Author Archives: Richie Downs

When St. Vincent took the stage at the 9:30 Club on Saturday for part one of her two-night stay in DC, something magical happened. It wasn’t just the anticipation of the night’s performance that was about to happen before our eyes, and it wasn’t even the overly striking appearance of the evening’s supremely talented and toned siren. It was the culmination of both.

There was in fact this precise moment at the show’s beginning, when the spotlights first snapped on to reveal her captivating yet sullen profile, when you could feel every motion and sound in the venue slow down for just a few seconds—a lull in time if you will. The venue’s sold-out crowd went into a continuous roar to welcome the beloved singer back to DC to play her flawless set.

For St. Vincent (Annie Clark), her stunning stage presence and electrifying performance sits just atop the mere surface of her ever-evolving career. This multi-instrumentalist and now somewhat prolific vocalist/lyricist has planted some very deep roots along her musical journey. She has collaborated and recorded with indie-rock and new-wave music royalty, the likes of Andrew Bird, Bon Iver, Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls, Michael Gira of Swans, The National, and David Bryne of the Talking Heads, with whom she released the collaborative album Love This Giant in 2012.

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After a productive afternoon of record shopping and conversation with The Casket Girls at Som Records, we meet up with the eerie-pop act from Savannah Georgia at DC9 to catch their live show and capture a few photos of the ladies in action.

What seemed like a revolving cast of interchangeable band-mates through the night’s four-band line-up was in actuality a roving tour of musicians that play together on each other’s sets seamlessly. The guitarist from the third band was the bassist for the first, the guitar player from the first group played keyboard in the fourth band’s set, and so on. I even think the drummer played on three out of four sets that night. It was obvious that this tour was a tight-knit operation, and all the musicians played extremely well together.

Coined as the “Graveface Roadshow 2014,” the evening’s line-up included The Casket Girls, The Stargazer Lillies, Dreamend, and special guests Creepoid.

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Valentines Day: as old lovers and new young couples lined the streets of our lovely city holding hands and walking closely to one another, a large crowd gathered in the foyer of George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium.

The smiling faces and soft whispers in the crowd were a definite sign of everyone’s anticipation for the night’s upcoming show. Love was in the air, and the wide-eyed show-goers were all there to see the talented and lovely Rosanne Cash, whom we also interviewed a few weeks ago.

Her presence on stage was warm and inviting as she confidently walked out to greet the packed auditorium.

As she strummed the first chord on her guitar, you could just see by the look in her eyes that she brings the same love to greet her fans that she puts into her music.

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The name Murder City Devils alone could be enough to raise your curiosity enough to get you to come out and see this band play live. However, the band played to a modest, but in all fairness, very enthusiastic, crowd at The Fillmore Silver Spring this past Sunday night. I personally thought that all the psychopaths and punkers left in our lovely city would be killing each other to get into this show, but I guess the light snow flurries scared them away. 

The riff-heavy Seattle-based Murder City Devils formed in 1996 and has put out four full-length albums, one live album, a box set, and has released more than a handful of singles, not to mention about a bazillion cool t-shirts and old-school show fliers.

Murder City Devils had been on my radar for a number of years now, but I have never had the opportunity to see them play live. I have to say, the band was everything I thought they would be: solid, loud, and energetic. The Devils certainly didn’t disappoint, and in fact, I thought they played their guts out.

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Finally out of our turkey hangovers, we’re catching up on our live-concert coverage after the holiday.—Ed. 

On her second trip to DC this year, Pink, the reining queen of pop-rock, played to a completely sold-out crowd at the Verizon Center. On tour to promote her sixth full-length studio album The Truth About Love, her tour is a fun-filled, wild ride of sorts, and is truly entertaining from beginning to end. Pink’s relentless high-energy attitude and on-stage theatrics radiate positivity and seemed to feed the crowd this happiness that really can’t be described in words. Her fans are simply elated to see her.

From the show’s first downbeat, Pink is launched from stage level high into the air, suspended by wires as she performs a series of trapeze-like in-air acrobatics, all while she delivers the evening’s first song, “Raise your Glass.” Fans really broke the needle off the scream-o-meter, happily singing along as Pink flew around the place and blasted real pyrotechnics between her and the gigantic video board behind her, which displayed stylish images from old ads to vampires throughout her performance. This tour really gives new meaning to the term “elaborate stage productions.” Every aspect of of it was very well-thought-out and superbly entertaining.

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Finally out of our turkey hangovers, we’re catching up on our live-concert coverage after the holiday.—Ed.

When Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller of Sleigh Bells took the stage at the 9:30 Club, they were not alone. Along with the tightly packed, sold-out crowd of DC music-goers they drew in off the unseasonably cold streets that night, this Brooklyn, New York-based powerhouse duo came to the club ready to rock, complete with drummer Chris Maggio and guitar player Ryan Primack.

The addition of having a full live band on the road with them not only brought a fuller and more rich sound to their set, it brought the energy level of the club to extraordinary heights. I had never seen Sleigh Bells play with a full band before, and I have to say, their set was quite amazing and a completely different animal from their recordings.

Krauss has enough stage presence and exuberance on her own on to project her vocals right through anyone standing within a few city blocks of her. Sleigh Bells puts on a great live show even with electronic drums and queued computer tracks. Krauss is certainly enough of a performer to get through to her audience no matter what the stage situation is, but somehow seeing her play with a full live band magnifies all of her efforts and takes her to this quasi-Mick-Jagger/Robert-Plant-like state, at least in my mind.

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So, we’ll let you in on a little secret and scoop ourselves, we took the quite lovely Charli XCX and Chloe Chaidez of Kitten record shopping at DC’s Som Records this past Saturday for a filmed piece that’ll debut here soon.

Both Charli and Chloe are genuine, warm, and engaging—a good hang as we used to say in Jersey.

Yet, something happens when both hit the stage that’s nothing short of transformative. We sent intrepid photographer Richie Downs to chronicle the evening in images…that left us at a loss for words. —Ed.

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If you were lucky enough to be at the 9:30 Club last Wednesday night, you witnessed one of hell of a performance from rising stars Poliça.

The band, who hail from Minneapolis, Minnesota, are touring to support their second full-length album, Shulamith, which was released last month. Poliça brought their mix of haunting vocal work and melodic grooves to DC for their fans to enjoy. During the show, vocalist Channy Leaneagh told the audience that Poliça had played their very first show at the 9:30 Club and that she was glad to be back.

The band consists of Leaneagh on vocals, bassist Chris Bierden, drummers Ben Ivascu and Drew Christopherson, and producer Ryan Olson. Since their formation in 2011, Poliça has been steadily gaining momentum in their songwriting, as well as extending their fan base.

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