Fleet Foxes with Espers at 9:30 Club

Last week, saw the band Fleet Foxes at the 9:30 Club.
The openers were Philly psychedelic folk band, The Espers. I love their music, but the Fleet Foxes audience were pretty chatty during the set. I'm glad they have a new record coming out in the fall, and I'm planning to see them play when they headline with Kurt Vile in Baltimore.
Fleet Foxes were good, but they really need to work on their stage show. They seemed to take forever to get ready betweeen songs, tuning and tuning, even with their guitar tech already tuning their instruments. When they played their songs though, it was lovely.

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Dead Weather with Screaming Females at the 9:30 Club

A little of a late post here, but saw the Dead Weather play at the 9:30 Club the night before their record Horehound came out. The openers, Screaming Females, from New Brunswick, NJ were a true revelation- the lead singer/guitarist was a tiny woman who could really belt it out.
The Dead Weather were pretty awesome live. Lead singer Alison Mosshart was a charismatic and sexy frontwoman, and Jack White on the drums was tight and formidable. The show reminded me of seeing Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- kind of dirty, filthy rock and blues.
Towards the end of the set, Jack White took over guitar duties as well.

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M. Ward with The Vivian Girls at Sixth & I Synagogue

Over this weekend, I went to DC's Sixth & I Synagogue to see M. Ward. It was my first time at this venue- beautiful inside with great acoustics.
The Vivian Girls from Brooklyn opened up. I loved their enthusiasm on stage, and their sound reminded me of The Shaggs meets post-punk.
This was my second time seeing M. Ward play and, as before, he was great. He started onstage solo with an acoustic guitar. The ladies in the audience swooned.
A few songs in he brought out the full band, and the show was spectacular. I was blown away by his guitar playing on a John Fahey cover. I also loved his cover of Daniel Johnston's "The Story of an Artist".

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Jay Reatard with Cola Freaks at the Black Cat

I went to the Black Cat Tuesday night to see Jay Reatard play. It was a good crowd of mostly dudes, but the show was really great. The openers were the Cola Freaks, a really high energy punk band from Denmark. The lead singer was really intense and he went into the crowd and had people scream into the mic.
I've been listening to a lot of Jay Reatard records recently, particularly Blood Visions. He was pretty fantastic live- reminded me of punk shows I saw in college. He played his set with very little break between songs, and I'm betting that in my younger days, I would have wanted to get in on a mosh pit.

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The Wedding Present at the Black Cat

Last weekend, I went to the Black Cat to see Britpop legends, The Wedding Present play. Before the show even started, David Gedge was talking to fans at the merchandise table which I thought was pretty cool.
Their set was a nice mix of some of their classics as well as songs from their most recent record, El Rey. The band sounded great, and Gedge broke several guitar strings. It was odd that their roadie, instead of being the stereotypical middle aged dude, was a young cute woman wearing an Obama button.
As with all their shows, they played their setlist with no requests or encores. During their show, Gedge said they don't do requests because it was too hard to remember all his songs.

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Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at the 9:30 Club

Last night, I went to the 9:30 Club to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds play. It was an interesting group of fans from aging goths, young hipsters, and some guy in a bathrobe wearing devil horns and a red glove on his right hand.
Nick Cave and his band were amazing- especially guitarist Warren Ellis, who looked like a madman onstage. Nick Cave was charismatic onstage and his voice sounded incredible. He even took the time between songs to sign autographs.

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Mission of Burma perform Vs. at the Black Cat

This past weekend, I went to see legendary band, Mission of Burma perform their album Vs. at the Black Cat.
Opening up was the band Versus, named after the Mission of Burma album. They haven't really played much since 2001, so I was pleasantly surprised at a chance to see them as well. They sounded good- playing a mix of old songs as well as some new ones.
This was my first time seeing Mission of Burma, and they were awesome. Their energy onstage really got the crowd going, even singing along. They had producer/musician Bob Weston on the sound board doing the effects for the songs. I really liked watching Clint Conley rock out. Despite their age, this band played better than a lot of younger acts.
For encore, highlights included "Academy Fight Song" and "This is not a Photograph".

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Polvo at the Black Cat

So last night in DC, I was lucky to see the newly reunited NC noise rock band Polvo in their first show in 10 years.
The last time I saw them was opening for Pavement in the mid-90's. They made a crack about a lot of drunken 35 year olds in the audience tonight.
At first, they didn't seem as tight a band as before, but after warming up, they were pretty great. The new drummer seemed to fit in well to their vibe as a band. They played some familiar songs as well as a new song.

Their setlist included: "Thermal Treasure", "Every Holy Shroud", "Festher of Forgiveness", "Fast Canoe", "Tragic Carpet Ride", "Title Track"

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The Raveonettes with Black Acid at The Black Cat

Three sold out concerts in a row in DC- I'm tired today.
Last night I went to see Danish band The Raveonettes at the Black Cat main stage.
The openers were a British band Black Acid whose style reminded me of old British metal of the 70's and 80's. They were actually very entertaining for me- the lead singer had on tight white pants and a sleazy voice.
I love the new album by the Raveonettes, Lust Lust Lust. It's their best to date- part Jesus & Mary Chain and part Angelo Badelamenti. In concert, they were really great. Their music needs to be heard really loud because of the feedback and noise made by their guitars- they remind me of the house band in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
I was standing right in front of singer-guitarist Sharin Foo- she looked cool with her really blond hair, dark mascara and blue eyes. I also liked how their drummer only had 2 drum and a cymbal. One highlight of the concert was when they did a cover of Stereolab's "French Disko".

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Stephen Malkus & The Jicks with John Vanderslice at the 9:30 Club

Friday night, went to the 9:30 club to see Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks perform in a sold out show. Wonder why he didn't come to Baltimore because it's a title of a song on his new album. Oh well.
The opener was John Vanderslice, who I had heard of, but not actually heard before. Not too bad- he had nice songs and his band was good. He gave props to vegetarian Chinese restaurant Vegetable Garden in Rockville.
This was my first time seeing Malkmus outside of Pavement. Janet Weiss formerly of Sleater-Kinney was also his drummer. They were really good- I still love Malkmus' quirky lyrics combined with his always interesting guitar sound.
He is definitely a big nerd- I recall a reference to the word "Frak" during the show.

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