Philly’s &More were welcomed home in Fishtown on Friday

&More | photo by Ellen Miller for WXPN | ellencm.com

Philadelphia’s Chilly Moody and Donn T teamed up a little while back to form a hip hop collaboration duo by the name of &More. The duo just released their debut album Ethel Bobcat a few weeks ago that they are currently touring in support of, and this past weekend the tour brought them back home to Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown where they performed to a room full of friends, family, and fans. As headliners they shared with bill with fellow local artists Dahi Divine and The Great Time for and all around high energy Philly local show.

Dahi Divine got the night started with a sweet jazz-hiphop set. Alternating between tenor sax and vocals, Dahi brought the energy to stage. Great Time kept the energy going through their middle set. Playing to a room full of friends, they got people dancing, and brought up West Philly rapper The Bul Bey to join them on stage for a song. You know it must be decent gig when you have friends and fans yelling for the second band to do an encore, before the headliners even come on.

By the stroke of 11, it was a solid hometown crowd full of good vibes and good energy for &More. Chill and Donn both have brilliant stage presences individually; and putting the two together works impeccably. They keep things feeling casual, with little conversational bits between one other to break up the set list, along with engaging with the audience. With drummer Kwesi getting the set started, Donn T entered the stage dancing, then took first crack at the mic before Chill Moody joined shortly later. The whole set was arranged with them doing songs together (obviously) mixed with each taking some solo time.

Early in the set they performed “Clear,” the first song these two artists collaborated on together. They mentioned how honored they still are for getting to perform for Michelle Obama, before going into their song “4ever 1st Lady,” which was a crowd favorite. Before that, Donn T told us the song “Gracey’s Flame” was inspired by a four year old (because inspiration can come from anywhere).

Johnny Brenda’s of course had Chill Moody’s very own Nicethings beer on tap, which he developed with Dock Street Brewery…and yes, that is what he was drinking on stage! Moody took a quick break midset to toast the night (and audience). Then they got back to the music and performed “WHOA,” which got a big reaction from the crowd. Despite it being a robust setlist, it actually felt a tad sudden when Moody said “that was the end of the set.” Even though it obviously wasn’t: the band returned for two encore songs: the first from Chill Moody, the second from Donn T, closing the night how she started it.

Check out our full photo gallery of the night below. Ethel Bobcat is available on all streaming services now, and the band joins St. Paul and the Broken Bones for a few shows on tour in June.