Delta Spirit @ Horseshoe Tavern - Toronto
April 4th 2022 - Delta Spirit, Palm Palm @ Horseshoe Tavern - Toronto
Delta Spirit in Toronto - Photos Courtesy of Jenn Kostesky
Delta Spirit hit the stage at the legendary Horseshoe Tavern on Toronto’s bustling Queen St. West April 4th for a show 2 years in the making. The band was in the midst of a reunion tour in spring of 2020 when, like so many others, they were forced to pump the breaks and return home and wait out the global pandemic. Over the course of the following months the band released their most recent album What is There, and have since announced One is One due out May 20th on New West Records.
A palpable excitement in the air in the room of the only Canadian date on Delta Spirit’s spring tour. The set opened with “From Now On” from 2014’s into the wide and went on to span their entire discography, with every song turning into a sing along with the enthusiastic Monday night crowd. Mindset the sweet smell of incense filled the room making it feel more like watching your buddies jam in their living room rather than a well worn venue in a busy city. Being mid tour, the band was tight and fine tuned, yet loose and relaxed having clearly shaken off any rust that may have settled in during their hiatus and following lockdowns. The evening wrapped up with an extended jammed out version of “Trashcan” with everyone in the house shouting along with the band.
Delta Spirit wraps up the Eastern leg of their spring run in North Charleston before for heading West through Colorado, Washington and California in May.
J. Roddy Walston’s new project Palm Palm brought a 40 (ish) minute set of no bullshit rock and roll to open the night.
Palm Palm
Adia Victoria with Lizzie No @ Zanzabar - Louisville, KY
Adia Victoria with Lizzie No @ Zanzabar - Louisville, KY
Words and Photos Courtesy of Emily May
Nashville-based artist Adia Victoria brought her current tour to Louisville recently, performing at the cozy and intimate venue Zanzabar! Always drawing a great crowd when she performs in Louisville, this evening was no different. Opening the show this evening was New Jersey singer/songwriter/harpist/guitarist Lizzie No. There is something so powerful in the simplicity of a singer on stage with just her guitar, her harp, and her voice, and she had the crowd silent in rapt attention as she sang. It was apparent to me from her first song that she is a storyteller, weaving songs about her family, fun things like taking a much needed vacation, her love of Mythology with her song “Narcissus”, and more serious social justice issues surrounding Black lives, such as “Killing Season”, about white peoples’ insatiable urge to come after Black people, and “Sundown”, a benefit track she wrote for Black Lives Matter. Along with having songs that tell stories, Lizzie No has a great sense of humor and chatted a lot with the crowd between songs. Talking about a song of hers that was the closest thing she had to a love song, she told the crowd how people had told her that they danced to it at their wedding. Making a jokingly cringy face, as her relationship with this person didn’t work out, she said that art is in the ear of the beholder and joked that she would be happy to attend peoples’ weddings…not to sing, but to judge for herself whether or not the relationship would work out, which got quite a few laughs! She took a moment during the set to talk about how happy she was to be out on the road with Adia Victoria, whom she considers a hero of hers. She put on a fun and incredible set and I have no doubt she made many new fans this evening!
Next up was Adia Victoria, who is a force to be reckoned with on stage. Having recently released her incredible new album Southern Gothic, she and her band performed many songs off of the album this evening. Starting things off with “Dixie”, Adia truly feels the music as she sings, moving her body with the music and staring out at the crowd with wild eyes and stomping feet. Telling a story about her signature red boots, she told the crowd how she loos down a lot when singing the blues and that her grandmother bought her her signature red boots so she would have something pretty to look at and remember her power. Also mentioning the pearls she was wearing on stage, she talked about how she was told it’s ok to curse, just as long as you look like a lady while you do it! She then asked if someone who works at the venue could bring her a shot of bourbon, since she was after all in Louisville! She talked quite a bit throughout the evening, telling the stories behind her songs and joking with the crowd, making for both a serious and lighthearted set. If there is one thing that is very apparent at an Adia Victoria show, it is how much she loves the Blues. She talked a bit about her love for the Blues and how with the Blues, nothing is off limits or taboo. It lets us see all of the parts of ourselves…the parts beneath the surface that aren’t fine and that it is ok to not be fine. She went onto say, “If anyone else in the crowd is a Christian school survivor, I see you”, before launching into “Whole World Knows”.
About halfway through the set, she did a cover of the 1940 blues song “Parchman Farm”, originally by Blues singer Bukka White, in the style of Bobbie Gentry, one of her musical icons. Telling the crowd how she loves being from the south (South Carolina), she said how people in the south know how to tell stories and turn sad shit into gold. She later talked about how the tour is called the “Ain’t Killed Me Yet Tour” and how women like Nina Simone and Fiona Apple taught her that her life is hers and the only thing she can count on and that as long as she continues to be present in each moment that she’s not done yet. She went onto to talk about growing up in the evangelical church and how it messed with her head and made people scared of death, but taught that if you are good you can go to heaven and fly around in the clouds. She re-enforced her loves for the blues, in that the Blues made it comfortable to talk about death, that her pleasures and flesh were hers. She went onto perform an old Blues cover of the 1933 song “You Was Born To Die”, paying homage to her southern Black ancestors. Ending her set with the only song she released in 2020, “South Gotta Change”, it was a song she says she wrote in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and the death of John Lewis. In speaking truth to power, she said she wrote the song to open her mouth and speak her truth, and that nothing changes unless we make it and how it’s time to start telling the truth, the ugly truth. After leaving the stage briefly, Adia came back out by herself to sing one more song, a song she said a woman must sing by herself. She talked about being a French major in college and studying abroad for a bit in Paris, spending the summer there working on her French and hanging out with French men. When she returned home, she found that when it came to men and women sowing their wild oats, women get shamed but that she wasn’t going to play that game. She talked about how she had fun in Paris and was not ashamed. She dedicated her final song of the night, “Heathen”, to all of the women out there who know they have the right to bodily autonomy. It was a great night of music, laughs, and storytelling that had the crowd engaged throughout both artists’ sets! A magical night indeed!
LIZZIE NO
ADIA VICTORIA
Shovels & Rope @ The Axis Club - Toronto
April 4th 2022 - Shovels & Rope, Jeremie Albino @ The Axis Club - Toronto
Shovels & Rope in Toronto - Photos Courtesy of Jenn Kostesky
Charleston based Americana power couple Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent, known musically as Shovels & Rope, paid a visit to Toronto’s The Axis Club April 3 2022. The stop fell roughly midway through the duo’s tour in support of their latest LP Manticore, released February 18 via Dualtone Records.
As they are wont to do, the couple floated between instruments with each taking a turn on guitar, drums and piano. The 18 song set leaned heavily on material from Manticore as well as the couple’s first album under the moniker Shovels & Rope, O’ Be Joyful, which is celebrating a decade since its release. The couple offered up some quieter, more subdued moments throughout the set, “The Show”, “Shank Hill St.”, and “Bleed Me”, highlighting their passionate harmonies. Fan favorites “O’ Be Joyful”, “Birmingham”, “The Wire”, and ragtime inspired, piano driven version of “Ohio” had the welcoming crowd singing along with every word. Wrapping up their Sunday night set with heavy hitters “I’m Coming Out”, “Hail, Hail” and “Domino”, Shovels & Rope returned took to the stage for a 2 song encore of “Happy Birthday Who” and the Beach Boy’s “In My Room” to wind down the evening.
Toronto’s own Jeremie Albino opened the night with a solo set armed only with a guitar, harmonica and kick drum. The songwriter, who is accompanying Shovels & Rope on their North American tour, is hot off the release of his latest EP Past Dawn.
The Manticore North American tour continues through April 16 before heading to Europe in June.
Jeremie Albino
Alt-J & Portugal. The Man with Windser @ Credit Union 1 Arena - Chicago
Alt-J & Portugal. The Man with Windser @ Credit Union 1 Arena - Chicago
Joe Newman of Alt-J in Chicago - Photos Courtesy of Victoria Sanders
The first time I saw Alt-J was in 2013 - I received an email asking if I was available to work that night selling merch for their show. Fast-forward nearly ten years later, I still enjoy every time I’ve been able to see them - be it in a 400 capacity venue, DJing after their Lollapalooza after show, a festival, and now, the Credit Union 1 Arena at UIC in Chicago. It’s wild to be able to stay on an adventure with a band for so long and watch them do every thing on their own terms. It’s served them well, and I truly cannot wait for each new chapter Alt-J creates for themselves.
They were in Chicago co-headlining with Portugal. The Man (coincidentally, the first time I saw them I was also doing merch for them at a Lollapalooza after show) and opener Windser (who I urge you to check out - what a great human with great music as well).
Here are a lot of photos from that night. From Alt-J’s impressively massive projections and production to PTM’s ode to Bill & Ted, we hope you enjoy!
Portugal. The Man
Windser
Glass Animals with Sad Night Dynamite @ Credit Union 1 Arena - Chicago
Glass Animals Dreamland Tour with Sad Night Dynamite
Glass Animals at Credit Union 1 Arena in Chicago - Photos Courtesy of Victoria Sanders
If you haven’t yet heard “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals, I’m not sure you listen to music at all. The song is now one of my mother’s favorite car songs, and has been atop the charts for a LOOOOONG time. It’s the longest #1 on the charts since the Spice Girls “Wannabe,” - which yes, my mother also liked 25 years ago. Here’s our coverage of the Dreamland tour with a WHOLE lotta photos because this production was dreamy (no pun intended) and demanded an obscene amount of photos to be taken.
Don’t forget to scroll through the photos of the Chicago stop's opener, Sad Night Dynamite - who the crowd ate up and showed a lot of well-deserved love to.
Sad Night Dynamite
We told you there were a lot of photos. ;)
Aminé with AJ Tracey & 454 @ Aragon Ballroom - Chicago, IL
The Best Tour Ever Tour - Chicago
Aminé in Chicago (March 2022) - Photos courtesy of Victoria Sanders
The most Portland Chicago has ever been.
Aminé makes me smile. He should make you smile too. The Best Tour Ever Tour was in fact.. the best. From the most in the production and design side of things (see credits below), there wasn’t a way to not enjoy every moment of the show. And yes, if you aren’t fully familiar with his catalog, you still would have known most of the set - he’s just like that. It feels like we’ve had Aminé making songs for us forever, and let’s hope it continues to feel that way for eternity.
Stage Concept: Aminé
Stage Fabrication: Wasted Potential & Lansirlart Studios
Lighting: Wasted Potential
Production: Hans Tolo
And shouts out to his amazing PR team at Orienteer for always coming through.
AJ Tracey - if you haven’t heard of AJ, you’re more than missing out on one of the UK’s best lyricists. Mans has songs with Skepta, Giggs, Headie One, Stormzy, slowthai… need I go on.
AJ Tracey
454 & AJ Tracey @ Aragon Ballroom
Viagra Boys with Provoker @ Warsaw- Brooklyn, NY
Photos & words courtesy of Edwina Hay | April 4th 2022
Stockholm post-punk band Viagra Boys tour came to Brooklyn, NY for a sold-out show at Warsaw on Monday, April 4, 2022. They’re currently on their first North American tour after the release of their 2021 record, Welfare Jazz, and will wrap up their jaunt in the US by performing at Coachella at the end of the month.
Viagra Boys are joined on this tour by Los Angeles’ Provoker, their YEAR0001 record labelmates. Provoker kicked off the night at 8PM with their moody songs that were further enhanced by the dramatic stage lights. Their debut album, Body Jumper, was also released last year and their setlist consisted of those songs. Before they began “Blue Sheen,” vocalist Christian Petty requested blue lights to compliment the track.
Taking the stage at 9PM were the Viagra Boys. After the band appeared on stage, singer Sebastian Murphy immediately took off his shirt before they began their first song, “Research Chemicals,” from their 2016 EP Consistency of Energy. He spent much of their set drinking and spewing beer, crawling around on stage, and announcing that it was his birthday in between songs. At one point, many people in the audience began to sing “Happy Birthday” to him before the band started another song. The five members of Viagra Boys blazed through their dozen song setlist plus two song encore (“Sports” and “Down in the Basement”).
This was my first time seeing Viagra Boys live due to me missing their prior NYC shows at Bowery Ballroom and Rough Trade NYC (which subsequently closed with only the record store relocating to 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan) in 2019. I arrived at the venue expecting a rowdy and fun show and the band, along with the audience, lived up to those expectations.
Wolf Alice @ Stage AE - Pittsburgh
April 1st 2022: Wolf Alice with Charlie Hickey @ Stage AE - Pittsburgh
Glass Animals in Washington DC - Photos Courtesy of Gabby Ames
Wolf Alice went on their second US headline tour for their recent album Blue Weekend. They played a sold out show at Stage AE in Pittsburgh, with support from Charlie Hickey. The venue had a very intimate feeling which made it easier for the band to interact with the audience during the set. Bringing in the emotions with No Hard Feelings and showing angst with Play The Greatest Hits, it was definitely a show to remember.
Charlie Hickey
