Day 21: Philadelphia, PA
Nau mai
Yesterday we played at the Fillmore in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighbourhood.
Liz was searching for fish all day and finally found one in the evening.
Late in the morning we left our hotel in King of Prussia, boarding the Ghost Whale for our drive into the city of Philadelphia. The freeway was busy with world cup traffic and our driver John took it slow and steady with a big, safe following distance.
The venue was called The Fillmore, a room that has borrowed its look from the famous venue of the same name in San Francisco. The Philly Filmore was much larger, though, with a mezzanine floor for those that prefer to look down on the stage.
The back stage was huge and Star Wars themed with a hanging X-Wing and Tie Fighter.
On our way to dinner we crossed the I-95 Fishtown overpass wasteland.
Just past the wasteland was a masterpiece of urban planning, a five way intersection complete with pedestrian crosswalks that also sits underneath the I-95 overpass.
The Fillmore is housed in the Ajax Metal Company plant, a site that smelted brass, tin, copper, lead, zinc for the production of bearing alloys for machinery and antifriction metals for automotive applications.
Here is our rig right after we rushed everything off stage at the end of the set. Last night we managed to evacuate our equipment in nine minutes.
The Fillmore looks pretty good once it is lit up.
Spoon have a large lighting rig and have to carry their equipment in a semi truck. I got to enjoy this skillful piece of backing and filling as their driver (guided by a patient production team) to get his vehicle out from the street behind the Fillmore.