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Author: Dan DeLuca

  • Philly music this week with Public Enemy, Schoolly D, Neko Case, and a Bob Dylan tribute

    Philly music this week with Public Enemy, Schoolly D, Neko Case, and a Bob Dylan tribute

    This week in Philly music features an old-school hip-hop extravaganza in Atlantic City, an intriguing Bob Dylan tribute, and two shows each with powerhouse vocalist Neko Case, British post-punk band Shame, and mysterious indie singer Jim E. Brown.

    Thursday, Jan. 15

    Jim E. Brown

    Who is Jim E. Brown? According to his own ad copy, he is a “19 year pop sensation” who is launching “his latest opus, I Urinated on a Butterfly, in the American city of Philadelphia.” His Bandcamp page, however, identifies him as a “Poet and Artist/activist” who “was born in Manchester in Sept. 10, 2001, just one day before the 911.”

    If that were true, that would make him 24, not 19. However, sampling the dozens of his releases online with titles like “Sheep in a Jeep,” “The Sky Is Ugly,” and “I’m Weirder Than ‘Weird’ Al” might lead one to believe that Brown is actually a 40-something performance artist from Philadelphia with an abundance of ideas and an affection for electro-pop.

    Brown, whose self-mocking wit flourishes on tracks like “I Dreamed That You Liked My Instagram Post,” has two shows in Fishtown this week, with Bugger opening Thursday and My Wife’s an Angel and Null playing Friday. 8 p.m. Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 Frankford Ave., johnnybrendas.com

    Bill Kirchen

    The singer and guitarist for Commander Cody & his Los Planet Airmen, best known for their 1972 pop hit “Hot Rod Lincoln,” is touring with a full band and a Bob Dylan-at-Newport-themed show. Kirchen may be a bit crustier than A Complete Unknown star Timothée Chalamet, but the ageless guitar whiz has the advantage of having firsthand experience of Dylan’s acoustic and electric iterations at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964 and 1965. In Sellersville, he’ll do one set of Commander Cody material, and another of Dylan songs. 8 p.m., Sellersville Theater, 24 W. Temple Ave., Sellersville, st94.com

    British post-punk band Shame play Free at Noon at World Cafe Live on Friday and the First Unitarian Church on Friday night.

    Friday, Jan. 16

    Shame

    Shame is a British post-punk band fronted by (not that) Charlie Sheen. They are touring behind a spirited, spiky fourth album, Cutthroat, which was produced by John Congleton, who has worked with Philly’s Mannequin Pussy and the Districts, among others.

    On Friday, the band will perform a WXPN-FM (88.5) Free at Noon show at World Cafe Live, where the radio station’s FAN shows have moved back to since the West Philly venue renewed its lapsed liquor license. And then the South London quintet will play that evening at First Unitarian Church, with Ribbon Skirt opening. Noon, World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., xpn.org and 8 p.m., First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St., r5productions.com

    Neko Case

    Torch and power-pop singer Neko Case released a powerful memoir called The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You in 2024, and followed that last year with an introspective and imagistic new album, Neon Grey Midnight Green. Its color-coded title is inspired by the meeting of slate clouds and piney forests on the Pacific Coast skyline.

    Case, who has also sometimes sung with the Canadian power-pop band the New Pornographers, played the Met Philly last fall along with buzzy D.C. band Des Demonas, led by Kenyan punk-poet Jacky “Cougar” Abok, as the opening act. They’re back together at the Queen in Wilmington on Friday and at Archer Music Hall in Allentown on Saturday. 8 p.m., the Queen, 500 N. Broad St., Wilmington, thequeenwilmington.com; 7 p.m., Archer Music Hall, 939 Hamilton St., Allentown, archermusichall.com

    Peabo Bryson

    Veteran soul balladeer Peabo Bryson is on tour marking the 35 years that have passed since his Grammy-winning duet with Celine Dion on the title song to the 1991 Disney movie Beauty and the Beast. Bryson also picked up a Grammy for “A Whole New World,” his duet with Regina Belle from Disney’s Aladdin the next year. 6 and 9:30 p.m. City Winery Philadelphia, 900 Filbert St., citywinery.com/philadelphia

    Owen Stewart / J.R. Everhart

    Philly bandleader Owen Stewart draws from rugged, 1960s counterculture rock acts like John Fogerty and especially recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Joe Cocker. He’s following up the release of his album Done and Dusted by celebrating a new EP, Glider. J.R. Everhart — also known as Jimmy Scantron — is the leader of Philly band Cosmic Guilt and is a former Low Cut Connie guitarist. His new single, “Golden Hour,” is more evidence of his songwriting chops. With Squawk Brothers. 8 p.m., Underground Arts, 1200 Callowhill St., undergroundarts.org

    Flavor Flav (left) and Chuck D of Public Enemy perform during a Pre-Grammy Gala in Beverly Hills in 2024. Public Enemy tops the AllStars of Hip-Hop bill at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Sunday night. ( Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP )

    Sunday, Jan. 18

    AllStars of Hip-Hop

    Public Enemy — arguably the greatest politically-minded rap group of all time — will headline the AllStars of Hip-Hop multiact bill at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday.

    Chuck D and Flavor Flav — the latter of whom is most visible these days for his Taylor Swift fandom and hype man duties for the U.S. Olympic water polo and bobsled and skeleton teams — will be joined by several other old-school hip-hop and R&B acts.

    R&B will be covered by “This Is How We Do It” singer Montel Jordan. Veteran rappers performing include Boogie Down Productions emcee KRS-One and Philly’s original gangsta Schoolly D. Also on the bill is Furious Five — note the absence of “The Message” rappers’ DJ leader Grandmaster Flash — and “Rapper’s Delight” collective Sugarhill Gang. 7 p.m., Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, 23021 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, boardwalkhall.com

    Schoolly D acknowledges onlookers during the Philadelphia Music at the 2025 Walk of Fame ceremony, Philadelphia Music Alliance induction in front of the Suzanne Roberts Theater on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. The Philly rapper plays Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Sunday.
  • Don Was will celebrate Bob Weir and play the Grateful Dead’s ‘Blues for Allah’ with his new band in Ardmore

    Don Was will celebrate Bob Weir and play the Grateful Dead’s ‘Blues for Allah’ with his new band in Ardmore

    Don Was’ show with the Pan-Detroit Ensemble at Ardmore Music Hall on Wednesday was always going to be, in part, a tribute to the music of the Grateful Dead.

    Along with digging deep into the rugged, funky sounds of their hometown — as the bassist and Grammy-winning producer and his bandmates do on their new album, Groove in the Face of Adversity — the date will also include a performance of the Dead’s 1975 album, Blues for Allah, in its entirety.

    But now the Dead community is reeling from the loss of Bob Weir, the singer-guitarist who cofounded the Dead in 1965 and became a torch bearer for the band’s music in the decades since Jerry Garcia died in 1995.

    So when Was and his eight-piece band return to the Main Line venue where they played in June at the Music Hall’s annual “Unlimited Devotion” Dead celebration, the show will be an opportunity for Philly Dead fans to mourn Weir, who died Saturday at 78.

    It will also serve as a celebration of the short-shorts-wearing rhythm guitarist and vocalist who sang many of the psychedelic rock band’s most beloved songs, including “Sugar Magnolia,” “Truckin’,” and Blues for Allah’s “The Music Never Stopped.”

    Was is president of the esteemed Blue Note Records jazz label and the former coleader of art-pop band Was (Not Was), best known for the hit “Walk the Dinosaur.” His long list of production credits includes Bonnie Raitt, the Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, and many others.

    He also toured extensively with Weir, playing double bass with Wolf Bros, the band formed in 2018 whose repertoire mixed country and jazz with the Dead’s mystical roots-music blend.

    Don Was (at right) with Bob Weir performing together as Wolf Bros in 2018.

    Weir played Philadelphia stages with the Dead or one of their many offshoots over 70 times — including a record 57 concerts at the Spectrum in South Philly before it closed in 2009. His last Philly show was a Wolf Bros gig at the Met in September 2023.

    Was learned of Weir’s death shortly before going on stage in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Saturday, and broke the news to a crowd full of Deadheads.

    “I told them the story Bobby told me about the night Jerry died,” Was said, talking on Monday from New York, where he and the stellar Pan-Detroit Ensemble, which includes saxophonist David McMurray and powerhouse vocalist Steffanie Christi’an, were set to play the Blue Note before heading to Philly.

    “Bobby was in New Hampshire with [his side project] Ratdog [in 1995]. He told me, ’You go up there and play, man. The way you deal with grief is you go up there and make some good music for everybody.’

    “So that’s what we’re going to do for Bobby. We’re going to play a soulful show, as soulful as we can. [In Ann Arbor] I hung out with the audience afterwards, and everybody had their story about some encounter with Bob over the last 60 years. It was almost like a wake. It might just be that this tour is about bringing some comfort to people who suffered a loss. Even if you’re just a fan. Bobby is like a family member to people.”

    Was first saw the Dead in Detroit in 1972. “I always dug them,” he says, “and being a jazz head, I understood the method of improvisation. But I never got in a car and followed them around, so I don’t think you could have called me a Deadhead then.”

    You could now, as well as a key player in the enduring band’s long, strange post-Garcia afterlife. In 2015, while producing guitarist John Mayer in Los Angeles, Was introduced Weir and Dead drummer Mickey Hart to Mayer, who was boundlessly enthusiastic about Garcia and the band.

    “John waxed eloquent about his love of the Grateful Dead,” recalls Was, 73. “And those guys were just kind of bowled over by it. … And that turned into Dead & Company.”

    Wolf Bros was inspired by a dream of Weir’s. The singer and guitarist was a frequent collaborator with bassist Rob Wasserman, who had introduced Weir to Was in the 1990s.

    After Wasserman died in 2016, Weir called Was. “He said he had a dream where Wasserman said the reason he had introduced Bobby to me,” said Was, “was so I could take Rob’s place after he was gone. So he asked me if I wanted to start a trio with him and [drummer] Jay Lane. And I said, ‘Yeah, of course.’”

    Playing with Wolf Bros “changed everything for me,” Was says. Weir was “utterly fearless about suspending self-consciousness and playing freely in the moment without regret.”

    “There’s a tremendous allure to those songs, and to play them the way Bobby wanted to, which was with a beginner’s mind every night and just have a completely different adventure with a song every time you play it.”

    Don Was and the Pan Detroit Ensemble play Ardmore Music Hall on Wednesday, performing music from their album “Groove in the Face of Adversity” and also playing the Grateful Dead’s 1975 album “Blues for Allah” in its entirety.

    As head of Blue Note, Was is excited about the young artists on the storied home of Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. He name-checks Joel Ross, Melissa Aldana, Paul Cornish, and Upper Darby native saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins.

    “They all have records coming out this year, and they’re all blowing my mind,” Was said. “People who see Immanuel Wilkins will be talking about seeing him the way they talk about seeing Coltrane. They still be listening 60 or 70 years from now.”

    On Groove in the Face of Adversity, Was and the PDE bring a loose, expansive sensibility to a wide range of material, from Hank Williams’ honky-tonk “I Ain’t Got Nuthin’ But Time“ to Cameo’s 1978 funk workout “Insane.”

    Most powerful is “This Is My Country,” the Curtis Mayfield title track from a 1968 album by the Impressions that stands as a statement of defiant patriotism in the face of oppression. “I realized it’s tragically more relevant now than it was in 1968,” Was said.

    “I feel an urgency” about playing with the PDE, “especially after Saturday night,” Was said. “I feel like I’m just starting to crack the code about playing bass. I want to play while I can” — he laughs — “while my fingers still work.”

    The PDE sound is more muscular and R&B-powered than the acoustic-based style he played with Weir in Wolf Bros. But Was says they’re connected in not-obvious ways.

    “When I first started to play with Bobby, I was haunted by Phil,” he said, speaking of bassist Phil Lesh, who died in 2024. “But I can’t play like Phil. Nobody can play like Phil. It was putting me in stylistic limbo. And then I quickly realized the most Grateful Dead thing you can do with a song is be yourself. Be who you are.

    “So that’s what our band does. We play like us. In the music business, we tend to think of anything that’s different as a marketing problem. But in fact, being different is your superpower. I’ve tried to impart that to artists on Blue Note and people I’ve produced. To be as different as you can be: That’s the only chance you’ve got!”

    Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble at Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, at 8 p.m. Wednesday. ardmoremusichall.com.

  • Sing Us Home fest will be back in Manayunk, featuring a late-night talk show host behind the drums

    Sing Us Home fest will be back in Manayunk, featuring a late-night talk show host behind the drums

    This year’s Sing Us Home festival will feature founders Dave and Tim Hause, Scranton pop-punk band the Menzingers, prolific indie rockers the Mountain Goats, punk veteran Ted Leo, and a certain late night TV comedian and political commentator playing drums.

    In its fourth year, Sing Us Home will be staged on Venice Island in Manayunk from May 1-3. It will again take its place as the opening event of Philadelphia’s outdoor music festival season.

    Produced by Ardmore-based music promoters Rising Sun Presents, the fest will kick of on a Friday night with its traditional opening set billed as the Hause Family Campfire. That includes Roxborough-raised Dave Hause joined by Leo, Will Hoge, and Jenny Owen Youngs, with all four songwriters on stage at once, sharing songs and stories.

    Along with the aforementioned headliners and Dave Hause & the Mermaid, the three-day fest also includes Tim Hause & the Pre-Existing Conditions, fronted by Hause’s younger brother and festival cofounder.

    The lineup for the 2026 Sing Us Home Festival.

    The lineup also features blues guitarist Emily Wolfe, Canadian punks the Flatliners, New York indie rockers Augustines, New Jersey band Church and State™, Philly singer Moustapha Noumbissi, Lancaster folk-punk band Apes of the State, singer-songwriters Katacombs and Laney Lebo, and horn happy outfit Big Boy Brass, who will parade the grounds.

    The political pundit funnyman playing the drums will be Jon Stewart, who sits on the throne behind his kit with Church and State™, the new band with whom he has played only a handful of gigs.

    The most prominent of those for Stewart, whose punk rock roots go back to his days tending bar at legendary venue City Garden in Trenton, was at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park in November.

    Last month, he told the audience on the Daily Show that he picked up the stick after failing to master the guitar or piano, and that playing in his first band at age 63 was extremely fun.

    Sing Us Home tickets are available at singushomefestival.com.

    @thedailyshow

    When he’s not behind the desk, you can catch Jon Stewart drumming with his band #AfterTheCut #DailyShow #Drumming

    ♬ original sound – The Daily Show

  • A full week of Bowie loving, plus shows benefiting World Cafe Live workers and PAWS

    A full week of Bowie loving, plus shows benefiting World Cafe Live workers and PAWS

    Most touring bands are still on a winter break this early in January, but that doesn’t mean the live music business shuts down. This week in Philly music is a mostly local affair, packed with hometown talent and worthwhile benefit shows, as well as R&B, country, and indie rock acts that are on the road.

    Plus, Philly Loves Bowie Week is in full swing.

    Wednesday, Jan. 7

    David Bowie: Side by Side

    David Bowie was born on Jan. 8, 1947 and died 10 years ago on January 10. 48 Record Bar in Old City will host its third annual free Philly Loves Bowie Week listening party, with DJ EBG III spinning full album sides by the artist who famously recorded 1974’s Young Americans at Sigma Sound Studios. 7 p.m., 48 Record Bar, 48 S. Second St., 48RecordBar.com

    Thursday, Jan. 8

    El DeBarge

    Eldra “El” DeBarge scored 1980s R&Bs hits like “Rhythm of the Night” and “Who’s Holding Donna Now?” with his family band DeBarge before going on to score solo hits such as “Who’s Johnny” and “Real Love.” 8 p.m., City Winery Philadelphia, 990 Filbert St., citywinery.com/philadelphia

    Lowercoaster / Dear Season / Sharing Contest

    These three Philly bands all identify as emo, with the subtlest of them being Sharing Contest, the trio of singer-guitarist Alex Fichera fronting the rhythm section of Sam Ansa and Jordan Colucci. 7 p.m., Kung Fu Necktie, 1248 N. Front St., kungfunecktie.com

    Bowie Quizzo / Bowieoke

    Patti Brett, the owner of Doobie’s Bar and one of the original Sigma Kids, hosts Bowie Quizzo at Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar in South Philly, with DJ Robert Drake spinning and John Stanley of John’s Dollar Bin fame serving drinks. And Sara Sherr’s Sing Your Life Karaoke goes all Bowie at MilkBoy. Both events are free. 8 p.m., Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar, 1200 E. Passyunk Ave., thehappybirthdaybar.com, and 8 p.m., MilkBoy, 1100 Chestnut St., milkboyphilly.com

    Dale Watson and His Lone Stars play Sellersville Theater in Bucks County on Friday and Elkton Music Hall in Elkton, Md. on Saturday.

    Friday, Jan. 9

    Dale Watson and His Lone Stars

    Alabama-born Texas-based hardcore country singer Dale Watson has two area gigs this weekend: Friday at the Sellersville Theater in Bucks County and one at Elkton Music Hall on Saturday. 2023’s Starvation Box is the most recent album by the “Feelin’ Haggard” singer-guitarist, who teamed with Montgomery County cowboy Ray Benson on 2017’s Dale & Ray. 8 p.m., Sellersville Theater, 24 W. Temple Ave., Sellersville, st94.com and 8 p.m., Saturday, Elkton Music Hall, Elkton, Md., elktonmusichall.com

    Eric Slick. The Philadelphia-raised songwriter and Dr. Dog drummer is playing Johnny Brenda’s on Friday with Dominic Angelella in a “Hardcore Friends” show.

    Dominic Angelella and Eric Slick

    These two Philly multi-instrumentalists both have long resumes backing other musicians. Angelella just finished a tour playing bass with Lucy Dacus. Slick is Dr. Dog’s drummer. Together as Lithuania, the duo has released two albums, 2015’s Hardcore Friends and 2017’s White Reindeer. At Johnny Brenda’s, they’ll be playing songs from those, as well as music from Angelella’s band Drgn King. The Tisburys and Twin Princess are also on the bill. 8 p.m., Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 Frankford Ave., johnnybrendas.com

    Labrador

    The Pat King-fronted self-described “maximum alt-country” band’s album My Version of Desire was one of the best local releases of 2025, starting with the outstanding title song. The Philly band opens for Jewel Case and Dominy. 7:30 p.m., Kung Fu Necktie, 1248 N. Front St., kungfunecktie.com

    Hazy Cosmic Jive

    The Bowie tribute band will perform the Thin White Duke’s 1976 album Station to Station in its entirety. 8 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia, 1009 Canal St., brooklynbowl.com/philadelphia

    Sound & Vision Happy Hour and Bowie / Prince Night

    There are two Bowie dance parties in the Eraserhood. The Trestle Inn hosts a happy hour with music by DJ Hardbargain and the Slinky Vagabond, plus Go Go from Jennie Jones and Cynthia Rose. And a block away at Underground Arts, that will be followed by a Bowie/Prince dance party with DJ George Purkins. 6 p.m., the Trestle Inn, 339 N. 11th St, thetrestleinn.com and 9 p.m., Underground Arts, 1200 Callowhill St., riotnerdphilly.com

    Kid Davis & the Bullets play 118 North in Wayne on Saturday.

    Saturday, Jan. 10

    Under the El

    Philly rapper Reef the Lost Cauze and DJ Sat One will be featured — along with pioneering graffiti artist Cornbread — at a street art and hip-hop event at Vizion Gallery in Kensington on Saturday afternoon. It’s presented by the organization Recovery Done Simple. 1 p.m., Vizion Gallery, 3312 Kensington Ave., recoverydonesimple.com

    Dog Fest

    Indie promoters 4333 Collective present a canine-themed five-band bill featuring Armbite, Fruit Dawg, Pennydog, Dog Beach, and Haunt Dog. It’s a benefit for the pet shelter people and the good girls and boys at PAWS, the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society. 6 p.m., Philly Style Pizza, 2010 N. Broad St., 4333Collective.net

    Reef the Lost Cauze at Voltage Lounge in Philadelphia in 2015. He’ll play an “Under The El” show on Saturday afternoon. Tim Blackwell / Philly.com

    A Night of Stardust

    The show that annually closes out Bowie week is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Presented by Greg Shelton, it will feature 30 Bowie songs performed by 14 vocalists, including Richard Bush, Olivia Rubini, and Johnny Showcase. 7 p.m., Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St. utphilly.com

    Kid Davis & the Bullets

    Delaware roots-rockers Kid Davis & the Bullets celebrate the release of their new album Amsterdam at 118 North in Wayne on Saturday. The blues and rockabilly-flavored collection was produced by James Everhart of standout Philly band Cosmic Guilt and features contributions from vocalists Hannah Taylor and Ali Wadsworth. 8 p.m., 118 North, 118 N. Wayne Ave., Wayne, 118NorthWayne.com

    Sadie Dupuis, singer for Speedy Ortiz, performs with the band at World Cafe Live for Free at Noon in Philadelphia in 2023. As Sad13, she’ll perform as part of the World Cafe Live workers benefit on Sunday.

    Sunday, Jan. 11

    World Cafe Live Workers Benefit

    This show featuring Philly acts Carsie Blanton, Ray Dreznor, Izzy True, and Sad13 will directly benefit former and current workers at World Cafe Live. The West Philly venue has had a chaotic year since founder Hal Real stepped down last spring, with many employees losing their jobs and complaining of light paychecks and unfair treatment by the new management team. 7 p.m., Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., johnnybrendas.com

    Cate Le Bon plays Union Transfer on Tuesday. The Welsh musician’s new album is “Michelangelo, Dying.”

    Tuesday, Jan. 13

    Cate Le Bon

    Welsh art-pop songwriter Cate Le Bon has been a consistently compelling music maker through a 15-year career, with the experimental duo Drinks and through solo albums like 2021’s Pompeii and the new Michelangelo, Dying. She has also produced music by Wilco, Horsegirl, and Kurt Vile, and it wouldn’t shock anyone if the Philly rock star dropped in at her show. Frances Chang opens. 7 p.m. Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St., utphilly.com

  • Among the 100 or so concerts he attended in 2025, our pop music critic picks his favorites

    Among the 100 or so concerts he attended in 2025, our pop music critic picks his favorites

    Philadelphia concert stages were busy in 2025, from the South Philly sports complex to the Mann Center in Fairmount Park, and plenty of intimate venues in between.

    This list, sorted by date, gathers a dozen shows that stood out among the 100 or so I saw this year, and also includes two I sadly missed. They were enthusiastically reviewed for The Inquirer by my colleagues Earl Hopkins and Shaun Brady.

    Kraftwerk performs at the Franklin Music Hall on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Philadelphia is the first stop on their tour, “Multimedia,” which celebrates the 50-year anniversary of the group’s album “Autobahn.”

    Kraftwerk

    March 6, Franklin Music Hall

    The German electronic music pioneers served a reminder that they were making music about “The Man-Machine” a half-century before AI threatened to make human labor obsolete. The band whose “Trans Global Express” “became a foundational building block for the New York DJs who created hip-hop in the 1970s, embraced all things electronic early in its career. Its members stood almost completely still last March while making kinetic music that barreled down the “Autobahn” with irresistible momentum.

    Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds perform at the Met Philadelphia on Saturday, April 26, 2025. Cave performs his new album, “Wild God.”

    Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

    April 27, Met Philly

    This was a two-and-a-half-hour leap “toward love, wonder, meaning, and transcendence,” as Cave put it, with the vampiric Australian goth-punk veteran leading his flock in a thumping Saturday night church service on his “Wild God Tour.” Backed by a band that included whirling dervish violinist Warren Ellis and Radiohead bass player Colin Greenwood, Cave dedicated “Long Dark Night” to late Philly-born music producer Hal Willner and acknowledged the tragic losses in his own life while insisting: “We’ve all had too much sorrow, now is the time for joy.”

    Superstars Kendrick Lamar and SZA take Philly fans on a glorious ride through the streets of Compton and to moss-covered meadows during their “Grand National Tour” stop at the Linc on May 5.

    Kendrick Lamar & SZA

    May 5, Lincoln Financial Field

    Just months after scoring five Grammy wins and headlining the most-watched Super Bowl halftime of all time, Kendrick Lamar continued the victory lap with an electrifying performance. Lamar was joined by R&B star SZA for the “Grand National Tour,” and the two musical supernovas combined their distinct styles and shared hits across eight acts. Lamar transported fans to the Compton streets, while SZA’s sultry tunes brought the audience into her whimsical, moss-covered labyrinth. While the momentum occasionally slowed during the three-hour show, there were few concert moments this year more dazzling than when Kendrick and SZA shared the stage. — Earl Hopkins

    Sun Ra Arkestra bandleader Marshall Allen’s 101st birthday celebration at Solar Myth in South Philadelphia in May, with Andre 3000, Ronnie Boyd, who is Marshall Allen’s son, and Allen.who is seated. Drummer Austin Williamson is in the background.

    Marshall Allen’s 101st Birthday Party

    May 25, Solar Myth

    The Sun Ra Arkestra bandleader and remarkable experimental musician celebrated the beginning of the second year of his second century. The party featured an all-star band that included Andre 3000 of OutKast (not rapping, but playing flute and piano) as well as special guests Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Tara Middleton. The Ars Nova Workshop event celebrated Allen’s new Live in Philadelphia album, recorded with the Ghost Horizons Ensemble.

    Lenny Kravitz (center) performs on the Fairmount Park Stage during The Roots Picnic 2025 at the Mann Center on Sunday, June 1, 2025.

    Maxwell and Lenny Kravitz at The Roots Picnic

    May 31-June 1, Mann Center

    This year, things didn’t go as planned at Philadelphia’s signature summer concert event. D’Angelo, who died of pancreatic cancer later in the year, canceled due to illness. Then torrential rains caused delay, angering ticket holders who waited outside the gates for hours.

    Maxwell was the hero of the Picnic’s first night, stepping in as D’Angelo’s super sub and delivering a silky performance that (mostly) made the bad vibes go away. Then on Sunday, the clouds parted and the Picnic got the feel-good sun-baked “Let Love Rule” rock star performance from Kravitz that Questlove & Co. had been hoping for.

    Francie Medosch, leader of the rising Berwyn-born country rock band Florry. Photo from October 2023.

    Florry and the Hold Steady

    June 27, Foundry at the Fillmore and Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia

    Philly concert FOMO is an ongoing issue. Why can’t a music-loving person be at two places at once? The beauty of this particular evening was the venues were next to one another. The terrific Philly rocking country band Florry was at the Foundry, the upstairs venue at the Fillmore, where the Francie Medosch-led band was ripping through the ragged and right songs on its new Sounds Like … And the timing was such that I was able to catch almost all of Florry’s set and then run over to the Brooklyn Bowl to catch bar band extraordinaire, the Hold Steady, in the middle of its “Constructive Summer” three-night run.

    Audience members applaud during the Wu-Tang Clan’s final performance of their farewell tour, “Wu-Tang Forever: The Final Chamber,” at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Friday, July 18, 2025.

    Wu-Tang Clan

    July 18, Xfinity Mobile Arena

    Was this the final fully-staffed Wu-Tang clan show ever? Not only were all nine surviving members, plus Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s son Young Dirty Bastard, in the house on the last stop on the Wu-Tang Forever: The Final Chapter tour, LL Cool J, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Freeway, and Philadelphia City Council president Kenyatta Johnson, who gave the pioneering hip-hop proclamations of appreciation, were also present. All that, plus a knockout opening act in Run the Jewels.

    The Weeknd performs during his After Hours Til Dawn Stadium Tour stop at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Wednesday, July 30, 2025.

    The Weeknd

    July 30, Lincoln Financial Field

    Was this really a retirement party? The Weeknd — Canadian pop superstar born Abel Tesfaye — says he’s ready to put his character to rest. But at the Linc — where he and Metallica were the only artists to play multiple nights this year — Tesfaye seemed to have a glorious time. Dressed like a wizard, he must have felt like one, as he stood at the 50 yard line of the Linc and listened to 65,000 fans sing along to his every word.

    Best pop music albums of 2025, according to our pop music critic

    Leon Bridges and Charley Crockett

    Sept. 5, TD Pavilion at the Mann Center

    “The Crooner and the Cowboy Tour” featured retro-leaning R&B singer Bridges, who headlined, and Crockett, the honky-tonk singer who blends blues and soul. The result was an evening that — with the added attraction of opener Reyna Tropical — offered a delightful combo of tough-minded twang and sultry soul from the Texas. The twosome attracted a refreshingly diverse, intergenerational crowd.

    The Pogues

    Sept. 5, Franklin Music Hall

    Without frontman and songwriter Shane MacGowan, who died in 2023, the Pogues carried on this year with original members Spider Stacy, Jem Finer, and James Fearnley. They were joined by a dozen or so players who have the Irish folk-punk band’s music in their blood. The result was raucous, and restorative. Long live Shane MacGowan!

    Making Time ∞

    Sept. 17-19, Fort Mifflin

    Fort Mifflin is the coolest festival site in Philadelphia and DJ-impresario David Pianka put the grounds of the Revolutionary War era structure to imaginative use in the fifth year of his internationally renowned electronic music-plus gathering. The three-day fest attracted crowds with its new rave-tastic Option 5 stage and big name acts like Panda Bear, mellow afternoon live band shows like a collaboration between Marshall Allen and harpist Mary Lattimore, and a food and beverage program that outpaces all musical competition.

    David Byrne performs songs from his solo album “Who Is the Sky” at the Met on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in Philadelphia.

    David Byrne

    Oct. 16, Met Philly

    The first of the former Talking Heads leader’s three shows, Inquirer reviewer Shaun Brady wrote, found “Byrne and his 13-piece band engaged in a vibrant act of communion and celebration.” The musicians all used wireless mics and dressed in pajamalike outfits. The stage “abounds in color and movement,” Brady wrote. “A semicircular video screen surrounds the band, illustrating Byrne’s songs in sometimes literal, sometimes wry fashion.”

    Patti Smith and Her Band perform “Horses” on its 50th anniversary at the Met Philly in Philadelphia on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.

    Patti Smith

    Nov. 29, Met Philly

    The punk rock poet who grew up in Philadelphia and South Jersey finished the tour for the 50th anniversary of her 1975 debut album, Horses at the Met, and turned it into a celebration of the 215 beginnings that she chronicles in her new Bread of Angels memoir. The still electrifying performer, who identified with downtown New York in the 1970s, reminded her fans that it all started in Philly. “I might have left Philadelphia physically,” she said. “But it’s always been in my heart.”

    Glory Glory Allan Sherman

    Dec. 4, Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

    This only-in-Philly performance was a ragtag wonder, a tribute to the musical comedian who wrote “Hello Mudduh, Hello Faddah.” Inspired by Philly-born musical alchemist Hal Willner, the evening featured killer bands and Philly talent, including Wesley Stace, Adam Weiner, Rodney Anonymous, and the aforementioned Marshall Allen. It also accomplished something far too rare this year: It made me laugh.

  • The Philly concerts that’ll get you through Christmas week and into the new year

    The Philly concerts that’ll get you through Christmas week and into the new year

    This week in Philly music is all about the plentiful live music options on New Year’s Eve, including LL Cool J, Snacktime, Ben Arnold, Low Cut Connie, and Kindred the Family Soul.

    But before we get to the final blowout of 2025, there’s also some action with touring and local Philly bands in the days after Christmas. Not to mention: Wayne Newton!

    Friday, Dec. 26

    Wayne Newton

    Center City will become Sin City with this rare Philly appearance by the longtime denizen of the Las Vegas Strip. “Wayne Newton, Mr. Las Vegas: Memories and Melodies” is how the 83-year-old entertainer who released 165 albums in his day — and scored a signature hit in 1963 with “Danke Schoen” — bills the show he’s bringing to City Winery for two nights. (7 p.m., City Winery Philadelphia, 990 Filbert St., CityWinery.com/philadelphia)

    Saturday, Dec. 27

    Jealousy Curve / John Faye

    On Saturday at Underground Arts, Philly rock band Jealousy Curve shares a bill with John Faye, the longtime musician on the local scene. Faye played reunion dates with his ‘90s alt-rock band the Caulfields last month and was on stage at last week’s Pierre Robert tribute at the Fillmore as a member of David Uosikkinen’s band, In The Pocket. Faye’s latest is The Long Game, released on Uosikkinen’s ITP Entertainment last year. (8 p.m., Underground Arts, 1200 Callowhill St., undergroundarts.org)

    Gogol Bordello play the Archer Music Hall in Allentown on Dec. 28.

    Sunday, Dec. 28

    Gogol Bordello

    Gogol Bordello, and its charismatic Ukrainian American lead singer, Eugene Hutz, have a long tradition of playing Philly shows in the week between Christmas and New Year’s. This time, the New York punk band, which mixes Romani and traditional Ukrainian music into their raucous blend, is bound for a different Pennsylvania location with a date at Archer Music Hall, the new Live Nation venue in Allentown. (8 p.m. Archer Music Hall, 939 Hamilton St., Allentown, archermusichall.com)

    A Jam Without Borders

    Yesseh Furaha-Ali of Snacktime, Camden trumpeter Arnetta Johnson, and the Bul Bey are among the artists who’ll be playing at Ortlieb’s at this event hosted by Corey Bernhard and Friends. It’s a fundraiser for Philadelphia families impacted by ICE. (8 p.m., Ortlieb’s, 847 N. Third St., ortliebsphilly.com)

    Monday, Dec. 29

    “Fear of Heights”

    Philly rocker Alan Mann regularly played South Street clubs like J.C. Dobbs and Ripley Music Hall before his death in 1987. Rich Murray, who directed the video for Mann’s song “Christmas on the Block,” which became the first indie video played on MTV and a subsequent Philly holiday music favorite, has made a documentary about his relationship with Mann and his legacy. Called Fear of Heights, the movie, which begins with a 2015 clip of the late DJ Pierre Robert dropping the needle on “Christmas on the Block” on WMMR-FM (93.3), will have its Philly premiere at Film Society East. It will be followed by a discussion with Murray and his co-filmmakers moderated by WMGK-FM DJ Cindy Drue. (7 p.m., Film Society East, 125 S. Second St., filmadelphia.org)

    Low Cut Connie at Concerts Under the Stars in King of Prussia on Aug. 1, 2025. Left to right: Rich Stanley, Nick Perri, Adam Weiner, Jarae Lewis (on drums, partially hidden), Amanda “Rocky” Bullwinkel, and Kelsey Cork. The band will play Ardmore Music Hall on Dec. 30 and 31.

    Tuesday, Dec. 30

    Dark Star Orchestra

    The longstanding Grateful Dead tribute band is marking the transition from 2025 to 2026 on a short East Coast tour, which includes a date at Franklin Music Hall on NYE’s eve. (8 p.m., Franklin Music Hall, 421 N. Seventh St., franklinmusichall.com)

    The Samples

    And for a further jam band experience, veteran Colorado 10-piece band the Samples, which blends a Dead influence with more pop-rock shadings, does two nights at 118 North in Wayne. (8 p.m., 118 North, 118 N. Wayne Ave., Wayne, 118 NorthWayne.com)

    Low Cut Connie

    Adam Weiner and Miss Rocky of Low Cut Connie distinguished themselves with their take on David Bowie’s “Young Americans” at last week’s Pierre Robert tribute. Let’s hope they put it in the playlist for their two end-of-the-year blowouts on Dec. 30 and New Year’s Eve.

    The band didn’t put out a new album this year but had an eventful 2025, getting caught up in to pop-and-politics brouhahas in D.C. and Luzerne County, and releasing some high-quality protest songs. Bluegrass band Shelby Means Trio, led by the eponymous bassist formerly in Molly Tuttle’s band, opens on Tuesday, and Philly rock and roller Roberta Faceplant opens Wednesday. (8 p.m., Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, ardmoremusichall.com)

    LL Cool J will headline a free concert on the Ben Franklin Parkway on New Year’s Eve. The show will also feature DJ Jazzy Jeff, Adam Blackstone, and Dorothy.

    Wednesday, Dec. 31

    LL Cool J, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Adam Blackstone

    This is the big new party on the Parkway and maybe the start of a new Philadelphia tradition? The city will officially usher in the year of the Semiquicentennial with its first-ever free NYE music and fireworks spectacle. Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and “Mama Said Knock You Out” hitmaker LL Cool J is making good on his commitment to play Philly after he opted out of this year’s July 4 Welcome America show in solidarity with striking municipal city workers. DJ Jazzy Jeff is, of course, the master of the Wheel of Steel, and Adam Blackstone has become one of the leading ambassadors for Philly music, and plans to debut a new civic pride song called “Brotherly Love” at the show. Dorothy and Technician the DJ are also on the bill. (8 p.m., Benjamin Franklin Parkway, phila.gov)

    Snacktime

    Philly R&B and soul party band par excellence Snacktime is the NYE Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia house band. This is the third consecutive year that the horn-happy outfit has closed out the season at the Fishtown bowling alley/music venue. The band that started out busking in Rittenhouse Square during the pandemic has a new single. It is a sweetly sung and inventively arranged version of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows.” (8 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia, 1009 Canal St., brooklynbowl.com/philadelphia)

    Ben Arnold

    Ben Arnold was another standout at this month’s tribute to the late Pierre Robert. The Philly songwriter covered Robert Hazard’s “Change Reaction” and then led a singalong finale of the Youngbloods’ “Get Together.” Arnold put out a top-shelf album called XI this year, featuring the terrific single “Catch the Lightning,” and also toured Europe with the band U.S. Rails. He’ll be singing his own songs and some by U.S. Rails at his Kelly Center NYE show in Havertown. (7:30 p.m., Kelly Center, 4 E. Eagle Road, Havertown, kellycenter.org.)

    Kindred the Family Soul performs on the Presser Stage during The Roots Picnic Day 2 at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts on June 4, 2023. The group will do two shows at the City Winery Philadelphia on New Year’s Eve.

    Kindred the Family Soul

    The wife-and-husband team of Aja Graydon and Fatin Dantzler appeared last month at the Met Philly with John Legend, with whom they shared salad days at the Black Lily showcases in the early 00s. The veteran neo-soul act is back as City Winery NYE headliners, playing early and late shows at the Filbert Street club on Thursday. (7 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. City Winery Philadelphia, 990 Filbert St., citywinery.com/philadelphia)

    Felice Brothers plays Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia on Jan. 2.

    Friday, Jan. 2

    Felice Bros.

    Upstate New York-born sibling act the Felice Brothers’ winning, ramshackle sound has mixed folk and rock and roll into a satisfying blend over the course of 10 albums. The most recent is 2024’s The Valley of Abandoned Songs. Brother Ian and James Felice make their annual holiday season stop at Brooklyn Bowl Philly on Friday, with Canadian songwriter Charlotte Cornfield opening. (8 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia, 1009 Canal St., brooklynbowl.com/philadelphia)

    Candy Volcano

    Philly Loves Bowie Week will kick off with two shows by tribute band Candy Volcano at Ardmore Music Hall. The first show will be at WXPN-FM Free at Noon, and then a nighttime show at the venue in which the band will cover Bowie’s 1976 album Station to Station. (Noon, Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, xpn.org/freeatnoon, and 8 p.m., ardmoremusichall.com)

  • A holiday music playlist feat. songs that namecheck Wawa, reimagine seasonal classics, and more

    A holiday music playlist feat. songs that namecheck Wawa, reimagine seasonal classics, and more

    Christmastime is here, as Vince Guaraldi and Lee Mendelson put it in the nostalgia-inducing song composed for A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965.

    The soundtrack to that TV holiday classic has been reissued this year, so it qualifies for inclusion on this playlist of the best holiday music of 2025. The 30 songs of holiday cheer — along with interludes of winter solstice melancholy — assembled on a streaming Spotify playlist are either newly recorded this year, or as with tunes by Chuck Berry and Roberta Flack, reissued in 2025.

    They come from new holiday albums by Herb Alpert, Old Crow Medicine Show, Mickey Guyton, Brad Paisley, and others. Individual songs from Philly artists like Soraia, Bret Tobias Set, and Lizzy McAlpine also make an appearance. Look out for brand names such as Luke Bryan, Cher, and Gwen Stefani.

    Lainey Wilson and Bing Crosby, ‘Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!’

    The wonders of technology bring together country star Wilson and Crosby (who died in 1977) not only in song but also visually, as claymation video duet partners.

    Chuck Berry, ‘Run Rudolph Run’

    A holiday classic from The Chess Records Christmas Album, a terrific newly reissued compilation that includes Sonny Boy Williamson II, the Soul Stirrers, and Salem Travelers.

    St. Vincent, ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’

    The sleeper holiday album of the year is the soundtrack to Oh. What. Fun., the Christmas comedy starring Michelle Pfeiffer. Annie Clark nicely renders this melancholy classic first sung by Judy Garland. The soundtrack also includes the Bird and the Bee, Weyes Blood, Madi Diaz, and Sharon Van Etten.

    Old Crow Medicine Show, ‘Bethlehem, PA’

    Nashville band Old Crow Medicine Show’s holiday album OCMS XMAS features 11 originals including the heart tugger “Grandpa’s Gone.” This one imagines a “little baby born in the Keystone State” in Lehigh County and also references the Phillies to set the scene. “We drove from the Poconos, three hours to see the King,” Ketch Secor sings. “Stopped off at a Wawa store to get some gifts to bring.”

    Luke Bryan and Ella Langley, ‘Winter Wonderland’

    American Idol’s Bryan teams with breakout star Langley on a countrified version of the 1934 song whose lyricist is Pennsylvanian Richard Bernhard Smith.

    Melissa Carper, ‘Dumpster Diving on Christmas Eve’

    A lighthearted country swing tune from Nebraska singer Carper about making do someway somehow when times are tough, from the excellent A Very Carper Christmas.

    Melissa Carper’s holiday album is “A Very Karper Christmas.”

    Jake Shimabukuro, ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’

    A sprightly instrumental from the ukulele virtuoso’s great new Tis the Season.

    Mickey Guyton, ‘It Won’t Be Christmas’

    A cheery throwback ‘60s bop that’s a highlight of Feels Like Christmas, the new album by the singer who broke through to the country mainstream with her 2020 single “Black Like Me.”

    Kyle M, ‘Mrs. Claus Is Getting Down’

    Former Saturday Night Live cast member Kyle Mooney has a five-song holiday EP called Winter’s Wish. This low-fi romp finds Santa’s wife cutting loose while her hubby makes his rounds. Alicia Silverstone stars in the video.

    Jeff Tweedy, ‘Christmas Must Be Tonight’

    The Wilco leader, who released his Twilight Override triple album this year, delivers a tender version of the Robbie Robertson-penned song by the Band. Also on the Oh. What. Fun. soundtrack.

    The Bret Tobias Set, ‘For Christ’s Sake’

    Philly bandleader Tobias updates a blue-eyed soul Christmas song he originally recorded with the Bigger Lovers, to a yearning duet with Krista Umile.

    Kylie Minogue’s “Office Party” is from the new “Fully Wrapped” version of her “Kylie Christmas” album.

    LeAnn Rimes, ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’

    Rimes was 13 when she had her first hit with “Blue” in 1996. That’s the same age Brenda Lee was when she recorded this holiday perennial in 1958.

    Soraia, “Santa Claus.”

    Philly garage band Soraia, fronted by singer ZouZou Mansour, covers the Sonics of “Louie, Louie” fame on the new It’s a Wicked Cool Christmas!, the compilation curated by Underground Garage creator Steve Van Zandt.

    Chaparelle and Sierra Ferrell, ‘When It Snows in Texas’

    Lone Star State trio Chaparelle teams with Grammy-winning Americana singer Ferrell on this swinging new tune about a day that may never come.

    This album cover image released by Craft Recordings shows “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” (Craft Recordings via AP)

    Vince Guaraldi Trio, ‘Christmas Time Is Here’

    The A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack album has been reissued on vinyl, featuring Guaraldi’s wistful piano tune.

    Gwen Stefani, ‘Hot Cocoa’

    This bouncy holiday pop song is on both the expanded edition of Stefani’s You Make It Feel Like Christmas album and the Oh. What. Fun. soundtrack.

    Deer Tick, ‘Light Up Reindeer’

    A reflective song about anxiety in the holiday season from the Providence, R.I., rock band.

    Lizzy McAlpine, ‘Celebrate Me Home’

    Lower Merion native and Broadway star Lizzy McAlpine’s cover of Kenny Loggins evaded my notice last year, so it’s in this 2025 mix.

    Old Crow Medicine Show’s holiday album is “OCMS XMAS.”

    Herb Alpert, ‘Sleigh Ride’

    Nonagenarian music executive and bandleader Alpert plays his trumpet and sings along with his wife, Lani Hall, on one of 11 chestnuts on his new Christmas Time Is Here.

    Trisha Yearwood, ‘Candy Cane Lane’

    Yearwood takes a stroll down a red-and-white-striped street on her album Christmastime that’s produced by Don Was and features husband Garth Brooks.

    Kylie Minogue, ‘Office Party’

    A sassy new track from the Australian diva, from the new “Fully Wrapped” edition of Minogue’s 2015 Kylie Christmas album, which also includes a beyond-the-grave duet with Frank Sinatra.

    Cher, ‘Christmas Is Here’

    She sang “Run Rudolph Run” on SNL this month — with Roots guitarist Kirk Douglas playing Chuck Berry licks — and released a Christmas album in 2023. Now, Cher’s added this propulsive track to her Christmas song list.

    Roberta Flack, ‘The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)’

    The elegant, soulful singer who died in February recorded this Mel Torme-penned Nat King Cole holiday classic on her 1997 The Christmas Album. It’s been reissued as Holidays.

    Eric Benet’s new holiday album is ‘It’s Christmas.’

    Eric Benet, ‘I Really Don’t Want Much for Christmas’

    Eric Benet puts family and romance above material things on this R&B holiday song from his new It’s Christmas album.

    The SarahBanda, ‘Overture (from the Cuban Nutcracker Suite)’

    Tchaikovsky hits the dance floor on Cuban Christmas, thanks to the SarahBanda, Havana musicians led by Berlin Philharmonic French horn player Sarah Willis.

    Dar Williams, ‘I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (Santa Version)’

    Folk singer Williams covers the title track to Richard and Linda Thompson’s 1974 album, updated with sleigh bells.

    Tyra Banks, ‘Santa Smize, Santa Smize’

    A loopy hip-hop electro banger that does double duty as a dance floor mixture of mythical North Pole lore and an ad for Banks’ hot ice cream brand.

    This cover image released by Mercury Nashville shows “Snow Globe Town” by Brad Paisley. (Mercury Nashville via AP)

    Brad Paisley, ‘Counting Down The Days’

    We could all use a break this time of the year, country singer and guitar hotshot Paisley thinks. “It’s been a grind, but I can see Christmas lights at the end of the tunnel.” From the new Snow Globe Town.

    Sofia Talvik, ‘Poem at Year’s End’

    Ruminative late December song from Swedish songwriter Talvik from her Wrapped in Paper holiday collection.

    The Dollyrots, ‘Auld Lang Syne’

    A punk-rock take on Robert Burns also on It’s a Wicked Cool Christmas!, complete with singer Kelly Ogden’s New Year’s resolutions. “Every morning we’re going to do one thing to make ourselves feel better, and then one thing to make somebody else feel better.” Cheers to that.

  • An Eagle landed on the War on Drugs’ ‘A Drugcember To Remember.’ Neither the flying kind nor the playing kind.

    An Eagle landed on the War on Drugs’ ‘A Drugcember To Remember.’ Neither the flying kind nor the playing kind.

    During the second night of the War on Drugs’ three-show “A Drugcember to Remember” run at Johnny Brenda’s on Friday, there were two kinds of special guests.

    The first was deeply satisfying, really cool, and not entirely unexpected.

    It was Craig Finn, the front man for the Hold Steady, whose superb new album, Always Been, was produced by Drugs leader Adam Granduciel.

    Finn does have a track record of showing up at Drugcembers past, so the second guest was a tad more surprising.

    It was a genuine “Holy [cow]! What just happened?” moment that gobsmacked a crowd that was already pinching itself — it’s not every day you are lucky enough to see Philadelphia’s most acclaimed rock band in peak form in a 250-capacity room, many times smaller than the capacious spaces they play in around the world.

    It was Joe Walsh. Yes, that Joe Walsh, the James Gang founder, solo artist, and guitarist for the Eagles — the band, not the football team.

    Special guest Joe Walsh performs with War on Drugs during the “A Drugcember To Remember” show at Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown on Friday, December 19, 2025.

    He joined the Drugs for a three-song finale that capped off a masterfully executed two-hour, 15-minute show that benefited the Fund for the School District of Philadelphia.

    But the night would have qualified as an unforgettable Drugcember to Remember even without the out-of-the-blue rock star appearance.

    The show’s earlier highlights included a roaring cover of Tom Petty’s “Love is a Long Road” and a goose bump-inducing 17-minute motorik version of “Harmonia’s Dream,” from the band’s 2021 album I Don’t Live Here Anymore, that spotlighted keyboard player Robbie Bennett.

    War on Drugs frontman Adam Granduciel performs during the groups “A Drugcember To Remember” show at Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown on Friday, December 19, 2025.

    It leveled up to a higher plane with the arrival of Walsh, the 78-year-old powerhouse slide guitar player who seemed thrilled to be playing with a decades younger vise-tight group of simpatico musicians.

    The Walsh-Drugs mini-set kicked off with “Rocky Mountain Way,” the extra-crunchy 1973 hit that turned Walsh into a solo star. He was joined by an arsenal of guitarists onstage including Granduciel, Anthony LaMarca, and, at times, newest band member Eliza Hardy Jones, who also played percussion and sang backup throughout the evening.

    On “Rocky Mountain Way,” which has gotten new life in the last year as a TikTok phenomenon, Walsh employed a talk box, using a tube in his mouth to manipulate and distort the sound of his guitar in ways that still sound futuristic 50 years later.

    It also meshed perfectly with the audio geek aesthetic of Granduciel, who is an expert at layering guitar and keyboard sounds to transporting effect.

    Before the band leaped into that song, though, Granduciel and Walsh explained to the nonplussed crowd how the seemingly unlikely collaboration came to be. How did Walsh wind up onstage at the Fishtown club that has been the Drugs’ spiritual home since they played there on the venue’s opening weekend in 2006?

    Here’s the story: In 2023, the band played Walsh’s VetsAid concert for military veterans in Los Angeles.

    “We became friends, we stayed in touch,” Granduciel said. “And he wanted to come to Drugcember, he wanted to see all you guys. He wanted to breathe the air that we’re breathing.”

    During the Drugs’ set at VetsAid, Walsh said, “I was walking around backstage and I listened to ’em. And I never heard them live. They make nice records. But, boy, this thought: I couldn’t help it. ‘Damn! I’d sure like to play in a band like that.’ Be careful what you … wish for!”

    The War on Drugs perform during the group’s second of three sold-out “A Drugcember To Remember” performances at Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown on Friday, December 19, 2025. “A Drugcember To Remember,” a series of holiday shows directly benefit The Fund for the School District of Philadelphia, a nonprofit that raises and coordinates investments into the Philadelphia public schools.

    “Rocky Mountain Way” was followed by “In the City,” Walsh’s song written for the 1979 action movie The Warriors that he also recorded with the Eagles. His craggy and Jones’ dulcet vocals made for a captivating blend, while the rhythm section of bassist Dave Hartley and drummer Charlie Hall powered the song forward.

    As exciting as it was to hear the Drugs back up Walsh on his own hits, it was more compelling still to watch him engage with the band on the closing number of the night, “Under the Pressure,” from 2014’s Lost in the Dream.

    That song is combustible under normal conditions, but it moved from a simmer to a boil in a flash with Walsh added to the mix. He and Granduciel were hunched over their guitars on the lip of the stage, illuminated by the strings of holiday lights on the mic stands and on the balcony railings above them in the intimate club.

    It was like a one-of-a-kind Fishtown version of what Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones call their “guitar weave,” and it was a kick to watch Walsh so enthusiastically just want to be one of the boys in the band.

    As mentioned, pre-Walsh, the show was terrific on its own terms. And a special shout out goes to Jon Natchez, the Drugs’ multi-instrumentalist, who played keyboards and baritone sax.

    Special guest Craig Finn performs during “A Drugcember To Remember” show with War on Drugs at Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown on Friday, December 19, 2025.

    The latter instrument’s honking added extra force to typically meticulously arranged songs like the Phil Collins-evoking “I Don’t Wanna Wait,” a highlight of the band’s opening set, which was followed by a 15-minute intermission.

    In introducing Natchez, Granduciel mocked his Boston sports fandom. “He wouldn’t be caught dead in an Eagles jacket,” the bandleader said. “I’m out of Boston, too” — Granduciel grew up in Dover, Mass. — “but I bleed green.”

    The evening began three hours before it ended with Finn walking onstage with an acoustic guitar and wearing a Natural Light ball cap. He warmed up an attentive crowd with songs and stories, mostly from Always Been, his superb song cycle that’s partly set outside Philadelphia and mostly at the Delaware shore.

    Special guest Craig Finn performs with War on Drugs during the “A Drugcember To Remember” show at Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown on Friday, December 19, 2025.

    Finn was followed on stage by seven members of the Drugs, who reached back to open with “Arms Like Boulders,” from the band’s 2008 debut Wagonwheel Blues.

    “Pain,” from 2017’s Grammy-winning A Deeper Understanding, outlined the idea of the unending quest that’s an animating concept in Granduciel’s lyrics. “I want to find what can’t be found,” he sang. And later, in “Strangest Thing,” also from Deeper, he sang about still not finding resolution: “I’m just living in the space between the beauty and the pain.”

    Seven songs in, the Drugs brought Finn back out for a three-song interlude that closed the first set.

    Two of those were from Always Been, including the engrossing “Bethany,” which took off into the stratosphere with a Granduciel solo midway through. Then it lingered with an image in the closing line: “But the sunset looks like blood from the window of the bus, somewhere between Harrisburg and Bethany.”

    The third song in the Drugs-Finn collab on Friday was “Sweetheart Like You,” featuring Finn and Granduciel trading vocals on Bob Dylan’s philosophical barroom come-on.

    That was a treat, with Finn being very much himself, gesticulating his way through his verses while Granduciel slipped into his best sneering Dylan voice. It was an exquisite combo, and just one of many indelible moments in an evening that for all concerned will surely be the Drugcember they remember.

    The final sold-out night of “A Drugcember to Remember” was scheduled for Saturday night at Johnny Brenda’s. No special guests have been announced.

  • Best pop music albums of 2025, according to our pop music critic

    Best pop music albums of 2025, according to our pop music critic

    My 2025 10-best list is heavy on storytelling songwriters of all stripes, from country to rock to hip-hop to dance-pop.

    The Brooklyn band that is hyped as the future of rock is on it, as is the Spanish visionary who’s making outrageously ambitious classical-pop music that isn’t cringe, and a rising Philly band whose wildcat energy is infectious.

    And hopefully a few surprises along the way.

    Scroll to the bottom for a Spotify playlist to sample the Top Ten, and 10 more from the honorable mentions list.

    Francie Medosch of the Philadelphia country rock band Florry, in Philadelphia in 2023. the band’s new album is ‘Sounds Like…’

    10. Florry, “Sounds Like …”

    Francie Medosch’s roiling Philly-born band is alive with roadhouse energy on its third album, which injects swagger and self confidence into a gleeful attack that builds on 2023’s The Holey Bible. Medosch, who grew up in Berwyn and currently lives in Vermont, infuses Sounds Like … with a locomotive drive that kicks into gear immediately on “First it was a movie, then it was a book.”

    Quiet idylls such as “Dip Myself in a River Like an Ice Cream Cone” are welcome, but Florry feels most at home on death defying escapades like “Truck Flipped Over ’19.”

    This cover image released by Warner Records UK shows “Fancy That!” by PinkPantheress. (Warner Records UK via AP

    9. PinkPantheress, “Fancy That!”

    This hook-filled second album by British songwriter and producer born Victoria Beverley Walker gets the nod from me over West End Girl, the headline-grabbing release by Lily Allen, Walker’s most pronounced influence. West End Girl, which appears to target Allen’s ex David Harbour with philandering allegations shared in forensic detail, is the more lurid listen.

    Fancy That! employs a similar musical approach — skittering drum n‘ bass beats, buoyant melodies, light as a feather spoken-sung vocals — but to convey the kick of new romance in the big city.

    Gene “Malice” Thornton and Terrence “Pusha-T” Thornton of Clipse. Their new album is ‘Let God Sort Em Out.’

    8. Clipse, “Let God Sort Em Out”

    It’s been 16 years since the last album by the Virginia Beach duo of Terence “Pusha T” Thornton and brother Gene “Malice” Thornton. Malice became “No Malice” while making gospel rap, while Pusha carried on with the hard-hitting street tales the brothers are once again excelling at.

    Let God Sort Em Out was produced by Pharrell Williams, and its clean sound and exacting rhymes carry a whiff of nostalgia on songs like “The Birds Don’t Sing” and “All Things Considered,” as the Thorntons mourn their late parents.

    James McMurtry in 2022. His new album is ‘The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy.’ (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

    7. James McMurtry, “The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy”

    These nine originals plus a cover of Kris Kristofferson’s “Broken Freedom Song” reaffirm McMurtry’s stature at the top of the rich tradition of Texas songwriters. (A great one was lost this past week with the death of Joe Ely.)

    The album finds McMurtry railing against getting old in “South Texas Lawman” and chronicling the life of a musician on the road without sentimentality on “Back to Coeur d’Alene.” “Sons of the Second Sons” is a snarling, timely protest song partly inspired by Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.

    Grammy nominated singer and producer Dijon’s 2025 album is ‘Baby.’

    6. Dijon, “Baby”

    Producer and singer Dijon Duenas, a Met Philly headliner and SNL music guest in the past month, emerged as one of the stars of 2025 with his exuberant and deliciously unpredictable second album. The Washington native, who has a costarring role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, is a close collaborator with Mk.Gee, the South Jersey musician featured on Baby.

    They both also appear on two of the year’s high profile releases: Bon Iver’s Sable, Fable and Justin Bieber’s Swag. Baby is a never-dull shape-shifting listen that, at its best, earns the highest praise: It sounds kinda like Prince.

    This image released by Columbia Records shows “Lux” by Rosalía. (Columbia Records via AP)

    5. Rosalía, “Lux”

    Lux is, without question, the most ambitious and daring album on this list. Not just because its classical-pop mix is a 180-degree about-face from Rosalía’s hyperkinetic dance music on 2022’s Motomami. It’s also an exalted exploration of the feminine and divine, inspired by a host of saints including Clare of Assisi, Joan of Arc, and Hildegard of Bingen. It includes a Bjork cameo, a Patti Smith sample, and sharp words for the Catalan visionary’s ex-fiance Rauw Alejandro.

    Amid operatic aspirations and backing by the London Symphony Orchestra, Lux contains elements of hip-hop, reggaeton, and electronica. Though it can be enjoyed for its musical pleasures alone, you get more out of it depending on how much you put in. Rosalía sings in 14 different languages. 14! So if you’re not quite that multilingual yourself, a lyric translation site is essential.

    The cover of “Getting Killed,” the new album from Geese. MUST CREDIT: Partisan Records

    4. Geese, “Getting Killed”

    Geese isn’t for everybody. (For something that goes down easier, try Goose.) Cameron Winter, the band’s lead vocalist, warbles unprettily as the Brooklyn band’s fourth album gets underway, immediately working his way into a panic. “There’s a bomb in my car!” he shouts, while accompanied by experimental rapper JPEGMAFIA on vocals.

    The young band of the moment — all members are 23 — rides an uneasy groove. Bursts of noise reflect the anxiety of the age. In a recent sold-out show at Union Transfer — they could have easily filled a room twice as large — the band was locked in and in tune with the crowd to an extraordinary degree. “I have no idea where I’m going,” Winter sang, in the midst of thrilling adventure. “Here I come!”

    The Hold Steady leader Craig Finn’s 2025 solo album is ‘Always Been.’

    3. Craig Finn, “Always Been”

    The Hold Steady frontman has released five solo albums but none so fully realized — or Philly-connected — as this one. It’s a narratively linked set about a Harrisburg priest who loses faith and attempts to reset his life on the Delaware shore. Adam Granduciel of Philly’s the War On Drugs produces and brings a trademark cascading sound while always keeping the focus on Finn’s sharply detailed real life stories. “Luke and Leanna” is a masterclass in understated heart break.

    Karly Hartzman of the band Wednesday in Greensboro, N.C. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

    2. Wednesday, “Bleeds”

    “Wound Up Here (By Holding On)” is a standout track on the superb sixth album by the North Carolina band Wednesday. It starts off like a Southern gothic short story, with a dead body dragged out of a river. Appropriate enough, since the Karly Hatzman-led band’s blend of country-leaning Americana and shoegaze has been labeled “creek rock.”

    “Wound Up Here” also works as a testament to perseverance in the face of hardship, or heartbreak. The latter is in play throughout Bleeds as Hartzman and the band’s guitarist MJ Lenderman — whose Manning Fireworks topped best-of lists last year — split up during the making of the album.

    Saddest line, in retrospect: “I wanna have your baby, because I freckle and you tan.” Funniest jam band-dissing line: “We watched a Phish concert and Human Centipede, two things I now wish I had never seen.”

    This cover image released by RCA Records shows “Snipe Hunter” by Tyler Childers. (RCA via AP)

    … And finally, 1. Tyler Childers, “Snipe Hunter”

    Tyler Childers’ country-ness is as unmistakable as his pungent Kentucky twang. His sound oozes Appalachian authenticity, but he’s also a freewheeling spirit who flouts convention. He spoke out in support of Black Lives Matter with his 2020 album A Long Violent History and used his 2023 single “In Your Love” to tell a love story about gay coal miners.

    At the core of Childers’ Rick Rubin-produced seventh album is “Nose on the Gridstone” a haunting blues about evading addiction. “Oneida” is a tender romance between an earnest teenage suitor and a woman old enough to buy a bottle of wine. Childers has fun chomping down on his enemies on “Bitin’ List” and, spiritual seeker that he is, dreams of traveling to India in “Tirtha Yatra” to further explore the ways the Bhagavad Gita “changed me metaphysically.”

    My album of the year.

    Honorable Mentions: Lily Allen, West End Girl; Alex G., Headlights; Belair Lip Bombs, Again; Hannah Cohen, Earthstar Mountain; Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band, New Threats From the Soul; Mekons, Horror; Snocaps, Snocaps, They Are Gutting A Body of Water, Lotto; Jeff Tweedy, Twilight Override; Hayley Williams, Ego Death at a Bacholerette Party.

  • A long, emotional memorial to Pierre Robert was boundless in enthusiasm, much like Robert himself

    A long, emotional memorial to Pierre Robert was boundless in enthusiasm, much like Robert himself

    Pierre Robert’s unexpected death in October sent Philadelphia rock fans into a state of shock.

    How could the community of WMMR-FM (93.3) listeners carry on without the kind-hearted DJ? He was an unfailingly reliable source of good cheer and boundless musical enthusiasm on the airwaves, and at concerts and charity events across the region for over 40 years.

    On Wednesday night at the Fillmore in Fishtown, a sold-out crowd of 3,000 “good citizens” — as Robert called his fellow Philadelphians — struggled through their grief in a combination concert and wake that was billed as “Pierre Robert: A Show of Life.”

    Collectively, the friends of Robert who performed and spoke on stage at the event came up with a mutually agreed upon strategy: Life without Pierre Robert would be tolerable for the MMR family only if it essentially remained a life with Pierre Robert. That is, if through music and his memory, his spirit can be kept alive.

    The memorial concert raised money for Manna, the Philly nonprofit that feeds people with life-threatening illnesses, that was a favorite among many worthy causes Robert supported.

    The evening began with Robert’s family gathering on stage, with niece Nicole Horder and nephew Brett Robert addressing the crowd while a portrait of their uncle and his tie-dyed lab coat were on display to their right.

    Ed Roland of Collective Soul performs during the “Pierre Robert: A Show of Life” concert on Dec. 17, 2025 at the Fillmore in Philadelphia.

    It ended five hours later, with Philly songwriter Ben Arnold leading a chorus of close to 40 musicians, friends, and family members on a singalong version of “Get Together,” the 1967 Youngbloods hit and countercultural anthem that fit the long-haired, bearded, and peace-sign-flashing Robert to a T.

    In between, there were spirited, heartfelt, and sometimes tearful performances by David Uosikkinen’s In the Pocket, Marc LaBelle of Dirty Honey, and Ed Roland of Collective Soul, plus stripped-down duo sets by members of Philly hard rock band Halestorm and Jacksonville, Fla.’s Shinedown. And of course, there was Robert’s favorite Philly band, the Hooters.

    Robert grew up in California, and his passion for the city he relocated to in the early 1980s and came to call home, was noted throughout the evening.

    Pierre Robert is keeping the job he interviewed for at a Hooters show at the Chestnut Cabaret in 1981

    “If you tried to make a list of someone who would never make it in Philadelphia,” his nephew said at the start, “it would be a crazy hippie from California that’s a vegetarian, and ‘it’s all about peace and love man.’

    Lzzy Hale of Halestorm performs during the Pierre Robert Show of Life concert Wednesday, December 17, 2025 at The Fillmore in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by William Thomas Cain/CAIN IMAGES for WMMR)

    “But the thing about Philly is, Philly loves people who are unapologetically themselves. And he never forgot for a second that he got to live the life of his dreams because you guys tuned in and listened and showed up for him.”

    That theme of Robert being an outsider who chose to become a Philadelphian was cleverly echoed by Adam Weiner of Low Cut Connie.

    Weiner’s song selection was “Young Americans,” which was recorded at Sigma Sound Studio a half-century ago by David Bowie, “another great artist who fell in love with Philadelphia,” he said.

    Uosikkinen was the hard-working hero of the night, keeping the beat both with In the Pocket and later the Hooters, while just five weeks out of knee replacement surgery.

    The ITP set of local luminaries, who set a high bar for the rest of the evening, began with Steve Butler and Richard Bush singing the Kinks’ “Sunny Afternoon” (a Robert favorite). It also included Cliff Hillis doing Todd Rundgren’s “I Saw the Light,” Arnold taking on Robert Hazard’s “Change Reaction,” and three-song sets by Tommy Conwell and Bob “Beru” McCafferty.

    During one interlude, Philadelphia Councilmember Rue Landau came on stage to pay tribute to Robert, who was honored last week by a resolution introduced by Councilmember Mark Squilla that renames Latimer Street between 12th and Camac Streets as “Pierre Robert Way.”

    Nicole Horder, niece of Pierre Robert and Ed Roland of Collective Soul dances during the Hooters performance during the “Pierre Robert: A Show of Life” concert on Dec. 17, 2025 at the Fillmore in Philadelphia.

    Matt Cord, who has taken over the MMR midday time slot, introduced bands and was one of many who joked about Robert’s habitual lateness.

    Robert’s fellow DJ and mentee Jackie Bam Bam aptly called his late friend “the Santa Claus of Philadelphia, the Mister Rogers of Philadelphia on the radio.”

    “I said to Pierre: ‘You’re my hero! Who’s your hero?’ He said, ‘Jerry Blavat, the Geator’,” speaking of the legendary DJ who was mourned by the city after his death in 2023.

    After Dirty Honey’s LaBelle revved up the crowd with satisfyingly shrieking covers of Led Zeppelin and AC/DC, the lengthy show settled in to a strummy hard-rock acoustic duo midsection.

    Ed Roland of Georgia band Collective Soul played, accompanied by producer Shawn Grove, a Philly area-native and Pierre-ophile. Before getting to the band’s signature 1993 hit “Shine,” Roland thanked the Eagles for drafting several Georgia Bulldogs defensive players, then was taken by surprise by a raucous “E-A-G-L-E-S” chant.

    “I love you already, and now I love you even more,” he told the crowd.

    Halestorm is the band led by singer Lzzy Hale and guitarist Joe Hottinger that hails from Red Lion in York County. Hale is a full-throated rock star, and ripped it up on “I Miss the Misery” and “Love Bites (So Do I).” She dedicated a forthright piano ballad, “How Will You Remember Me?” to Robert.

    Brent Smith and Zach Myers of Shinedown followed and had the room singing with hits like “A Symptom of Being Human” and “Three Six Five.”

    “There will never be another human on this earth who loves music more than that guy,” Myers said of Robert. Thanks to Robert, “Philly feels like a second home to us,” he said.

    The quality of material was elevated considerably with Myers’ cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark.”

    The soul of the evening, however, belonged to the Hooters. The band was introduced twice. First by Robert’s longtime MMR colleague John DeBella, who noted that the Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman-fronted Philly band was Robert’s favorite, along with the Rolling Stones.

    (Curiously, none of the acts covered a Stones song, or anything by the Grateful Dead, who Robert also dearly loved.)

    The second time, the Hooters were intro’d by Robert himself, who referred to the band as “joy generators” in a recording from one of the band’s annual shows at the Keswick Theatre, the last of which he attended just days before his death.

    Brent Smith and Zach Meyers of Shinedown perform during the Pierre Robert Show of Life concert Wednesday, December 17, 2025 at The Fillmore in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by William Thomas Cain/CAIN IMAGES for WMMR)

    The band kept it bright, opening with the carpe diem optimism of “I’m Alive” and the hopeful “Silver Lining,” looking for a light even when “in your deepest shade of black.”

    “This is a joyous occasion,” Bazilian said. “But it’s life, and it’s one that was so well-lived. And that we all got to share.”

    The sextet named after a melodica — the instrument which Hyman and guitarist John Lilly played simultaneously at one point — made sure to include Robert’s picks, such as “Boys Will Be Boys.”

    And the city that Robert came to love was celebrated in its closing song “Beat Up Guitar,” with a lyric that could have been voiced by its departed friend.

    “I may leave this place tomorrow, but my soul is here to stay,” Hyman and Bazilian sang, “In the town that rocked the nation — Philadelphia, Pa.”

    All performers throughout the evening sing “Get Together” as the final song during the “Pierre Robert: AShow of Life” concert on Dec. 17, 2025 at the Fillmore in Philadelphia.