TVD Live: The Wombats and The Postelles at the 9:30 Club, 10/21

An early show at 9:30 Club meant that the crowd was an interesting combination of high school and college students and “casual Friday” young professionals. The Wombats and The Postelles drew a diverse crowd that participated in the show by dancing, singing, and occasionally crowd surfing.

The Postelles played up their DC connections by talking about singer Daniel Balk’s brother who is a student at GW. Balk even gave his brother a shout out and told the ladies that his brother “is much better looking.” By the time they played my personal favorite, “She She,” the way some of the girls in front of the stage acted made me think that Daniel is in fact the better looking brother.

Throughout their set, The Postelles showed off their skilled vocals and radio-friendly lyrics. One thing that struck me about The Postelles was how they acted like friends onstage. You could tell they were having fun up there, and that made me enjoy their set even more.

As the middle slot in a three band show, which started off with The Static Jacks, The Postelles did exactly what they needed to do—they got the crowd energized. By the time they played a Ramones cover, I knew they were nearing the end of the set, and I was sad about it. Somehow they made me forget that I had just left my office an hour before and made sure the fun of the weekend started as soon as they began playing. In between songs, Balk commented that even though it was an early show, it felt later and that playing in DC was more fun than the NYC show they played earlier in the week. That is a high compliment from an NYC native.

One drawback to playing second of three bands is that The Postelles had limited time and couldn’t budget for an encore. They made up for it by playing songs such as “White Night” toward the end of the set and then exiting stage with an artistic flourish. Luckily for all involved, The Postelles are returning to the 9:30 Club on November 20th, on tour with The Kooks.

I first was drawn to The Wombats because of their name, then I got hooked by their oh-so-catchy tune “Let’s Dance to Joy Division.” Even though I had to wait until the last song of the five song encore to hear my favorite song, it was well worth the wait. The Wombats know how to put on a show. With a professional ease that is reminiscent of my other favorite boys from Liverpool, they performed an even mix of old and new, fast and slow.

Also, no matter what the tempo or tone of the song, bassist Tord Overland-Knudsen danced around the stage. I found this to be highly entertaining, and it made me feel more comfortable about dancing like crazy, which may have been his goal.

I would be remiss not to mention singer Matthew Murphy’s red shoes. How cool are they?? Not only do they have a unique sound, but The Wombats have unique styles as well.

Overall, the mood of the night at 9:30 Club was very happy-go-lucky, which is perfect for an end of the work (school?) week in DC. Maybe it was the upbeat tone of the bands, or maybe it was the young demographic of the crowd, but this concert reminded me of why I started going to concerts years ago.

Photos by Emily Cohen and Alison Tremblay

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