the Date: Thursday February 26, 2004
the Venue: 9:30 Club (DC)
(Photo credit to Joanna and her Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/people/jjlook/)
Weird War was the opening act. I completely missed their set, but heard great things from the other concert-goers. Dang!
The National was next. They were great. Aside from the lead singer, Matt Berninger, the band is composed of two sets of brothers, Aaron (guitar) and Bryce Dessner (guitar) and Scott (bass), and Bryan Devendorf (drums). I really liked their show and regretted not hitting the merch table to pick up new CDs … I love picking up new CDs!
The Walkmen was the main attraction. New York claims them (they live there after all), but DC is where all five of the Walkmen were raised and first rocked. The band, made up of Hamilton Leithauser (vocals/guitar),Walter Martin (organ/bass), Paul Maroon (guitar), Matt Barrick (drums), and Peter Bauer (orga/ bass), is just fantastic. Hamilton belts out banshee vocals while the band rocks out fractured rhythms. Awesome!
Ever since I caught their show at the Black Cat last August, I’ve been a HUGE fan and I couldn’t wait to see the Walkmen again. I loved both their first album, Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone
, and their second released earlier this month, Bows & Arrows
. Despite some sound issues (Hamilton’s microphone didn’t work for the first two songs!), this was a great show. My favorite tunes of the evening were Blizzard of ‘96, Wake Up, We’ve Been Had, My Old Man, Thinking of a Dream I Had, and Little House of Savages.Full setlist (not from this show but from one around this time, sorry this is the best I can do): What's In It For Me / The Rat / Wake Up / Rue The Day / 138th Street / Thinking of a Dream I Had / We've Been Had / New Year's Eve / Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone / Revenge Wears No Wristwatch / Bows and Arrows / Little House Of Savages / My Old Man
I’m waiting on a subway line …
