Gary Numan @ The Trocadero Theatre, Philadelphia, PA

Gary Numan
Trocadero Theatre
Philadelphia, PA
March 23, 2014


Gary Numan will always be best known for his 1980 hit "Cars," but Sunday night at the Trocadero he proved he is no nostalgia act with a blazing nineteen song set of electronic rock heaviosity. Numan released one of his best works ever in late 2013, his twentieth album Splinter, and is on tour supporting it following a buzz-generating performance at the SXSW Festival. Numan and his four piece band fittingly took the stage to the strains of the instrumental "Resurrection" and launched into the stark industrial wasteland of new song "I Am Dust." Numan strapped on a Gibson Les Paul and churned out riffs alongside his guitar player while white strobe lights exploded behind him and a sea of industrial blips and bleeps sounded around them, setting the tone for the night. Numan spent most of the set slithering up and down his mic stand; hanging onto it was the only thing keeping him from being sucked into the black emotional void of his music. His backing band of a bass player, drummer, keyboard player and guitarist spent most of the night in the shadows but stood out by supporting Numan's powerful vocals with equally powerful riffs and rhythms. Half of the set consisted of songs from Splinter, which held their own against Numan's older songs. One standout new song was "The Calling," which featured a throbbing heartbeat-like beat that had the crowd grooving. Another was new song "Here In The Black," an anthemic blast of gothy metal goodness featuring eerie whispered vocals by Numan and the heaviest guitar riffs of the night. His two classic songs impressed live also with one featuring his best vocals of the night and another being paired with one of his new tunes to devastating emotional effect. First up was "Down In The Park" which featured Numan's loudest and most emotional singing of the night as his voice battled to rise over the glacial swelling and swirling keyboard riffs. Next, mournful blue lights strafed the crowd as Numan and Co. delivered the fragile but beautiful new paean to a love-gone-bad,"Lost." Numan's gentle bruised vocals combined with a sparse piano riff and sprays of frustration-filled notes from his guitar player to create a palpable feeling of despair. Seconds after the song ended the memorable keyboard riffs of the claustrophobic classic "Cars" sounded, bringing the crowd from their depths and raising the energy in the room. The song took on a new life live, with the guitar and bass dominating the keyboards and Numan dropping the detached icy vocals of the record. The man who was once sounded happy to be locked in that car now sings like a man who wants to break free from its confines. Numan has found the soul in the machine.

ZZ Ward @ The TLA

ZZ Ward by Pete Troshak

Zsuzsanna Eva Ward was born in Abington, PA, in the late eighties and spent her youth absorbing her dad’s blues records as well as her brother’s hip-hop albums. Fast forward to 2014 and that little girl has become ZZ Ward, a rising music star with a sound that combines the lyrical and sonic tropes of blues and soul as well as the rhythms of hip hop. Friday night Ward and her tight three-piece band packed the Theatre of Living Arts and thrilled a winter-weary hometown crowd on the opening night of her Last Love Tour. Ward took the stage wearing her trademark low-slung Fedora and a black fuzzy jacket, packing a harmonica, looking part gangster and part blue eyed soul princess. Her voice is a versatile weapon in a live setting, alternately sultry come hither croon and soul-baring blues at the drop of a hat. Ward’s band matched the intensity of her vocals, with extra props going to her bass player who laid down a river of rubbery baselines all set long.
The 15-song set list drew from both her major label debut Til The Casket Drops and Eleven Roses, the online-only demo/mixtape that preceded it. Highlights from the latter included the raw and haunting opening song “OVERdUe” and the thundering “Cinnamon Stix. But it was tracks from Til The Casket Drops that were the most persuaive and convincing. Early in the set, Ward and her band delivered a searing one two punch of piano and guitar fueled stompers “Til The Casket Drops” and “Put The Gun Down.” Later, Ward sounded like she was drowning in a sea of heartache during the rarely played bluesy piano ballad “Lil Darlin.” The highlight of the set was a stunning version of “Last Love Song” that showed why the tour is named after this song. Ward sat on a stool in the middle of the stage with an acoustic guitar on her lap. Her eyes were closed for part of the song as she delicately picked out the spectral guitar notes. Ward’s guitarist manned a keyboard and played the emotive piano notes while the drummer gently played shimmering flourishes on the cymbals with mallets. On top of that wall of sound Ward delivered the vocals –a last goodbye and gentle exorcism of a bad love. The song swelled to a beautiful bridge then rolled to an emotional finish and faded out, leaving the crowd drained but roaring their support. Ward might have had to extinguish that love, but her star is clearly shining bright. – PETE TROSHAK

see more pics from her Last Love Tour here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/petryfrompa/sets/72157642409912293/

see original post here - http://www.phawker.com/2014/03/02/being-there-zz-ward-the-tla/

Karmin @ TLA

The story of Karmin is one of the most interesting in music the last few years. Engaged pop duo Nick Noonan and Amy Heidemann started out covering hits by other artists in an attempt to show off their talents. They amassed millions of views on YouTube and fulfilled the dreams of every struggling musician by getting signed to a major label. They got backed by Questlove of the Roots here and here. They released an EP called Hello in 2012 that yielded a hit in the form of the inescapably catchy “Brokenhearted.” Everything seemed to be going their way, but then the ride got bumpy. The first full length album, Pulses, has been complete for over a year but in limbo due to disagreements between Karmin and Epic Records. The band is out on the road for their first tour as headliners despite the album not being for sale (it’s scheduled for release 5/25), and gave an impressive show at the Theatre Of Living Arts on Friday night on one of the first dates of their Pulses tour.

Bryce Vine by Pete Troshak

Early arrivers were treated to the first Philadelphia appearance by talented new artist Bryce Vine. He performed a short set of his smooth flowing, pop culture-referencing rap accompanied by just a DJ. Vine has a powerful stage presence and he quickly had the crowd giving him their full attention with his rap skills and personality. He did the cliche thing and asked if the crowd was ready for Karmin. When the crowd cheered loudly in response he faked disdain and said “How dare you, I still have more songs to play,” eliciting a huge laugh from the crowd. The highlight of his set was an impressive and amusing song he claimed he had just written called “I Just Wanna Be A Thug.” Over a sample from Green Day’s “Brain Stew,” Vine lyrically and humorously skewered the gangster culture that surrounds rap music. Vine has an album, Lazy Fair, due out later this year.

Karmin hit the stage soon after, backed by a guitarist, bassist and drummer. They opened with their new single “I Want It All” and delivered fourteen more songs in an energetic and crowd pleasing set. Amy was a ball of energy, bounding from one side of the stage to the other while displaying impressive rapping and singing skills. There were a bunch of new songs which showed off more of Nick’s singing than their older material. Besides singing, he played some mean slide trombone and jammed on a bank of keyboards in the middle of the stage. The best new song was title track “Pulses,” an urgent, throbbing number that rocked the crowd and showed some impressive singing by both of the duo. Amy warned that their new song “Neon Lights” was sad, then delivered a heartbreakingly beautiful version of the ballad. After that song, she talked about their frustration with the record being held up and discussed how touring was a happy escape from those problems. The last two songs of their main set showed the group veering more into rock ‘n’ roll territory with good results. New songs “Puppet” and “Hate to Love You” were louder and more guitar fueled than Karmin’s older songs but were both well received by the Philly crowd.

Karmin left the stage then, eliciting loud stomping and chanting by the crowd until the band returned a few minutes later. The first song of the encore was a cover of Chris Brown’s “Look At Me Now” with help from the an audience member identified as Shekar. He and Amy traded verses on the tune, with Shekar impressing Amy and the crowd with his skills. Next came the inevitable conclusion with their biggest song, “Brokenhearted.” The bouncy, bassline fueled song had the crowd moving, grooving and singing along loudly for four minutes of sweaty pop bliss to close out the night on a perfect note.

see more Karmin photos here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/petryfrompa/sets/72157640419429394/

see more Bryce Vine photos here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/petryfrompa/sets/72157640419743654/

see original article here - http://thekey.xpn.org/2014/02/03/karmin-kicked-off-its-pulses-tour-with-a-high-energy-tla-show/

What Memorial Day Makes Me Think Of...

The picture above is my father Richard Troshak. He was the son of an immigrant, who spent much of his youth in an orphanage. Before he was old enough to drink, the pic you see above was snapped and he was in Germany serving the United States Army in World War II. He also served a few years later in the Korean War. He passed away in 2009, after a long successful life and marriage and having helped raised myself and my two siblings with my mom. I felt a need to talk about him and his brothers and sisters in the military, as I cleaned out an email-box full of "Memorial Day Sale" messages and watched the local news. Apparently the most important thing we need to know about the holiday is that there are a lot of people on the beach at the Jersey Shore and the water is fine, so jump in.

Memorial Day is a U.S. holiday that was created as a day to give respect to the people who gave their lives in the cause of keeping the country free. You might not agree with the political parties or the president or whatever, but the reality is that the U.S. has it pretty good compared to a lot of other places. There will always be ways things can be better, but we always have a chance to make them better because of the sacrifices of a lot of brave and selfless people. If my dad were here he would have  probably scowled at the TV like I did, and thought about the people that he trained with and served with that didn’t come back. Like me he probably would have wondered if we had lost sight of the fact that since World War I over six hundred thousand Americans have died as a result of actions classified as war. That’s over six hundred thousand loved ones who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we could be free to worry about the water temperature at the beach and whose house we are going to for a barbecue on Monday. 

Earlier this year I covered a concert by the group Flogging Molly for Phawker.com. I had never seen them and I had always connected them with my dad, although he probably never heard a note they played while he was alive. I took dad to his first concert, when he was seventy years old, to see Johnny Cash at the Keswick Theatre. Cash was on tour for his first American Recordings album and it was a magical performance. Dad bought me a vinyl copy of that album from the merchandise stand at the show that is a prized possession of mine. The singer of Flogging Molly, Dave King, is an immigrant from strife torn Ireland who has written a lot of songs about his father and family. The song that always makes me think of my dad is one that King dedicated to his dad (who coincidentally bought him his first Johnny Cash record) called “What’s Left Of The Flag.” It is the story of a father who with his dying breath still believes in freedom and loves his country, no matter how rough it's history has been. I am listening to it right now thinking about how lucky I was to have my dad for so long and about all those people who weren’t as lucky as me. I am not trying to ruin your picnic, so fire up the grill. I am asking you to not lose sight of why this day was originally set aside as a holiday. Take a moment Monday to think about all the people who weren’t lucky enough to keep their loved one as long as I was, and to thank them for their sacrifices and your freedom. 

Black Out The Sun Tour

Electric Factory
Philadelphia, PA
04/18/13

It’s early in the music tour and festival season, but Sevendust has hit the road in support of their Black Out The Sun album with one of the strongest and most intriguing line-ups that will be seen this year. Their partners in crime – Stolen Babies, Lacuna Coil and Coal Chamber.

Stolen Babies, Copyright Pete Troshak

First up were the spooky cabaret stylings of Stolen Babies. The group proved that hard rock and accordion can be fused together to create something dark and beautiful with an entertaining seven song set. Singer Dominique Persi was memorable, performing like an eerie and damaged but beautiful Tim Burton character. She alternated between eerily cooing and screaming into the mic while pumping away on the bellows of her accordion. Behind her creepy organs swirled and guitars riffed along to crazy twisted carnival music tempos.

See my Stolen Babies pics here

Stolen Babies Setlist:

Never Come Back -Splatter - Push Button - Filistata - Mousefood - Tablescrap - Spill

Cristina from Lacuna Coil, Copyright Pete Troshak

Next up was Lacuna Coil. They are the Ferrari of music – a sleek, Italian finely tuned precision metal machine. Clad in black jumpsuits echoing the Dharma Initiative on Lost, they took no prisoners with a set-list powerful enough to convert any non- believers. They drew most of their set from 2012’s excellent Dark Adrenaline, kicking off with a thundering “I Don’t Believe in Tomorrow” followed by a chiming and hard driving “Kill The Light.” Cristina Scabbia’s beautiful vocals soared, swooped and were contrasted and complemented by Andrea Ferro’s raw anguished singing. Together they blasted out Lacuna’s archetypal tales of lost love and darkness while their band-mates delivered sheets of sonic darkness and riffage. They ended their set with three songs that were the highlight of the night – a hammering “Intoxicated,” a roller-coaster “Trip The Darkness” and supercharged closer “Spellbound.”

See my Lacuna Coil pics here

Lacuna Coil Setlist:

I Don’t Believe in Tomorrow
Kill the Light
To the Edge
Upsidedown
Fragile
Survive
Intoxicated
Trip the Darkness
Spellbound

Coal Chamber apparently is not allowing photographers to shoot them on this tour, but despite a decade long absence from the music scene they were in fine form. They took the stage to the chilling piano theme  from John Carpenter’s “Halloween” and put on a frighteningly good show. Singer Dez Fafara paced the stage barking boldly into an old radio show style mic with a glowing green light in it while guitarist Meegs Rascón prowled from side to side of the stage dropping heavy riff after heavy riff. The foundation for their music has always been the low end – the down tuned heavy-like-concrete guitar riffs of Rascon over a locked in chugging engine of a rhythm section that sounds like a runaway train. This is still the strength of the band with Mikey Cox’s precise pounding of his drums and new bass player Chela Rhea Harper ably filling the big boots left behind in the absence of original bass player Rayna Foss. Harper was a sight on the stage – long dark hair flailing and flipping as she spent most of the set bent over and headbanging while laying groovy and powerful basslines. The group ended the set in the crowd – hugging, crowd surfing and joyful leaving fans hopeful for more music from this quartet.

Setlist:

Loco
Big Truck
Fiend
Rowboat
Something Told Me
Clock
Drove
Not Living
Dark Days
I
No Home
Oddity
Sway

Sevendust, copyright Pete Troshak

 Anticipation hung thick in the air and the crowd buzzed anxiously during what felt like a long wait for main-eventers Sevendust. The wait was immediately forgotten when the band arrived and launched into the powerful new “Decay” from Black Out The Sun. The tone for their set was established with the third song they played; a loud defiant rendition of “Denial” that shook the old factory and the whole block it sat on. The band has carved out an almost twenty year career built on pounding rhythms, industrial strength riffs and the passionate angry vocals of Lajon Witherspoon. Witherspoon stalked the stage with a molten intensity, tearing into an assortment of wrong-doing lovers and friends and singing like every song might be his last. Behind Witherspoon the band, all original members, raged loud. Bass player Vince Hornsby and drummer Morgan Rose were locked in and loud laying down a rock hard foundation while guitarists Clint Lowery and John Connolly wailed and riffed over them. There were highlights from every era of the band. One standout was the relentless, hardcore “Till Death” from their new album. It might the band’s most aggressive song ever and their punky version of it this night left the crowd’s ears ringing. Later in the set they paid tribute to their memorable debut album with two songs. First came “Bitch,” which started out as gentle crowd sing-along then developed into a thrashing set highlight. Soon after came the stuttering siren call riff of their debut song “Black.” That riff brought a roar from the crowd and signaled that that night was almost over.  Witherspoon roared and the band pounding out the song like it was just written, delivering it with the same intensity they do their new material. Some good things don’t ever change, and thankfully Sevendust is one of them.

See my Sevendust pics here

Setlist:

Decay
Praise
Denial
Till Death
Waffle
Strong Arm Broken
Rumble Fish
Bitch
Pieces
Black

Encore:
Splinter
Face to Face