Roof Doctor, Coma Cinema and more played Church of the Advocate

Everyone’s favorite bummer, Coma Cinema, stopped by Church of the Advocate this Saturday to get sad with a few of Philly’s hometown heroes – Roof Doctor, Pill Friends, and Alex G. It was clear there was a lot of love between these bands; they all seemed genuinely excited to see each other play, and rightfully so, for each band rose to the occasion with a wonderful performance.

Pill Friends started the night off with a noisy, energetic set. If you’ve ever seen this band, you know that they appear in two forms: the bedroom-style, super quiet acoustic band with a cello and two-part harmonies, and the indie-screamo band, with fiery shouts replacing what would normally be a near whisper. This set was probably pretty surprising for anyone who had only previously known this band for its weepy lo-fi acoustic tunes. Hopefully the recent addition of bassist Davis Cook has made this kind of set a more likely possibility for future shows, because it was totally awesome. Not going to lie, this was my favorite set of the night.

Roof Doctor played next, and their set was stellar. They always sound great at this venue, as its state-of-the-art “giant cube” shape seems to provide just the right amount of reverb for their dreamy folk-pop tunes. They played a few new songs, which they will soon be recording for their full-length, so keep an eye out for that.

The next band was Coma Cinema, and this was certainly the reason this show happened. These guys drove up from South Carolina just to play Philly and Baltimore, and it quickly became clear that many of those in attendance had eagerly awaited this band’s visit to Philly. The set was distinctly less synthed-out than many of their recordings, giving the songs a very stripped-down feel. Cool.

Alex G was put last because he rules. He plays frequently as a solo acoustic act, but when he decides to get the band together, it’s way better – but that’s me, I hate acoustic stuff. He played a really good mix of tunes, and I found this set to be very satisfying. It was a great end to a great show, and here’s to hoping for many more great lineups like this at Church of the Advocate.