PHILADELPHIA, PA—The venue itself is swanky as hell; as a first-time attendee of a Union Transfer show, I will admit, I was sort of taken aback. Multiple levels, three bars, a nice seating area on the first floor, and an absolutely fantastic beer menu. The staff is very friendly and accommodating. One of the security folks told me between bands that what I thought was a pretty great turnout was actually relatively unimpressive for her; she told me that usually the other levels and third bar were open, and sometimes the stage had to be pushed back a few feet to make space. But I think my favorite part of the whole experience, venue-wise, was the strict wristband and drink policy. You can’t enter the bar area without a wristband, and you can’t leave the bar area with a drink in your hand. So not only were there no underage hooligans trying to bum sips of beer, but I was not getting spilled on while photographing the bands’ sets. Heaven.
Regrettably, I didn’t get to see most of The Dig’s set, but what I did hear was pretty good. Kentucky-based garage pop band Sleeper Agent was up next, and they were phenomenal. Highly energetic and very entertaining; I may be somewhat jaded and biased, but I can definitely tell when a band is not enjoying themselves or putting a hundred percent into their performance. This was not the case. When they first came on stage I had to do a double-take to make sure Alison Mosshart didn’t randomly show up. Frontwoman Alex Kandel is hardcore; her speaking voice was a bit strained and sore, but her vocals did not waver one bit. At one point she even leapt off the stage and into the audience to sing and dance around. It was a real treat for everyone involved—the fan involvement, the interaction. It was just really nice to watch. I was reminded why I started going to shows as a kid in the first place.
A big-smiling, karate-kicking Ben Kweller took the stage, clearly excited to be there, and opened his set with “Mean To Me,” the first track off his latest record, Go Fly A Kite. I was really excited to be seeing him again, but worried that some of his older material might be neglected—not the case at all. Early on he played “Wasted And Ready,” a definite fan favorite for sure. His debut record, Sha Sha, was very well represented, making up almost half of the setlist. The four-piece live band sounded great, and you could tell they had fun together both on and off stage. There was a certain sort of camaraderie between them, and they worked together like a well-oiled machine. But I feel like, for me personally at least, the real magic happened when Ben performed three songs by himself in the middle of everything. It didn’t hurt that they also happened to be some of his most hard-hitting, sentimental songs; “On My Way,” “Lizzy,” which was written for his wife, and “Thirteen.” Just a microphone and a guitar separated him from the audience—a piano, when he played “Thirteen.” The whole crowd was swaying and singing along. The rest of the band joined him once more to finish out the show, which he closed with “In Other Words” before coming back from the encore break to deliver two more; “Commerce, TX” and “Penny On The Train Track.” It was a gorgeous 19-song set; they played almost a solid 90 minutes altogether and didn’t seem to tire once. All in all, it was a fabulous, well put together show at a great venue and I am very glad to have been a part of it.
FULL SETLIST:
1. Mean To Me
2. I Need You Back
3. The Rules
4. I Don’t Know Why
5. Wasted And Ready
6. Gossip
7. Falling
8. Out The Door
9. Full Circle
10. On My Way (solo)
11. Lizzy (solo)
12. Thirteen (solo)
13. Sha Sha
14. Walk On Me
15. Sundress
16. Jealous Girl
17. In Other Words
——encore break——
18. Commerce, TX
19. Penny On The Train Track
