Days 31 through 34: The End of the Tour – Monday, September 8th, 2025 – Nikki Lopez (Philadelphia, PA) with How Strange It Is, 100 Watt Horse, and Dayglo Abortions
For this series of articles, our writer Ty Maxwell will be documenting his tour of the Northeast, spanning from August 6th to September 8th. Maxwell will be writing reflections and insights into the process of booking and executing a DIY tour as an independent artist, the relationships that enable the whole enterprise, and the general day-to-day experience: the minutiae, difficulties and triumphs involved in touring as a solo musician.
"I just have to think of Philadelphia now, and I get ideas, I hear the wind, and I'm off into the darkness somewhere." (David Lynch)
Sometimes, you simply have to do it for the lore.
I was sitting at a table outside the Green Line cafe on Baltimore Ave, and had just finished writing my piece about the Medford show. Not a moment after I submitted it, Jordan walked over from the park and said, “The promoter just e-mailed us about adding a fourth band.”
There was no turning back from here.
“I've said many, many, many unkind things about Philadelphia, and I meant every one.” (DL)
I’m not kidding or exaggerating when I say the rest of the day took on a sort of accelerating dream logic that got hairier and more absurd and delirious as the night wore on. If most of the tour (with a few notable exceptions) was honestly magical, even cinematic at times – filled with bright Hollywood light and long days – this was one of the longest, weirdest nights of the tour, and easily the most Lynchian.
“It was filled with fear, and corruption, and it was filthy, there was soot on the buildings and there was a lot of kind of insanity and a feeling in the air that was very uneasy." (DL)
Before I go any further: I know what I signed up for here. Ending a tour with a show on a Monday night, anywhere, is not a recipe for a raised-fist rapture and glory. I had not planned properly for an epic welcome-home return. Sure, I’ve lived in Philadelphia for ten years, and sure, I’ve been gone for a long while, and sure, the tour honestly felt like a real personal triumph in so many ways, but I was not going to be hoisted off the field like Rudy; I wasn’t going to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders. I truly knew that, I assure you. So if it wasn’t going to be a party or a celebration, it might as well be a good story. And that email from the promoter virtually ensured we’d get one, if we’d only say yes.
"It wasn't a normal city when I was here. ... When I was here, it was a very kind of lost, remote corner of the world." (DL)
Jordan read to me the message from Nate Salfi (of the great Philly band Bleary Eyed): “Can we add dayglow [sic] abortions to the show?” I blinked, did a double-take, opened up the message myself, read it twice. “Like, Dayglo Abortions, the punk band?” Jordan looked at me blankly. I grew up on punk and hardcore and used to really geek out on knowing all the bands, even if I didn’t listen to them (sort of a gotta-catch-’em-all mentality); I hadn’t thought about the name Dayglo Abortions in ten, fifteen, maybe twenty years. I said, with a Cheshire Cat grin, “We have to let them play.”
Arriving for load-in, I met Matt and Murray out front of Nikki Lopez. They told me all about their tour – they’d been on the road since July 17th, all the way from Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia; they’d had drummers come and go, and tour drama, and missed flights. The plot kept thickening the more I asked. I didn’t want to pry too much, and had to load in and figure out the lay of the land anyway, but later, I read up on this tour’s story and it turns out they’d been arrested in Ohio and had to miss certain shows, including their originally-scheduled Philly show. Back out on bond, and back on the road, they’d ended up here again in Philly with a day off and reached out to Nikki Lopez directly about hopping on our solo-artists-with-guitars gig. So, fatefully, there we were.
"It was a mixture of heaven and hell, Philadelphia." (DL)
There was a prevailing sense of chaos and disorganization all night, with regards to set times and sound checks, so that when it was my turn to play, third out of four acts, I didn’t feel like I had any time to spare. So I pulled an audible and set up a chair next to the merch table, turned on all the house lights, and just played like I’d been accustomed to all tour: no amplification, pretending the place was another house show. I played the Ola Belle Reed song “I’ve Endured” on banjo for George (100 Watt Horse) as a parting gesture (he had to run home to help his wife with their ailing dog), then raced through three songs before the person running sound (again, not for me) sheepishly asked if I could only play one more, so the Dayglos could get on stage. I didn’t even care: after literally missing shows in an Ohio jail cell, these guys deserved as much time as they could get. Though unfortunately they would not be playing in full force; the venue could not provide any cymbals.
Thus concludes my summer 2025 tour. A funny way for it to end, but strangely fitting. My tour has come to a close, but the Dayglos forge ahead, undaunted. Long may they run.
“I felt like I was constantly in danger. But it was so fantastic at the same time.” (DL)
