It was hot in Philadelphia on August 7th when a sold-out crowd crammed into the Fillmore at the TLA to see Blonde Redhead. Victoria Legrand of opening act Beach House crooned from behind her bangs over synth lines while her only bandmate Alex Scally played guitar in his chair. The duo’s tidied-up shoegaze songs like “Saltwater” received positive crowd response. Blonde Redhead took the stage and droned away for the show’s opening 20 minutes, erecting an insurmountable wall of sound. Their first five songs including “The Dress” were somewhat boring and homogenous, but when the band got to “Dr. Strangeluv” things started to pick up. More dynamic and well-oiled in contrast to their clumsy opening, Simone Pace and his wife Kazu Makino shot each other knowing glances while they hammered away at their instruments.

ame Their sweet yet edgy pop tunes continued with “Top Ranking,” “Silently,” and their new record’s title track “23.” Kazu used her voice almost like another instrument in that she passionately sung falsetto but with no annunciation. As a result of this technique, or maybe in conjunction with the house sound mix, her lyrics were next to impossible to understand. In between giggles Kazu addressed the fans saying, “I never like coming here because we always do New York the next day or the day before and no one shows up… but not tonight!”

ame The band ended with “Equus,” and did an appreciated encore which featured some of their older numbers as well as a scary version of “Heroine” from 23. Afterwards, the crowd returned to the hot Philadelphia streets more than satisfied with their shoegazing evening.