all (pretty) photos: Irfan Khalil
all (gushing) words: Svetlana

I went to see Thievery Corporation on Thursday, right smack in the middle of their (rather epic) weeklong 930 club takeover. I went because I've never seen them live before and because I thought that well, it would be cool to see what they've been up to lately. No sky high expectations, no nothing.

And this is what went down:
THE SHOW WAS AWESOME.

AWESOME

It has been a while since I've been just so purely impressed and pleasantly surprised by what I saw and heard and experienced that this may be kind of hard to write, I have to remember how to be truly enthusiastic in words. So-bear with me.

Lets start out with this:
There are no openers. Around 9:15 pm-The stage is pitch black and then seemingly floating in front of giant LED screens Eric and Rob appear, hands on decks, able and willing and start sprinkling some downtempo on a packed to the gills club filled with every walk of DC life (I guess this is what having a crossover audience means). And I am like: Cool, this is nice, just what I expected but light show aside I could still be home. (full disclosure: I'm not really all that much into DJing as a performance art, try not to hold it against me)

And then: Hordes (I do mean hordes) of beautiful, talented, exotic looking and sounding women and men (Sleepy Wonder, See-I, Natalia Clavier all among them) starburst (seemingly out of nowhere) out onto the stage and sang and dance and played sitars and guitars and bongos and danced and threw their hands up in the air while Rob and Eric set the tone behind them and had the audience vibing and waving and grooving and whatever else it is one does to Thievery.

FOR 3 FULL HOURS.

Not a second of which was boring.
Not a split second of which was not joyous.
Not a nano second of which was not fully in sync and great.
The audience stayed with them through and through and by the end of it all, when they went around and introduced everyone every single person in that room cheered every single person on that stage on.
Because they deserved it.
100%

The only complaint I had, is that, in an ideal universe, during the mellower sonic cuts I wished there was a chaise longue somewhere near me so I could throw my exalted self onto it for rest.

But then, nothing is perfect.
Though this was pretty close.

Next time they play-go.
Even if (you think) you're not a fan.
They'll make a believer out of you.

Previously in Live DC:

• 2/3: Live DC: The Asteroids Galaxy Tour @ RnR Hotel
• 2/3: LiveDC: Smith Westerns @ Black Cat
• 2/2: PHOTOS: Elizaveta @ Jammin' Java
• 2/1: PHOTOS: H Street Karaoke Championship
• 1/31: LiveDC: Carsie Blanton @ Black Cat
• 1/31: LiveDC: Loose Lips/ Lightfoot/ Paperhaus/ Ugly Purple Sweater @ Black Cat
• 1/30: LiveDC: Jeff Mangum @ Lincoln Theatre
• 1/30: LiveDC: Coeur de Pirate @ 930 Club
• 1/26: LiveDC: Ryan Adams @ Strathmore
• 1/25: LiveDC: GHOST @ RNR Hotel