BrightestYoungThings: LiveDC: Augustana/ Graffiti6 @ 930 Club

all words by Emily Butz
all photos by Emily Cohen

The night started off with a line of fans that wrapped around the 9:30 club despite the cold and rainy weather.

Say Chance, originally from Baltimore, is a new three piece girl group who opened the show. On tour with Augustana, they had a similar rustic, acoustic feel. The crowd really responded to the group towards the end of their set when they broke out a cover of Duffy’s Mercy. The girls, only 17, performed well with their powerful voices singing songs of determination and heartache with a sound that far surpassed their young age.

Up next came a band out of London, Graffiti6. Having just released their album “Colors” in the U.S. earlier this month, the lead singer Jamie Scott was happy to sing the title track from the album as he cracked a smile and announced to the crowd how excited they were to be in D.C. Graffiti6’s set list was set up like any great dance or playlist; it started off nice and slow, picked up towards the middle, and then gently set you back down again at the end with Scott at the piano. Coupled with the band’s soulful guitars, Graffiti6 had a classic sound that showed of the lead’s elegant voice.

After much anticipation, Augustana finally made their appearance, opening up their set with "Hey Now," a song from their second album, Can’t Love, Can’t Hurt. The song was a hit and the crowds warmed up nicely singing along, and were ready for more of what the band had to give, a single from their new self-titled album. The album having just been released in April of 2011, was still new enough that the crowd wasn’t singing along, but they were definitely responsive the fast pace "Last Mistake," and made sure to give the band an extremely encouraging round of applause.

For the first half of their set, Augustana played songs from their first two albums, while introducing the crowd to only a few new songs. However, the band got creative and played new arrangements of their old favorites. It was a nice surprise for long time fans to hear the reworking of songs like "I Still Ain’t Over You," "Stars and Boulevards," "Dust," and "Sweet and Low." The new sound had an unplugged feel as the tempos to these songs was sped up a little. "Sweet and Low" was a crowd favorite while "Stars and Boulevards" really stood out from its original recording with a choppier beat that gave the song an overall moodier tone that managed to underscore the lyrics.

Halfway through their set lead singer, Dan Layus took a moment to talk to the crowd about the new material he continues to write and what he has been up to since Augustana took a brief break. “I’ve been writing new things in between changing diapers and taking my daughter to school, unfortunately writing songs inst as easy as changing diapers.” He went on to ask the crowed if it would be okay to play more new material to prove that he and the band are here to stay.

After all that talk of new songs, the band certainly lived up to their word playing almost the whole track line up of their new album. They covered Layus’ favorite new song "Easiest Lessons are the Hardest to Learn" and "Counting the Stars," a song which combined what was best about Boston and Sunday Best.

And if you were wondering, the song everyone was waiting for, "Boston" was saved for almost last. Not a person was sitting in when the song came on and every voice was singing along, even a few lighters managed to make their way out, swaying to arguably the band’s most popular tune. This was truly a moment when live music proved to be so much better than the recording.

The band ended the set with a new song and to close everything out Layus saw fit to have a final heart to heart with the audience. He voiced his shock and gratitude that after all of the ups and downs and after the time the band took off, there are still plenty of Augustana fans left in the world. Layus is 27, with three kids, a wife and is one year in recovery from alcohol addiction. “You guys enjoy your drinks tonight, but I can’t partake because I will turn into the Devil,” joked Layus. A refreshing levity has returned to the band and the positivity Layus said was, “flowing out his ass,” certainly captured the crowd that night and lifted them up as evidence by all of the cheering and clapping they gave. “With all of the uncertainty out there, I don’t know if you guys give a shit, but everything is going to be okay.”