth Jabour and bassist, Syd Butler) being a part of “Late Night with Seth Meyers”’ 8G Band and Syd running Frenchkiss Records, among other reasons. Fans of the band and their live sets know to expect wild antics from their vocalist, Tim Harrington, and this show was no different (a list of some of the things Tim did appear below and are documented in this photo gallery). Before arriving at Market Hotel, I wondered if Tim would show any restraint as we’re currently in a pandemic and we all should be practicing social distancing, and was naturally unsurprised when their set began and I realized that answer was a resounding no. They indulged fans with favorites throughout their career and ended their set by performing all the songs from their 21-year-old EP, Emor: Rome Upside Down, which recently became available on streaming platforms.
Tim brought a broom and fake flowers on stage before their set began. At some point he brought a living plant from the venue to the stage, and then sang through its leaves.
Tim later licked the bristles of the aforementioned broom, more than once.
He removed his “I’m in Miami, bitch” t-shirt to later don a brown furry vest, followed by a white Les Savy Fav t-shirt, and then his bare chest.
The white band t-shirt was ripped open while he was wearing it.
He brought an audience member on stage to put their head through the other sleeve of the vest to become a two headed monster.
Tim placed himself against the big glass window behind their drummer, Harrison Haynes, that faces a subway platform, at least twice.
He licked the bald head of an audience member standing to my left.
Tim noticed I grabbed my beer in front of him and remarked “she said, ‘not my beer!’” and he was absolutely right.
He threw the microphone cord into a hook hanging from Market Hotel’s ceiling and sang into the mic while it was hanging from the ceiling.
This aforementioned hook was yanked from the ceiling by Tim.
He sang while standing on top of the bar in the back of the room.
Tim put a beer can, his microphone, and one of the lights from the stage, down the front of his pants.
Syd left the stage at one point, only to return to finish the song the band was playing when he left.
Tim borrowed a male photographer’s camera during their final song, which had a wrist strap, and then took photos with it.