Brightest Young Things

all photos: Joel Didriksen

Don't tell me you didn't try to check out her bum. A review of Kate Nash at the 930 Club, Washington, DC, April 17

I've got a bit of a crush on Kate Nash. She's beautiful and talented, and charmed me completely during my
brief interview of her last week. So, it was with great joy that I attended her sold out show on Thursday, April 17 at the 930 Club, thanks to the kind folks at Plusonemusic (thanks Ashley!) and Geffen.
And, of course, Cale and Svetlana, the proprietors and personification of BYT.

When I arrived at the show, I got the feeling there was a flea market in the main room of the 930 Club. That cavernous space was filled with young things waiting for the main act, intermittently paying attention to some sort of mess that was on the main stage, while the merchandise kiosk was overflowing with tshirts and cds and cassette tapes and things that fell out of the back of a truck. Or something.

Great as the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players undoubtedly are, I was
having none of it. I wasn't quite ready for the sheer number of people at the show – Kate has yet to break through in sales, and only one single (the epic, "Foundations") has been released in the United States – yet one could already feel that there'd be people on their tippy-toes all the way to the back of the room once she took thestage. I decamped downstairs for Blue Things and a quiet place away from the underage hoards.

Her band bounded out, taking their positions (keyboards, bass, guitar, drums), and kicking right into the opening chords of "Pumpkin Soup."Each band member was wearing a bizarre black moustache, evoking some quizzical stares before Kate sprung into position at the piano, smiling enormously at the crowd and imploring us, "I'm not in love; I just want to be touched…" Magnificent. She's looking gorgeous in a grey and black horizontal striped shirt, slightly billowy, but surprisingly flattering to her striking figure. More remarkable is the unhinged ending she gives the song, pounding the keyboard and shrieking.
Unexpected.

She galloped through some more muted numbers in her catalog ("Sh*t Song," a new one titled, "I Hate Seagulls"), drawing some of us in, but invoking an annoying level of chatter among the more bored members of the crowd. It's a shame – she was quite bold in playing so many slower songs, showcasing and emphasizing her songwriting, which, in spite of copious criticism, is quite strong. I felt no need to wander off or have side-conversations, and listened eagerly as she nervously told amusing anecdotes in between songs. One particularly absurd interlude involved inadvertently tugging the nipples off one of the 930 staff; another had something to do with her finger plaster (Band-Aid to us) with a unicorn on it (hunh?), and I really wasn't sure what she was on about with the story about a man with face tattoos and a cane who smelled a rose and made her happy when she was in town last month for her boyfriend's band, the Cribs, at the Black Cat.

That said, hearing the dizzyingly romantic "Birds," made the odd interludes and some of the audience's indifference just fine with me.
She dedicated "Dickhead" to all the bad boyfriends in the house – that goes down a storm – and throws in "Mouthwash," causing a lovely audience sing-along (and, an enforced one for the keyboard/bass player, Jay's, 21st birthday). She shocked the hell out of me with a series of theremin-like howls at the end of, was it "Little Red?"

And she pleased me with an extended encore, much anticipated by the remaining, and now very happy crowd, started with a spoken-word piece called, I think, "Don't You Want to Share the Guilt," then "Merry Happy," and, of course, "Foundations." I'd be curious to see a full set list. I'm not sure that everyone went home satisfied, but I certainly did. I'm not sure if she's quite cut out for Lily Allen levels of fame, but I think where she is right now is just fine, thank you.

Previously in Live DC:

• 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
• 2/6: LiveDC: All Things Go Presents: Reptar/ Casual Curious/ Fort Lean @ Gibson Guitar Showroom
• 2/6: LiveDC: TYCHO/ Beacon @ RNR Hotel
• 2/6: LiveDC: The Kills / Jeff The Brotherhood @ 9:30 Club