Allison Crutchfield & The Fizz played Great Scott – 2/6

Former Swearin’ co-leader Allison Crutchfield and her backing band The Fizz played a stacked bill at Great Scott last Tuesday with fellow Philadelphians Radiator Hospital and Pinkwash. 

Last month’s Tourist In This Town, Crutchfield’s solo debut on Merge Records, is a synth-heavy leap from the clamor of Swearin’. Its freshly debuted live presentation featured Crutchfield on keys with The Fizz (featuring Radiator Hospital’s Sam Cook-Parrott) filling out the rhythm and guitar parts. The lineup didn’t always sound fully cohesive, but the songs are strong and the spirit was there. A cover of The New Pornographers’ buoyant power-pop gem “Letter From An Occupant” – featuring Allison’s sister Katie, of Waxahatchee – was a definite highlight.

Radiator Hospital, who boast a fervent local following, delivered a loud and enthusiastically received set of their emotive noise-pop as direct support. Riff-y garage punk duo Pinkwash opened things up with a positively deafening set, flanked by a stack of misfit amplifiers. They also got in a few digs at the uncomfortably Trump-adjacent Tom Brady, whom Boston held an enormous Super Bowl victory parade for earlier that day, and earned more cheers than you’d probably expect for that sort of thinking in an otherwise football-crazed town.

Photos from all three sets below.