I believe the phrase "March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb" refers to the weather. After the long, messy winter we've had, this was the last thing Philadelphia needed, so last weekend's warmer temperatures were a welcome surprise. Finally, it seems the months of excavating our cars from blocks of snow and ice have ended, and we may be safe to move our snow boots to the backs of our closets. Last Friday, in celebration of the end of the purgatory that is the month of February, I paid a visit to my neighborhood hot dog purveyor, Ortlieb's, to see Family Dinner. The evening was proof that, even though the weather was calm and mild, March can come roaring in in other ways.

Going into the show, the only thing I knew about Family Dinner was that my partner's co-worker, Shawna, is their drummer. Since Shawna lives here in Philadelphia, I assumed the band was based here as well. It made sense in my head–I'd heard the name before, so imagine my absolute shock when vocalist Natalie O'Keeffe announced at the beginning of the band's set, "We're Family Dinner from Long Beach, NY."

"No fucking way!" I said to my partner, Tom.

It turns out that Family Dinner is actually based not far from where I grew up on Long Island–and because I skipped my normal pre-show discovery, the unexpected connection thrilled me. Though I've lived in Philly for the last thirteen years, I still visit home often–especially during the summer. So it's completely plausible that, in the summer of 2017, while Beach Security was writing my friends and me a citation for drinking on Long Beach, the newly-formed Family Dinner may very well have been rehearsing just a stone's throw away!

With no context beyond the band's name, I wasn't entirely sure what kind of show this was going to be. That changed the moment Natalie O'Keeffe stepped on stage clutching a bottle of red wine. It was on like Donkey Kong. Family Dinner's music is a delightfully nostalgic bouquet of grunge and post-grunge alt-rock (I'll explain) as well as punk, tied together with the slightest note of emo. It's exciting because it's so varied. You'll hear a bit of Hole in a bridge, some Ramones in a chorus, and then a breakdown with a guitar riff that tips its hat to a very specific moment in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when post-grunge intersected with the rising wave of pop-punk (Hoobastank and Audioslave came to mind). One moment you're bopping along a catchy hook, and the next you feel compelled to smash your body into a total stranger's. To quote one of my favorite television shows, Kath & Kim, "it's nice, it's different, it's unusual."

If all family dinners were more like this when I was growing up, maybe I would have stayed at the table longer.

Family Dinner. Photos by Conor Clancy.