Post Show Banter >>>>

Yada wrote:
Probably why all of those parking spaces were taken up by parents waiting for their kids.

I had a prepaid 'reserved' spot at the lot on 8th.  Lot was full - surprise!

Anyone else attend the Ben Gibbard show last night?
Awesome show, pretty good set list, sounds as good as ever, especially liked that he pulled out Title Track and Home. No complaints. But genuinely surprised he didn't do anything from his solo album. No Teardrop Windows? Does he not like that album?

Nice to get a non-greatest hits set.
Re Fugazi - definitely saw Joe and Brendan in the house. vip section of course.

shemptiness wrote:
Everything Cock said.  'Time the Avenger' was a highlight for me.  Didn't really miss Chain Gang or Brass at all.

Some TikTok act was playing the club.  So many young kids in line.  And on a school night!

And a 2nd shout out to Fugazi in the same week.

Awesome final song at Anthem last night!

But no spoilers

Hutch wrote:
Awesome final song at Anthem last night!

But no spoilers

Same! And it sounded so good, too.

BrettnotBritt wrote:

Hutch wrote:
Awesome final song at Anthem last night!

But no spoilers

Same! And it sounded so good, too.

So good I'm reconsidering giving up my MPP tickets. What an end to the show.

Went to see Corinne Rae Bailey for the first time.  She performed all of the soon to be released new album and we got to hear all the stories and inspirations for all the songs.  Show even included a bit where she was out in the audience having people pass along their names, felt very spontaneous and made the show a little more personable.  Would definitely see her again, amazing voice and band.  Would be great to her more of her catalog live.

Jon Muq opened and he’s from Uganda now in Austin.  Was curious to see him as he’s done a record with Dan Auerbach whose productions I always enjoy.  Great storyteller and fun tunes.  Audience gave him lots of attention.

As someone else rightly pointed out, Corinne held a listening party for her new album “Black Rainbows” which due out on the 15th.  Definitely a different and interesting experience for a live show. 

Her inspirations for this new album was based on time spent in the Stony Island Arts Bank.  Located in Chicago’s South Side, it’s an old band that was converted to now house the archives of the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazine and Frankie Knuckles’s record collection, among other items

All and all a very cool experience

Luna - 9.6.23

Least packed "sold out" Atlantis show yet.

A pedestrian effort by the Luna squad last night, after a half a dozen times seeing them over the years I don't think I'll have a reason to ever see them again.

I 💗 Britta and can't believe she's 60.

Multiple legends in attendane and the top hat was spotted.

Scents of halitosis and BO surrounded my area.

I bought a t shirt. 

Marquee Moon closer was pretty killer.

/the end

so does hutch secretly write for the The Hard Times website?

kosmo wrote:
As someone else rightly pointed out, Corinne held a listening party for her new album “Black Rainbows” which due out on the 15th.  Definitely a different and interesting experience for a live show. 

Her inspirations for this new album was based on time spent in the Stony Island Arts Bank.  Located in Chicago’s South Side, it’s an old band that was converted to now house the archives of the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazine and Frankie Knuckles’s record collection, among other items

All and all a very cool experience

Unfortunately, I'm reading this after the show, but I do love Theaster Gates and the Art Bank is a cool project. 

gavroche wrote:

kosmo wrote:
As someone else rightly pointed out, Corinne held a listening party for her new album “Black Rainbows” which due out on the 15th.  Definitely a different and interesting experience for a live show. 

Her inspirations for this new album was based on time spent in the Stony Island Arts Bank.  Located in Chicago’s South Side, it’s an old band that was converted to now house the archives of the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazine and Frankie Knuckles’s record collection, among other items

All and all a very cool experience

Unfortunately, I'm reading this after the show, but I do love Theaster Gates and the Art Bank is a cool project. 

Hopefully, she does a podcast or short documentary on her process/inspiration for this album, would enjoying hearing the background on the songs again.

My favorite story was the inspiration about out the flat out rocker of a tune "New York Transit Queen".  She was looking through an 1950s issue of Ebony and saw a picture of the a women named "New York Transit Queen" and did some digging.  She learned that the black transit workers were organizing their own beauty pageants and even spoke with the women in the picture. 

Totally unexpected presentation but very glad to have witnessed it…

Yada wrote:
Luna - 9.6.23

A pedestrian effort by the Luna squad last night, after a half a dozen times seeing them over the years I don't think I'll have a reason to ever see them again. 

Scents of halitosis and BO surrounded my area.

Marquee Moon closer was pretty killer.

/the end

Gotta disagree about pedestrian. They were super-tight. Only Broken Chair was a bit off. I do think we need more new material.
Marquee Moon cover indeed killed.

Luna is a hygenic crowd. The BO, I hate to point any fingers, emanated from the opener as he went through the crowd and took off his outer garments. His act had, limited appeal to me. But he did get the girl, so, good for him.

More_Coffee wrote:

Yada wrote:
Luna - 9.6.23

A pedestrian effort by the Luna squad last night, after a half a dozen times seeing them over the years I don't think I'll have a reason to ever see them again. 

Scents of halitosis and BO surrounded my area.

Marquee Moon closer was pretty killer.

/the end

Gotta disagree about pedestrian. They were super-tight. Only Broken Chair was a bit off. I do think we need more new material.
Marquee Moon cover indeed killed.

Luna is a hygenic crowd. The BO, I hate to point any fingers, emanated from the opener as he went through the crowd and took off his outer garments. His act had, limited appeal to me. But he did get the girl, so, good for him.

Entertaining. A- for both of you.

With a few drinks 🍺 on me and one of my favorite bands I can’t be very objective probably but I thought they were tight and did their thing. It’s never showy. Sean and Dean threw in some quips about playing the old 930 which was cool. The sound when they started was perfect but then it felt like everyone started trying to outraise the others volume and it wasn’t so perfect anymore. Not sure why even experienced bands fall for that…. This time and maybe cause of my position I had a lot of fun listening to the bass and watching Dean and Britta’s interplay.

Set list was just what I wanted. NOT the same old same old! I think it’s been more than 20 years since they played three songs from Days of our nights at one show(maybe cause of recent vinyl reissue?) !!!  I mean 4000 days and Dear Diary according to set list hadn’t been played since 2005 and 2003. Definitely rare any way you slice it! Then Egg nog (played only ten times), Slash and Great Jones Street were all super deep cuts! On top of that Marquee (11times) and you have a real unusual set list!

I super enjoyed show even if it was marred by the shirt purchase debacle! Nice seeing boardies!!

BrettnotBritt wrote:

Hutch wrote:
Awesome final song at Anthem last night!

But no spoilers

Same! And it sounded so good, too.

Death Cab for Cutie and the Postal Service Cover Depeche Mode: Watch
Death Cab, Dntel, and Jenny Lewis united in Washington, D.C., to do “Enjoy the Silence”

Black Cat 30th Nite 1:

Saw most of Birthday Girl's set.  Hadn't heard them before…pretty fun and they were super cute.  Imagine if your dad was Brendan Canty and you were family friends with Mary Timony.  That would be weird.

The Messthetics rule.  Never noticed that Anthony Pirog without long hair and his had looks a lot like Spaced.

Flasher I hadn't seen in years…didn't realize they were a 5 piece now.

Gray Matter was never one of my favorites, but I do like being able to see them once every 5 years.

Ex Hex rules.  Mary Timony is one of the coolest people that have ever lived.  My favorite DC band in years and years.


Black Cat 30th Nite 2:

I had never caught the Owners before either.  Really fun rock set.

Hammered Hulls rule.  Also my favorite DC band in years and years.  They're really firing off live nowdays.  Great set.

Bad Moves rule.  Also hadn't seen them in a few years…ditto on how great they've gotten live.

Ted Leo / Pharmacists rule.  I still remember the first time I saw Ted (opening for Blonde Redhead at the old BC 20 years go.  I love getting to see him every 5 years too.

Velocity Girl rule.  I can't believe I just saw them again.  It was like they never left.


Man, I love the Black Cat…it's probably my favorite place to be.  I'd rather see my childhood home razed to the ground than the BC ever close.

I'll try to keep this short and to the point for the Black Cat 30th Anniversary shows…

Night One

Overall I'll say this was a good night.

Birthday Girl - I'm enjoying their album, but it would appear the don't have much experience performing live as they felt a little not all together.  I'm sure they will improve with time and it was obviously a thrill for them to be playing there. The guitar player is the daughter of Brendan Canty which of course segues into…

The Messthetics - Fugazi Rhythm section plus Guitarist Anthony Pirog gave us a great 20 minutes of instrumental short attention span jams.  Was getting some Jeff Beck "Wired" vibes.

Flasher - um ok.. not sure what Flasher is going for sound wise.. I guess danceable indie pop, but it just seemed sloppy

Grey Matter - For a band that appears to only play every five years at a Black Cat anniversary parties, they were tight and clearly having fun. Would assume much moshing and stage diving has occurred in their past.  Will be checking out their albums for sure. 

Ex Hex - Delivered the big riffs and hooks as always, but part of me thinks their sound maybe too big for the Black Cat.

Fun evening overall bring on night two…

Night Two

This was  a great night with a minor hiccup

The Owners - Great way to start the evening, fun set of new wave/power pop tunes will be adding to my bandcamp collection.

Hammered Hulls - Not exactly my thing but Alec MacKaye is backed by a crack supergroup, including nkotb's crush Mary Timony on bass.  I see another Bandcamp addition in my future.

Bad Moves - Just WOW.  First time seeing them live and they delivered righteously.  They clearly enjoying playing live and turned some heads of the Teo Leo/Velocity Girl fans.  Saw people around me looking them up on Bandcamp, will definitely see them alive again.

Teo Leo and The Pharmacists - aka the minor hiccup… Don't get me wrong Teo Leo and co delivered a fun set, but I was suffering from band overload at this point and even their brief set seemed to drag on… But, the guitarist in the group wins the coolest cat of the weekend.

Velocity Girl -  I have many thoughts about them, but for a group that broke up in 1996, reformed in 2002 for two show and then nothing..  They were tight and firing on all cylinders.  So many happy people in the audience singing along and dancing to them, including some who flew in for the show.  Clearly a band missed by many.. My favorite moment was when on the queue the audience sang Woo Hoo during "Stay Sorry" plus some key La-La-Laing.. The highlight of other great lineup of bands…  I also noticed they were selling t-shirts at pretty good pace

The question is of course where their next DC show will be… Black Cat, The Atlantis or even Union Stage seem to be the obvious options… The club of course would be the best option.  And then how fast it sells out…

I assumed Velocity Girl was a one off reunion. Did they say there would be more?