the Date: Wed November 19, 2008
the Venue: Rock and Roll Hotel (DC)
The lead singer from the Baptist Generals, a small indie band from Centro-Matic’s hometown of Denton, Tex-ass, played solo acoustic next. Get it? He was just One (1) Baptist General. Ha! Anyways, I don’t know much about the Baptist Generals, but I like what I heard.
This was probably the best Centro-Matic show I’ve seen. Will and the band were in good spirits and kept referring to their joy over the recent Obama win. Ahhh, another reason I love these guys. I feel like they played just about all of my favorites. They even performed the English Beat’s Save it for Later in their encore that took everyone by surprise and blew most of us away.
Full setlist: Love You Just the Same / Fountains of Fire / Call the Legion in Tonight / Flashes and Cables / Good As Gold / Mighty Midshipmen / The Rat Patrol and DJs / Quality Strange / I, The Kite / Covered Up in Mines / Calling Thermatico / Saving a Free Seat / Supercar / Blisters May Come / Strahan Has Corralled the Freaks /ENCORE / Save It For Later (The English Beat cover) / ?
just a reminder to all of us
that you ain’t the superstar
that we once thought you were ...
, Calexico’s most recent release, but they were sure to play many of the fan favorites. Of all the Calexico shows I’ve seen, this was the best. The rest of the crowd seemed to love the show too. There was plenty of dancing and the gritos were howled … Aaahhhuaaaayiiii! My personal highlights of the evening were Roka, Sunken Waltz, Two Silver Trees, El Gatillo (Trigger Revisited), Alone Again Or, and the final song of the evening, Guero Canelo.
, but their set spanned all four of their albums. My favorites of the night were Closer, Taper Jean Girl, Milk, Use Somebody, On Call, Slow Night, So Long, Knocked Up, and Charmer.
. My favorites of the evening included What’s in It for Me?, Wake Up, Louisiana, The Rat, Little House of Savages, Long Time Ahead of Us, and In the New Year (where Hamilton's voice crescendoed into a scream in the chorus). It was just an amazing performance from a band that I love. We even had a surprise guest appearance from Peter’s little boy. Awwwww.
. Many of the night’s tunes came from that album. I mean, they played nearly that entire album. Thankfully, they played tons of other songs too including some of my favorites, Off the Record, Anytime, Golden, Gideon, Lay Low and, of course, One Big Holiday. It’s also worth noting that they played Cobra, a rare tune off of the band’s 
EP … that’s like a 20 minute song!
compilation CD. One of the other bands on the CD was the Black Angels. I must have listened to Black Grease a million times. We’ve seen them a few times before, including under the blazing sun at Lollapalooza 2006 and down in Austin at a small club during the Austin City Limits Festival 2006 (Austin is where they’re from by the way). Needless to say, we love ‘em!
. My favorites were Black Grease (of course), Manipulation, Doves, and The Sniper at the Gates of Heaven. I’m sure the rest of the crowd left the club as I did, with ringing ears and a grin on my face. Thank you, Black Angels … thank you.
(a split/double album with their alter-ego South San Gabriel), that's aside from the 4 Centro-Matic EPs, the 3 South San Gabriel albums, and the 2 Will Johnson solo albums. These Texans have put out a whole heck of a lot of music!
, the setlist covered the entire Breeders catalog and even included some tunes from the Amps. My favorites (if there is such a thing as a favorite among favorites) were Huffer, No Aloha, Happiness is a Warm Gun, and the tear-jerker Here No More (apparently written about Kim and Kelly's mom and Alzheimer's disease). We just simply could not get enough. But you know what I love about the Breeders? EVERYTHING!
, the band did a great job of sampling the breadth and depth of their catalog. My personal favorites were I Will Follow You into the Dark, the drawn-out version of Cath…, and of course, Transatlanticism (great ending tune … even though it wasn't a rocker). You know, there's nothing quite like sipping margaritas on a summer evening with the blanket spread out on the lawn of Merriweather and having Ben Gibbard serenade you and the one you love. Aaawww, it makes my heart melt just like all the chocolate liqueur candies we ate.
, including Hold Up, The Switch and the Spur, These Stones Will Shout and Rich Kid Blues (awesome to hear live). There were still a number of tunes from their first album, 
. Among them, was a drawn-out version of Steady As She Goes, a haunting performance of Blue Veins, and a kick-you-in-the-ass rendition of Intimate Secretary. The energy really never let up the entire night. From Consolers of the Lonely (the first track of the new album) to Carolina Drama (the last track on the new album), the Raconteurs held nothing back as they played for nearly two full hours! It was evident that the audience couldn't get enough either cuz rarely have we seen a D.C. crowd so charged and lively on a school night. Suffice it to say that from wherever they may have originated - Nashville, Detroit or Cincinnati, the Raconteurs are loved in D.C.
. There was even one song that featured Danny boy behind a keyboard-sort-of-thing that, through some miracle of modern science, sounded like a guitar! My personal favorites of the night were 10 AM Automatic, Your Touch and the evening ender Till I Get My Way. Who knew that it was so cool to be from Akron, Ohio?
, but thankfully they played a few of my personal favorites such as Paranoid Android, Everything In Its Right Place, Pyramid Song, Idioteque, The National Anthem, Fake Plastic Trees and of course Karma Police (okay, so I have a lot of favorite Radiohead songs). One of my favorite moments of the evening (aside from the fleeting moments when I felt dry … or numb) was when my fiancée described Thom Yorke as a funny, crazy, little man dancing on the stage. We love you Thom. You're welcome back any time … just please, please use a different venue.
. My personal favorites were The Living Bubba, the eerie You and Your Crystal Meth, and Let There Be Rock. The evening ending cover of People Who Died with the Dexateens brought back on stage was pretty amazing too.