?????? Photo by DYLAN LONG Emo rockers Joyce Manor and esteemed surf-punk savants Wavves dropped by Union Transfer last night for some co-headlining shenanigans. Fans over the age of 24 were the clear outliers of the crowd; this one was for the kids. Before the main acts, we were graced with the presence of California’s Culture Abuse. For me, these guys stole the show. I’ve never witnessed a more crowd-pleasing frontman than David Kelling. He was goofy, engaging, and rambling – in short, he was himself. Turns out that Kelling has cerebral palsy. Nevertheless, the five-piece ripped through a set […]
Win Tix To See Flying Lotus @ The Electric Factory
Photo by TIM SACCENTI Steven Ellison, aka Flying Lotus, is a two-time Grammy nominated multi-genre music producer, electronic musician, DJ, filmmaker, rapper, curator, label boss and TV star from Los Angeles, California. Flying Lotus has released five studio albums?—?1983 (2006), Los Angeles (2008), Cosmogramma (2010), Until the Quiet Comes (2012) and You’re Dead! (2014)?—?to critical acclaim. He has produced music for Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Thundercat, Wiz Khalifa, Thom Yorke and Erykah Badu as well as much of the bumper music on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. He has curated and hosted a radio station in Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V. […]
BEING THERE: Bruce Almighty @ PFF
Photo by EVAN HUNDELT Last night Bruce Willis was in town to receive the Philadelphia Film Festival’s second annual Lumière Award, which is bestowed on “those that have demonstrated a passion for the furtherance of filmmaking as a vital artform and growing industry in Philadelphia,” according to the PFF web site. Willis has appeared in four movies shot in Philadelphia: Twelve Monkeys, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Glass — the latter three directed by M. Nigh Shamylan, who presented the award to Willis. The two are currently shooting Glass, which is the final film in a superhero trilogy that began […]
BEING THERE: King Krule @ Union Transfer
Photo by DYLAN LONG Seeing Brit indie-weirdo sensation King Krule at Union Transfer last night, I was reminded of the wise words of the late great Bo Diddley: You can’t judge a book by lookin’ at the cover. Frail and shrimpy, the baby-faced 23 year-old Londoner looks like Ron Weasley in desperate need of a sandwich or seven. But when he opens his mouth, it’s another matter altogether. His scratchy deepwater baritone, thick Brit accent and fierce stage moves tends to stops traffic and silence skeptics — something he has been doing since the tender age of 16. His new […]
BEING THERE: The Liberty Medal Award Ceremony
Photo by EVAN HUNDELT Last night the National Constitution Center bestowed the Liberty Medal to Senator John McCain for his lifetime of service and sacrifice. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, delivered opening remarks, ardently praising McCain’s moral integrity and his dogged commitment to the advancement of the United States as a virtuous nation. University of Pennsylvania President Dr. Amy Gutmann, and Starbucks Executive Chairman Howard Schultz also paid homage to McCain’s patriotism and inspirational leadership, citing the unimaginable suffering he endured as a POW in a North Vietnamese prison where torture and beatings were a […]
BEING THERE: Tom Petty @ Wells Fargo Center
Photo by DAN LONG EDITOR’S NOTE: This originally posted on 9/16/14. We are reposting it today to mark the sad passing of Tom Petty today at age 67. I was in the sixth grade the first time I saw a picture of Tom Petty. He looked like a stick with blond bangs and lidded rabbit eyes. I was fairly certain he was going to die soon. Turns out he was just high. In October he turns 64 and having learned a thing or two about longevity over the course of the last 40 years, I’m pretty sure he’s never gonna […]
BEING THERE: Dinosaur Jr. @ Union Transfer
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER A healthy showing turned up at Union Transfer last night to see the Philly stop of Dinosaur Jr.’s tour in support of their latest release, 2016’s Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not. The evening’s warm-up was Easy Action, their vocalist, John Brannon, a seasoned performer whose resume includes fronting the early 80s hardcore band Negative Approach and The Laughing Hyenas. Hailing from Detriot, Easy Action fully embraces the gritty rock n’ roll of their hometown, finding room to maneuver creatively within that space between proto-punk and hardcore. With an intense glare and mashed upper lip, […]
BEING THERE: A$AP Mob @ The Mann
Photo by DYLAN LONG A$AP Mob is arguably the biggest hip hop collective in the game right now. Their two first studio albums, Cozy Tapes Vols. 1 and 2, managed to blow expectations out of the water and do so in a seemingly effortless manner, all in a span of 10 months. Founded by A$AP Bari, A$AP Illz and the late A$AP Yams, the Harlem hip-hop supergroup now features household names such as A$AP Rocky and A$AP Ferg. However when it came to showtime, the massive amounts of hype surrounding the group’s visit to Philly unfortunately couldn’t quite save the […]
Win Tix To See David Gray & Alison Krauss
Nobody saw this coming! Out of nowhere we have a coupla pairs of tix to see laid back electro-folkie David Gray and sweetheart of the nouveau Nashville rodeo Alison Krauss at the Mann Center tomorrow night. To qualify to win, all you have to do is follow us on Twitter — @PHAWKER — and send us an email at Phawker66@gmail.com telling us you just did (or already do). Put the magic words I WANT THOSE TICKETS! in the subject line. Include your full name and a mobile number for verification. Good luck and godspeed! DAVID GRAY + ALISON KRAUSS […]
BEING THERE: Father John Misty @ The Mann
Photo by DAN LONG Josh Tillman, AKA Father John Misty, has carved a place for himself in the hearts of many of the indie music audience with his beautiful singing voice, ability to craft accessible songs, and with lyrical content that smashes the veneers that society force feeds us. He’s done all of this after leaving Fleet Foxes because of an inability to work with frontman Robin Pecknold. Tillman’s beef with Pecknold would be the first of many controversies that Tillman would find himself embroiled in. Ryan Adams called Tillman out, saying, “He sounds like shit Elton John but if […]
Win Tix To See Father John Misty @ The Mann
EXCERPT: Joshua Michael Tillman is largely estranged from his family. He has contact with his parents about once a year, if at all, and it’s been that way since he left home at 18. He just turned 32, and there’s no sign of that changing any time soon, if ever. Up until he turned 18, and as far back as he can remember, he chafed under the heavy yoke of evangelical Christianity administered by his parents. “My situation at home was troubled,” he says. “I don’t really want to talk … I just never … I’ve left this out, […]
BEING THERE: Mount Eerie @ Union Transfer
Photo by JOSH-PELTA HELLER I expected to feel naked and vulnerable at the Mount Eerie show, but I never suspected that, hours before the show, I would literally be naked in Center City Philadelphia, and it wouldn’t feel like a nightmare at all. The weather was too beautiful to ignore on Saturday, so my cousin and I decided to go on a bike ride. He’s a seasoned city biker, so I ate his dust as I have in the past, but when I finally caught up to him on Kelly Drive by the art museum I didn’t even get the […]
BEING THERE: QOTSA @ Festival Pier
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER It’s hard to recall a cool breeze on an early September evening in Philly, during that limbo time of the year, post-Labor-Day and pre-Equinox, where devout fans of the Endless Summer dig in with resentment, resist the cold, and get rewarded most often up here by an Indian Summer’s reprise of temperatures and humidity that tend to verge on unseasonable. Not these days though. Not last night, standing outside, watching Queens Of The Stone Age, where you needed maybe one more overpriced domestic brew to counter the chilly breeze blowing off the Delaware, and to maybe […]