I have been waiting to talk about a free show I went to in Philly for many weeks now, but I keep forgetting and/or putting it off. If there was a way to wipe that memory clean I would.

Anyway, back in the middle of September I went to a show with three friends at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia. The show was sponsored by a popular alternative radio station of which I really like. There were five bands that played throughout the afternoon and evening. They were Brick + Mortar, Wolf Gang (from England), Sir Sly, Vance Joy (from Australia), and Grouplove.

My friend Leah and I were kind of in the front, but in the very middle while my friend Maria and her boyfriend were in the very front of the stage. The first two bands were excellent and the crowd seemed pretty tame like all the shows I go to. However, all hell broke loose once the third band (Sir Sly) went on. In my opinion they were the worst band I’ve seen live. That didn’t mean the crowd can just not pay attention and start doing random crowd surfing. We were trapped in the middle of freaking 17 year old teenagers who were underage drinking and couldn’t keep to themselves.

I’ve never been in such an awkward position in my life. My friend Leah was furious as we tried escaping the middle of the crowd to no avail. There were forty year old guys inappropriately throwing people (mostly young girls) into the air….and some of them looked terrified they were being tossed. This sort of thing should not happen at an indie pop/rock concert. It was like a riot festival or some heavy metal concert where moshing takes place. I’ll be honest to tell you that I would not hold anyone up when they passed over me. Anger was rushing threw me and at one point this one guy crowd surfing ticked me off so much I let him fall.

Just before we found a gap to escape I noticed all these “neon-bros” coming out of nowhere. You know them. They’re the bros that show up to these shows just to mock the very people they make fun of on a daily basis at school or whatever. These obnoxious jocks come there with high socks, cargo shorts, and “hipster” looking shirts…often a Native American “Pendleton” design on them.

When we finally got to the edge of the crowd we met my friend Maria and her boyfriend at the same time. She was furious because Grouplove had been at the top of her list for two years and now she couldn’t see them up close. It was very unfortunate we had to deal with such scum. Never again will I attend a free show like that. It brings out the worst in people. Over 90% of the people were not there for the bands. They were there to be loud and drunk. My level of respect for this generation and the human race took a nose dive that day. It’s something I will never forget. The best thing from the show was my friend Leah being able to meet Vance Joy and get his autograph with a picture.

In other brief music news the Australian psychedelic rock band Pond featuring members of Tame Impala just released a video for their cool new song called “Elvis’ Flaming Star.” It’s a must watch because of the trippy vibe the video portrays. Foo Fighters have a new song out called “Something From Nothing” off their new upcoming album Sonic Highways. They also have an eight part series starting this Friday on HBO. Some cool songs you should check out include “Waves (Robin Schulz Remix)” by Mr. Probz, “Heroes” by Alesso ft. Tove Lo, and edm newcomer Kiesza’s cover of “What Is Love” by Haddaway.

You can check some of these shows out and more on my radio show “Indie Flavour” with co-host Sean Pierre on Wednesday’s 3-5 pm on our campus station 90.7 WCLH. Also, you can check out my other show “EDM Jamz with Eric and Sam” on Friday’s 5:30-7:30 as we play various genres of electronic dance music like house, trap, trance, electro swing, and more!