Brightest Young Things

photos: Francis Chung & Brandon Hirsch
words about Vivians: Rick Taylor
words about M.Ward: Svetlana
comments: by you

FIRST UP: Vivian Girls by Rick

Like a lot of kids, I was forced into going to church every Sunday morning when I was a young lad. It probably won’t surprise you to know that on those mornings, sitting on those hard-wood pews while being surrounded by “blue hairs” (that’s code speak for old ladies by the way) and being subjected to “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God” style sermons, my mind used to wander. And more often that not, it wandered toward the same inexplicable, it’ll-never-happen-in-a-million-years rock n’ roll scenario: Watching the most devastatingly kick ass band commandeer the pulpit area to kick out the jams in full-throttle, cranked-to-11 style, thereby inciting the most glorious melee of panic and chaos a boy could ever hope to see. The “blue hairs” and all the other persnickety adults would all run for the doors screaming of course; the kids, on the other hand, would stay right were they were, but would be jumping up and down, applauding excitedly, dancing, and throwing their arms in the air like they just didn’t care.

Needless to say, my inner little kid was doing summersaults when the Vivian Girls took over the Sixth & I Synagogue on Saturday night. I simply couldn’t believe it. There I was, in a place of worship, complete with those all too familiar hard-wood pews and surrounded by a lot of very serious looking older adults in their 40s and 50s (to be fair, I didn’t spot any blue hairs) and The Vivian Girls were rocking it out front and center! How could this be happening?, I kept asking myself. This can’t actually be happening, can it? Holy schnike!!! It is! It is!

The much-hyped, fuzzbox lovin’, all-gal-pal trio from Brooklyn sounded fantastic. Some credit has to go to the amazing acoustics of the Historic Synagogue itself (if you’ve yet to see a concert here, make sure you do sometime soon!) but most should rightfully go to the band and its improved live performance. Ripping through most of the songs from their self-titled debut, (and playing some newer tunes such as the dreamy “Second Date”), it was evident the Vivian Girls have benefited from their non-stop touring schedule since I had seen them last fall.

If a perfect balance exists between charming, lo-fi exuberance and bullet-piercing precision, the band found it Saturday night. Drummer Ali Koehler handled the skins with aplomb, providing added percussive gusto to tracks such as the band’s widely heralded “Tell the World” single. Guitarist/lead vocalist Cassie Ramone let loose with the fuzz and scuzz, but made sure the catchy guitar melodies and memorable chord changes were front and center. Bassist Kickball Katy, meanwhile, anchored the band’s groove beautifully. As for the gals’ Crystals-inspired three-part vocal harmonies? Fantabuloso. Seriously, the Vivs nailed it.

My only slight complaint: The band didn’t play “Where Do You Run To,” arguably the group’s finest pop moment to date. But with songs as good as theirs and this kind of winning execution, t'was but a minor quibble.

I have to say it was a lot of fun gauging the various reactions to their music. Now, I’ll admit right up front that I know very little about M. Ward. So I wasn’t sure if it was the headliner that brought most of the more...ahem..."mature" listeners out or they simply showed up because…well, it’s the Historic Synagogue and it’s Saturday night. That being said, it was amusing to see the facial expressions on these folks as they were taking in the sounds of the noisy female trio. The band were politely received (no shrieking run-outs ala my little kid church scenario), but it was obvious that most people in attendance weren’t that familiar with them. (This one mid-50s-ish gentleman sitting a few seats from me who looked remarkably like David Cronenberg had a particularly puzzled look.)

As for M. Ward, I thought he (and his band) sounded wonderful. But I'm guessing you probably want to read a review from someone who actually knows M. Ward more than I do so...take it away Svetlana! ;)

Then Matt Ward & Svetlana

Rick, thank you for the kind intro, but I am planning to keep this brief and not-too-technical.
In short: M.Ward’s performance at the Synagogue on Saturday was UN-FUCKING-BELEIVABLE.

(and I don’t even need to you to pardon my French).

I will admit to getting a little antsy during the sound check and being all needy and impatient to the tune of: “Why the hell do they need four guitars tuned”, “Shouldn’t sound checking happen BEFORE the show?”, “I AM HUNGRY!!!!” followed by "I AM SLEEPY!" but then the second Matt Ward came on stage, harmonica in mouth, guitar in hand and let out the first note out of his body and his instruments I was a goner.
Once again the Synagogue did it-perfect sound, perfect venue, perfect act for the venue.
By the time, 3 songs into the solo acoustic business, he whipped out his cover of Bowie’s “Lets Dance” I was holding Rebekah’s hand, and she was holding it back and everyone in the room was in an “about to cuddle up” stage.
You could cut the joy and awe with a knife.
During this time he did not speak a word, he just played and….
You guys, it was so beautiful.
SO BEAUTIFUL.
His voice is almost unnaturally rich and his musicianship is so pristine that you just sit there and hope there is so much more to come.

Which then happened, as one of his band members came out quietly onto the stage, sat down and whistled along to one of the songs and this marked the beginning of the “band portion” of the show.
Which was glorious as well.
They played a bunch of older songs which got everyone all misty eyed and a bunch of new songs (like “Never had nobody” and “Rave on” which show M.Ward venturing into more of a sing-a-long territory) and he played his own version of “Change is Hard” which made you wish that there was a “He & Her” counterpart to the “She & Him” album. I mean, I’d buy it in 2 seconds.

The band, it should be noted (Francis only had permission to shoot the first 3 songs, so there are no photos of them, sadly-ed) consisted of people who would never have been in the same room or universe together had they not been recruited by Matt Ward to amazingly play along with him. The ranged in age from 16 to 60, they all played everything and when all 4 guitars crashed together in one of those “Duet for Guitar” businesses it was heaven and motivation for everyone there that ever played any instrument to keep on keeping on and get as good as they can.

Also-Matt Ward is kind of a dreamboat.
This has to be said.
And the best kind of a dreamboat too: a grower and not an instand shower (off).
The kind that starts out all shy and quiet and then by party band time, when you’ve earned his confidence and respect and is ready to let you in, he stands there with a confident swagger and a taciturn way about him that matches his voice. Every time he’d purr (yes, purrrrrrrrrrr) into the mike in between songs you could feel the swoon in the room rising.
So, that was awesome too.
The Daniel Johnston cover he played during the encore and the “Magic trick” that followed it were awesome too.
There was very little that was not awesome about this show.
Next time he is in town-I am making it an obligatory BYT staff outing.
Just so people have a reference point of how things should be done before they go swooning about people’s performances.
Because no one does it better.

Previously in Live DC:

• 2/13: LiveDC: George Clinton & The Parliament-Funkadelic @ 930 Club
• 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