all beautiful photos: FaithDesired
9:30 Club:
no Sonar.
Black Kids:
Enh. I know, not really an experience of the music. and I know Peter disagrees with me, but I thought the performance was kind of boring. yes, they did seem to have at least 40% of the crowd dancing throughout the show. yes, people clapped enthusiastically. yes, maybe I am alone in my assessment, but that is what I thought.
I saw them last spring and liked them, and they were fine this time, but I was expecting more. More energy, more new music, more personality. Again, let me say: I enjoyed their set. They did have some people dancing. People really liked to clap for them (more than they liked to dance with them). I just think in the last year their stage presence should have grown more. They shouldn't still play like an awesome college band.
Mates of State:
I had a pretty big crush on boy/girl harmony bands in late high school/early college, so I've seen Mates of Sate several times. Do I think they work, better at somewhere like the Cat? Yes. but I actually thought they pulled off the bigger venue really well. It was no Rilo Kiley stage show, but they filled the space. And ohmygosh they're just so adorable.
They could have played more old songs, but they kept the energy up (more so than the Black Kids, I thought), people were dancing, and they pretty much completely restored my faith in humanity (touch-and-go for a moment there). They definitely ended the show on a strong, Saturday-appropriate note.
Previously in Live DC:
- 2/13: LiveDC: Veronica Falls/ Brilliant Colors @ Black Cat
- 2/13: LIVE DC: Steve Aoki/ Datsik/ Alvin Risk @ Fillmore
- 2/13: LiveDC: The Darkness @ 930 Club
- 2/9: LiveDC: Theophilus London @ 930 Club
- 2/9: Best Weekend Bets
- 2/8: LiveDC: Kathleen Edwards @ 930 Club
- 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
- 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
- 2/7: LiveDC: Demetri Martin @ Warner Theatre
- 2/7: LiveDC: Augustana/ Graffiti6 @ 930 Club
God loves a cheerful giver.
My favorite part of the review and of Becca:
"I saw them last spring and liked them, and they were fine this time, but I was expecting more."
I'll always love the way you intonate "fine."
I agree with your assessment -- Black Kids were a solid B, but the last time I saw them they were an A+. Their energy was a bit down (relatively speaking, for them) and something was off on the audio levels -- the girls vocals and bass needed more volume, me thinks.
I loved loved loved Mates of State.
Sunbears! was a delightfully odd surprise and I loved the use of multimedia in the stage show. Their live show was lightyears better than the tracks that they have on their MySpace page (which is all I knew about them before the show).
my favorite part of the review is the photos.
awesome pictures!!!
i love the black kids. I had so much fun that night.
i saw this show in richmond and they were adorable. black kids also played an acoustic set at plan 9 that was wonderful.