Don McCloskey & The Band (21+)

If you live in the greater Philadelphia area and you have not yet seen what Don McCloskey and his eight-piece band of fire-breathing musicians are up to, now is the time.

Brewing a wild concoction of Americana, rock, soul, and 80s pop, McCloskey and The Band are coming off of a string of soul-stirring appearances at MMRBQ, XPoNential Festival, and three nights opening for the cast of "Always Sunny In Philadelphia" at The Mann Center and Radio City Music Hall.

Their newest album, The Chaos and The Beauty, has received glowing reviews and was kicked off with a sold-out hometown show at Ardmore Music Hall. The lead single, “First in Flight,” was featured prominently in the Season 2 finale of Apple TV’s Mythic Quest has been streamed over 3 million times, and has found a listenership locally on both WXPN and WMMR. The Philadelphia Inquirer called their psychedelic-soul reimagining of the holiday classic, “O Holy Night,” “one of the best holiday songs of 2022.”

This raggle-taggle band of merrymakers brought their annual holiday show to Brooklyn Bowl Philly for the first time in December with guest appearances from Adam Weiner from Low Cut Connie and Sammy Rae from Sammy Rae and The Friends.

Check out “I IV V,” “Unbecoming,” “First in Flight,” and “O Holy Night” to get a sense of what you’re in store for. Then gather your vinyl-hoarding, analogue-loving friends and come prepared to have a really good time and leave with a new favorite artist.

“Few artists embody the heart and soul of WXPN like Don McCloskey. He takes elements of the station’s bread and butter genres – folk, rock, soul, Americana – while applying a homegrown approach to songwriting and performance that creates a musical spectacle simultaneously lighthearted and emotional.” - WXPN.com