BrightestYoungThings: Live DC: M. Ward w/ Chain and the Gang @ 9:30 Club

all words: Nina
all photos: Francis Chung and Brandon Hirsch from last time.

**This review is of Thursday night's show. How was Friday?

Pre-concert thoughts: I'm pretty tired, I saw a show last night. I don't even have all of M. Ward's albums. He's a pretty good songwriter I just don't know if it's worth it.

Post-concert thoughts: WOW.

For those of you who don't have time to read a full review right now, here's the gist: GO SEE M. WARD LIVE NOW.

Now, let me explain why.

I was pretty tired yesterday and I had seen Fleet Foxes the night before, so I wasn't really feeling that up for the show. I like M. Ward, but I've never really gotten into him. I only have two of his albums and one EP, and I'm not very well-versed in any of it. I like his production style and his voice, and he seems a pretty good songwriter, but his music just never caught me.

I was even less familiar with the opening act, Chain & the Gang. The band (the Gang) took the stage wearing matching prison outfits, and their leader (Chain) walked on with a shaggy Elvis haircut and a white suit. I was scared that this would just be a cutesy, gimmicky act. It ended up being very gimmicky- lots of rehearsed banter between and during songs, their costumes- but I wouldn't classify their music as cutesy. They sing garage rock with call-and-response choruses. I don't think I'll be seeking out any of the group's music in the future, but it was definitely one of the least boring opening acts I've ever seen.

At half past nine, Matt Ward walked on a dimly lit stage, picked up a beat up acoustic guitar and began the show. From the first strings he finger-picked, I was captivated. His playing was so meticulous and delicate. Given the low blue lighting and Ward's shut eyes, I felt like I was peeking in on him playing alone in his bedroom. He was entirely in his own world.

Shortly after this solo acoustic tune, Matt's four piece band took the stage. Ward, in no way a cocky frontman, gave each talented member ample opportunity to showcase their abilities throughout the set. They all (aside from the drummer) appeared to be multi-instrumentalists, and they swapped bass, guitar, and piano duties song-to-song. On newer cuts like "Never Had Nobody Like You," "Rave On," and, my personal favorite, "To Save Me," their vocal harmonies and the general bounce in their playing helped add liveliness and folkier, countrier sound to Ward's already great songs. Ward introduced each member but I forget the names. However, there was a man with a white beard and a fedora, a man with a brown beard and a fedora, and man with no beard and a fedora, and a man with a beard but no fedora. Matt was the only one with neither a beard nor a fedora. :(

M. Ward closed his set with one of my favorites, "Chinese Translation." Looking around me, I saw only smiling faces and swaying bodies. I can't express to you the magic of hearing 1,200 people singing "What do you do with the pieces of a broken heart?" in unison while M. Ward and his ragtag band of all-ages play against a backdrop of shooting stars. I don't have enough knowledge of M. Ward's music to tell you if he covered all of his albums or which he most heavily favored (but I promise, by the end of the week I will know his library front-to-back). I do know, however, that for his second encore, he played the first song of his I had ever heard, his cover of Daniel Johnston's "To Go Home." Even after this, the audience was begging for a third encore (which we unfortunately didn't get).

I was worried that M. Ward's songs and production wouldn't lend themselves to live shows, but this show clearly proved me wrong. I've never been in such a situation where I enter with not much of an opinion of the artist and exit a completely converted fan. This is absolutely going down as one of my favorite shows.

Previously in Live DC:

3 years ago John Foster said

Poor Ian has to start all over again with the kids. Pretty interesting take on Ward though as it gives a fresh perspective if you haven't been buried in music for decades (guilty) and become insanely jaded (guilty) as the Mergefest reviews of Ward centered around him being proficient but little else and this really captures how he hits a new/casual listener in a totally different and powerful way.