Sadie Dupuis and her band, Speedy Ortiz, played a sold out show at Johnny Brenda’s in Philly on Friday, 9/26. The sold out show was part of Philly Music Fest, a festival of sorts that features Philadelphia-based artists/bands for 4 consecutive nights at different venues throughout the city. Tonight’s bill featured a stellar lineup including fellow pals/locals Sammus and Remember Sports.
While it was Speedy Ortiz’ first show as official Philadelphians (Dupuis originally hails from Massachusetts), they’re no newcomers to Johnny Brenda’s. During their set, Dupuis recalled taking the train down from Massachusetts to catch shows at the venue when she was 18. More recently, she referenced a gig Speedy Ortiz played here in 2015 with then up-and-comer Mitski! Speedy Ortiz’ brand of witty guitar-driven rock (see music video for “Raising the Skate” from 2015’s Foil Deer below) is my straight up jam on all fronts and their energetic live performance lives up to their music. True to her humanitarian principles, Dupuis teamed up with the PA Harm Reduction Coalition for the show – proceeds from Speedy Ortiz’ merch went towards the organization and folks were also on hand to provide info on harm reduction and naloxone rescue kits/auto-injectors.
Remember Sports performed a set of all brand new songs and mentioned that they’ll be hitting the recording studio soon and opener Sammus performed an inspiring and emotional set and even broke out a cosplay Metroid arm cannon during her performance of “Power-Ups“.
Keep scrolling below to see more photos from the show.
