The definitive record of live music in Washington, D.C. and beyond for the 2010’s
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Father John Misty @ The Anthem - 8/2/2018
With a 13-piece band in tow at The Anthem, Father John Misty toned down the sarcasm, but his dedication to giving a passionate performance has never been stronger.
Arctic Monkeys @ The Anthem - 7/28/2018
Even with a curveball like Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino, Arctic Monkeys still know how to wow a crowd. Recap and photos from their recent tour stop at The Anthem in Washington, DC.
Sylvan Esso @ The Anthem - 7/26/2018
Sylvan Esso stopped by The Anthem in Washington, DC and threw a dance party for 6k of their closest friends.
Greta Van Fleet @ The Anthem - 7/21/2018
Don’t hate, Greta Van Fleet are just giving the people what they want - a young, upstart band playing straight-up rock music. No wonder they moved up from DC9 to The Anthem in less than a year.
Janelle Monáe @ The Anthem - 7/20/2018
Thrones. Water guns. The now-famous vagina pants. At her sold-out Anthem show, Monáe swan-dived into the world of arena-pop spectacle.
Phil Cook @ Songbyrd - 6/9/2018
By now, our love for Phil Cook should come to nobody’s surprise - the Hiss Golden Messenger and Megafaun guitarist has been on our podcast twice to talk life and his love of people and connection. But take one listen to his sophomore album, and you’ll get the same notion that everyone at Cook’s sold-out Songbyrd already knew - he can create some damn uplifting music.
Ry Cooder @ The Birchmere (Alexandria, VA) - 6/11/18
The music legend returned to the legendary Birchmere in Alexendria, Virginia to play songs off of his latest LP, The Prodigal Son.
Bruno Major @ U Street Music Hall - 6/5/2018
The road to music stardom is paved with wedding cover bands, restaurant gigs, and teaching guitar lessons. Nobody knows this better than Bruno Major, who has done all three. Major told Interview Magazine that shortly after leaving college, he did whatever he could to earn money for two years, including playing three nights a week in Italian restaurants for 50 pounds and a bowl of pasta. But starting in 2016, he released one song a month online, starting with the track “Wouldn’t Mean a Thing.” For the next eleven months, the hype grew for Major to the point where he was able to release the songs as a compilation, his debut album A Song for Every Moon, in August 2017. The icing on the cake? He landed an opening gig for Sam Smith’s European arena tour this past March/April. Now that his opening stint has ended, Major promptly made his way stateside for a few summer gigs, including at U Street Music Hall.
Tune-Yards @ 9:30 Club - 5/21/2018
Merrill Garbus has a lot on her mind these days, and her sound is changing as a result of it. I can feel you creep into my private life is a rumination of white privilege and the divided state of America. While Garbus and newly-official bandmate Nate Brenner have done a very admirable job in calling out injustices in their previous work (like with “Gangsta” and “My Country”), they set out to confront their privilege head-on and in doing so created the most focused work of their career. (You can listen to our podcast episode on I can feel you creep into my private life here.)
Lawrence @ Union Stage - 5/17/2018
Lawrence has some “New Stuff” to unleash upon the world.
The brother and sister duo of Clyde and Gracie Lawrence (alongside seven of their best friends) have performed all over the country and overseas - even the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (We covered them twice in 2016, at Songbyrd and U Street Music Hall in DC - both shows were in support of their debut album Breakfast.) Now, the tremendously upbeat band is prepping for the release of their sophomore album, Living Room. Though it won’t be released until September, the Union Stage crowd in DC were the first on this tour to hear a few of the songs from the upcoming album.
Shakey Graves @ 9:30 Club - 5/15/2018
As Alejandro Rose-Garcia’s foreboding tweet went in December: “Next album. New sound. Sell your suspenders.” How true it was.
Can’t Wake Up did away with the Americana-influenced busker music that helped him gain fame and instead embraced the music of Harry Nilsson and The Beatles to create dreamlike, woozy soundscapes that embraced a different kind of guitar sound. As he said to Billboard in May, “Some part of me feels compelled to poke the bear about why people have such issues with growth or change because everything is changing so obviously around us.” Even with the change in sound forthcoming, it wasn’t hard for Shakey Graves to sell out two nights at 9:30 Club, though some may have come to the show wondering which version of Rose-Garcia they would see that night.
Hinds @ U Street Music Hall - 5/11/2018
The banner hung up on stage said it all: “Hi, we’re Hinds, and we came here to rock.” Hailing from Madrid, the garage rock quartet enlisted producer Gordon Raphael (known for producing the first and second Strokes albums) for their sophomore album I Don’t Run. With that production muscle behind them, the quartet felt more empowered to no longer write about being ‘one of the guys’ with songs like “Tester” confronting cheating boyfriends, and “Linda” mourning the loss of true love in a relationship. Thankfully, what didn't change was their bubbly and raucous garage rock sound.
Jorja Smith @ Howard Theatre - 5/13/2018
Recently, the Howard Theatre housed a sold-out crowd eagerly awaiting Jorja Smith’s final U.S. tour stop. Her rapid rise to stardom begun only just two years ago at the age of 18 when “Blue Lights” was released on Soundcloud. Since then, she has released numerous singles and an exceptionally well-received EP, Project 11. Despite hailing from the U.K., she’s gained a strong international following stemming from touring North America with Bruno Mars in 2017 and also being featured on projects by two of hip hop’s biggest juggernauts in Drake and Kendrick Lamar. With a debut album soon to release and a 2018 Brit Critics Choice Award, it’s easy to see why the hype around her is warranted.
Alvvays @ 9:30 Club - 5/8/2018
For those that missed out on Alvvays’s sold-out Rock and Roll Hotel stop in October, one can only hope they snagged a ticket to the band’s sold-out 9:30 Club stop this time around. And for good reason, too: Antisocialites overcame the feared sophomore slump to become one of the more widely-beloved albums of 2017. The latest album from the Toronto band (it’s pronounced ‘always,’ by the way) is a saccharine blend of dream pop and indie rock that fits on a Netflix series as much as it could fit on a John Hughes film. It’s the kind of music that can uplift you and get you ready for the day at hand, even if it’s a song that puts down people in rubber-soled shoes. So although it only feels like yesterday that they were last in DC, it was a welcome sight to see them return and selling out a venue twice as big as their last.
Naia Izumi @ NPR Studio One - 5/7/2018
The Tiny Desk Concert. It’s a dream and a milestone for bands all over the country, even the world. Musicians of all backgrounds have made their way here: DC go-go bands. Atlanta rappers. British superstars. Spanish crooners. The Blue Man Group. Even Korean folk groups dressed in drag have performed at NPR HQ. So for the fourth year in a row, NPR held the Tiny Desk Contest to find the country’s best unsigned artist (as decided by a panel of NPR Music writers and a few musicians) and give them the opportunity to perform at the Tiny Desk and reach thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of eager listeners. This year’s winner was LA-based guitarist and busker Naia Izumi, whose simply-filmed, slightly-cramped recording featured a drum machine, a loop pedal, and some impressive guitar skills. On the night of his Tiny Desk Concert filming, NPR’s Studio 1 room was opened to the public for a performance before he embarks on a nationwide Tiny Desk Contest tour. While the other tour stops will feature local bands that ranked high on the final list of entries, the DC performance was all about Izumi.
Lord Huron @ The Anthem - 5/4/2018
It’s off to space and towards the Emerald Star for Lord Huron. It makes sense, given their rise over the years. Singer and guitarist Ben Schneider named off all the DC venues they’ve played to get to where they are now: DC9, Black Cat, 9:30 Club, and now their biggest show yet at a sold-out Anthem. They’ve grown immensely in popularity (“The Night We Met” was featured in the 2017 Netflix series “13 Reasons Why” and is currently their most popular song on Spotify with 222 million plays), and their latest album Vide Noir is a big musical leap for the LA-based band. Their live show is brimming with boundless energy, but with their latest album, that live energy has translated into intense tracks like “Ancient Names (Part II)” and “Secret of Life.” The underpinnings of their folk rock origins are still there, but with a cavalcade of new influences guiding them forward, they’re carving their own cosmic path in rock and roll.
Matt and Kim @ 9:30 Club - 5/3/2018
Twerking, circle pits, the wave, confetti, balloons, crowd surfing, and inflatable sex dolls. Just another night with Matt and Kim.
The indie-pop duo of drummer Kim Schifino and keyboardist Matt Johnson have consistently won over crowds since the mid-2000s, but they hit an inflection point when Scifino tore her ACL at a festival appearance in Mexico in March 2017. They cancelled their remaining tour dates, but a torn ACL can’t stop them - they went straight to recording their next and latest album, Almost Everyday. The album was released just two hours after the end of their 9:30 Club show and is seen as a lyrical shift for the fun-loving duo. Lead single "Forever" is as catchy as it is straightforwardly pessimistic about how things are going in the world right now. But while some of their lyrics have a bit less youthful abandon, their live show is one of the most exuberant and fun experiences you'll ever get to take part in.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra @ 9:30 Club - 4/27/2018
Initially, Unknown Mortal Orchestra (UMO) gained popularity when Ruban Nielson, UMO’s songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist, uploaded the track “Ffunny Ffriends” back in 2010 on Bandcamp. By 2011, the psych-rock band released its self-titled debut album. Since then in a seven years timespan, the band of New Zealand origin has released three additional albums to include the recently released Sex & Food. For UMO’s tour stop at the 9:30 Club, it was apparent the band’s catalog over the years has garnered them an immense amount of love and respect amongst their fans.
Penguin Prison @ Black Cat - 4/18/2018
In the guide to the essential indie synth-pop musicians of the 2010s, Penguin Prison will absolutely make an appearance. Since 2009, Chris Glover’s one-man music-making and remixing operation has put out two albums alongside remixes for the likes of Ellie Goulding, Lana Del Rey, and Imagine Dragons. He’s got an ear for knowing how to get the masses to dance, and his latest EP keeps the streak going. Turn It Up is a compact quartet of toe-tapping tunes that deal with topics that are more introspective than songs past, focusing on adversity and uncertainty about the future. Sure, the lyrics are growing up, but the melodies are as catchy as ever.
Lucius @ Lincoln Theatre - 3/31/2018
The acoustic tour is almost an inevitability. Serving as a retrospective (see: Alanis Morrissette’s Jagged Little Pill Acoustic tour and Peter Frampton’s Acoustic Classics tour), artists will take it on after a one-off performance garners rave reviews (see: crowd demand to see an old favorite, or T-Pain post-Tiny Desk Concert). But still, the question begs, “Why go on an acoustic tour after only two albums?” Lucius’s live show has always featured an acoustic element, but only for one song before going back to their usual setup. Their debut album Wildewoman also toyed with Americana-tinged singer-songwriter music, like “Two of Us on the Run.” But after two albums, vocalists Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig have decided to take that fan favorite moment of their show and expand on it. Their third album Nudes features acoustic versions of select Lucius tracks from previous albums as well as a few covers, including a collaboration with Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters. It’s Lucius as fans have only received a sample of up to now, but at their sold-out Lincoln Theatre stop, they performed a fully-acoustic set that was nothing short of captivating from start to finish.