RJD2, Live @ Union Transfer

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concert video, live philly concerts, R5 Productions, RJ's Electrical Connections, RJD2, Turntable-ism, Union Transfer

RJD2 needs no introduction.  The man is a genius.  Copywrite once said:

RJD2 drop that sh*t so I can drop my thoughts 
Driftin away, and depress all within listening range
Nah but for real I got so much shit on my mind
From fake motherf*ckers to my future I’m trying to get in line
And doing hip hop in this life in time ain’t all nice and fine
At times I feel like my whole life’s a rhyme
Full of punchlines and jokes
F*ck ups and punches
It’s like I can’t get shit right the first time or something
When no one knows your name, your vinyl’s still in stores
Once you get a little light through arguing over who feels it more
We got sixteen year old dead heads buying garbage
Wanting to keep you from their personal private artists
We don’t do shit for the clubs
It’s for our forty fives,
go RJ the archaeologist diggin them up 
And I’m the same cent,
To vinyl that gets sent to bash
In this for life til my final mic check is cashed

The description of RJ being an archaeologist always stuck with me.  It’s such a fitting estimation.  The man samples pure vinyl live.  He finds unique and rare tracks to enhance his sound.  There are no iPods here.  There is no computer manipulated sampling.  RJ is a master at his craft.  Watching him move rapidly between 4 turntables, his drum machine and other electronic devices, switching out vinyl from a stack of wax behind him,  we feel as though we are watching a magician.  Merlin cast a spell on a packed Philly crowd this 14th of October.  A camera trained on his drum machine projected the action in between carefully timed clips projected on the screen behind.  We watched as he created everything we heard.  It was all laid out to see and to dare imitation.

RJD2 played an incredibly solid set touching on many of his classics and teasing with hints of others.  Now living in Philly, RJ truly put on something special for the hometown crowd.  After exhausting all his 12″ers, RJ returned for an encore using 7″/45’s only saying something to the effect “I only have the small guys left.”  It was a memorable performance and we submit to you some video taken to try and visually explain the dopeness of the performance – a feat that is really impossible to do unless you were there.  Enjoy:

 

 

 

 

Icebird, Live @ Union Transfer

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concert video, Icebird, Icebird band, indie music, live music, Local Philly Band, R5 Productions, RJ's Electrical Connections, RJD2, Union Transfer

Philly’s own Icebird, a brilliant combination of Aaron Livingston and RJD2, played the Union Transfer on October 15th to a packed crowd.  Icebird plays an incomparable blend of Soul, Rock, Folk and Hip Hop and their first single Going and Going, and Going is a doozy.

This was the fourth stop on their first major tour and they pulled out all the stops for the hometown crowd.  Rolling through pretty much every track on their new album, The Abandoned Lullaby, Icebird had a huge backing band including RJD2 on keys and others on guitar, cello, drums, and bass.  Though the sound was not loud enough through the start of their set, by the time they returned to stage for an extra encore at the end of RJD2’s set, everything was on point.  Aaron directed the crowd who repeated his verses and moved organically to the sound having been brought back on stage by RJ.

Icebird plays an end-of-show encore post RJD2 performance

Icebird plays a dynamic range of songs from fast to slow paced and, by in the large, the crowd responded well.  While the buzz we heard was mostly of curiosity as to their origins, we have no doubt that soon many more will be familiar with this stellar Icebird project.  In the end, as the near capacity crowd poured out the doors, all in attendance with a pulse had been moved by Icebird’s performance.

Check out some video from the show including Going and Going, and Going, Charmed Life, & Just Love Me: