2026-2027

2026 Sep- Dec

The “go birds”-ification of the Philly concert

During my tenure as a student at our one and only Arcadia University, I have attended a lot of concerts (twenty-six to be exact). Surprisingly though, only eight of those concerts have been in Philly. I come from southern Maryland and go to a lot of concerts with my sister, so a lot of times I will go back home for a concert. I very recently had a three day concert bender (concerts three days in a row), and it made me realize something: in all of the cities I have gone to, there has never been a city culture like there is in Philly. 

One of the concerts on my bender—Phoebe Bridgers at Xfinity Mobile Arena—was a hometown show for the opener, Alex G. Obviously he is going to be Philly proud, but Phoebe (who is from California) pulled her own “go birds!” at one point and even mentioned LeBron James’s move to the 76ers. In response, the crowd cheered loudly both times, as they tend to do. It wasn’t until the last concert in my bender, though, that I realized just how common this is and how much it brings a crowd together.

I was standing in the crowd at the Franklin Music Hall, watching the opener for Julia Wolf perform. Right before starting another song, the bassist said, “Oh and go birds.” And again, the whole crowd cheered. This “go birds” in particular was what made me reflect on this trend as a whole. For the concerts I’ve gone to in Maryland or DC, artists will do the typical “hey [city] what's up,” but sometimes they even get the city wrong. In Silver Spring, Maryland, artists will often call it “Silver Springs” or more shockingly, they’ll call it DC… Stuff like this never happens in Philly. Philly is Philly. Maybe it’s because Silver Spring is not a big city and it’s close to DC, but still. 

In the summer of 2025 I saw My Chemical Romance at Citizen Bank Park. During the show, the Phillie Phanatic came onto the stage with the members of the band and he threw cheesesteaks into the crowd. As far as I am aware, this was the only time they brought a mascot onto stage. I saw the band again this summer at Nationals Park in DC, but Screech the bald eagle most definitely was not brought on stage during the concert. This time with the Phillie Phanatic was truly a Philly special, all because of the pride the city feels, especially around the sports teams.

All of these examples, and the other instances of a “go birds” that I have not mentioned, illustrate the one thing Philly has that not many other cities have. Whether you are from the city or not, you can truly feel your Philly pride. There is no community like the one built on the love for Philly sports teams. I am not even a sports fan but when I watched the Eagles win the superbowl my sophomore year, I was feeling proud! I don’t know if I’ll ever go out of my way to watch a Phillies or a Flyers or even an Eagles game on TV, but if my roommates put it on or I get invited to go to a game, I see no reason to turn away. The culture of Philly pride is one that is so welcoming and such an easy way to connect with the city, it truly something I’ve never seen anywhere else.

While I am not a native, I really do love my country Philadelphia.