Doors were supposed to be at 7:30. By 8:25, I was still standing on the sidewalk amongst the antsy crowd lined up around the block, waiting to be admitted to one of my favorite Philly venues. This was not a common experience for me (as I’ve never been to a Lil’ Wayne show), and my concern was not insignificant… Perhaps something had gone wrong? And as someone who goes to bed early and wakes up at the crack of dawn because of my now-hardwired and unchangeable sleep biology, late-running shows are my personal hell on my tiny list of first-world problems.
But, alas, all was well in the world of rock and roll: despite an hour-long entry delay, we all made it inside, and sets were only pushed back 30 minutes.
As we later learned, the band ended up stuck on I-95 for what amounted to a 10-hour drive due to an accident that caused a massive traffic jam. And while the show started late, all credit to everyone involved with the venue and crews for getting things started as quickly as possible and not letting the delay dampen the vibes.
THE VELVETEERS
Colorado-based, Dan Auerbach-produced trio The Velveteers are a band that needs to immediately take precedence in your new artist rotation. While they’ve been around for a hot second and have made some waves opening for the likes of Guns N’ Roses, The Smashing Pumpkins, and, of course, The Black Keys, seeing them live catapulted my appreciation to a whole other level. It was a genuinely jaw-droppingly epic experience.
Their configuration is two drummers, Baby Pottersmith and Jonny Fig, and Demi Demitro on lead vocals and guitar. It’s a sight to behold as their triangle of sound creates a colossal wave of shredding, courtesy of massive drums (times two) and Demitro’s guitar-hero antics that recall Middle Class Rut and Royal Blood’s creative takes at manifesting sounds beyond what is traditionally expected. Demitro effortlessly weaves massive riffs with dynamic, inventive solos through a pedalboard setup that runs the gamut from Jack White to the sludgey riffage of Matt Pike. Somehow, she functions not just as the singer and guitarist, but seemingly as an entire band, minus the drums (which I again emphasize were covered times two). And the fact that she’s able to balance all of this with an impeccable vocal performance that recalls the likes of Courtney Love, Amy Taylor, the entirety of Die Spitz, and Blondshell is no small feat.
Being backed by two drummers going relentlessly hard creates an atmosphere of unrelenting hype energy. Nothing felt half-assed, and every second of their set kept a sense of rock-and-roll urgency only those born to be on stage ever really achieve. If you somehow never listen to this band, you will still need to see them live just for the sensory experience (but also give them a listen, because they have two albums that rock pretty hard).
The Velveteers are simply excellent. They came, they saw, they conquered. And I’m pretty confident they’ll do it again next time. You better be there… I know I will.
SLOTHRUST
It is perhaps morbidly poetic for us Philadelphians that one of the tracks performed off the new album is called “Ring the Bell,” because the Phillies certainly didn’t. Hell, they even had a (sick) t-shirt for it at the merch stand... But considering my obsession with every single song from What They Grow in the Garden, hearing it live was a nice consolation for the evening. What was another failure in the world of Philadelphia baseball was conversely a massive victory in the world of live alternative rock music.
Slothrust has been a band I’ve consistently spun for over a decade since first hearing “Cubicle” (from their album Of Course You Do), and becoming immediately obsessed. Each subsequent LP has built on what came before. From garage-flavored post-punk riffage to melancholic anthems for the apocalypse, Slothrust has continued to evolve in dynamic, surprising, and wildly successful ways. And that impeccable songwriting and performance ability translate live perfectly.
Singer and guitarist Leah Wellbaum and drummer Will Gorin are joined on this tour with an additional guitarist and bassist. From the moment they took the stage, the band moved at a clip, tearing through a setlist heavy on the new record, but diverse in terms of their overall catalog.
And while it’s difficult for me to ever single out any particular Slothrust song as being a favorite, I have to say that among the night’s multitude of highlights, I will give particular emphasis to their insanely fun, swaggery cover of Ginuwine’s “Pony” and their first encore song, “Planetarium” from my personal favorite Slothrust album, The Pact.
During the set, Wellbaum shared genuine, sincere love for Philly, calling us one of the “last great American cities.” She went on to share an anecdote about a YA-obsessed Uber driver (like, had a literal trunk-full of YA novels) who missed an exit and began cursing herself out, saying “I’m so fucking stupid” over and over before Wellbaum interjected with a neutralizing plea of “it’s not a big deal.”
She used the story to partially illustrate the passion she’s encountered amongst Philadelphians over the years and declared this self-loathing, YA-obsessed driver as being emblematic of all of us in our deep level of giving a shit as a general rule. It was pretty hilarious and, the way she put it, apt.
Beyond the banter, Wellbaum came rife with various stage antics, like pulling out chunks of her supremely-blue hair that I have to imagine were prop-extensions planted prior to the show (unless she is an X-Man whose superpower is that her hair grows instantaneously) and taking a tour through the crowd with an old-timey lighthouse oil lamp during an extended jam of demented-carnival track “Hearst Castle.” She also hopes we all transform into cryptids by the next time the band is back in town. Honestly? She covered a lot of ground, and it’s, quite frankly, too much to try and recap here. You kind of had to be there…
All in all, the banter and stage antics were delightfully strange, whimsical, and tongue-in-cheek. She’s got a sense of humor that seems somewhat particular and is certainly fearless, and it only served to solidify how endearing of a personality she is. There were earnest declarations as well, aligning with the new record's more political messaging and the struggle of artists to simply be artists within the confines of the corporate music machine. But all of this was woven and integrated into a fiery set that covered pretty much every stylistic twist and turn the band has made over the years.
And, as I seem to say a lot, I have to give immense performance-chops recognition to all of them, but especially Wellbaum, who is able to retain her powerful vocals while going absolutely nuts on her guitar. She can shred with the best of them, provide some truly heavy riffs, gently dance across the fretboard to create exciting sequences of guitar-driven melody, and keep it all as her own distinct sound. Slothrust is one of those bands I could instantly pick out of a sonic lineup, and it’s those artists who have staying power beyond my childhood/teen-year pillars in my never-ending library of musical content. Of the handful of 21st-century artists I regularly listen to, I place Slothrust proudly among them.
It’s clear that this is a band that loves what they do, excels at what they do well beyond many (I’d wager most) of their contemporaries, and I hope to God has no plans of slowing down. Simply put, a Slothrust show is immense fun. It’s just an absolutely awesome time that highlights the joys of life we can all still experience even when the world feels like it’s on fire. Like Wellbaum said, “it’s strange times, but it’s always been strange.”
So here’s to the catharsis top-tier alternative rock, community, and creativity can provide to us all.
Stay weird and rock on.
SETLIST:
Dissolve the Delusion
Burn the Deck
Like a Child Hiding Behind Your Tombstone
Smile
Peach
Twisted Paradise
Ring the Bell
Magnets Pt. 2
00101001
The Lake
Horseshoe Crab
Hearst Castle
Pony (Ginuwine cover)
Dystopian Cemetery
Encore:
Planetarium
Crockpot
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