The Aces and Lydia Night
Theatre of the Living Arts
334 South St.
Philadelphia
Nov. 14, 2025
I’ve been a fan of the music coming out of The Aces for quite a few years now; whenever they come up on my Spotify or Youtube mixes, I always find myself adding their music to my favorites lists. They’ve come through Philadelphia a few times, but I’ve always missed their live shows for one reason or another. So when I found out they were coming back around to promote their new album “Gold Star Baby,” I jumped on the chance to finally cover them.
The Aces are a four-piece, all-female indie rock band who met as children back in Provo, Utah, and formed their band while in high school. The band is built around a disco aesthetic, a core part of their self-presentation that has especially influenced the groovy sound of their 4th studio album. I wasn’t so sure about their slight departure from indie rock to the comparably electronic quality that defines “Gold Star Baby,” but all my doubts were washed away as the women played their 90 minute set at Philadelphia’s Theater of the Living Arts. Crossing genres seamlessly, the band transitioned from indie rock to dance pop to disco rock, from one song to the next, keeping listeners hooked track after track. Cristal Ramirez led the band with her smokey voice while her sister, Alisa, drove home the beat on drums. The two were joined by Katie Henderson on guitar and McKenna Petty on bass, both of whom pitched in behind Cristal on background vocals, rounding out the catchy songs the band have been creating since 2016. Their sound was and is infectious, especially to music lovers like me who are suckers for female vocalists; the all-female backing, in particular, had me hooked.
Lydia Night opened the show for them on the brisk November night and properly warmed up the crowd. I hadn’t heard Lydia’s music before, but despite her open report that she had only woken up three hours prior to show time, she was full of electric energy. Giving off Harley Quinn vibes, Lydia bounced around the stage interacting with the crowd the whole time: “I want to see you dancing,” she called out, "You think you’re just watching me, but I’m watching you too!”
As the stage hands changed over the set to get ready for The Aces, someone in the crowd started an Eagles chant, because as we all know, no Philly event is ever complete without at least one “E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles!” from some anonymous fan in the crowd.
Finally, it was time for The Aces to go on. The lights went out in the venue and “Mr. Steal Your Girl” by Trey Songz started blaring from the speakers, hyping up the crowd for the very out and proud band about to come on stage. The cheers were deafening as the packed house welcomed their favorite band to Philadelphia. The Aces went straight into their set, only pausing after the first three songs to interact with the crowd. And interact they did. As someone who has covered my fair share of live music, it’s rare to experience a band that is so comfortable chatting with and interacting with their fans, even pausing the set at one point to choose a “best dressed” fan, known on their tour as the night’s “Gold Star Baby,” to bring on stage to praise, wrap in a fuzzy hot pink boa, and take a shot of alcohol with.
They used this break to do something I also had never seen at a show before; they asked the crowd to spill some tea (as in gossip) for them and then didn’t just listen to the fan, but made churned out a full conversation, breaking down the barrier between band and fan and making everyone in the crowd feel like friends. The tea spilled? From what I gathered from the upstairs balcony of the venue was that one fan had a friend who had described her as a “low maintenance friend” while asking to reconnect after being MIA for a long while. “BOOOOO” the crowd yelled out, all in agreement that that’s a pretty shitty thing to do. The conundrum the fan was facing: Does she reconnect with this so-called friend or leave their toxicity in the past? The verdict from the crowd and the band was resounding: Leave them in the past! After taking one more sip of tea from another fan, this story less audible to me from my vantage point, the band returned to their set, some still wrapped in their hot pink boas before tossing them out to eager fans in the crowd. It was the perfect break in the show, setting up the crowd for the last quarter of their ambitious set.
After an hour-and-a-half of fun and loud, wonderful music, The Aces closed out with their final song and said goodbye to the stage, no encore, just thank you and good night. There was no teasing or making the crowd chat to get the band back on stage. It was just a perfectly curated set list and a lesson on maintaining healthy boundaries.
