Up until last night, every rock show I've been to has featured a relatively successful band performing in a mid to large-size venue. Whether it's been the Kings of Leon (Patriot Center), Muse (Merriweather Post Pavilion), Arctic Monkeys (9:30 Club), My Morning Jacket (DAR Constitution Hall), or Pearl Jam (Verizon Center), the concerts were less intimate than I would have hoped.
But I was up close and personal last night at the DC9, a small club located a block away from Howard University in downtown D.C. The show came with all the pros and cons characteristic of a small gig, so I hopefully got the full experience of a concert of its kind.
First, the proximity to the musicians was outstanding. My girlfriend, Kerry, and I were less than three feet from the stage, so we were able to hear all of the on-stage banter between the musicians. Around us were less than 150 fans altogether; the sober ones would chat with the musicians between songs while the more tipsy ones would generally raise their bottles of cheap beer and holler in a drunken stammer, "Let me play drums!" or even the cliched, "FREEEEEBIRD!!" The musicians would just just smile and carry on.
But with the benefits to a small show came the fallbacks, and there were plenty: Free Energy showed up an hour late, the concert began 50 minutes later than advertised, and there were more technical problems than in a high-school talent show. The guitarist for Free Energy couldn't get his distortion pedal to work, the drummer's stool broke halfway into Clovers' set, and there was endless tinkering with the volume controls.
While all of this would certainly be frustrating to an audience member waiting for the show to start, it was funny to see that the musicians onstage had the same basic issues I had when jamming with friends in high school. There was so much equipment near the back of the stage that the drummer for Clovers had to find a path wide enough to maneuver back to the drumset. He would try one avenue, fail, then mosey over to the other side. Eventually he had to push his way through the cymbals and amplifiers, knocking over beer bottles and wires in the process.
Clovers had a short 30-minute set. Nothing out of this world. Above is a video of the band performing "Crystal Math," one of the tracks also heard last night. Their slow-burning groove was an adequate segue to Free Energy, the high-fueled quintet whose recent singles have been prominently featured on publications like Pitchfork. With a little hook and a little headbang to each song, Free Energy crafted a set of tunes that were just enough pop and just enough punk. After their 45-minute set, fans behind me were shouting, "One more song! One more song!"
Side Note: The band reeked of BO. The bassist walked right by me to pick up his instrument and I immediately felt like I was in Jerry Seinfeld's car after the valet driver had gotten out. I guess non-stop touring for a few months deprives musicians of some of the benefits most taken for granted in life, i.e. the occasional shower. But the guys were nice to talk to. I chatted with the rhythm guitarist outside after the show, and he seemed genuinely happy to have a growing fan base. After playing Letterman this week, Free Energy is set to perform at South by Southwest alongside bands like Neon Indian and Real Estate (whose concert I'm going to on the 27th of this month).
By this time, it was about 10:55 PM, and because of the late start and technical problems, Foreign Born had not taken to the stage. The biggest logistical problem of the night was getting home. The last Metro car ran at 12 midnight, so I knew Kerry and I would have to leave the show midway through the set. We were eventually able to see the band play just four tracks off the new record, Person to Person. The first songs performed were "Early Warnings," "That Old Sun," "Winter Games," and "Blood Oranges." The vibrant, percussive feel assured that the songs transferred well into a live setting.
What I love most about Foreign Born are the lush, fluid harmonies that permeate throughout each song; the vocals served to expand the already atmospheric, dreamy feel of the instrumental arrangements. This was heard best on "Blood Oranges," where the trance-inducing outro came to a sudden halt, leaving only the few voices to ring out the line, "Valley's Low." It was mesmerizing.
I would love to have written more about Foreign Born, but inconvenient public transportation wasn't doing me any favors. From what I heard from the first four tracks, the band sounded great, and they most likely performed the rest of their latest release and maybe even some new tracks. But it was an overall fun night that offered a new concert experience for the low price of $12. Comparing that to my last show (Muse was $55), this concert was a bargain. And I got a T-Shirt!
Real Estate on March 27th at the Rock n Roll Hotel. Can't wait!
