XPN welcomes Charles Bradley to Union Transfer tonight. The “Screaming Eagle of Soul” entertained the crowd during a recent Free at Noon performance with his exuberant showmanship and knock-out funk / R&B songs. Following up his 2011 full-length debut, the 64-year-old crooner released Victim of Love earlier this year. Tickets and information for tonight’s show with Paul & the Tall Trees can be found here. Watch the former James Brown impersonator perform “Why Is It So Hard?” live on the Public Radio Rocks stage at SXSW below.
Garage-punk Los Angeles natives Bleached headline The Fire tonight. Signed to Dead Oceans, Bleached released their debut album Ride Your Heartearlier this month. Tickets and information for tonight’s 21+ show with Hunters, Omar and Catnaps can be found here. Watch the video for Bleached’s “Next Stop” below.
The Ladyfest Philly benefit concert presented by Girls Rock Philly is happening tonight at Little Berlin. With sets by Bad Braids, Cayetana, and Girls Rock Philly bands Wrong Castle and Barracuda Club House Band, the event was organized by participants in the after school program who are learning the ins and outs of putting on a DIY show. Ladyfest, a summer festival celebrating women in arts, culture and activism, will take place at The Rotunda on June 7-9. Tickets and information for tonight’s benefit show can be found here. Stream “Clover” off of Bad Braids’ forthcoming LP Supreme Parallel below.
British singer-songwriter Billy Bragg performa at The Keswick Theatre tonight. A political activist and influential folk musician, Bragg released his first studio album of original material in five years last month with Tooth & Nail. Tickets and information for tonight’s show can be found here. At noon today, Bragg will be performing at Main Street Music in Manayunk for Record Store Day. Below, watch Bragg’s video for “No One Knows Nothing Anymore.”
Eternal Summers start off the show tonight at Union Transfer. The Virginia trio continues to tour in support of its 2012 LP Correct Behaviour, although a new album may be in the works judging by the fact that the shoegazey punk band played several unreleased songs last time they were in Philly. Despite their carefree name, Eternal Summers ventured into some darker waters on Behaviour with vocalist / guitarist Nicole Yun’s scratchy guitar riffs and drummer Daniel Cundiff’s manic beat-keeping, though Yun’s airy vocals keep things untethered on most tracks. Tickets and information for their set tonight with The Presidents of The United States of America and You Scream I Scream can be found here. Below, watch Eternal Summers perform “You Kill” live at MACRoCk 2012.
XPN welcomes Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds to The Keswick Theatre tonight with Sharon Van Etten. The Australian band released their fifteenth studio album called Push the Sky Away in February following a five-year hiatus. Tonight’s show is a rare appearance for the band, as The Seeds have only played Philadelphia a handful of times during their 30+ year career. Opening up the evening is Brooklyn singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten, touring in support of her stand-out 2012 LP Tramp. Tickets and information for tonight’s all-ages show can be found here. Below, watch the video for Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds’ “We No Who U R” and listen back to Sharon Van Etten’s Free at Noon performance from 2012 here.
Boy oh boy do wish the news this afternoon was that urban folksinger and activist Billy Bragg was performing at The Keswick Theatre amplified only by a pair of speakers and microphone strapped to his shoulders as he used to in the olden days. Alas it’s just a regular concert tour. Which is fine – Bragg’s populist sensibilities lend him an engaging onstage persona, whether he’s backed by a full band or simply by his own dang self. Tickets for the April 20th show go on sale this Friday, January 18th, at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster. Below, watch Bragg perform the classic “To Have and To Have Not” (from 1983′s Life’s a Riot With Spy vs. Spy) in Bochum, Germany on May 30, 1985.
Funk/metal rock band Living Colour have announced a 25th Anniversary tour to celebrate their double platinum record Vivid, released on May 3rd, 1988. Discovered by Mick Jagger during a gig at famed NYC punk club CBGB’s, Living Colour went on to win Grammy and MTV Awards for their Vivid debut following the mainstream success of the album’s single “Cult of Personality.” The 25th Anniversary tour swings Corey Glover and the band through town on Thursday, April 4 for a show at The Keswick Theatre, where they will perform Vivid in full. Tickets and information can be found here. Below, watch Living Colour’s music video for “Cult of Personality.”
Vancouver, BC duo Japandroids shook the walls at their midsummer Johnny Brenda’s show and tonight they’ll shake the walls of Union Transfer. Japandroids are touring in support of an album many consider to be one of the year’s best (here, here and here). The punk rockers released Celebration Rockearlier this year and were subsequently named Band of the Year by Spin, with their song “The House That Heaven Built” being named Song of the Summer by Paste. Tickets and information for tonight’s show with DIIV can be found here. Below, watch the video for “The House That Heaven Built.”
XPN welcomes 
Boy oh boy do wish the news this afternoon was that urban folksinger and activist 
Funk/metal rock band 