Philly music this week, with Kraftwerk, Jorja Smith, Smokey Robinson, an R.E.M. tribute, and a Philly indie music festival
The German electronic band will kick off its tour in Philly, the Motown legend plays Down the Shore, and the Fallser Club showcases local bands in East Falls.
Philly music this week features a pioneering German electronic band, an R.E.M. tribute band so good that R.E.M. has played with them, a stylish British neo-soul rising star, a Motown legend in Atlantic City, and a four-night Philly indie music festival.
First up on Wednesday is Spirit of the Beehive, the captivating and strange Philly- and Portugal-based experimental indie “collage rock” trio of Zack Schwartz, Corey Wichlin, and Rivka Ravede. Their 2024 album, You’ll Have to Lose Something, draws inspiration from the breakup of a romantic relationship within the band.
The band describes the new album as like “listening to a Walkman from inside of a hurricane, like the YouTube videos you’d watch in bed for 18 hours straight after you break your wrist from a skateboarding accident.” They play Union Transfer on Wednesday.
New Jersey-born and now Nashville-based country-folk singer Ron Pope plays the Foundry at the Fillmore on Wednesday, behind his not-as-macho-as-it-might-sound new American Man, American Music.
St. Patrick’s Day is on the horizon, which means it’s going to be a great month for Irish music in Philadelphia. City Winery gets the action going Wednesday with Lúnasa and guest vocalist Daoirí Farrell and fiddle player Cathal Hayden. Also on Wednesday: Norwegian wide-ranging indie band Mall Girl plays MilkBoy; and Big Sandy & his Fly-Rite Boys, and Mighty Joe Castro play Elkton Music Hall.
Thursday is Kraftwerk night. That is the uber-influential motorik band from Düsseldorf, whose robot-pop approach has had a ripple effect on pop music around the world, influencing everyone from David Bowie to hip-hop innovator Afrika Bambaataa to just about every electronic dance act that’s ever existed.
Cofounder Florian Schneider departed in 2008, but his partner Ralf Hütter carries on, and he’ll lead the man-machine presentation of the Multi Media Tour 2025 at the Franklin Music Hall on Thursday on the opening night of a North American tour in celebration of a half century of the 1974 breakthrough Autobahn.
A year ago, actor Michael Shannon and guitarist Jason Narducy brought their tribute to R.E.M. to Ardmore Music Hall, performing the Athens, Ga., band’s Murmur in its entirety, plus a lot of other jangles, angular and excellent R.E.M songs. Now, Shannon and Narducy are back at it, this time playing the Michael Stipe-fronted band’s Fables of the Reconstruction and more on Thursday at Union Transfer.
The duo’s approach appeals because they don’t attempt to replicate the quartet’s singular sound note for note, instead getting over on its fandom and Boardwalk Empire star Shannon’s combo of charisma and humility. It works so well that R.E.M. itself has been unable to resist, with Stipe and bandmates Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry joining the group onstage last week in Athens.
The Fallser Club in East Falls is making its mark on the local scene with a four-night Fallser Club Winter Music Festival of Philly bands, starting Thursday, with Cookie Rabinowitz, Pep Rally, and Afro-Cuban band Leana Song. Attractions throughout the weekend include Kevin Hanson and Heather Hurlock on Friday, Emily Drinker and the Andrew Lipke Trio on Saturday, and a closing night reggae celebration on Sunday with San Noche and DJ Dread Head.
Pastoral English folk-pop singer Paris Paloma plays Union Transfer on Friday. And Mandy Patinkin, star of Homeland and The Princess Bride — who will at some point presumably utter the words “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die” — brings a night of stories and songs that reflect on his long Broadway career in “Mandy Patinkin: Being Alive” on Friday to the Keswick Theatre.
Jorja Smith made her Philly debut on a Made in America festival side stage back in 2019, and the Jamaican English singer returns to town as a headliner at the Met Philly on Saturday. Her 2018 debut, Lost & Found, and 2023′s Falling or Flying are nuanced exercises in restraint in which she demonstrates her expertise in imparting emotional impact on modern R&B songs that are never unnecessarily showy.
In Atlantic City, Smokey Robinson plays the Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena on Saturday. The 85-year-old Motown legend’s indelible hits range from “Shop Around” to “The Tracks of My Tears” to “Cruisin’.” Bob Dylan probably never actually called him “the greatest living poet,” but he wouldn’t be far off if he did. His overtly sensual 2023 album Gasms is so randy it will make you blush, but he’s back in more respectable territory with a forthcoming album of inspirational covers. What the World Needs Now includes the Burt Bacharach title song and William DeVaughan’s recorded-in-Philly “Be Thankful for What You Got.”
In upcoming concert news: Eric Clapton will headline the Wells Fargo Center in South Philly on Sept. 13, with the Wallflowers opening. It’s part of a short six-show tour. Other September shows of note: Reunited 00s indie band Rilo Kiley brings its “Sometimes When You’re On You’re Really F**king On” tour to the Met Philly on Sept. 4. And Car Seat Headrest, which is returning with the rock opera The Scholars, plays the Mann’s Skyline stage on Sept. 12.