Jenny Lewis at The Trocadero

Earlier tonight, Kim and I went to see Jenny Lewis and her traveling band at the Trocadero Theatre in Chinatown on 10th and Arch Sts. I tried to bring my new camera, the Nikon D90 into the event, but the security guards told me that any camera with a detachable lens is considered a professional camera and thus I would need a photo-pass. So unfortunately, like the Bonnie Prince Billy show, I had to drop the camera off in the car. I need to find out how to get credentials so I can bring my camera into shows.

However, being camera-less did not detract from a great show by Jenny and her band. We arrived at the show a little late because of a great dinner of ziti, meatballs, and strawberry pie we had at home with Joey, but we still managed to get seats upstairs where we could see the stage and hear perfectly. Kim and I both heard every song we wanted to hear from Jenny's albums, as well as a great rendition of "Silver Lining" from her main band, Rilo Kiley's, last album, Under the Blacklight. We also enjoyed the new songs Jenny performed, which we both felt were more in-line with early RK album's energetic and catchy pop rather than the bluesy alt-country of Rabbit Fur Coat.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable show and I will definitely want to see Jenny Lewis/Rilo Kiley again next time they are in Philly.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy at the Trocadero Theater, May 22

Last Friday, my brother, Kenny, came up to Philly for a short visit and also to come with me and Kim to see Bonnie "Prince" Billy. BPB is the stage name for Will Oldham, an alternative-country, neo-folk, indie musician. I met Kenny after work and we went to Nanzhou Hand Drawn Noodle House for dinner. We greatly enjoyed our respective dinners: I had the Beef Brisket Noodle Soup and Kenny had Beef Noodle Soup. We took a short walk around Center City before going to the venue, where Kim met up with us.

Unfortunately, the concert was the most disappointing I have ever attended, but not because the music was terrible. There were several great performances of songs from recent records but also a lot of weird jams where everyone in the band was just playing layer upon layer of indiscernible noise. The worst example of this was when the band played the leading song from the new album Beware, "I Want to be Your Only Friend," but added a several minute interlude in the middle of the song, before it finally unwound to the end. To add insult to injury, they changed the tune of solos in many of their more melodic offerings. It was unexpected and confusing in a horrible way.

The bright spot of the concert aside from BPB's haunting vocals, was the playing and singing of the violinist that tours with him, Cheyenne Mize. I was honestly more impressed with how well the tone and timber of her voice matched and in many cases surpassed BPB. I had to google her later to find out more about her, but it appears that she has a new recording with BPB that was recently released, Among the Gold, and she is part of a Louisville group Arnett Hollow. And she is much cuter than BPB if I may say so:












(Photo from Flickr user: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pirlouiiiit/)