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Saw my fave last night. It had been over five calendar years since I last (and also the first time) saw Julia perform in a live setting. Memorable like before.


Discovery Zone

I've also seen her before; two years ago as the opener for Jenny Hval. Synthpop with very Grimes-esque influence. She was equally as eclectic here, but didn't have a surprise saxophone guest this go around. A crowd started to form at the front even though I was seated front row. No way was I going to have an obstructed view for Julia's performance, so I got up from my seat to be a few feet from the stage after Discovery Zone finished.

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Julia Holter

She played for a healthy ~80min including encore. A bit shorter than her previous stop here during the Aviary tour; fully expected and understandable as 6min is the average song length on that gargantuan masterpiece.

She played 70% of the selections from this year's Something in the Room She Moves, a handful from N&G favorite Have You in My Wilderness, and one each from Ekstasis,  Aviary, and (my personal favorite) Loud City Song.

Sensational. I will leave it at that.

🎵 That is all, that is all, there is nothing else 🎵

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She played a Loud City Song song like I was hoping for! The whimsical "In the Green Wild" below:



Encore of "Materia" and GOATed art pop ballad "Betsy on the Roof" was breathtaking. Even her cute out of tune vocal at the beginning was endearing 🥰:




Post-Show
I forgot my permanent markers in my car and almost wanted to shout obscenities out loud, worried I wouldn't get my remaining unsigned Julia records signed afterwards.

Spoke to Julia (purposely put myself last in line, lol) for a few minutes after the merch line cleared up. I was still a nervous wreck speaking to her; she's literally my fave. Her merch was slightly disappointing...although she had all of her records on CD and five of the seven on LP, there were no new tees or any tour specific items. I already had the same T-shirt design from the Aviary tour five years ago. Didn't end up purchasing anything. I did however get my Tragedy, Ekstasis, In the Same Room, and Something in the Room She Moves LPs inked; she had gold and silver pens at the ready.

I hope it won't be another five years before she stops by Portland again. I missed her so so so so so much and the anticipation of seeing her perform again had me on a high. The wait was all worth it though. ❤️

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PERFECT. AS 👏 ALL 👏 THINGS 👏 SHOULD 👏 BE 👏

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EDIT: a word of concert detail
 
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Lol Tolhurst x Budgie x Jacknife Lee ~ The Casbah San Diego, 5/9/2024

This was a very fun, unique experience. Lol Tolhurst (founding member of the Cure), Budgie (Siouxsie and the Banshees) and Jacknife Lee put together a very percussion forward album over Covid with a bunch of guest vocalists, and released it last year - Los Angeles. This turned out to be the first show for the album / group as a warmup for Cruel World this weekend.

First part of the show was an interview w/ Mike Halloran which went over their individual histories and then how the project came together. Made for a very different 'opening act' and is something I'd like to see more acts do.

The second half was a run through of most of the album, plus the Cure's A Forest. The guest vocals were mostly dubbed from the recording, but seeing these legendary drummers knock out the percussion on the album live and up close was just amazing.


Interview w/ Halloran:

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Performance:

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Saw Alvvays on Saturday at the Brooklyn Bowl. All ages so my wife and I decided this was a good one to take my daughter too. Plus we didn’t really try to find a sitter 😁. We also had friends who brought their daughter, so this was definitely helpful. When the opener, Joanna Sternberg(very charming) was playing my daughter became instantly bored because there was no seating and so she decided to squat on the floor. An employee walked by and asked if we would like to be moved a little closer to the stage. Of course we agreed! The employee then went into a side closet and pulled out a stool and placed it on the inside of the VIP section so that my daughter could sit and my wife and I stood behind her. Made the evening a whole lot easier.
Anyway, the band was fantastic and they played all of Blue Rev!


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Phoenix - The Warfield, San Francisco

Phoenix is one of my favorite live bands and I'll catch them whenever I get the chance. This was a small venue for them and the band sounded amazing! Fun note- Sophia Coppola was in the crowd and Thomas had the crowd sing happy birthday to her. It was cute.

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A handful of non-US acts (plus one from Tennessee):

Alice Merton
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Julia Jacklin
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Katie Pruitt
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Fazerdaze
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