Edgehill Brought Indie Rock Heroics to Philly
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - September 24, 2026
Edgehill. Photo by Hannah Hall.
Amidst the hoard of concertgoers donning full drag, mini shorts, and crop tops lining up to see Slayyyter at Philadelphia’s The Fillmore Thursday night, an equally formidable crowd of T-shirt- and flannel-clad 20-somethings filtered into the venue’s upstairs stage, The Foundry, for an evening of indie rock ecstasy with Edgehill.
The Nashville-based trio stopped in Philly as part of their Moving Out Tour in support of their breakthrough debut album, Ode to the Greyhouse. It might be Edgehill’s first headlining tour, but the longtime OTR favorites commanded the stage with a 1.5 hour set of raw showmanship, exceptional musicianship, and easy audience interaction, as if they’ve been doing it their whole lives.
A night of euphoric indie rock began with opening act Palmer, who produced, mixed, and mastered early Edgehill tracks like “Jonny’s Friend” and “Shooting Glances.” With a three-piece band behind him, Palmer succeeded in warming up the audience as melodica solos, transitional bossa nova grooves, and crowd participation on “ok, COOL” reverberated through The Foundry.
Though this was the Moving Out Tour, Edgehill immediately made themselves at home upon taking the stage. A wired telephone stood propped on a mic stand, a Modelo tall boy sitting beneath, it as the band’s offset logo projected onto the lavishly-drooped red curtain backdrop. Distortion overtook the house speakers as vocalist Chris Kelly, guitarist Jake Zimmermann, drummer Aidan Cunningham, and touring bassist Leighton Weber sauntered on stage and opened with “Just Got Clean.” The 2023 single established certain themes of the night, like Chris opting for higher harmonies and powerful walls of sound that put songs’ recorded versions to shame.
But where Edgehill’s musicality as a band really shone was in the extended outros of songs that turned into dreamy transitions to the next. Blistering drum fills and distorted guitars filled the venue, keeping the band and audience’s collective adrenaline pumping through the first notes of “I Can Be Your Dog.” The wired phone on stage proved to be more than decoration as Chris sang into it for the first verse, creating a grainy, filtered vocal effect.
“Oh my gosh, goodness, and god,” Chris said after, addressing the crowd for the first time and expressing the surrealness of headlining a venue they opened in just under five months ago. When the band played some of their most well-known tracks like “Shooting Glances” and “Love To Go,” there was no doubt they were right where they deserved to be. During the latter, what was supposed to be a brief pause before blasting the final chorus to fake out the crowd turned into an extended a capella session as the audience sang the entire chorus back to a stunned Edgehill. When the band eventually re-entered, their gratitude poured through their instruments, creating a sonic hallmark of the night.
Throughout the evening, it became evident that Edgehill truly loves what they do. The fun they were having was palpable through covers of Pavement’s “Harness Your Hopes” and Radiohead’s “Bodysnatchers,” where the quartet showed they can certainly put the “rock” in “indie rock.” The crowd also reciprocated the conviviality, feeling loose enough to start a “piss” chant when Chris said he needed to use the “little boys’ room,” and comfortable enough to ask if he washed his hands upon his speedy return.
“I knew you were gonna ask that so I washed them like hella,” he said.
Part of what made Edgehill’s performance so compelling was this ability to go from joking with the crowd like best friends to playing intensely emotional songs with seriousness. After what I’m choosing to call bathroom-gate, Chris acknowledged that a fan asked them to play “I feel just like my old man” over DM, and while the band didn’t respond, he found the fan in the crowd and gave him a shoutout before he switched to an acoustic guitar, Leighton hopped on the pedal steel, and the band played the melancholic track. Other downtempo songs like “Tape My Mouth,” “Lookaround,” and “lol” showcased each band member’s musicality, with Aidan’s impressive dynamic changes, Jake’s vehement guitar solos, and Chris’s impassioned belting. And when Palmer’s keyboardist joined the band for “What’s the Appropriate Length of this Argument?,” the guys’ harmonization on head-voiced “ahhs” was heavenly.
As the night wore on, Edgehill’s set came to a presumed close with 2022’s “Jonny’s Friend” and their recent breakout single “Doubletake,” which climaxed with friends screaming the lyrics to each other and Chris climbing off the stage and into the photo pit. And though the return of recorded music over the house speakers indicated the end of the show once the band exited the stage, Philly wasn’t done with Edgehill just yet. Obligatory “one more song” chants led to what Chris said was the first encore of the tour, and Edgehill graced The Foundry with a cover of Neil Young’s “Hey Hey, My My,” with Chris, Jake, and Aidan taking turns on lead vocals.
While the evening had to come to its official end and the Moving Out Tour had to depart Philly, the audience made it known that Edgehill will always have a home in the City of Brotherly Love.