Concert Review: Sheppard and Wilderado Delight in Two Philadelphia Shows

Last week on Wednesday and Thursday,  Philadelphia was visited by some musical acts from as far away as England and Australia, and the Gleaner was fortunate enough to make both shows in order to see for ourselves what the cat had dragged in.

First up was Sheppard, a Brother-and-Sisters act from Brisbane, Australia. Those with a good memory for radio jams might remember their main claim to fame: 2014’s smash hit earworm Geronimo which served as the second single to their album Bombs Away. It was the first-ever song recorded in Brisbane to become a number one single, and the same poppy feel-good energy that suffused it as it traveled through the car radios and mall intercoms of the world have been harnessed to great effect on their new album Zora, which this month’s show and the tour of which it was a part are meant to promote. The energy levels were high in the second story of the famous Milkboy restaurant, bar, and music venue. Milkboy is an oddly named but still hip little dive bar with a story: it takes its name from a recording studio founded by the restaurant’s owners that has worked with everyone from Kanye West to Lil’ Uzi Vert to Ariana Grande to Michael Jackson. It keeps the energy of a local dive with the pedigree and quality in drinks and food of an upscale place. The vibes of the show were definitely intimate, as promised, with some tight wooden stairs leading  to the concert venue upstairs. One is bound to be reminded of  indie venues from the movies or tv; I personally found myself instantly transported to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World as I climbed up to the dimly lit and cozy barside stage, shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the audience as we buzzed and chatted over beers discussing the commonalities that had brought us here.

 I was fortunate enough to briefly run into the lead singer for the opening act, Kids That Fly, milling about in the audience before the show. I got in a brief question about his photo policy which he answered with a reassuring “let ‘er rip, we can take it, with flash or without, do your thing man!” while striking an imitable “rock star guitarist” pose, which I will admit made me laugh and helped the entire experience feel even more like a true indie rock affair. When the time came for performances to start, Kids absolutely spared no expense when it came to delivering an energetic performance. The Connecticut alt-rockers delivered an eclectic and upbeat set, getting the audience more than ready for Sheppard to take center stage.

Take the stage, they did. The Sheppard siblings were the stars of the show, backed by a truly prodigious session bassist and equally skilled session drummer. Together the five of them put on a compelling show. At times the theming and lyricism of the Sheppard pieces might to some be a bit shallow – their anthem to self-esteem named simply,  You Can Kiss My Fat A**, for example – but the sheer bubbly nature of their tunes and their can-do, funny, and easy-going onstage personas uplifted the show into something far greater than the sum of its parts – it gave fun-for-all radio pop and scrappy garage indie all at once. On paper, the true star of the show was their upcoming album Zora, but the crowd began to truly frenzy when the unmistakable Geronimo began to play, with the session musicians giving their all as well as the Sheppards blew the figurative roof off of the second floor venue-cheeky-pre-final-chorus-fourth-wall-break and all.

Next came Wilderado, on Thursday the 13th. Theirs was a more toned down and mature-feeling show, with the electric energy from Sheppard’s show the night prior swapped out for an acoustic sincerity that meshed just right with their folk music about life in the face of ennui and uncertainty. The venue here was also quite novel, a combination bowling alley/venue/bar in Fishtown called Brooklyn Bowl. With the muted but unmistakable noise of bowling pins gently tucked in the background and the Bowl’s unique stained glass catching the inimitable Delaware River sunset, the preshow took the stage: they were Flyte, a trio from London with the perfect moody folk aura to precede the headlining act. Of all the great songs sampled over the two days, it was Flyte’s mournful ballad Everyone’s A Winner that stuck with me the longest after the shows were over.

Wilderado were similarly promoting a new project, their sophomore album Talker. The title track was played along with a medley of their other songs, and all were delightfully hip and mellow without going too far into navel-gazing or trying to sound hip. They were ultimately, as Max Rainer said before counting his bandmates into Talker, simply there to show us a good time and remind us through music that we are all more alike than we are different. 

Mission accomplished, Wilderado.

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