Ramblings of a Redhead Music Snob

Life & Music in New York, My City

Posts Tagged ‘Washington DC’

White Lies – Part 2 DC

Posted by xneverwherex on May 24, 2011

White Lies
Asobi Seksu
Sun Airway
May 20, 2011
9:30 Club

Oh DC. How sometimes I love you so much, and other times I dont. The 9:30 Club tends to be a great venue, but after Friday nights show I was left feeling a bit disappointed. Ive gone there enough times, and to be asked to take out almost everything your purse, including keys was a bit odd. Then I was asked to unzip random things on my bag that were clearly decorational. C’mon its a woman’s purse – what do you expect. The woman was just left baffled. I dont know what she was looking for – drugs, alcohol, my camera, iphone … hell Im guessing it was the camera as she pretty much did the same to my friend who had a much smaller bag (read: only holds pretty much id and lipstick). I was going to ask if she wanted to strip search me too, but I figured Id rather not get ejected from the club.

Sun Airway opened up the night and it was already not looking good. Plagued with sound problems they could barely get through the first song. Way too much feedback, everything sounded off and it sounds like the keyboards were causing lots of problems. Sadly, on a 30 minute set this did not help them much. But, by the time they were finishing up their set the sound was perfect and their last song – lots of loud guitars and a big soaring feel – was awesome! I wanted more. Sadly, not going to happen.

Instead of another night of School of Seven Bells – we got Asobi Seksu instead. Now I cant tell if she was having sound problems as well as her vocals were pretty much indeciperhable. It sounded ok enough, but something was lacking. It didnt seem there was much enjoyment and maybe at 25 minutes they were onto the last song. I dont know if that was the club’s doing – but it seems that their sets have become quite short. At least ‘Thursday’ was played and sounded good.

White Lies came on with their same big sound from the previous night. They started again with ‘A Place To Hide’. It sounded as great as the night before. Harry was talkative again, but not nearly as talkative as he was in New York City. He did make the comment about how they just got to DC from the UK and were so happy to be there. It was a bit odd hearing that, as Im sure a lot of people knew they were actually just in NYC. So that huge long trip over – heh – not so much.

The band seemed a little less energetic than the night before, but unless you could compare the two, it definitely wasnt too noticeable. They played the same setlist which is a nice balance of the new and the old. The newer stuff is growing on me more and more and seems to have a more electronic feel to it. Some of the songs “Bigger Than Love” feel like they should have been on the prior album. It fits right in. Live it sounds awesome and its a perfect encore.

The crowd was interesting. Most people stood there with their hands to their side, feigning interest, while a few were really into it – making up for the others. For a non-crowded- show (ie not sold out), the crowd was typical with pushing directly into you when there was no need. People felt entitled to push into you – even tho they had plenty of space to dance in. Ill never fully understand a DC crowd. It really didnt matter tho. I had an awesome time, singing along, dancing and enjoying it. They definitely know how to put on a great show and their music is not to be missed live. The whole chatty, happy thing might not totally work for their music, but the music does speak for itself.

Set List:
1.A Place To Hide
2.Holy Ghost
3.To Lose My Life
4.E.S.T.
5.Is Love
6.The Price Of Love
7.Streetlights
8.Farewell To The Fairground
9.Peace & Quiet
10.Bad Love
11.Death
Encore:
12.Unfinished Business
13.Power & Glory
14.Bigger Than Us

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Posted in Adventures in the Big City, DC, Random Ramblings | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

D-Plan Reunites @ The Black Cat

Posted by xneverwherex on January 31, 2011

Dismemberment Plan
Tereu Tereu
Bluebrain
Black Cat
January 21, 2010

DC’s beloved band, the Dismemberment Plan (commonly called “The Plan”) played to an overly enthusiastic crowd on a Friday night. I had only seem them once before – at one of their last shows at the Black Cat in 2003. Now maybe age has gotten to me, or Im totally cynical or the crowd sucked – but my friend and I ended up leaving early.

Firstly – I dont understand when it became cool to grope chicks you dont know at a show. Drunk or not – it was obnoxious.

Second – while the Black Cat was crowded there was plenty of room that you didnt really have to get behind me and literally push your groin into my ass. Again – youre not my boyfriend so get the f*** off of me.

Now honestly – all these drunks guys on me prob didnt help. I shoved one guy – who asked me why I hipchecked him. Ummmm — yeah you keep pushing into me over and over and theres plenty of room all around us – so not cool. I dont know how much dancing space one needs at a D-Plan show, but seriously – bumping into me over and over. so not cool.

Other than that – I didnt remember their music being _sooooooooooooooooo_ happy. I felt like I was at a NKOTB show with all the dances that felt like they were choreographed. The hands in the hair, the pseudo-rap stuff. Oh man. A friend (who didnt know who they were) said he thought he was at a Barenaked Ladies show. I thought they had some sorta edge to them, but if there was any it wasnt at the Black Cat.

To be fair – maybe it got better later on – I left at 12:30 after realizing I was tired of the grope sessions.

Im tempted to sell my ticket at Webster Hall (which I didnt end up doing), but I seriously cant imagine a NYC crowd doing all these dance moves and it being the same. Maybe I thought it was fun years ago, and Im prob a jaded cynical hipster or something – but I just didnt get it.

The opener, Tereu Tereu, was really great – I liked them a lot. and the 2nd band, Bluebrain, was pretty cool – until it turned into a DJ set. I did love all the horns in the beginning tho.

Posted in DC, Friends, Live Music, Random Ramblings | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

The Irish Bring the Rock!

Posted by xneverwherex on October 11, 2009

9/29/09

U2/Muse – FedEx Field – Washington, DC (actually Maryland)

Hard to believe, but I had never seen U2 before. I dont know what was with my hang-up about not seeing them, but I just never did. But my days of being a U2 virgin are long gone and I couldnt be happier about that.

Basically, U2 BLEW MY MIND AWAY! Im pretty sure that not many concerts (in my lifetime) will live up to this. Its hard to see something this magnaminous as most bands couldnt even afford a set costing this much. A couple hundreds of millions of dollars??!! The set itself is just sick. It looks nearly like a spaceship and has all these bridges that come down on different parts of the stage. Dubbed the 360 tour its literally in 360 and theres not a bad spot in the house. Well there probably is, but considering we were in the more front area and Bono and The Edge were coming down a lot by us, it was surreal.

The set was amazing! Consisting of pretty much songs from all their different albums and plenty from the new, it was hard to leave disappointed. Sure they didnt play “Pride” and sure theres a ton of stuff that Id have loved to have heard, but from what I did hear — I LOVED IT! Sunday Bloody Sunday – Impressive!, Uno Dos Tres Catorce – the opening lines to Vertigo was just awesome. Beautiful Day – oh yeah! Basically, it was hard to go wrong with their set.

Bono was as chatty as ever and more political than probably at most shows. But it was WDC and it was to be expected. He had foreign dignitaries there as well as some of the Hill people, but it was fine with me. He’s done a lot for Africa and wants to make the world a better place. Its hard for me to find fault with what he does  – granted Im one of those bleeding heart liberals.

The real highlight was Bono within fingertips from me. I could have never imagined I’d be so close to him. The Edge is just brilliant live and cant forget Larry either – him walking down a walk way playing the bongos – yeah brilliance again! And of course Adam Clayton. All in all – the band is just brilliant and hopefully will continue to play on through the years.

And if you havent yet seen “It Might Get Loud” seriously – go out and see it now! I have to say from seeing Edge on the big screen to seeing him live a few hours later was really surreal.

The Muse opened. And yes, I know thats not t heir name, but as Bono now calls them that, it seems fitting. They played their big indie prog rock songs that just seemed to go on and on. Each song seeming bigger and more grandiose than the prior song. It was pretty much a best of set list and so I knew most of the songs. Matt Bellamy is beyond talented and theres no denying that they could be huge, but Ill take my U2 any day!

the space ship set –

oh yeah –  Bono this close to me – so made the show something else

U2

Main Set

  1. Breathe
  2. Magnificent
  3. Get On Your Boots
  4. Mysterious Ways
  5. I Still Havent Found What I’m Looking For/Stand By Me (snippet)
  6. Elevation
  7. Your Blue Room
  8. Beautiful Day/Blackbird (snippet)
  9. New Years Day
  10. Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of (Acoustic)
  11. The Unforgettable Fire/Mofo (snippet)
  12. City of Blinding Lights
  13. Vertigo/Let’s Dance (snippet)
  14. Ill Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight/Dont Stop Till You Get Enough (snippet)
  15. Sunday Bloody Sunday
  16. MLK
  17. Walk On

Encore 1

  1. One/Amazing Grace (snippet)
  2. Where The Streets Have No Name

Encore 2

  1. Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
  2. With Or Without You
  3. Moment of Surrender

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