The visual and aural spectacle of Making Time Pure Halloween 2026
Dave P.’s annual Halloween show—hosted in partnership with Klip Collective—offered up a meal for the ears and eyes at Franklin Music Hall, with Boy Harsher, Model/Actriz, Kassie Krut, and more on the bill.
Transcendental Thrill, Paranormal Plurt Portal, The Transcendental Afterlife. These titles, and more, were used to describe this year’s Making Time Pure Halloween.
Philly’s own Dave P.—creator, DJ, and party-thrower—curated Boy Harsher, Model/Actriz, Conducta, Kassie Krut, and Marie Davidson for the 2026 Halloween night show. Klip Collective, a longtime partner in many Dave P. enterprises, created an eerie, futuristic capsule inside Franklin Music Hall: a steady red glow from the dangling lights, sirens, and a stage framed in colorful beams of light.
Dave P., the “King of Philadelphia” according to Model/Actriz vocalist Cole Haden, spent Saturday night at the centrally located booth DJing between sets.
Opening the night, Kassie Krut stepped onto the stage dressed as ghoulish nuns.
WXPN last caught up with the experimental three-piece in early March 2025 when they opened for Spirit of the Beehive at Union Transfer, shortly after they released their first self-titled album. Now, at Franklin Music Hall—a much larger room with higher ceilings—it was time for round two.
Kassie joined headliner Boy Harsher earlier this fall for a large portion of their North American tour, which was coming to a close.
The costume expectations were high for anyone familiar with Brooklyn’s Model/Actriz. In a cloud of fog, Haden emerged hunched over, his cape’s hood wrapped tight around his head. After teasing for a few songs, he snapped the billowing cape back and revealed himself to be Count Orlok a la Robert Eggers’ 2024 Nosferatu. More specifically, a Count Orlok who was very fond of the four or so scraggly, long chunks of hair attached to the bald cap.
The main floor of Franklin Music Hall is roughly 15,000-plus square feet, and Haden was determined to make each count. He would jump the barrier into the crowd and disappear; in fact, that’s where Haden was for most of the set, up until “Crossing Guard” off their 2023 album, Dogsbody.
As one last bit of hijinks, Model/Actriz closed their set with Korn’s “Freak On A Leash.”
Montreal DJ, solo artist, and one half of Essaie pas Marie Davidson gave the crowd a song or two to catch their breath after that. She wore all white with black upside-down crosses drawn under her eyes. Her hour-plus DJ set oscillated between trance, techno, underground, and club, and in tandem with Klip Collective’s light design, created a satisfying slow burn. Davidson left the crowd warmed up and buzzing.
Boy Harsher vocalist Jae Matthews dressed sharply, donning a fitted blazer dress, bold glittery eyeshadow, and heels that clicked when she stomped. Producer Gus Muller dressed as a vampire, similar to the original 1922 Nosferatu film. Maybe there was a consensus on the theme for the Halloween show Saturday night at Franklin Music Hall?
Knowing the context of their new album GET MEAN—which dropped in mid-September—the video feeds behind them carried weight and were, at times, haunting. As a simultaneous breakup but not break-up album, the visuals during Saturday night’s show were subtle, like the stage lights matching album art, and overt, using reds and oranges during songs from Careful.
Other songs spoke directly to the heart of GET MEAN. For example, when Matthews appeared only on screen, she looked as though she was behind bars, trying to reach through during “Bleed.” Later, the video feed displayed only her piercing eyes as she sang “Faulty” and powerfully stalked the stage.
Boy Harsher can make concerts feel so personal and intimate. We were all in Franklin Music Hall, but we were also close friends with two musicians who wanted to just “show” us what they’ve been working on and got a little carried away. That feeling was palpable as they closed their set with “Pain,” with Matthews and Muller both losing themselves in the song.
UK DJ Conducta played a short set as people settled tabs, waited in diminishing bathroom lines, located the friends they came with—many holding the more uncomfortable parts of their costume (like wings, or a hair practice dummy still on its stand, for instance)—or heading over to the Transcendental Afterlife. Just like that, another Making Time Pure Halloween came and went.
