by ImperfectFifth | Jan 16, 2020 | review, snapshot
Not even freezing temperatures and icy roads could stop Kansas City from showing up for their favorite hometown act last Saturday as indie-pop band
The Greeting Committee returned home and took the stage for a sold-out crowd at Uptown Theater. The energy in the theater was absolutely electric as fans packed into the venue, eager for an escape from the cold and snowy night. It was delivered.
Addie Sartino, the band’s frontwoman and charismatic shining star, was, as expected by the eager crowd, a force to be reckoned with. It was a constant stream of highs as Sartino led the audience through a whirlwind of emotions throughout the night. The group played fan favorites like “Don’t Go”, “Pull It Together”, and “You’ve Got Me” as an ecstatic crowd danced and sang along with Sartino. She flawlessly demonstrated her talents on every one, not missing a beat and thriving throughout the spirited set.
A notable moment came fairly early on as a nostalgia-inducing “salute to our youth” saw the band bring on stage a large group of local Kansas City musicians for a cover of Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up” that bordered on spiritual. But the homegrown band was just getting started.
About halfway through the show, Sartino asked the audience to respect her request “human being to human being” as she asked that everyone be completely silent while she performed “Call in the Morning”, a somber track that deals with tragedy off of the band’s new EP. Complete and total silence blanketed Uptown as Sartino traded her typical high-energy performance style for vulnerability and a powerful stillness as she stood center-stage while singing the track. Even in her stillness, her ability to connect to her material shone through. A completely mesmerized crowd couldn’t peel their eyes away from the frontwoman, who encapsulated what it means to put yourself into a performance. Sartino’s demanor shifted as she made it to the song’s spoken word portion, and she frantically ran around the stage as the lights went blue and she yelled out the monologue to a sea of teary faces. “Call the police, drain the bathtub, hide the bleach, call ‘em quick love. I think we’ve lost it” she screamed. “I cannot find another you”.
Sartino threw herself to the floor and pounded her fists along with the heartbeat-like drums as she screamed “Call the police!” over and over again. The song appeared to be pure catharsis for the young performer. The theater went dark as “1-800-273-8255” and “If you’re looking for a sign to stay alive, this is it” appeared on the screen and remained there as the band played the ending to the song softly in the background. 2,000 fans stood unmoving and silent, and many faces were streaked with tears as the audience stared at the dark stage, completely overcome by the power of the moment that they had just witnessed. Uptown was momentarily still as the crowd stood frozen, unsure of how or if the silence should be broken.
But just like that, Sartino was back on stage and better than ever, and the crowd rallied along with their fearless leader. The band took what could easily have been a hard moment to recover from and kept the wonderful moments coming, and it was impossible not to latch on to their infectious energy. The crowd’s spirits climbed through the roof as the show continued to escalate. The back half of the night included a mosh pit during fan-favorite “Hands Down”, and crowd-surfing by literally everyone in the band. The final song of the night, “Gold Star”, got intimate as the band got off stage and played amongst the very crowd that helped them make their largest show to date possible before exiting (while still playing of course) out the front door. It was a full-circle kind of night for the band and fans alike, and, in the words of the guy in front of me who couldn’t stop crying, “That was just special”.
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article by: madi toman
by Elizabeth Schneider | Dec 17, 2019 | Featured, perspective
2019 has seen a plethora of music come through Kansas City, both large tours and one-off intimate shows. We are fortunate to live in an area that attracts artists of all musical genres.
Two of the shows I enjoyed most this year were Panic! At The Disco (February 2, Pray For The Wicked Tour) and Backstreet Boys (September 7, DNA World Tour). Before you think this is the opinion of someone who grew up on boy bands, understand that I am the mom of young women who listened to boy bands as a part of their musical repertoire. Road trip music did include the Backstreet Boys and Panic!, but playlists also consisted of Garth Brooks, P!nk, show tunes, The Temptations, and the Proclaimers among others. Music, and live music, are givens in our family.
When these two tours were announced, I knew that my two daughters and I had to go to both of them. I had never seen Panic!, but both of them had, so I was excited to see this show. It did not disappoint. The show was sold out and everyone was on their feet the entire time. Brendon Urie entered the stage by leaping out of a hole in the floor and the energy did not wane from there. With a full band that included strings and horns to back up Urie, the entire show was a musical gem. In addition to the songs, which everyone knew every word to, lights, pyrotechnics, and graphics were used to create an event, not just a concert. Brendon Urie also spent some time playing piano, both at the front stage, and an auxiliary stage which was then elevated over the crowd.
I can honestly say that I came away from that show hoarse from singing at the top of my lungs. It was so much fun to watch other people enjoy themselves. All 14,000+ of us were at a party together and no one left dissatisfied. Don’t threaten me with a good time!
Setlist
(Fuck A) Silver Lining
Don’t Threaten Me With a Good Time
Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind)
Hey Look Ma, I Made It
LA Devotee
Hallelujah
Crazy=Genius
The Ballad of Mona Lisa
Nine in the Afternoon
One of the Drunks
Casual Affair
Vegas Lights
Dancing’s Not a Crime
This Is Gospel
Death of a Bachelor
I Can’t Make You Love Me (Mike Reid cover)
Dying in LA
The Greatest Show (Benj Pasek & Justin Paul cover)
Girls/Girls/Boys
King of the Clouds
High Hopes
Miss Jackson
Roaring 20s
Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen cover)
Emperor’s New Clothes
Encore:
Say Amen (Saturday Night)
I Write Sins Not Tragedies
Victorious
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Backstreet Boys were another first time show for me. Once again, my daughters had seen Backstreet Boys, so I was looking forward to going with them. What I didn’t expect was for this show to sell out as well! Although the crowd was slightly older than the crowd at Panic! At The Disco, there were plenty of younger people in the audience as well. And once again, these were people who did not sit down during the show!
Backstreet Boys employed a more traditional stage, but were in constant motion to cover the entire area. This also allowed them to take turns singing lead. There was not band on stage, but no one seemed to mind – these fans were here for the Backstreet Boys. The Boys, which I hate to say since they are all married men with children, interspersed medleys with their full length songs to cover most of their broad catalog. Everyone knew all of the songs, regardless of whether they were 20 years old or on the newest album. And they sang every word.
And I sang every word and danced with my daughters, just like other moms in the audience danced with their daughters. Live music can help you create memories like none other.
Setlist
Everyone (First verse only)
I Wanna Be With You
The Call
Don’t Want You Back
Nobody Else (Brain Solo, First verse and chours)
New Love
Get Down (You’re The One For Me)
Chateau (Howie Solo, First verse and chours)
Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely
Incomplete
Undone
More Than That
The Way It Was (Nick Solo, First verse and chorus)
Chances
Shape of My Heart (No second verse)
Drowning (No second verse)
Passionate
Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)
As Long As You Love Me
No Place
Breathe
Don’t Wanna Lose You Now
I’ll Never Break Your Heart
All I Have to Give (Conversation Mix)
All I Have To Give
Backstreet Boys DNA Tour Remix
Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)
We’ve Got It Goin’ On
It’s Gotta Be You
That’s the Way I Like It
Get Another Boyfriend
The One
I Want It That Way
Encore:
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
Larger Than Life
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What was your favorite show of 2019? Let us know on Facebook!
by Kira Cappello | Jul 29, 2019 | show review
Loop pedal and guitarist goddess
Sidney Gish just began a month-long, coast-to-coast U.S tour, and this past Friday she was emphatically received by a full house in the City of Brotherly Love. The 14-song set was the perfect length, given the relative brevity of Gish’s indie rock/blues infused jams. A majority of the setlist were numbers from her 2017 album No Dogs Allowed, with a healthy mix from slightly earlier 2017 album Ed Buys Houses, as well as a classic Talking Heads cover thrown in the mix.
Accompanied by opening group Another Michael, Gish played the
PhilaMOCA, whose ambiance is a welcoming cross between a large house show space and a small theatre. It is comprised of one large room, its l walls plastered with posters from past events, and lined neatly by a carpeted second floor balcony, wrapped in twinkle lights that provide a comfortable dim. Upstairs on the balcony, worn-looking sofas and easy chairs were inhabited by cozy-looking people. The entire vibe was ideal for Gish’s set, which demands rapt attention to her rapid fire lyricism, as well as the rhymes she drops like flies.
Gish’s self-conscious sense of humor was both immediately endearing and a lovely show of levity; as she addressed the crowd with quips like “I love to tune instruments, I really do!” Throughout her time on stage, sometimes in the middle of songs, she’d check the inside of her wrist for her handwritten set list. Gish’s stage presence is an act in itself, because though she seems cheerily nervous, her jokes land – and that’s hardly to mention that her musical consistency remains solid and unflappable.
The singer-songwriter opened with deeper cuts, then filed into her more commercially popular songs as the night went on. First was “Mouth Log”, followed by “I’m Filled With Steak, and Cannot Dance”, both from No Dogs Allowed. The latter track is a prime example of excellent vocal control in sliding, perhaps even cascading, down waterfall runs that smoothly drop you off only a few feet from where they picked you up. Plucked harmonics and a perpetuating bongo on loop punctuate this track, and breezily perforate any tension found in the room.
The next three tracks Gish played were all gems mined from No Dogs Allowed: “Good Magicians”, “Impostor Syndrome”, and “I Eat Salads Now”. Always with meticulously intentionality, Gish grants herself plenty of room to play in the spaces between spiteful and vulnerable, dynamic and gentle, raspy and fluttery. Her fingers flying on the jazzy riff within “Impostors Syndrome”, she seamlessly shifts from demanding attention to turning it away. Gish launches her inward-facing observations up into the hall, open confessions to everyone.
In the moments following the fading applause, Gish chirped cheeky narrations to the crowd, her eyes cast down as she set up her guitar: “I play it on this capo, normally.” She looked up and giggled: “Information for no one.” The next song, “Friday Night Placebo”, is a tribute to her gifts of sarcasm and satire, bubbling along a guitar tone that is deep, ringing, and somehow nautical. Lyrically, this track is reflective of fragility and vulnerability – but only on the surface. Gish’s sardonicism cuts to the core, as she chides, “It’s fine, I’ll pop sugar pills all night.”
After a cover of Talking Heads staple “This Must Be The Place”, Gish hit the crowd with three of her most popular tracks: The clicky “Sophisticated Space”, mesmerizing “Rat of the City”, and communal “Homecoming Serf”. An augmented vocal presence is a marker for these tracks, as the singer’s rasp (no doubt a parallel for her indignation toward mundane suburban life) continues to escalate among the captivating vocal melodies.
Next up from Gish’s repertoire were three of my personal favorites in immediate succession: “Sin Triangle” and “Persephone” from No Dogs Allowed, and “Presumably Dead Arm” off of Ed Buys Houses. “Sin Triangle” is arguably Gish’s grooviest track, and would fit quite comfortably on a party playlist; unlike “Persephone” and “Presumably Dead Arm”, which are reflective and thought provoking; each one a cure-all for listeners’ varying feelings of being misunderstood. That said, all three were fascinating to experience visually: The building anticipation in the room was tangible as Gish built the loop tracks for each song, riff by riff.
The last song of the night was “If Not For You, Bunny,” and though sonically, its recording crystallizes seamlessly with the rest of No Dogs Allowed, Gish used it to cast an undeniably punk spell upon the crowd in Philadelphia. Murky, crunchy guitar distortion and the wailing, bittersweet solo that it tore through the end of the song emanated that, however selectively, Gish puts the “rock” in indie rock.
“Unapologetic” is not the word for Sidney Gish, because it’s clear she never even considered apologizing – Why would she? Gish offers up her flaws but never asks for comment on them; painting herself as
reactive, self-assured, and captivatingly self-conscious all at once. It was a fantastic show, and we can’t wait to hear (and hopefully see) more of Sidney in the very near future.
You can listen to Sidney Gish
here. You can follow her on social media below:
by Kira Cappello | Jul 16, 2019 | show review
With two stunning EPs and two singles under their belts – including one acoustic rendition – five-piece indie rock dream Flipturn has been taking east coast stages by storm while on tour with crunchy indie group *repeat repeat. I was lucky enough to catch them in Philly on the second night of their tour, following a DC performance the night before.
Flipturn has become one of my absolute staple favorites since discovering them in March – a discovery made from a particularly spot-on Spotify algorithm, might I add. Even as I’m sitting and writing this, I’m having a hard time accurately conveying my excitement for just how stoked I was to see Flipturn, and for just how tight of a show this group can put on. Let’s get into it.
Just as I was entering the upstairs of The Milkboy, Flipturn was launching right into “Cold”, the second-to-last song off their first EP titled Heavy Colors (2017). This song acted effectively as a primer; the base layer that Flipturn would swathe their canvas with, a rich and varying sample of their sound. Vocalist (and rhythm guitarist) Dillon Basse’s crystal clear, operatic bellows soar with a fervor unmatched alongside piercing leads from guitarist Tristan Duncan, the kind that drift away and carry you with them. Madeline Jarman’s bass grounds us, reminding us that we are still desperately running to keep up with our own heartbeats; all in harmonious contrast with Taylor Allen’s synth, which subtly lifts us to the dreamy stratosphere, filling the space as it floats by. Drums from Adrian Walker are compelling when they need to take the wheel, and subdued at all the right times, building captivating suspense as each song plays out.
Following “Cold” was “Churches”, which the band released as a single before its official release on second EP Citrona, out in 2018. This punchy, electrifying track is arguably the band’s angstiest, and it was an absolute headbanger – halfway through, I turned around to check out the crowd, and it had easily doubled. On the recording for this song, there is slightly more distortion placed on the vocals, almost like screaming into a 1930’s telephone (I say this genuinely and endearingly) – and Basse’s vigor and rasp as a live performer matched this intensity perfectly.
Next was a new song that hasn’t been released yet, but judging by its subject, I might guess that it will be titled “Eleanor”. The bass-heavy, disco feel of this song definitely piqued the crowd’s interest as much as the ones they knew and sang along to. Following that, a cover, and a modern classic at that: “Hold On” by Alabama Shakes. Flipturn’s insertion of their gritty yet uplifting indie glitter gave the song a fresh and welcomed twist. Basse made sure to shout out dynamic frontwoman Brittany Howard, as well as encourage the crowd to check out her new solo work, released earlier this year.
On Citrona, instrumental opening track “Fletcher” bleeds into “Six Below”– which is exactly how Flipturn played it live. “Fletcher” starts off minimally, adding layer and layer of perfectly syncopated lilting rhythms from Basse on guitar and Allen’s synth alike, topped with Duncan’s undulating lead guitar that yearns for another summer. The transition into “Six Below” feels like that brief, liminal space between dreaming and awareness, and it isn’t until the first chorus that you have to truly face the world, as Basse declares, “I know what everybody knows: Die young or you can grow old, until you’re buried six below”. The incredibly fast drum fills and solos from Walker were outstanding during this number.
“Hippies” haunts in all the right ways, and left me feeling nostalgic for memories that weren’t even my own. Basse’s ringing falsetto paints like an old film, reminiscent of all those who have loved and lost before himself. The buildup towards the end up the song held just the right touch of suspense, lifting up the audience just high enough to drop back off with a satisfied head nod at its break. The final line of each chorus, as well as the song, mourns: “I lost you”.
Between each song, Basse must have called out at least thirty different variations of “Thank you!” and “You guys rock!” following the eruptions of applause and “Woo!”s from the crowd (here’s hoping I was the loudest there). Then, he and Jarman playfully requested a name for their next song – another new and untitled one. Several jokes were called out, but we’ll have to wait and see what they end up deciding for it. On this track, the most dominant melody came from Duncan on lead guitar, heartily met by a much more frequent use of falsetto from Basse. Basse is also an unstoppable dancer; I swear, he never stopped jumping back and forth during the entire set. His buzz was infectious.
Basse announced they had two more songs. The group was met again by cheers not lacking in volume, but, knowing that it would inevitably end, the celebratory air that begins every night of excitement had shifted slightly, preparing itself to begin missing the experience. The first twinkling strums of one of Flipturn’s biggest hits began, “August”. To say that this song is sweet or nostalgic might be cliché, but not out of line. The first line is an invitation to open the storybook: “August, honey, tasted sweeter with you.” Every summer love, every youthful flashback, every ray of sun entering your teenage bedroom is captured in this song. The perfect song to fall in love to, to have your heart broken to, to fall apart to – and it happened live, all at once, for about fifty of us in that room. “I loved you from the start,” Basse wails, each note rising to surpass the last – eventually leading up to a perfectly stacked buildup that meanders at first, then meets you face to face, as if to settle matters for the last time. The crowd went wild.
The final song of the night was “Nickel”, paralleling its closing on Citrona. On this upbeat, choppy anthem, Basse demands the truth. “Was I just told a lie my entire life, thinking I’d be great?” The song carries out with a chant that Basse invited the entire crowd to chant, clap, eventually scream along with many times over, as the intensity increases: “I give it all up for a bottle of wine, about two feet tall, three inches wide; I’d rather be drunk, or out of my mind, than trade my soul for nickels and dimes.”
After graciously accepting the mountainous applause and cheers following this track, Basse’s and Jarman’s eyebrows raised as the crowd began chanting unanimously, “One more song!” Jarman made a slashing motion to her throat as Basse stepped to the mic, jokingly exasperated with palms extended at his sides and an ear-to-ear grin, to remind the crowd, “We’re the opener! We can’t play another, we’re the opener,” The cheering finally subdued, some music began on the speakers overhead to fill the space, and fans flocked together to discuss what they had just heard.
Flipturn put on one of the more solid shows I’ve seen of any indie touring group, touring or not, and I will definitely be seeing them next – and hopefully every- time they come to Philly in the future.
Setlist
1. Cold
2. Churches
3. New – Unreleased
4. Hold On by Alabama Shakes
5. Fletcher
6. Six Below
7. Hippies
8. New – Untitled
9. August
10. Nickel
You can keep up with Flipturn here:
http://www.swamprecordsuf.com/flipturn
https://www.facebook.com/flipturnband/
https://www.instagram.com/flipturnband/
https://twitter.com/flipturnband
by Meredith Schneider | Mar 21, 2019 | snapshot, visual
On March 12th, Flogging Molly made another incredibly memorable performance on stage at Harrah’s VooDoo Lounge in Kansas City, MO. The room was decked out in pageboy hats, green threads, and so much beer as we rang in the beginning of St. Patrick’s Week with our favorite Irish drinking music.
Keep up with Flogging Molly here.
