REVIEW: Leith Ross @ Union Transfer

WRITTEN BY: Morrison-Neale Roper

My friends and I eagerly awaited the show to start on Nov. 3, 2025, at Union Transfer. While we waited, we played heads up, shared laughs, and stories. Before we knew it, the show had started, and Emma Harner, the opener, came to the stage gleefully. She met us with a funky-looking guitar that looked sort of futuristic while also looking like something out of an 80’s movie, which was accessorized with a red bow. 

Openers set the tone for the show, and Harner continued to serenade us with her instrumentals and unreal, drawn-out vocals. 

Her first song was an unreleased track titled “Woman of the Hour.” Harner’s voice echoed and spiraled through my ears with every strum and note. This was my first introduction to her, and what a first impression that was. 

I appreciated how Harner shared the meanings behind every song before performing them. It made the listening experience all the more intimate. I had felt lucky to hear these songs that Harner hadn’t released or finished. 

My favorite track was “Gale”, a song about her chicken that had passed away from a fox attack. 

“Nothing much else I could do but write a song, you know,” [Referring to loss of her chicken, Gale], she said. 

Despite the underlying message of the song, there was still a sense of playfulness while she performed and spoke about her chicken. What else really is there to do other than create? 

Before Harner left the stage, she did a cover of Radiohead’s “No Surprises,” a song I never thought I’d hear live, at any capacity. 

I felt my elation grow as the crowd “ooed” in excitement. Harner’s take on this gut-wrenching song left me in awe. I savored every minute of the performance, as did the rest of the audience.

After Harner closed her set and thanked the crowd, my friends and I couldn’t stop talking about how awesome her set was. I knew that I wanted to know more and hear more about Harner. 

I found my window of opportunity after she had invited the audience to meet her after the show had ended. She wanted suggestions for a song title for her unreleased track that she performed. I took that chance to ask her about where her passion resided in music and where that motivation came from. 

“There is no other option for me than for me to be making music sometimes… It is just what I need to be doing,” she said.

As the crew set up for Leith Ross and their band, I admired the lights and how they highlighted the instruments and crowd. The lights were just as much a part of the show as the performers. 

Once Ross and their band entered the stage, they took a new approach to beginning their show, allowing the music to speak for itself. 

Ross and their band started with a rhythmic head nod, their heads all counting into the song. They opened with “Point of View” off their latest album, “I Can See The Future”. 

I felt like a cartoon character being lifted into the air, following the scent of pie on a windowsill. I felt the music fully flow through me.

As I listened, I also observed the crowd; you could see and feel the community in the room, which, in today’s climate, can often feel lost. 

“Community Rocks, two-word synopsis of the record,” Ross said. 

That was apparent throughout the show. During the sadder songs, people were hand in hand, and during the love songs, people held each other tighter and even shared kisses. The space was full of love, how could it not be with the melodies that Ross and their band had provided for us? 

Ross played old favorites and new favorites of mine. One old favorite being “I’d Have to Think About It,” a song written by Ross in their twenties about a relationship they thought they would never get over. A vulnerable and honest take on the difficulty of seeing love after a failed relationship.

Holding out a piece of hope for reconciliation, or sort of like leaving a light on for someone getting home late. 

“Crazy things I wrote there … crazy things I wrote at 20… damn,” Ross said, referring to the song. 

I felt so seen, I shed a few tears as Ross sang the words I’d be too afraid to say out loud. 

A new favorite was “What Are You Thinking About,” a song that strayed from Ross’ alternative-folk sound. This song entered the jazz realm, which I hadn’t seen much of from them. I loved every minute of it; there were jazz solos and face scrunching, and I felt right at home. That sense of home came from being surrounded by friends and hearing the music I play at home, live. 

As the show came to a close, Ross reiterated the importance of community and how much that meant to them. I felt it that night. From Ross and their band, from the opener, the crew and the people who came out to listen. 

Furthering Ross’s strive for community, before performing their song “I Can See the Future,” they promoted a local Philly organization called Project Home. Project Home provides medical care and education to anyone in need of support. 

Not only does Ross want their listeners to feel a sense of community, but they also made it a point to donate profits to local organizations in the cities they perform in. 

After performing their “final” song, Ross teased how they wanted us to act shocked for the encore. Alluding to the fact that they knew we knew there was one more song left. That song is the song that got me into Ross’ music: “We’ll Never Have Sex”. Nothing could have prepared me to hear that song live. There are no words that could properly encapsulate the way it felt to hear that song live, but here’s my attempt to. I felt as if I had reverted back to my fifteen-year-old self, hearing the song for the first time.

When I first heard it, I didn’t realize a song like that could exist. A song about love in its purest, least demanding form. A love that is patient and kind, with no scheming involved. It is also bringing me back to my eighteen-year-old self who played the song two hundred sixty-three times in one year. It was a full circle for me. It felt so intimate and profound to hear an already phenomenal song exceed the threshold of its greatness simply by being sung live. Ross has a way of sounding just like their recorded track, but live, Ross sounds even better. Seeing them right in front of me, singing a song I only listened to in the comfort of my own room or car, it felt unreal. 

After the show, I felt like I was on a high, like the inside of my chest had been wiped clean. This was the perfect way to end a good night with live music and friends.