Imagine Dragons and Neighbourhood, Merriweather, 9-20-13

Imagine Dragons at Merriweather, 09-20-2013

It was a beautiful night at Merriweather on Friday, September 20, 2013, and Eric, Natalie, and I enjoyed it with lots of friends. Jill brought her son, his friend, and the friend's dad. I brought my friend Laura, her daughter Phebe (Natalie's friend) and husband Shank, and Trish met us there with Jack in tow (her son). There were a lot of kids at this show, and not just in our group.

Natalie and I arrived at 4:30 pm to use gatecrashers to grab a big spot on the lawn (sold out show), but it turns out that gatecrashers doesn't work like I thought it would. It's very helpful if you have a standing-room floor ticket, but if you have lawn ticket, all it does is get you inside the food area, then you wait in a crowd until the gates officially open to run for a spot on the lawn.  It worked to our advantage on accident, but it was almost 6 pm before we claimed a spot on the lawn. Then we waited, and waited, and waited.  Traffic was very tough that night, and Eric didn't show up until the first opener, Envy Corp, was about to start. Natalie and I spent most of their set buying food. I barely even noticed their music. People in our group started trickling in during their set.

Neighbourhood was the second opener, and they were potty-mouthed, but very good live. Active on stage and sounded great. Worth seeing. It got dark during their set and I was VERY glad I had brought Halloween flashing LED bracelets with me to the show.  Eric held them over his head as a beacon in the crowd when people needed to find our group. Hint for parents: bring glow-y things to concerts when you bring kids. SO much entertainment value.

Imagine Dragons were excellent performers. They are straight up pop, but they were engaging and sounded great, too. The lights show on stage was varied and entertaining. It relied heavily on a giant screen behind the performers. They were not foul-mouthed, which was better for the 6 to 13 year old ears in our group.

Waxahatchee at Black Cat on 09-17-2013

Waxahatchee at Black Cat 9-17-13

I went to the Screaming Females concert at Black Cat on September 17, 2013, specifically for the opener, Waxahatchee. I didn't even stay to see the first song by Screaming Females, and during the first opener, Tenement, I sat and checked my phone for the entire set. Tenement was punk-light, and I didn't care for them.

Waxahatchee has amazing intensity on her recorded albums. Her voice was every bit as good in person, but the emotions didn't come through as well live. I think she was dialing it in after being on the road so long. She is not much of a performer. I don't think she even swayed to her own music.  She talked to the audience maybe twice. So it was a disappointing show. I won't seek her out again, but I will keep listening to her recorded music.

Robert DeLong and Ghost Beach at U Street, 9-10-13

Ghost Beach, U Street, 9-10-13

Robert DeLong, U Street, 9-10-13

I went to Robert DeLong and Ghost Beach at U Street Music Hall on a Tuesday night (Sept 10, 2013) with Trish and a couple of her friends, wondering if it was possible for the show to live up to the fabulous time I had seeing DeLong in the same venue 7 months prior. It vastly surpassed that prior experience.

The opener, Ghost Beach, was very talented live. They've got at least one recognizable song out, and their performance on stage was extremely engaging. They really know how to work a crowd. They will be at Free Fest next week and I look forward to seeing them there again.

Robert DeLong is AMAZING live.  I haven't danced that much at a show for as long as I can remember. I'm sure it helps that I love his music and know it pretty well, but even the people we were with who'd never heard of him really enjoyed themselves. I couldn't see at all, and I know from experience it's fascinating to see him create the music, but I didn't mind because the music and the atmosphere was just that good.

As a side note, Trish made fun of me for coming to the show in face paint, but I was vindicated. Face paint is a thing at DeLong shows - there were volunteer face painters there. (I know I've seen him recruiting face painters on Facebook.)  So there. ;-)

STRFKR and Small Black at 9:30 Club, September 4, 2013

Starfucker, 9:30 Club, 9-4-13

Small Black, 9:30 Club, 9-4-13

I bought this show ticket on impulse after realizing that I had 2 or 3 of the songs from Starfucker's 2013 album as well as 1 of Small Black's on my favorites lists. I figured there were good odds that I'd enjoy the show. It was a Wednesday night show and I didn't know anyone else going, so I hosted a Meetup for the Indie Concert group, and it was really well attended. Everyone who came was nice and interesting, and most of them were able to find us in the club. I arrived when the doors opened and got a great spot on the balcony for our group. It looked like a promising night, until the music started.

The first opener was Feelings, a solo electronic act gentleman from California who seemed to be channeling Ross from Friends while trying to sound like Robert Smith from the Cure, but failing. It was a gutsy move, but a horrible train wreck.  Poor guy.


Small Black were much better.  They bopped around on stage a little and seemed to be excited to be there, but I found their extended catalogue rather dull. I think they could be good someday, but they need some additional songs that people will want to sing along with. Most of what they played wasn't sing-along caliber.

Starfucker disappointed me. Most of their act was spent imitating statues. They barely moved on stage at all, and almost never acknowledge the audience in front of them. They relied entirely on their lights show to entertain, and annoyingly, audience-facing strobes were a part of that show. The lead singer (a man) wore a hausfrau dress and never commented on it. Not sure what the deal was with that, but apparently, it's common at their shows. Worst part of the show was the sound mixing. The vocals were really difficult to make out. Even when one of my favorites came on, it took me a while to identify it because I couldn't hear the vocals clearly. I ended up leaving before the end of the set.  I won't bother to see them again live.

Lumineers at Merriweather, July 26, 2013

Lumineers at Merriweather, 7-26-13

Lumineers at Merriweather, 7-26-13

Eric and I went to Lumineers at Merriweather a couple nights ago on the best weather night of the entire summer. We had seats smack dab in the middle of the audience, near the sound guys and the private booths, so an amazing view. Even better, we had some very civilized people in front of us who also preferred to sit, so we got to see a lot of the show while seated! (Except when the Lumineers singer cajoled everyone into standing in the middle of the set - damn him!)

The first opener, The Dig, was so forgettable that I had trouble remembering them mere seconds after their set ended. The second opener, Joe Pug, was a county singer-songwriter I wish I could have forgotten as quickly. Eric and I counted down the moments until his set was due to end. Dana and Sharon arrived just before Lumineers began. There were tons of empty seats near us, so they sat behind us instead of 20+ seats down the row. The real owners of the seats never showed up, so we sat together the whole time.

Lumineers where exceptionally good. They had lots of energy on stage, and even employed a cute gimmick of doing a couple songs on the side walk in front of the lawn audience. The group started as a trio and officially expanded to a 5 piece band in 2012. I think they previewed a couple new songs. The one that we all loved was this one. It featured Neyla Pekarek and Wesley Schultz in a retro-sounding duet. They also played most, if not all, of their 2012 debut album, and were kind enough to play the hits in the middle of the set, so I didn't feel bad leaving during the last song before the encore. One thing I noticed: Wesley, the lead singer, wears a hat to hide great hair, not to hide thinning hair as I assumed. His hair is so good, he doesn't look like he should be singing folk when it's uncovered. The staging consisted of 3 chandeliers and 3 small platforms for the cello, drums, and upright piano. It was spare, but worked well. The lighting was good but not over the top. Sound quality was really clear, but overly loud, as usual.

Camera Obscura and She & Him at Wolf Trap, July 11, 2013

A really poor excuse for a photo of Camera Obscura at Wolf Trap

Eric and I drove Genevieve and her friend to this show, then met up with our friends John and Kat as well as Layla. Genevieve and her friend grabbed a spot close in with a bit of a view. Eric, John, Kat, and I set up camp on the upper hill which has absolutely no view at all (and Wolf Trap does not have a screen for the lawn seat folks.) Layla went back and forth between the two spots.

The music was beautiful, though I honestly was more intent on socializing with John and Kat, who we seldom see, than listening. I did go down the hill a few times to check out the view. I snapped a contraband photo of Camera Obscura while there. Camera Obscura has very little going on performance-wise, though She & Him had some nice lighting and moving about on stage.

Getting out of the Wolf Trap parking lot took at least an hour of sitting and waiting in an unmoving line.

Fun. and Tegan and Sara, Satuday, July 20, 2013 at Merriweather

Tegan and Sara 7/20/13 at Merriweather.



This show was Natalie's 8th Bday present.

Me and Natalie

Fun. at Merriweather 7/20/13

Eric, Natalie and I went to the Fun. show last night in honor of Natalie's 8th birthday. When the tickets went on sale many months ago, Natalie was in love with Fun., listening to their music non-stop. She knows most of the words to most of the songs, but thankfully doesn't know what all of the references are about. Dana, Sharon, and Rachel were also all at this show, but we were in seats, so we didn't really get to hang out much.

The evening was insanely hot and humid at the beginning for this sold-out show at Merriweather Post Pavilion (approx. 20,000 people), and then there was a huge thunderstorm between the two acts. Rachel had the misfortune of lawn seats and didn't stay for most of Fun., but since she was there for Tegan and Sara, it sounds like she didn't mind so much.

Tegan and Sara put on a great show, really. If you were a fan, I am positive you would have felt extremely happy about seeing them live. They had impressive stage production with videos projected behind them and they were very friendly and engaging to the audience. I wish I liked their music, but I still don't.  This is how clueless I sometimes am: I had no idea that Tegan and Sara has a strong lesbian following. Um, duh!

Fun. was INCREDIBLE live. They absolutely lived up to their name. Even Eric, who is not a fan, said he was impressed by how good they were as performers and that the stage production was extremely good.  They had screens all over the background and the stage platforms and the best lights show I've ever seen. There was even a costume change between the first and second numbers and confetti cannons near the end. The artists were engaging (though a bit potty-mouthed, which of course Natalie heard.) You could hear the singing loud and clear above the instruments, and we had a pretty good view from our center MM row seats.  SO worth the admission price. Loved it!  We skipped the encore to get out of the packed parking lot before the crowd.