Big Data, On an On, Chappo, Anamanaguchi, Hippo Campus, Night Riot, Mowgli's - March and April 2015

I'm behind on concert reviews, again, and my memory is a bit fuzzy on some of these acts, but here goes anyway.

Friday March 27, 2015 at the Black Cat in Washington, DC

Chappo, Black Cat, 3-27-15

Chappo was the first opener.  You and six and a half million other people know and love the song "Come Home" from last year. That is the only song you know. They don't have anything else that's broken out. I liked that this group was fun and engaging. They even have a funny looking industrial puppet thing on stage that blew fog out of its mouth. I enjoyed the set, though no songs in particular stood out. I'm hazy about it, but I'm pretty sure the lead singer ended up in the audience at one point. Fun and entertaining.

On an On, Black Cat, 3-27-15

On an On was earnest and emotional and forgettable. They had a certain charm in the way they engaged people, but I don't remember a single note they played on stage. I do remember that the lead singer was thin with a cute face and that there was a female keyboardist. And I remember that the lead singer seems like the kind of artist to brood and worry about everyone's feelings.

Big Data, Black Cat, 3-27-15

Big Data was the headliner and they were FUN FUN FUN to watch live. Highly recommend their show, and I'm so glad I'll get to see them again at the Firefly Festival this June. The quality of the singing was more than made up for by the entertaining stage show. Siri was the narrator between songs, and the trademark sunglasses stayed on the whole time. I was very pleased that the Daniel Armbruster hadn't shaved the beard. I love that he took the brand to that level. He'd hired a model/singer/actress to fill in on all the guest vocals. She was good, and rocked her shiny booty shorts, which made the crowd very happy. Daniel's vocals were weak, but everything else was great.



Saturday April 4, 2015 at the Baltimore Soundstage in Baltimore, MD

Racecarbed, Normaling, Lazerdisk and someone else I can't recall were the openers. They were all DJs. I don't go to shows to see DJs. I hated every moment and spent one whole set wandering around outside in Baltimore, accidentally walking down the stripper club street, and ended up with Eric in a Subway (restaurant) to kill time. When we got back, there were still two more openers to suffer through. I stole a stool from behind the curtain and we sat in the back corner, watching the very nerdy, young, happy, hyper crowd.    

Anamanaguchi was video game music - there were crazy graphics on the screens, a few light sabers like pillars on the stage for effects, and 4 dudes rocking out on guitar, drums, and bass to recorded synth. Eric was disappointed the computer generated sounds weren't produced live. I really disliked the show, but I was there because way back when, Eric told me he was bummed to miss their show, so I tracked the artist and asked if he wanted to go when they came back in town. Come to find out, he didn't remember liking them. He doesn't even believe me that he liked them. That's kind of amazing, because of the two of us, I am not the one in our household that owns just about every videogame system that's ever been produced. Nor am I the one with a giant tub of back issues of Electronic Gaming Magazine that I can't bear to part with. So really, what are the odds that a concert of video game music just occurred to me out of the blue?? All told, sucky night. There's no photo because the screen show was so bright and stobe-filled that I couldn't get a shot.


Saturday, April 18, 2015 at U Street Music Hall in Washington, DC

Then there was our next date, which also didn't go well. Originally, the line up included a band I love right now called Fences. That band was 60% of the reason I bought the tickets. The other parts were a fondness I feel for Mowgli's, who I previously saw in a parking lot concert on the rained-out day at Austin City Limits a couple years ago. The last factor was that it was a cheap show on a Saturday night and we get free babysitting. Win all around. So I was very excited, but I've been really busy and didn't check the set times until we were already at dinner downtown. That's when I discovered that Fences had been replaced by Night Riots. I just looked on Facebook and saw nothing about the replacement on any of the bands pages. I was reminded, however, that Fences will be at the Firefly Festival, and you can bet I will be at that show.

One nice thing, we arrived early enough to get some of the only barstools in the place with a good view of the stage, so we got to sit during the show. I'm old enough to consider that a fabulous treat.

Hippo Campus, U Street, 4-18-15

 Hippo Campus was adorkable. Four super enthusiastic, nice guys from Minnesota playing forgettable pop-rock. I did like the lead singer's voice a lot, and aside from FORGETTING TO ANNOUNCE THEIR NAME (my biggest pet peeve), they were entertaining on stage. Eric and I agreed that the first song of their set was their best of the night, but I just tried, and I can't ID it from a line up. Their sound is too similar from song to song.

Night Riots, U Street, 4-18-15

Night Riots were remarkable for taking much of what I hate about 80s music and embracing it in a way that makes it worse. I really dislike their sound. It's irritating and forgettable. I have to give them props for self-promotion, though. They handed out stickers to people waiting in line before the show, they remembered to announce their NAME (yes, that's a dig at you, Hippo Campus!) and they clearly get self-promotion on their Facebook page. They've also got the rocker look down. Now if they could only improve their songwriting and live vocals, they might be palatable. The song everyone has heard and knows by them is "Contagious." It was delivered with none of the soaring anthemic vocals of the recorded version. By that I mean, it sucked live.

Mowgli's, U Street, 4-18-15

The Mowgli's are happy hippies, through and through. I knew this going in, and they didn't disappoint. I wasn't in a sunshine-y mood, though, so I wasn't feeling the vibe. We ducked out about half way through the set.