Antarctigo Vespucci with Golden Apples
First Unitarian Church
2125 Chestnut St.
Philadelphia
Feb. 7, 2026
I’ve had a lot of jobs. Most of them paid shit, offered no career advancement, and took more from me emotionally and physically than they ever gave. I thought about this while I biked from my house to the First Unitarian Church in 17-degree weather and 18mph wind resistance. I work for R5 productions, who organized the show with rock band Antarctigo Vespucci and Golden Apples at the church last Saturday.
I’m lucky to be able to learn about stagecraft on the job. I’m lucky to work for an organization whose mission aligns with my values and interests. I’m lucky to work with friends and acquaintances from all different corners of my experience in music. Every shift I work is better than the best day I’ve had anywhere else, and stamping hands with my gloves on because it’s that cold is still better than, say, scooping ice cream or bussing tables.
Both Antarctigo Vespucci and Golden Apples are made up of musicians I’ve gotten to know in the past. I toured with Jeff Rosenstock (who is one half of AV) a year ago, while indie darlings Golden Apples are Philadelphians whom I’ve worked prior shows for, and their drummer, Melissa Brain, is a fellow Cheers and Frasier enthusiast as well as a former roommate of mine. As the sole opener, Golden Apples got right to work once the room filled on this tour’s sold out last show. The jangling opening notes of Golden Apples' first song hit me with an initial Bruce Springsteen vibe, but as they continued the band largely oscillated between clear influences from bands like Pavement and Yo La Tengo.
I have to say that Golden Apples founder Russell Edling really did assemble an A-team with this particular iteration of the group. I’ve seen a few acquaintances of mine become an Apple, but it seems as though they’re hitting a good groove now. Now though, I need to say a little bit about their current bass player Hannah Pugh. I did doors for a small show that Golden Apples played at Ruba Club in like, November or December or something, and I peeped her fire playing then, but hearing Pugh through the sound system in The Church was something else. A solid modal bassist, Pugh knows the fretboard well and moves around it like nowhere is off-limits for any part of any song. I get a lot of the same technicality from her as I did from Philadelphia indie titans Dr. Dog, particularly the Easy Beat era. As a bassist myself, I love that shit. While doing some sleuthing I came across Pugh’s solo music, so I’ll drop that below.
Slowly Closing In | hannah from band - Bandcamp
My favorite things about Jeff Rosenstock are his generosity and his sense of humor. His infectiously fun-loving attitude has been probably the main tenet of his 30 year career, and seeing it persist as the world gets harder and harder to live in is a constant inspiration. Antarctigo Vespucci, which he shares vocal/guitar duties in with Fake Problems’ Chris Farren, is another in a long line of Rosenstock projects that feels like it inherently prioritizes friendship as much as music. The older I get, and the more I get involved with music-as-business, the harder I find balancing these two sides of my life. I can always tell when bands are made up of people who not only have a good time playing and working together, but also enjoy each other’s company. Both Golden Apples and Antarctigo Vespucci typify this, and I believe that everyone who bought a ticket for this night did so in part to feel that, too.
Antarctigo Vespucci prepared the audience for their set with a classical string arrangement of 3 Doors Down’s 2000’s defining hit, “Kryptonite,” undoubtedly as a tribute to the band’s singer Brad Arnold, who had lost his battle with cancer a couple days before. It was funny, but also a little sad, like Pagliacci. Sonically, Antarctigo Vespucci feels a little bit like bands of that ilk, bands like the Gin Blossoms or Third Eye Blind (minus the douchey vocals) are meeting at an intersection with bands like The Bouncing Souls and The Menzingers. You feel like you could go see them at a radio-sponsored beach party, but one where you know you won’t get hate-crimed.
The String Quartet Tribute to 3 Doors Down
Ultimately, Antarctigo Vespucci is just fun music that the band and surrounding community they’ve created with it enjoy equally. Nobody has more fun than these people, and if the way the members of Golden Apples joined in for AV’s last few songs is any indication, the entire tour was like this. I didn’t even mind cleaning up all the balloons they unleashed on the audience.
