This Ain't Shakespeare. But It Is Titus Andronicus.

For the second time in the last 6 months, I went to see Titus Andronicus perform live in Philly.  This time it was a very hot Friday night, and the venue was the TLA.  I like the TLA – it’s a small venue with good sight lines, but the scuzzy South Street location is a drawback.  The crowd was below capacity, probably because Adele and Springsteen were also in town on the same night, and all three bands pretty much share the identical fan base.  Anyway, the non-sell out was fine with me because it gave plenty of room to move around in comfort.  In fact, I ended up right in front of the stage for about half the show. 

The last time that Titus came to Philly, it was the last night of a lengthy tour for the band, and they brought it all with a 6 person band and three guitar attack.  It was fantastic, one of the best concerts I have seen in the past few years.  So I jumped to get tickets when this show was announced, and I was pumped up.  And Titus delivered … but not quite as convincingly as last time. 

This version of Titus was a four member band – still tight and powerful, but without the third guitar and keyboards, the wall of sound was a bit smaller and less complex.  Nonetheless, Patrick Stickles and the boys have a great songbook of punk/indie songs from which to select, and they chose wisely.  And Patrick had a lot of space to maneuver on stage, and he is an interestingly dynamic performer.  Take a look at the accompanying photos – they don’t tell the whole story, of course, but they help.  An exuberant crowd loved it all, singing along and moshing heavily.

Even though this show wasn’t as strong as the last one, please don’t take that as a slam on Friday night’s concert.  It was still a great show, and if you missed it, I feel bad for you.  And it’s not like it would have cost you a ton of money, either - $13 was the face value of the ticket (although the hated ticket fees/handling always jack that cost up by another $7 or so – arrrggghhh, don’t you hate that?!).  It was not much money very well spent, and I’m congratulating myself on taking advantage of this great entertainment value.

My own back now suitably patted, let’s return to Friday’s concert.  Titus ripped through a bunch of their most “famous” songs:  “Fatal Flaw,” “A More Perfect Union,” and the like.  But they finished the show with a raved up cover of the Ramones “Blitzkrieg Bop“ with Patrick down from the stage and belting it out right in front of your humble blogger.  The crowd loved it, I loved it, and clearly the band loved it.  All in all, this was one great way to spend Friday night in Philly.

Below are the photos I mentioned previously.  I have to say, given my prime location and my upgraded iPhone 6, I’m a bit disappointed by their quality.  I’m beginning to think that the lighting in some of the Philly venues (particularly Union Transfer and the TLA) are so heavily reliant upon reddish lights that the photo quality suffers.  Whatever, I still have some good shots, including one that I texted to Jonathan who responded with a wickedly funny text about how great it was.

As always, thanks for reading, and I’m sure you’re glad that I’m back to music and not publishing more odes to, and photos of, my VT paraphernalia.  You’ll see more on the concert front soon as I will be seeing two more shows with three headliner bands in the next few nights.  I’ll build the drama on who I am seeing by saying that you will certainly know one of them, may know the second, and I’ll be happy if you have heard of the third.  With that, I will say good bye for now, and wish you a happy day.  Ciao, baby.