Legendary singer Jill Scott is kicking off 2026 with a special announcement: Her sixth studio album, called To Whom This May Concern, will come out on Feb. 13.
The release marks Scott’s first new album in more than a decade, following 2015’s Woman.
Coinciding with the Friday announcement, Scott also dropped her new single, “Beautiful People,” in which she croons about the power of love: “Our love is the art of war / Conquering all algorithms / And wicked, wicked systems of things.”
“THANK YOU for your patience and your listening ears,” Scott wrote on Instagram, signing off her caption with her beloved nickname, Jilly from Philly.
On To Whom This May Concern, the Philly native collaborates with fellow Philadelphian musicians including rapper Tierra Whack and music producer Adam Blackstone. Other collaborators include rappers Ab-Soul, J.I.D., and Too Short along with producers DJ Premier, Om’Mas Keith, Camper, and Andre Harris, according to Variety.
Jill Scott with Tierra Whack on the Fairmount Park Stage of The Roots Picnic at the Mann Center in June 2024.
During that show, Scott brought out Whack to debut their soon-to-be-released song, “Norf Philly.”
The To Whom This May Concern album cover features a painting by Chicago artist Marcellous Lovelace and depicts a nude Black woman with large yellow earrings and a matching collar necklace that repeats the message, “We fight.” The design includes affirmations like, “We can save ourselves,” “You cannot touch me,” and “One day we will destroy all of those who wish to harm us.”
“It’s a lot of living in this album,” Scott said about the album in a recent interview. “It’s a lot of revelation. Musically, it’s a full spectrum. Had some wonderful musicians come in. I feel touched all over, literally … The musicianship on this project and the people that gravitated towards it, I couldn’t be happier. I couldn’t have ever even imagined who is on this album.”
Fans braved the bitter cold to attend the free New Year’s Eve concert in front of the Philadelphia Art Museum and watch a midnight fireworks display kicking off the city’s celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
The concert was headlined by LL Cool J, the two-time Grammy-winning rapper who also has had a long career in movies and TV, including as a regular cast member on the series NCIS: Los Angeles.
About 10 minutes to midnight, LL Cool J brought out Philadelphia-based rapper Freeway as a surprise guest.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker joined the stage just before 10 p.m. to welcome another headliner, DJ Jazzy Jeff, alongside radio personality Lady B.
“My mayor is a hip-hop head,” Lady B said. Parker told the crowd: “Tonight, we remind the nation, that we are one America, a united nation.”
After taking the stage, Parker told a gaggle of reporters “what you are seeing is ‘one Philly, a united city’ in action” — referencing her mayoral slogan.
“Philadelphia is the birthplace of democracy, sixth-largest city in the nation — Why wouldn’t we kick off 2026, the Semiquincentennial, the 250th birthday of our nation?” she said. “Because Philadelphia, it’s where it happened.”
When asked if the free concert will become an annual tradition, Parker quipped, “Well, the budget process.” (A final price tag on the event was not yet available.)
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and Lady B (right) dance to DJ Jazzy Jeff during Philadelphia’s free New Year’s Eve concert and fireworks display, at the Oval on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025.
As for Parker’s resolutions for Philly in 2026: “To work harder, to dream bigger, and to do the impossible.
“We have a lot of challenges to address here in our city, but with our amazing team, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish together,” she said.
Taking the stage shortly after 8 p.m., multi-instrumentalist Adam Blackstone, the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts graduate and University of the Arts alum who has since performed with some of the world’s most popular musical artists, declared: “I’m home right now. They told me Philly’s the spot to be.”
Just before 11:30 p.m., attendance had grown to around 7,500 and was still growing, according to the show’s producer, Scott Mirkin, of ESM Productions. The final crowd estimate was 10,000 attendees, according to ESM.
The crowd had been modest up to around 10 p.m., but a late surge may have included people only interested in seeing LL Cool J or the fireworks display after the concert.
All were bundled in winter gear as the wind chill dipped into the 20s and even flurries made a late-night appearance.
Performers repeatedly commented on the frigid temperatures Wednesday night.
“I know it’s cold but we’re going to warm you up,” Dorothy frontwoman Dorothy Martin told concertgoers.
Martin later said: “I know you’re cold, but your heart is warm.”
The temperature made Fairmount residents Corey Fletcher, 32, and Alyza Ngbokoli, 30, hesitate, despite the draw of Cool J and Jazzy Jeff. Both were surprised by the prospect of an outdoor concert in the winter.
“It’s hard to breathe — it hurts my lungs,” Fletcher said of the cold. (Fletcher said fall is the ideal season for outdoor events; Ngbokoli said summer.)
For next year, Ngbokoli recommended organizers invest in heat lamps or warming tents. This year, concertgoers had the option of purchasing a hot meal — fried desserts, fried chicken, or lobster bisque from various food trucks — hot apple cider, hot chocolate, or $8 White Claws and other spirits.
Adam Blackstone performs during Philadelphia’s free New Year’s Eve concert and fireworks display, at the Oval on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025.
Die-hard fans were undeterred by the cold.
Sarah and Mike Murray, of Wilkes-Barre, estimate they’ve seen Cool J in concert “almost double-digits.”
“He’s easy on the eyes,” Sarah, 46, said.
“You can’t argue with that,” chimed Mike, 54. “He’s LL — ladies love him.”
The Cool J enthusiasts were supposed to see him perform on the Parkway on July 4, but the “Mama Said Knock You Out” and “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” singer canceled in solidarity with striking municipal workers.
What are the Murrays looking forward to in 2026?
“See LL Cool J more,” Mike said.
Cousins Tahira and Sean Tyler came to the Ben Franklin Parkway expecting a party. It was 55-year-old Sean Tyler’s first New Year’s Eve out on the town, and both were drawn in by LL Cool J.
Sean Tyler, of Overbrook Park, said she remembered in the ‘80s listening to the then-new artist’s first single on Power 99, but had never seen him live. Both Tylers discovered newfound appreciation for LL Cool J canceling his summer concert in solidarity with striking city workers.
“It showed how many people that it affected, and how much in wages, benefits — it shows how much it affects a broad range of people,” Sean Tyler said.
Upon walking into the barricaded Parkway, Sean and Tahira said the visible Philadelphia police presence and security measures made them feel safe.
Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel has said police will be out in full force, and asked concertgoers to leave weapons at home.
Tahira said the show, featuring local talents — like Blackstone and Jazzy Jeff — is the perfect way to ring in 2026, and the nation’s 250th birthday.
Tahira said: “Let’s continue to love Philly in the right kind of way — “
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 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.
“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.
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.
While the classical music world knew Gary Graffman as a distinguished visiting concert pianist, Philadelphia was his launching pad and artistic home over roughly eight decades. He was both a student and president at the Curtis Institute of Music, nurturing young talents to international fame before his death on Saturday in New York. He was 97.
His death was confirmed by his longtime publicist.
The New York City-born pianist arrived at Curtis at age 7. He graduated at age 17 and played roughly 100 concerts a year between the ages of 20 and 50 before retiring from touring due to a compromised right hand. Diagnosed with focal dystonia (a neurological disorder), he went on to premiere works for the left hand by Jennifer Higdon and William Bolcom.
Mr. Graffman returned to Curtis as a teacher in 1980, became director in 1986, and the president of the conservatory in 1995, with a teaching studio encompassing nearly 50 students, including Yuja Wang and Lang Lang among others. He performed on numerous occasions with the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1947 to 2003.
Former Curtis Institute director Gary Graffman during a 1989 piano lesson with Angela Au, then 13.
He stepped down from the faculty at age 92 in 2021, mainly due to travel challenges, having commuted for years between New York and his Philadelphia home at the Wanamaker House on Walnut Street. Yet he maintained a family-like association with students at his longtime 57th Street Manhattan home that was filled with antiques he acquired over many visits to China. He joked that he had cleaned out the continent, saying (with his characteristic humor), “There’s no more left. All gone!”
Mr. Graffman’s interest in nonmusical matters helped ease his transition out of full-time touring. Often accompanied by his wife, Naomi (who preceded him in death in 2019 at age 90), he projected a been-there-done-that attitude and was relieved not to have more comprehensive ailments, having been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. “It’s only your hand,” he told commentator Zsolt Bognár in an extended, candid interview for Living the Classical Life, a distinguished series of podcasts.
Naomi and Gary Graffman.
Having started playing piano at age 3 under the guidance of his Russian-heritage parents, Mr. Graffman began studying in earnest in 1936 at Curtis. Though he went on to study at Columbia University and to win the Leventritt Competition, his career effectively began at age 17 after winning the Rachmaninoff Fund competition, as documented in a short squib in the New York Times, dated March 28, 1947:
“Gary Graffman of 226 West Ninety-seventh Street, New York, made his debut this afternoon with the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy, playing Rachmaninoff’s Second piano concerto. The 18-year-old pianist was recalled to the stage several times, amid shouts of ‘bravo’ from the more than 3,000 persons in the Academy of Music.”
Gary Graffman’s left hand rests on sheet music of composition by Prado. File photograph.
Years of less-formal studies followed with the legendarily strong-minded Russian pianist Vladimir Horowitz, from whom Mr. Graffman learned how to bring out the individual voice of a student. During lessons, Horowitz never went to the keyboard to demonstrate how he would play a particular phrase.
From there, Mr. Graffman had a top-of-the-line career. He recorded much of the romantic-era piano literature for RCA and Columbia, and with some of the great orchestras of the United States. Most notably, he recorded his signature Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein.
But while recording Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concertos 2 and 3 in Philadelphia with Eugene Ormandy, Mr. Graffman began noticing finger problems that, at the time, he was able to work around.
Gary Graffman in 2006 near his retirement.
Like many musicians experiencing such difficulties, it was initially assumed (even by his wife) that he wasn’t practicing enough.
At age 50, he canceled engagements but managed to record Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, which was used for the soundtrack of the Woody Allen movie Manhattan, and pursued various treatments.
Back then, focal dystonia was little known or understood. Mr. Graffman’s colleague Leon Fleisher had been struggling with the ailment for years, finally having a late-in-life resurgence as a two-handed pianist. Not Mr. Graffman.
He made the Ravel Piano Concerto for the Left Hand the center of his repertoire, explored other left-hand works commissioned by the Viennese pianist Paul Wittgenstein (who lost his right arm in World War I) and performed new left-hand works, including concertos by Bolcom, Daron Hagen, and Ned Rorem.
Though he is often characterized as having been limited to repertoire for the left hand only, the practical truth is that Mr. Graffman maintained some use of his afflicted hand, allowing him to perform works that made limited use of the right hand, such as Alfred Schnittke’s Piano Quintet and Jennifer Higdon’s 1999 Scenes from the Poet’s Dream, commissioned by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.
Yuja Wang takes her final lesson with Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008.
Returning to Curtis, Mr. Graffman was good to his word in teaching each student as an individual whose journey was yet to be discovered.
Ignat Solzhenitsyn, who graduated in 1995, became a conductor with Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and the Kirov Opera. Yuja Wang (2008) has pursued a mixture of new and traditional repertoire, also giving marathon concerts of the Rachmaninoff piano concertos all in one day. Though Mr. Graffman was generally against piano competitions, Hao Chen Zhang (2012) had trouble establishing his career until entering and winning the Van Cliburn Competition.
Most interesting among Mr. Graffman’s students was, perhaps, Lang Lang (2002). His career seemed to be launched by filling in for Andre Watts at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival. Mr. Graffman maintained that event only sped up the inevitable.
For years, Mr. Graffman had Lang Lang trying out repertoire in private events, starting small with Mendelssohn and working his way up to bigger repertoire. When Lang Lang was sidelined by tendinitis around 2017, he reportedly turned to Mr. Graffman to find his way back to the concert stage.
Lang Lang with teacher Gary Graffman at Curtis.
Financially, Curtis thrived during Mr. Graffman’s tenure. From 1985 to 2005, annual giving rose from $300,000 to $1.8 million and the endowment went from $45.5 million in to $140 million.
The major blot on Mr. Graffman’s administrative career, however, was considerable. In 2019, violinist Lara St. John came forward with reports of faculty rape during her mid-1980s student years at Curtis. Investigations concluded that Mr. Graffman had failed to take appropriate action on her reports of sexual assault.
No doubt, Mr. Graffman will be most remembered as a pianist. Truly a child of the post-Arturo Toscanini generation, Mr. Graffman played with a deep respect for the letter of the score. Often, Mr. Graffman’s Russian heritage could roar into the fore during, say, cadenzas of a Beethoven piano concerto. His impish wit could often be heard in performances of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. And not surprisingly.
Former Curtis Institute director Gary Graffman.
Offstage, Mr. Graffman projected a sense of fun, which is often apparent in his 1981 memoir, I Really Should be Practicing. When Japanese-born pianist Mitsuko Uchida declared having great artistic affinity for the Central European Jewish community, Mr. Graffman began sending her Hanukkah cards. Regarding Wang, he said that she was fascinated by arts beyond the music saying, with mock incredulity, that she went to museums “because she really wants to!” When recordings by the British pianist Joyce Hatto were scandalously discovered to have been stolen from other pianists in 2007, Mr. Graffman quipped that he would be ”deeply offended” if his recordings weren’t among them.
Mr. Graffman leaves no immediate survivors. Memorials will be announced at a later date.
Whenever Christian F. Martin IV hears a Martin guitar, whether it’s the timeworn piece Willie Nelson’s nearly strummed a hole through, or a customer nervously picking a D-300 that looks like fine art and costs $300,000, he beams with pride. Like a father.
Martin is the executive chairman of C.F. Martin & Co., the sixth generation of Martins to create arguably the world’s most-renowned acoustic guitars out of Nazareth, Northampton County. Founded in New York City in 1833 by German luthier Christian Frederick Martin, the company moved to Nazareth in 1839 and has crafted 3 million guitars, all of them intertwined with the family tree.
So when Martin took his daughter to a Post Malone concert in 2020 and watched the artist play a Martin, he smiled from afar. Later, when Malone dragged — yes, dragged — what appeared to be the same guitar across the stage, Martin’s heart dropped.
“I’m freaking out,” Martin said. “I’m looking at my wife, and she’s looking at me like ‘I don’t know.’”
Martin was still processing the trauma of a 145-year-old Martin guitar being smashed in the 2015 Quentin Tarantino film The Hateful Eight. So when Malone smashed the guitar onstage and poured a beer on it, Martin’s heart broke into small pieces, too.
“I need to leave,” he told his wife.
Luckily, before Martin could flee the concert in Hershey to process the trauma, he was told the smashed guitar was a prop, not a Martin.
That’s how seriously Martin, and its devotees, takes guitars. On a recent fall weekday in the Nazareth headquarters, tourists were lining up before the building opened for tours, taking selfies. Inside, guitars that belonged to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Hank Williams, two of thousands of artists who played Martins, sat in glass cases.
(Later that day, Martin flew to London to give a special presentation about the Martin D-18 Cobain played during Nirvana’s famed Unplugged set in 1993.)
“I’ve always just gravitated toward playing Martins,” said Delaware County musician Devon Gilfillian. “When I first started playing, that was just always the goal. The tone is just so perfect and warm. Plus, it’s from Pennsylvania.”
Mike Nelson inspects a guitar frame at C.F. Martin & Co.
Martin said guitar sales booms are usually tied to specific cultural moments or trends in popular music. Folk music in the 1960s, for example, or the popularity of MTV’s iconic Unplugged series that featured Nirvana, Eric Clapton, Alice in Chains, and countless others.
Today, Martin is still feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many workers were forced to stay home and went looking for something to do. The company is producing approximately 500 guitars per day in Nazareth and a plant in Navojoa, Mexico.
“We’re on a bit of a roll,” Martin said.
“I think it’s important to show people this is where a Martin guitar is made and this is what it takes to make a Martin guitar,” he said. “For many guitar players, coming to the Martin factory is like going to mecca.”
Inside, the factory floor is divided into sections, an assembly line of sorts, with some specialists focusing on fretboards, others on the necks. Some were spraying lacquers, with ventilation masks on, while other lucky employees — musicians themselves — do sound checks, strumming chords for tone. Few guitars are rejected.
The factory is both high and low tech, with robotic arms meticulously sanding bodies while workers use ancient woodworking tools to shape some parts.
That level of specialization, Martin said, makes Martin’s craftsmen the best in the business.
“You’ll see what it takes,” he said. “You’ll see why we’re the best.”
Most Martin guitars are made with various timbers, including a slew of different spruces, along with rarer mahogany and rosewood.
All businesses change, subject to the whims of markets and greater global issues. While the overall design of a guitar hasn’t changed all that much over the centuries, newer and different materials may be in the pipeline, due to issues with climate change and deforestation. The tropical hardwoods grow slowly and are under threat.
Temperate hardwoods like maple and walnut are more abundant, and the company is exploring them, Martin said. The use of alternate materials might be possible, but they would all fall under the same standard: the guitar would need to sound like a Martin.
“We would not use a material that doesn’t work,” he said.
Martin has committed to reforestation projects in Costa Rica and the Republic of the Congo. Martin’s sustainable Biosphere III, with a polar bear design by company artist Robert Goetzl, benefits Polar Bears International and retails for $2,399.
Gregory Jasman strings a guitar. The list of musicians who play Martins could fill a music hall of fame.
Goetzl has been responsible for most of Martin’s “playable art,” and he cherishes the idea that his art will make art.
“It is art, and it could be hung on a wall, but that would kind of be a shame,” he said on the factory floor, holding a guitar featuring owls and the northern lights. “It’s not cheap. It’s a very real instrument with a beautiful design.”
On this weekday, a buyer had come to Martin to possibly purchase a guitar worth more than a quarter-million dollars.
The list of musicians who play Martin is endless, enough to fill a music hall of fame — Nelson and his famous “Trigger,” Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Ed Sheeran, Joni Mitchell, and so many others.
Thomas Ripsam, president and CEO, at the C.F. Martin assembly line.
“We are very intentional about who we want to work with,” said Thomas Ripsam, who assumed the role of CEO in 2021. ”We don’t really pay artists for playing our guitars, so we are looking for artists who have a sincere connection.”
One of them is Billy Strings, a popular, Nashville-based guitarist who combines bluegrass, rock, and even metal.
“When you think of the word guitar, I think of a Martin D-28,” Strings said in a promotional video for guitars that the company designed for him. “It’s so American. It’s like baseball or something.”
An A-frame guitar adorns the museum entrance Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, at C. F. Martin & Co. Inc. in Nazareth, Pa.
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)
Two friends — a rector and his organist at the Church of the Holy Trinity on Rittenhouse Square — found the inspiration in the run-up to the Christmas celebration in 1868.
The result of their delayed creativity was “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” composed and heard in a Philadelphia church.
It was a song that spread across the world, and put the 19th-century church on the map.
The silent stars
Three years before, in 1865, the church’s vicar visited the Holy Land.
So moved by what he saw on that trip, the Rev. Phillips Brooks put pen to paper.
The result was a poem:
O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie.
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
In totality, as a piece of music, the song is not exactly upbeat.
The lyrics reflect on the darkness found after midnight. Cries of misery reverberating through dark streets under cover of ink-black skies.
But there’s also everlasting light.
A Christmas miracle
Three years later in 1868, Brooks asked the church’s organist, Lewis Redner, a real estate agent who played the organ for four churches, to set music to those lyrics Brooks penned.
It was to be part of a song that would play during the Christmas holiday in 1868.
And then Brooks waited.
To his congregation, Brooks was an inspiring preacher. In the throes of the American Civil War, he would ride on a wagon to the battlefields around Gettysburg to perform last rites on dying soldiers and offer words of comfort to wounded soldiers — Union and Confederate.
Days turned to weeks, and Brooks was still waiting for the completed song.
But as the holiday approached, the procrastination had reached a fever pitch.
Two days before the Christmas service, on a Friday, Brooks nervously asked about the song.
“Have you ground out the music yet?”
“No,” Redner said.
But he assured Brooks: “I’ll have it by Sunday.”
On Saturday night, Redner wrote in his diary that his brain was in knots over the tune, according to The Inquirer.
Once asleep, he woke with a start.
He wrote that he heard an angel whispering in his ear.
Redner then scribbled down the tune.
And before the Sunday service, he layered on the harmony.
At the beginning of “Eras Tour” rehearsals, in a Before-Travis Kelce (BTK) timeline, the Berks County native is shown wearing a gray oversized Eagles sweatshirt as she walks into a practice space.
Paparazzi have spotted Swift repping the crew neck before, which is fitting since she’s discussed at length over the years her memories of her dad watching Eagles games and her love for the team.
This is a very important reminder to everyone that Taylor Swift is an Eagles fan. 🦅 pic.twitter.com/Sw4viIt8MV
In fact, on her first Philadelphia night of the “Eras Tour,” Swift sang “gold rush” as a surprise song and confirmed the lyric “my Eagles T-shirt hanging from the door,” was in fact about the team and not the band.
“I love the band the Eagles, but guys, like, come on, I’m from Philly,” Swift said that night in 2023 (and yes, a celebratory Birds chant did break out from the crowd).
It’s also worth noting that Swift’s Eagles sweatshirt appears to be unofficial — the team’s house style dictates that the eagle profile should always face left, with the plumage forming a subtle letter ‘E.’
Of course as the docuseries progresses, we see an After-Travis Kelce (ATK) style evolution, and a lot more red and gold — gross.
2. The audiobook
At a point in the series where Swift is trying to calm her nerves, she lies on a couch and starts listening to an audiobook.
It turns out, that book excerpt was from none other than South Philly author Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods.
Moore and her book, which is a multigenerational mystery drama set in the Adirondacks, are having a good year. The God of the Woods was on multiple book club shortlists, including Barack Obama’s, and was just announced for a Netflix adaptation last week. Moore will serve as a co-showrunner, writer, and executive producer.
Swift wasn’t alone in her book selection. The God of the Woods was the most checked-out print book of the year across all of Philadelphia’s library branches. (We don’t know about audiobook stats because those are managed by a third party.)
3. Scenes from Philly shows at the Linc
In the portion of the series that discusses the sheer pandemonium that the “Eras Tour” caused, with epic tailgates (known as Taylorgates), economic boosts, and overall good vibes, it seems only right that footage from outside the Philly shows were used as the ultimate visual aid.
The docuseries even relies on a Philly voice to summarize things best:
“I’ve never seen this before in my life,” Jon McCann, a local content creator who goes by The Philly Captain, says in a perfectly thick regional accent. “It’s like Woodstock but without the drugs.”
4. The directors and post-production
The End of an Era was directed by Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce, the local duo behind films including Rock School, Batman & Bill, and notably, Kelce — the documentary about Swift’s soon-to-be brother-in-law and former Eagle, Jason Kelce. The directors are both based in Philadelphia.
All six episode credits also list Philadelphia as a post-production location.
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’sBryan 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.
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.
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.
