Bad Bad Hats @ Johnny Brenda's - Philadelphia
August 7th 2022: Bad Bad Hats @ Johnny Brenda’s - Philadelphia, PA
Bad Bad Hats - Photos Courtesy of Carolyn Lederach
MUNA @ Headliners Music Hall - Louisville, KY
August 5th 2022: MUNA & Jensen McRae @ Headliners Music Hall - Louisville, KY
There is nothing quite like attending a sold out show and basking in the incredible love, energy, and joy emanating from the entire crowd of fans. This was the case on the evening of August 5th in Louisville, KY, when the LA indie-pop band MUNA brought their current tour to Headliners Music Hall in support of their recently released self-titled album. Comprised of Naomi McPherson, Katie Gavin, and Josette Maskin, the trio released the album on Phoebe Bridger’s Saddest Factory label. Opening the show this evening was LA-based singer, songwriter, and poet Jensen McRae. Although she was onstage with nothing but her soft, yet powerful voice and an acoustic guitar, she is the kind of artist that can command the room with her funny and witty banter, endearing personality, and stories behind her songs. She had many fans in the crowd this evening who were cheering with each song and singing along and it was apparent that she loves her fans as much as they love her. She ended her set with a song that had been requested by a fan, telling the crowd that she hoped that fan was here this evening. She went on to say how she had taken a songwriting program at USC at the age of 19 and how the professor had the class write letters to their 8th grade selves, which in turn became the song “Make You Proud”.
As the lights went down, signaling that MUNA was about to come out on stage, the crowd went wild! As the band came out on stage, it was apparent it was going to be an incredibly fun evening, as both the crowd and band were in high spirits and radiating a fun energy! What I noticed right away was how much fun Gavin, Maskin, and McPherson have together onstage with each other and how engaging they are with the crowd! Starting the evening off with “What I Want” from their new album, they proceeded to perform a nice setlist of older songs, such as “I Know A Place”, “If U Love Me Now”, “Number One Fan”, and “Stayaway”, to new songs such as “Runner’s High”, “Kind of Girl”, and “Shooting Star”. Thanking the fans for selling out the show this evening, they talked about how they had performed at this venue a few years ago, opening for Miike Snow. Asking how many people were seeing MUNA tonight for the first time, many people raised their hands. Singer Katie Gavin thanked everyone for coming out and for listening to their new music. “Ending” the set with “I Know A Place”, Gavin talked about how it was one of the first songs the band wrote together and how sometimes it can be hard to find moments of joy and release so when you find those moments, just go for it! After leaving the stage briefly, the band came back out for a two-song encore, both songs being off of the new album. Starting off the encore with “Shooting Star”, the band ended the evening with their recent smash hit “Silk Chiffon”, with Jensen McRae coming out to sing the part that Phoebe Bridger’s sings on the album. It was a really amazing end to a really amazing evening! Aside from the incredible evening of music, MUNA is very welcoming to the LGBTQI+ community and cultivates a warm and safe space for those within that community. At the band’s request this evening, the venue’s restrooms were made gender neutral. They definitely left the crowd eagerly awaiting their return to Louisville!
Jensen McRae
Sasha Alex Sloan @ Theater of Living Arts - Philadelphia
August 2nd 2022: Sasha Alex Sloan, Jessie Murph, slimdan @ Theater of Living Arts
Dan Smith | Bastille - Photos Courtesy of Carolyn Lederach
Sasha Alex Sloan set out this Summer on her I Blame The World tour in support of her latest record. If you’re a fellow fan, you’ll know Sasha’s unique brand of songwriting which emulates her sad girl persona, partnered with a stark look at what is going on in the world.
I Blame The World touches on subjects of global warming, shootings, relationships, growing up, and basically anything not great going on in our world today. This tour consisted of the new bops, along with other classic sad girl Sloan tunes like “Dancing With Your Ghost”, “Is It Just Me?”, “Older”, and more. I may be biased as I’ve been waiting to finally catch a Sasha Sloan show, but she sounded perfect and fully lived up to my expectations.
Jessie Murph
slimdan
Machine Gun Kelly @ Honda Canter - Anaheim, CA
July 16th 2022: Machine Gun Kelly, Avril Lavigne, WILLOW - Mainstream Sellout Tour @ Honda Canter - Anaheim, CA
Machine Gun Kelly - Photos Courtesy of Ali Stevens
Machine Gun Kelly brought his “Mainstream Sellout” Tour to the Honda Center in Anaheim accompanied by Avril Lavigne and WILLOW.
Willow was first to the stage opening with her smash hit “t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l” and captured the audience’s attention with her colorful jumpsuit and amazing vocals. Not to mention shredding guitar during multiple songs throughout the set.
Avril Lavigne was second to hit the stage playing many of her classic hits we all know and love! First up was “Girlfriend”. As the drums began the intro to the song the crowd went wild with excitement. Avril made her entrance by floating up from under the stage with 4 balloons and the hype was real!!! One of the highlights for me was hearing everyone singing “Complicated” at the top of their lungs while they were stuck in line to buy food and merch. It was the ultimate sing-along I didn’t know I needed, and just shows the power of Avril.
Up next was the man himself, Machine Gun Kelly!!! Making one of the coolest entrances to a show I have ever seen. Similar to Avril, MGK was pulled from under the b stage by a rope ladder that was attached to a helicopter and flew around the arena for the entirety of the first song “Born with Horns”. MGK landed on the main stage and went right into “Rockstar” mode. Backed up by his band, MGK and crew brought the heat for the rest of the night.
Special guest appearances were made by Landon Baker, WILLOW, Avril Lavigne, and JXDN.
AVRIL LAVIGNE
WILLOW
Wet Leg @ Empty Bottle - Chicago
July 29th 2022: Wet Leg & Modern Nun @ Empty Bottle - Chicago
Wet Leg - Photos Courtesy of Timi Ikene
Wet Leg sold out the Empty Bottle venue for their after-show in 34 seconds. It's no surprise, given how their music has recently blown up. The duo put on an eclectic, high-energy show that showcased just exactly who Wet Leg is. Next time they're in town, be sure to grab tickets to the show!
IDLES @ The Metro - Chicago
July 28th 2022: IDLES & Taipei Houston @ The Metro - Chicago
IDLES - Photos Courtesy of Timi Ikene
A high-energy band, Taipei Houston, opened up for an even better headliner, Idles and the crowd happily squished themselves into a sweaty mosh pit. If you've ever had the pleasure of attending an Idles show, you know exactly how much energy the guys put into it. So much so that frontman Joe Talbot partially lost his voice while performing to the lovely crowd participating in the pit. Go see an Idles show, you won't regret it.
2022's Pitchfork Festival @ Union Park - Chicago
Pitchfork Festival 2022
- in a few words and a lot of photographs.
The Pitchfork Fest line-up never lacks - from the first artist early Friday afternoon till the last headliner on Sunday evening. Chicago’s Union Park becomes home to thousands of folks from every corner of the earth, from families with prams and picnic blankets to the solo festival attendees who brave every moment of the festival, rain or shine. And there was a lot of rain this year, but everyone kept a fairly good, albeit damp, attitude and kept on with the day and the music - spending delays in the spaces set aside for the CHIRP Record Fair, Renegade Craft Fair and the Flagstock Poster Fair.
As usual, we sent our co-founder, Victoria Sanders, to check out the festival and capture every single artist on the line-up somehow. See the galleries for each day of the weekend below.
FRIDAY
Wiki, SPELLLING, Indigo De Souza, Tierra Whack, Dawn Richard, Spiritualized, Amber Mark
The National - Friday Headliner
SATURDAY
CupcakKe, The Linda Lindas, The Armed, Had, yeule, Dry Cleaning, Magdalena Bay,
Lucy Dacus, Japanese Breakfast
Mitski - Saturday Headliner
SUNDAY
Pink Siifu, KAINA, Injury Reserve, noname feat. The Mind, Sofia Kourtesis,
Earl Sweatshirt, Cate Le Bon
The Roots - Sunday Headliner
See you next year!
Wallows & Spill Tab @ The Anthem - Washington DC
Wallows & Spill Tab @ The Anthem - Washington DC
Cole Preston of Wallows - Photos Courtesy of Gabby Ames
On June 21st, Los Angeles based band, Wallows, played their biggest show yet at The Anthem in Washington D.C. Starting with “Hard To Believe” the venue was filled with the sound of fans singing along. Their music from their new album “Tell Me That It’s Over” had an 80’s synth feel to it. Before finishing up the night they took a request from the crowd and played “I’m Full”. They ended the night dancing and singing along to their most popular track yet, “Are You Bored Yet?”.
Spill Tab
