Blood plays a hot Ortlieb’s set on a chilly March night with Florry and Family Vision

I first came across Blood entirely by accident. The nervy post-punk band — previously from Austin, Texas — relocated to Philadelphia a couple years back, and made their local debut with a screaming set from a Baltimore Avenue house last June at Porchfest.

I was walking back to my car after watching a different PorchFest set, took a wrong turn, and ended up at the porch where Blood was playing. I was immediately drawn in by their unique sound and harrowing lyricism then, and it was just as captivating at their show Saturday night. The propulsive “Primitive Priest” from their 2020 EP Why Wait Till ’55, We Might Not Even Be Alive landed toward the end of the setlist, and the rest of their set was made up of as-yet unreleased material that showed us they’re definitely a band to watch out for.

Philly natives Florry kicked the night off with a sound living somewhere in between indie rock and bluegrass. While 7 band members squeezed onto the tiny Ortlieb’s stage didn’t leave much room for movement from the band members themselves, the upbeat songs had the audience swaying. Their Big Fall album came out last year, you can read more in this interview with The Key’s Brian Wilensky.

Family Vision from New York closed the night out, playing a Philly record release for their new record Plastic Form. It was also the first show of a three-ish week tour for the two bands; check out scenes from the whole night in the gallery below.