Ratboys & Wild Pink @ Songbyrd [DC] - 09/14/2021
Julia Steiner of Ratboys (Photo by Mauricio Castro)
Chicago-based Ratboys are a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll, and a whole lot happy to be back on the road. Over the last year and a half, the band pivoted to Patreon, did ‘virtual tours’ on Twitch and connected with fans over countless blog posts and cover song recordings. Their two-night stop in DC was the second leg of their tour, and notably, one of the first shows at the newly relocated Songbyrd Music House.
The band were finally able to perform songs from their February 2020 album Printer’s Devil, a re-imagining of their debut album, titled Happy Birthday Ratboy (in singer Julia Steiner’s words, their debut is just about college and weed - “I didn’t have too many experiences at that point”). The band deftly swerved from heartfelt moments to bombastically loud ones at the drop of a hat, turning album versions of songs like “Elvis in the Freezer” (a song about Julia’s cat who passed away) up to 11.
Co-headliners Wild Pink know how to transport fans to a more serene place in their heads - not surprising given their penchant for impeccable production a la The War on Drugs. The five-piece band hailing from Brooklyn performed their 2021 album A Billion Little Lights in its entirety, bringing the production down to earth by replacing the synths with a whole lot more pedal steel. Singer John Ross kept the stage banter light, letting the beautiful arrangements speak for itself. The band closed with an encore, performing “Lake Erie” and the eponymous song from their sophomore album Yolk in the Fur.
