Club Scout & Kid Is Qual, Velvet Lounge, Washington, DC

A Wednesday night "almost" concert

This show barely qualifies, but I’ll put it up here anyway. I hadn’t seen my friend Benny’s band Club Scout in a while and was looking forward to a show. Unfortunately, they were playing way too late on a school night for me to stay for me to see any of their set. We were able to catch a few bars of the previous band, Kid Is Qual, but technical difficulties forced them to halt their set barely a song in and Katie and I decided to get out of Dodge. Guess I’ll just have to look forward to Club Scout’s next show.

Guster, DAR Constitution Hall, Washington, DC

What happens when the love of a band and the hatred of a venue collide

I should start off this post with a little context about the band and the venue. First, the band: I love Guster and have been a fan since high school. I’ll still always prefer their earlier work to their more current albums, but I think that everything they have released has been pretty solid. I’ve been to at least half a dozen, perhaps more, of their shows as well and always enjoy them. You’d think I’d look forward to their show then, right? Well, not this time around because, second, the venue: I hate DAR Constitution Hall. I hate the fact that the layout is all seated – leaving it with a lot of bad views and no pit, meaning that the audience is disconnected from the performers and not encouraged to dance. I hate the acoustics and the speakers’ inability to create a panasonic experience. I hate that while they do sell very overpriced booze, they don’t allow drinks in the auditorium and instead they must be gulped down in the hallway. I’ve been disappointed with almost every show that I’ve seen at DAR, so it was only when my friend Erica had an extra ticket and I didn’t have much else planned for the evening that I decided to go along to the show.

That being said, I happily found that my love of the band ended up trumping my hatred for the venue. Another big help was that our group of four of us had our own opera box that was high enough to see the stage, but low and close enough to still be integrated with the band and other fans. The fear of blocking the view of others didn’t stop us from standing up and dancing for the entire set, which no doubt also added to the fun of the experience. Though Guster did work a number of their newer songs into the set, most of which I enjoyed, they also did us older fans a favor and played a lot of their old classics, which was much appreciated. The highlight was a little over halfway through the set when during “Happier,” our little group did our own rendition in our box during which everyone in the group knew what to do when I pointed to half of it and said “Ryan’s part” and the other half and said “Adam’s,” and we were able to develop a nice, if slightly offkey, harmony. If you’re not a fan, you’ll have no idea what I’m talking about. If you are, there’s a chance I might have requested the same thing from you at one point or another. Anyway, that one moment was worth the price of admission, the rest of the show including ping pong balls flying during “Airport Song,” a completely unplugged version of “Jesus on the Radio,” and my personal favorite song, “Demons,” were all just a bonus.

Setlist:

The Captain

Architects & Engineers

Barrel of a Gun

This Could All Be Yours

Demons

Beginning of the End

Satellite

Do You Love Me

That's No Way to Get to Heaven

Bad Bad World

Backyard

Come Downstairs and Say Hello

What You Call Love

Amsterdam

Either Way

Happier

G Major

Airport Song

Wipeout (Cover)

Careful

Manifest Destiny

Hang On/My Life (Cover)

Jesus on the Radio

The Avett Brothers, Pier 6 Pavilion, Baltimore, Maryland

Bluegrass on the Baltimore waterfront

We trekked up to Baltimore to see bluegrass, folk rockers the Avett Brothers, led by actual brothers and a few other collaborators. Again, they were at Bonnaroo this past year. While I missed their main set in favor of another band, I did get to see them play a short, intimate set in the Chase Lounge. Following that, I was looking forward to getting to see them play a complete set. It was also a treat to get to see funk/blues/soul /rock band Grace Potter & the Nocturnals as the opening act. While everyone in the Avett Brothers is talented and fun, my favorite was cellist Joe Kwon, who in additional to being of Korean heritage and looking slightly out of place in a bluegrass band, is without a doubt the most enthusiastic cellist that I’ve ever seen, swaying almost violently as he played multiple bows to the point where they needed to be replaced throughout the set. Between the gorgeous night on the Baltimore waterfront and the each band’s solid sets, it was well worth the trip.

Mayer Hawthorne & the County, Black Cat, Washington, DC

Proof that white guys can sing Motown too

The theme continues: another of the bands that were a lot of fun at Bonnaroo is continuing their tour in the mid-Atlantic and stopping in DC. This time, its Detroit Motown soul band Mayer Hawthorne & the County. Fronted by Toby McGuire lookalike Mayer Hawthorne (by the way, the stage name "Mayer Hawthorne" is a combination of his real middle name and the name of the street he grew up on in Michigan. I always thought that’s what your porn name was; not your Motown name), Hawthorne and his band are a throw back to 60’s soul music, of which several songs were covered along with the band’s original tunes. Hawthorne was clearing enjoying being on stage and greatly appreciated the crowd and his recent [moderate] success. Perhaps the best part of the show was the final song or two when he asked everyone in the audience to take a few steps closer to the stage so we could all get into it and dance.