On Wednesday May 6th, Philadelphia’s Theatre of Living Arts hosted long-running punk band Strung Out as they toured behind their new album Transmission. Alpha. Delta. In support was Red City Radio, La Armada, and Goddamnit.
A complete review of the event is difficult because by the time we arrived at the venue, Goddamnit was finishing their set and we were whisked backstage right before La Armada began their set. We saw all of Red City Radio and they offered up a delightfully gruff, bluesy good time in support of their self-titled album. As enjoyable as the album is, their live show made an even bigger impression.
Finally, Strung Out took the stage. Vocalist Jason Cruz soldiered through the set despite illness and the crowd enthusiastically helped out. Their set represented the new album heavily and supplemented it with a lot of old favorites. Noticeably absent were tracks from Blackhawks Over Los Angeles and Agents of the Underground though it’s easy to assume that they played most of those albums to death over the last 5-8 years.
Despite adversity, the show was a lot of fun and the new material fits into their set quite nicely.
Do yourself a favor and next time they come to town and you are weighing whether or not to see them, just go see them. You’ll be very happy that you did.
A big reason we went into Philly for this was to interview Strung Out. We were lucky enough to speak to the bass player, Chris Aiken. It was a great chat as we spoke about the new album, the delays for the new album, Chris’ sobriety and other musical and artistic endeavors. He was a gregarious fellow and this talk was extremely informative. It only further reinforced just why I love Strung Out so much.
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When J.J. Ellis isn’t writing as the Allentown DVD Examiner, his Decent Exposure Radio can be heard on the air every Friday night from 10:30 to midnight (EST) on WXLV 90.3 FM or wxlvradio.com!
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