Tag Archive for: variety playhouse

BLONDSHELL PLAYS VARIETY PLAYHOUSE WITH DAFFO ON JUNE 27

Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 5/27/25

ANNOUNCES 2025 WORLD HEADLINE TOUR 

IF YOU ASKED FOR A PICTURE OUT MAY 2, 2025 VIA PARTISAN RECORDS 

“‘T&A’ is a home run of an opening statement, and the sound of Blondshell becoming an indie star.” – Billboard

“vulnerable, often funny, always honest record delivered in melodic, pop-leaning indie rock.” – PAPER 

“‘T&A’ feels like an elevated version of the Blondshell we know.” – Paste 

“‘T&A’ is a dose of typical Blondshell self-destruction mixed with alluring guitars and humor to lighten the mood.” – Stereogum

”Indie rock darling” – The Needle Drop

“a crunchy alt-rock number with big drums and bigger guitars and biggest vocals from Teitelbaum.” – FLOOD on “T&A”

Blondshell (Sabrina Teitelbaum) today announces If You Asked For A Tour, her upcoming 2025 headline tour in support of her forthcoming sophomore album, If You Asked For A Picture. Kicking off on May 28th in San Diego, Blondshell will play 19 shows in North America making stops in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, New York City, Washington, DC and more before embarking on UK/EU dates in September. Blondshell will receive support from Jahnah Camille, Meg Elsier and Daffo across each leg of the U.S leg. General on sale will take place on Friday, January 17th at 10am local times, all dates are below and for more ticketing and on-sale information, please visit https://www.blondshellmusic.com/tour

Last week, Blondshell announced the May 2, 2025 release of her highly anticipated sophomore album, If You Asked For A Picture, via Partisan Records. Returning to the studio with producer Yves Rothman, the project brims with an urgency, ambition, and devastating potency hinted at on Blondshell’s 2023 self-titled debut, the specificity, self-examination, and nonchalant humor of which turned her into one of the most lauded new artists in recent memory.

Alongside the album announcement, Blondshell also shared the crushingly catchy accidental love story “T&A” with a music video directed by Hannah Bon.

E

If You Asked For A Picture’s title borrows its title from a 1986 poem by the cherished American writer Mary Oliver, titled “Dogfish.” In it, Oliver grapples with the idea of telling one’s own story: how much to share, how much to keep for oneself — all questions Teitelbaum asked herself while writing the forthcoming LP. “There’s a part of the poem that says: ‘I don’t need to tell you everything I’ve been through. It’s just another story of somebody trying to survive,’” Teitelbaum says. “Something I love about songs is that you’re showing a snapshot of a person or a relationship, and showing a glimpse into a story can be just as important as trying to capture the entire thing. Sometimes it’s even truer to the entire picture than if you tried to write everything down.”

If You Asked For A Picture is alive with a more vital nuance both sonically and thematically, gesturing towards a deeper autobiographical story that taps into something painfully universal without being too overt. Teitelbaum explains, “The first record feels really black-and-white to me. This record has more questions.”

In the studio, Teitelbaum found herself confident and at home like never before, trusting her instincts as she developed an almost telekinetic shorthand with producer Yves Rothman. The result is a record of astounding sonic range – including sky-scraping ballads and colossal hooks that soar over waves of distortion, mixing layered textures and harmonic flourishes, or making unexpected hairpin turns between them. Primary among her production touchstones were unexpected curveballs like Queens of the Stone Age’s Rated R and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Californication. Teitelbaum reveled in appropriating those hyper-masculine aesthetics for her uncompromising examinations of young womanhood, playing with performances of gender in rock. “It’s empowering for me to use sonic references that feel reserved for men,” she explains.

Blondshell’s self-titled 2023 debut unleashed a swiss-army-knife writing style that gets under your skin: songs that are as visceral and anthemic as pop music with all the specificity, self-examination, and nonchalant humor of the best indie rock — songs you want to let crash over you, even as their strength is too concrete to be washed away. The release garnered her critical acclaim and a devoted fan base,  She has since toured relentlessly, playing 150+ shows including major festivals and a tour with Liz Phair, on top of her own sold-out headline dates. In Summer 2024, she made appearances at high profile festivals including Governors Ball, Glastonbury, and Lollapalooza. Rolling Stone remarked that her “shows reliably give a sense of catharsis to attendees, and to Teitelbaum herself.” 

In support of the album she performed on The Tonight Show and CBS Saturday and the album garnered countless year-end accolades and landed on Obama’s Best Songs of 2023 list. In 2024, Blondshell released the standalone single “Docket” featuring Bully, which landed on NPR, Rolling Stone, and Esquire’s top songs of the year, and she was featured on A24’s Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute To Talking Heads Stop Making Sense, covering the band’s “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel”.  

In the time since Blondshell, the image of Teitelbaum’s life has changed considerably. As the accolades accrued she spent more time on the road than at home.  This rootlessness naturally impacted Teitelbaum’s relationships with others and with herself. “When you travel a lot, you see different possibilities for who you can be,” Teitelbaum says. “So there were a lot more questions coming up. What do I want my life to look like? Maybe it’s just the nature of being two years older, but I’m more comfortable with nuance now, and I’m more comfortable with gray areas.” There’s an open-endedness to where If You Asked For A Picture lands: it’s a no-skips, triumphant sophomore record that captures the unresolved process of figuring out who you are, too wise to suggest that it has a definitive answer.

U.S TOUR DATES

5/28/25 – San Diego, CA @ Belly Up^

5/30/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda^

5/31/25 – San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore^

6/2/25 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom^

6/3/25 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox^

6/6/25 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Soundwell^

6/8/25 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird^

6/11/25 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line*

6/13/25 – Chicago IL, @ Metro*

6/14/25 – Columbus, OH @ Skully’s*

6/16/25 – Toronto, ON @ Axis*

6/17/25 – Montreal, QC @ Theatre Fairmount*

6/19/25 – Boston, MA @ Sinclair%

6/20/25 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall%

6/21/25 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer%

6/24/25 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club%

6/26/25 – Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel%

6/27/25 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West%

6/28/25 – Nashville, TN @ Basement East%

^ support from Jahnah Camille

* support from Meg Elsier 

% support from Daffo

EU/UK TOUR DATES

7/10/25 – Madrid, ES @ MadCool Festival

7/12/25 – Trancin, SK @ Pohoda Festival

9/2/25 –  Dublin, IE @ Whelans

9/4/25 – Manchester, UK @ New Century

9/6/25 – Glasgow, SC @ Oran Mor

9/7/25 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club

9/8/25 – Bristol, UK @ SWX

9/10/25 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk

9/12/25 – London, UK @ Electric Brixton

9/14/25 – Lille, FR @ L’Aéronef

9/15/25 – Paris, FR @ Le Trabendo

9/17/25 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique

9/18/25 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Tolhuistuin

9/20/25 – Hamburg, DE @ Reeperbahn Festival

9/21/25 – Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA

9/23/25 – Berlin, DE @ Hole44

9/25/25 – Cologne, DE @ Helios37

If You Asked For A Picture tracklisting 

  1. Thumbtack
  2. T&A
  3. Arms
  4. What’s Fair
  5. Two Times
  6. Event Of A Fire
  7. 23’s A Baby
  8. Change
  9. Toy
  10. He Wants Me
  11. Man
  12. Model Rockets

PERFUME GENIUS ON TOUR – ATLANTA AT VARIETY PLAYHOUSE ON JUNE 5

Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 5/22/25

Perfume Genius show on June 5 at Variety Playhouse, Glory out now.

Today, Perfume Genius (Mike Hadreas) has released his new single “No Front Teeth” featuring New Zealand folk singer-songwriter Aldous Harding. The track is full of tension bolstered by time changes throughout the song and the haunting, ethereal chorus driven by Harding’s vocals. The music video is directed by Cody Critcheloe (who directed Perfume Genius’ legendary “Queen” video) and is a fever dream-unhinged, sexually charged, hilarious and riveting, leaving the viewer questioning what is real and what is an aberration. It features Hadreas, Harding and longtime Perfume Genius band member and co-writer Alan Wyffels. Watch the video HERE

Last month, Perfume Genius announced his new album, Glory, coming out March 28th on long-time label home Matador Records. Glory was produced by Blake Mills and marks the 7th studio album in Hadreas; immaculate body of work. Along with the announcement, he released the first single, “It’s a Mirror,” which received near unanimous critical praise and Pitchfork’s “Best New Track” distinction.”Hadreas ushers in a muscular and direct sound that feels like a decisive pendular swing back from the diffuse ambiance of 2022’s Ugly Season. Hadreas himself has never sounded sexier or more confident as a frontman, and while this isn’t Perfume Genius’ first foray into twang—’It’s a Mirror’ stakes its claim in a musical tradition that, though it’s always been home to outlaws, can just as often breed a festering myopia,” they said.

On his new album Glory, Perfume Genius re-teams with long-time producer Blake Mills and keyboardist and co-writer Wyffels along with an incredible group of musicians who have played previously with Hadreas on the road and in the studio including guitarists Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) and Greg Uhlmann, drummers Tim Carr and Jim Keltner, and bassist Pat Kelly as well as a special appearance from New Zealand singer-songwriter Aldous Harding. After approaching writing as an insular practice for much of his career, in the process of making Glory. Hadreas welcomed more collaboration from the musicians working on the project. The result is a more wiry and driving musical underbed to Hadreas’ stories. The album contains themes that he’s wrestled with artistically throughout his career – themes of the body and its decay, of domesticity and love, and of inescapable history and damage. There is also a return of some of his characters including Jason. But Glory is written from a new vantage point – on the other side of struggle, where one is left to contend with all that has happened but also has to learn to live in a still and uncharted place. An album bio, on Glory, by Daniel Felsenthal, can be found after the tracklist below

Perfume Genius has also announced an extensive North American tour in support of the album. The shows kick off in Healdsburg at Little Saint on May 12th and wrap up on June 27th at Revolution Hall in Portland, OR. Highlights include The Fillmore in San Francisco on May 13th, the Brooklyn Paramount on June 10th and the Showbox in Hadreas’ hometown of Seattle on June 26th. Tickets are on sale now.

Hadreas, a Seattle native, began his music career in 2008 and released his debut album, Learning, in 2010 via long-time label home Matador. The album immediately captured critics’ attention, with Pitchfork praising its “eviscerating and naked” songs, marked by “heartbreaking sentiments and bruised characterizations delivered in a voice that ranges from an ethereal croon to a slightly cracked warble.” These descriptors became the hallmarks of Perfume Genius – Hadreas’ unique ability to convey emotional vulnerability not only lyrically, but with his impressively nuanced vocals.

In 2012, Perfume Genius released Put Your Back N 2 It, further growing his audience and critical acclaim. His 2014 album, Too Bright, marked a bold evolution in production and confidence. Co-produced by Adrian Utley of Portishead, it featured the standout single “Queen,” which quickly became a queer anthem and powerful statement of identity. Hadreas later performed the track on Late Night with David Letterman.

In 2017, Perfume Genius released the GRAMMY-nominated No Shape, a breakthrough album that expanded his global fan base and brought mainstream recognition to his art. Produced by Blake Mills (Fiona Apple, Alabama Shakes), the record earned high praise, with The New Yorker noting, “The center of his music has always been a defiant delicacy—a ragged, affirmative understanding of despair. No Shape finds him unexpectedly victorious, his body exalted.” During the album’s campaign, Hadreas appeared on multiple late-night shows and graced the cover of The Fader.In 2020, Hadreas released Set My Heart On Fire Immediately, a critical masterpiece on Matador Records that garnered worldwide acclaim. Produced by GRAMMY winner Blake Mills, the album featured contributions from Phoebe Bridgers, Jim Keltner, Pino Palladino, Matt Chamberlin, Rob

Moose, and longtime collaborator Alan Wyffels. It explored and subverted concepts of masculinity and traditional roles, introducing distinctly American musical influences.Hadreas promoted the album with performances on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He followed with Ugly Season, a project born from his collaboration with choreographer Kate Wallich on The Sun Still Burns Here, a dance piece commissioned by Seattle Theatre Group and Mass MoCA and performed across major cities in 2019.  The release included a stunning 30-minute film, Pygmalion’s Ugly Season, created with renowned visual artist Jacolby Satterwhite, blending surreal visuals with Hadreas music.

Track Listing – Perfume Genius – Glory

  1. It’s a Mirror
  2. No Front Teeth (feat. Aldous Harding)
  3. Clean Heart
  4. Me & Angel
  5. Left For Tomorrow
  6. Full On
  7. Capezio
  8. Dion
  9. In a Row
  10. Hanging Out
  11. Glory

Tour Dates

*New dates in bold

03/29/25 – 6 Music Festival – Manchester, UK

05/10/25 – Just Like Heaven – Los Angeles, CA

5/12/25 – Little Saint — Healdsburg, CA

5/13/25 – The Fillmore — San Francisco, CA

5/16/25 – Kilby Court Block Party — Salt Lake City, UT

5/24/25 – C6 Fest — Sao Paulo, BR

5/30/25 – The Van Buren — Phoenix, AZ

5/31/25 – 191 Toole — Tucson, AZ

6/2/25 – Emo’s — Austin, TX

6/3/25 – The Studio at The Factory — Dallas, TX

6/5/25 – Variety Playhouse — Atlanta, GA

6/6/25 – Haw River Ballroom — Saxapahaw, NC

6/7/25 – 9:30 Club — Washington, DC

6/8/25 – Union Transfer — Philadelphia, PA

6/10/25 – Brooklyn Paramount — Brooklyn, NY

6/12/25 – Royale — Boston, MA

6/13/25 – Electric City — Buffalo, NY

6/14/25 – The Concert Hall — Toronto, ON

6/15/25 – Globe Iron — Cleveland, OH

6/17/25 – The Vic Theatre — Chicago, IL

6/18/25 – First Avenue — Minneapolis, MN

6/19/25 – The Truman — Kansas City, MO

6/21/25 – Gothic Theatre — Denver, CO

6/23/25 – Treefort Music Hall — Boise, ID

6/26/25 – The Showbox — Seattle, WA

6/27/25 – Revolution Hall — Portland, OR

TAUK AT VARIETY PLAYHOUSE OCTOBER 23

Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 10/15/21

TAUK with The Orange Constant

October 23rd 

Variety Playhouse

The long-awaited seventh, full-length cinematic studio album, Chaos Companion, from electro-prog quartet TAUK is finally here. The collection, complete with nine instrumental tracks, takes listeners on a celestial journey reminiscent of 70’s film scores, 80’s video games, 90’s R&B and modern dance music. The newest offering from the band elevates their sound to new heights as they seamlessly blend futuristic electronic elements with old school rock, funk and soul. Through the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing remained constant: the music, and amidst this uncertainty and struggle, TAUK’s Chaos Companion was born.

Listen to Chaos Companion in full, out everywhere now: smarturl.it/ChaosCompanion

Yesterday, HeavyBlogIsHeavy shared “New Age Trip,” a track that drummer Isaac Teel says is inspired by Sci-Fi movies and video games with a locomotive feel and tangible momentum.

Dormammu,” another notable track from the album, merges TAUK’s organic sound with digitally composed EDM. Bassist Charles Dolan describes the unique fusion as, “a trap drum machine-meets-Led Zeppelin sound & beat, with builds and drops along the way. A danceable and anthemic journey accompanied by syncopated and soaring sounds of Eric Bloom (Trumpet) and Ryan Zoidis (Saxophone) of The Shady Horns (Lettuce, Soulive).”

As the world slowed down due to the pandemic, the band suddenly had more down time to explore new creative avenues and ultimately evolve. “Songs like ‘Moon Dub‘ and ‘The Let Out‘ demonstrate a blend of hip-hop and electronic sounds that bring TAUK’s sound into new territory,” explains keyboardist Alric Carter.

Carter continues, “These songs are presented with a different approach where we used a lot more tracks and layers to create a more cinematic sound. A lot of our material has been live performance-based, but with this album, we used Ableton Live and digital audio workstations to expand our musical palette.”

Beyond sonically experimenting, the band broadened their approach visually with directors, Dani Barbieri and Sophia Conger to launch a new era of TAUK. With cinematic videos to match their fresh cinematic sound, the band found a new groove they are bringing to stages throughout the U.S.

Experience the brand new songs and favorites from the band’s back catalog this fall when TAUK tours around the Southern and Eastern U.S. The band recently announced a three-show October run through Missouri as well as a pair of New Years Eve shows in CharlestonSC. A full list of dates and corresponding support can be found on the band’s website and below.

Keep up with TAUK via the band’s Facebook & Instagram. Shop new merch, including Chaos Companion apparel and vinyl, at hellomerch.com/collections/tauk. And don’t miss Chaos Companion, now streaming on your favorite platform.

TAUK ON TOUR
9/30 – Pawtucket, RI – The Met ^
10/01 – New Haven, CT – Toad’s Place ~
10/02 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Bowl ~
10/8 – Martinsville, VA – Rooster Walk Reunion Music Festival
10/9 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel
10/12 – Oxford, MS – The Lyric Oxford +
10/13 – Little Rock, AR – The Rev Room
10/14 – Columbia, MO – Rose Park
10/15 – St. LouisMO – Old Rock House *
10/16 – SpringfieldMO – Outland Ballroom !
10/19 – Jackson, MS – Duling Hall +
10/20 – Huntsville, AL – Sidetracks Music Hall &
10/21 – Birmingham, AL – Saturn %
10/22 – Tuscaloosa, AL – Druid City Music Hall $
10/23 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse $
10/26 – Indianapolis, IN – HI-FI @
10/27 – Covington, KY – Madison Theater @
10/28 – Memphis, TN – Railgarten &
10/29 – Nashville, TN – The Basement East =
10/30 – Charlottesville, VA – Jefferson Theater #
10/31 – Falls Church, VA – The State Theatre #
12/10 – Miami BeachFL – North Beach Music Festival
12/29 – HarrisburgPA – XL Live
12/30 – RichmondVA – The Broadberry
12/31 & 1/1 – CharlestonSC – Charleston Pour House
2/4 – 2/6 – TusconAZ – Gem and Jam Festival
3/4 – PhiladelphiaPA – Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia

^ w/ Eggy
~ w/ paris_monster
+ w/ Subcontra
* w/ FiLiBuSta
! w/ Level Up
& w/ Captain Midnight Band
% w/ Waker
$ w/ The Orange Constant
@ w/ Cycles
= w/ Three Star Revival
# w/ LITZ