Blink-182, Beck, Faye Webster play Philly. Plus, a busy musical weekend at the Shore
Molly Tuttle, Sleater-Kinney, Reyna Tropical, Regina Spektor, the Japanese House, and Speedy Ortiz are among the women headlining shows in Philly this week.
This week in Philly music features the first Blink-182 tour to stop in Philadelphia since singer-guitarist Tom DeLonge rejoined the band. There will also be highly recommended indie-rock women and songwriters and a big music weekend at the Shore. Take your pick.
Last year, the original Blink lineup of DeLonge, bass player Mark Hoppus, and drummer and Kourtney Kardashian’s husband, Travis Barker, reunited for One More Time …, their first album together since 2011.
The tour for that album brought the pop-punk band to the Atlantic City beach for the Adjacent Music Festival but there was no Philly date. That gets rectified on Friday when Blink plays the Wells Fargo Center with Pierce the Veil opening.
So much culture at the Jersey Shore this weekend. On Friday, Hank Williams Jr., who’s a formidable live performer — there’s a lot more to Bocephus than that old Monday Night Football song — is at the Etess Arena at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
On Saturday, rapper and Fast & Furious movie star Ludacris plays that same room, while fellow Atlantans, 1990s R&B group Xscape, are at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall. On Sunday, country rap chart-topper Shaboozey plays the HQ2 Beachclub at Ocean Resort, and the great British songwriter and guitarist Richard Thompson is at Cape May Convention Hall.
It’s Philadelphia Orchestra collaboration week at the Mann Center, with Beck on Thursday and Disney’s Aladdin screening with the orchestra laying the score on Saturday.
» READ MORE: It’s pop-meets-classical season at the Mann, with the Philadelphia Orchestra pairing with Beck and Dispatch
The Dell Music Center’s summertime schedule of veteran R&B singers and rappers is strong again this season. Johnny Gill sings on Thursday night. But the city-owned venue in Strawberry Mansion is expanding further into indie rock this season.
Faye Webster — another Atlantan who once wrote a song in praise of Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. (but we’ll forgive her for that) plays the Dell on Friday, in support of her excellent, understated Underdressed at the Symphony. Upcoming shows at the Dell include Gladys Knight and the Isley Brothers on Aug. 8 and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard on Aug 27.
Friday night at World Cafe Live, L.A. singer-songwriter Jessica Pratt, whose quietly captivating Here in the Pitch is one of the standout releases of the year, plays the Music Hall at World Cafe Live. (She’ll be back in September at Making Time ∞.)
English songwriter the Japanese House — the stage name of guitarist Amber Mary Bain — plays Franklin Music Hall on Friday. Philly songwriter Julia Pratt — no relation to Jessica — is the opener.
On Saturday, Regina Spektor, the Russian American classically trained pianist and canny singer-songwriter, makes a stop on an eight-show mini-tour at the Met Philly.
On Sunday, Molly Tuttle, the blazing bluegrass guitarist and banjo player who won a Grammy this year for her album City of Gold, plays Concerts Under the Stars with her band, Golden Highway, in King of Prussia.
If like me, you missed Sleater-Kinney when they played the TLA in March, there’s another chance to see riot-grrrl great Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein when they circle back to the area to play the Queen in Wilmington on Tuesday.
That same evening, Reyna Tropical, which is the project of guitarist and She Shreds magazine founder Fabiola Reyna that mixes Peruvian, Congolese, and Colombian rhythms, plays the Lounge at the World Cafe Live. She did indeed shred when she played the Non-Comm convention earlier this year.
And speaking of shredders, Sadie Dupuis and Philly’s Speedy Ortiz are playing MilkBoy Philly on Tuesday with Grocer and Queen Rat opening. But unfortunately, Dupuis will not be wielding her trusty axe. While her broken elbow heals, she’s sticking to singing while Dylan Baldi of Cloud Nothings fills in for her on guitar.
» READ MORE: Say it out loud for good luck: Sadie Dupuis and Speedy Ortiz are back with ‘Rabbit Rabbit’
Finally, the calendar at the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden has double bills of pop and rock heritage acts. Train and REO Speedwagon play Friday. Foreigner and Styx double up on Sunday, with John Waite as the third wheel.