MOG

As mentioned before, the wife and I visited the 9:30 Club in DC to see DC-101's Non-Denominational Christmas Show. After Indiepixie's rebuke I guess I do owe everyone a review.
As one might expect of Washington DC in December, it was a cold, snowy night as we trekked our way down near Howard University. When we arrived, the line to get in was down the block and around the corner, so we did what we could to keep warm until the doors opened at 8 PM:

I don't know how far back the line ended up going, but when we got in the people in front of us seemed more concerned with getting drinks than with getting position, so we made our way to center stage, about four people back.

And there we waited for the first band on the card, Silversun Pickups. We had seen them before at the the DC-101 Chili Cookoff, but this was a far more intimate venue. I was able to get this shot of Nikki Monninger:

Unfortunately (and unbeknownst to me), this was a "No Cameras" show, so about one song later security kindly tapped me on the shoulder and confiscated my camera (don't worry, I got it back at the end of the night). Alas, the remainder of the pictures are coutesy of the "official" photographer.
SSPU got the evening off to the right start with the energy you expect from them, but don't often see from the first band on stage. One can see how much they've achieved over the past six months, given how much more this crowd was into their set compared to the crowd at the Chili Cookoff. The set was excellent, leaving the venue noticibly still without Brian's failing and spinning or Nikki's stiff bopping.


Next to move right through was Finger Eleven. Every character in that band seems to be a cliche:
Scott Anderson, Vocals - The broken front man, Scott poured humself into the microphone, although we wondered what he might be on, given his constant scratching, face slapping, and bottled water guzzling.
James Black, Guitar - Skinny, check. Tattooed, check. Mohawk, check. Ready to rock.
Rick Jackett, Guitar - Picture the typical bearded metal guitarist with hair down past the small of his back. Then add in a fight with his guitar strap that prevented him from having it on or off for more than 15 seconds at a time, and you've got Rick.
Sean Anderson, Bass - How did he get into the band? Sean was the only inanimate member of the band, just quietly going about his business. Seemed like he would have been more comfortable with SSPU.
Rich Beddoe, Drums
Seriously, Animal is the only word to properly describe Rich. Between his Michael Jordan impersonations (sticking his tongue out), talking to himself, and rhythmically licking his drumstick I was surprised there was any time for him to wail out the percussions that laid the foundation for the set.
They put on quite the set between the music, energy, and antics across the whole stage. Interestingly they used a weird hollow-bodied guitar for the melody in One Thing. The only thing I can compare it to is some electric violins where they just have the wire frame but no wood panels on the body. It all climaxed in their "arrangement" of Paralyzer that included transitions into Fraz Ferdinand's Take Me Out and Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall, amongst others. Quite the setup for...


Papa Roach. If emo were badass, you'd get the lead singer Jacoby Shaddix. That about sums up these guys. That, and their ability to completely destroy anyone's resistence to rocking out. The set was a seventy minute rollercoaster across their entire catalogue, from Last Resort to Reckless. From one side of the stage to the other, out into the crowd, walking across the bar - there wasn't a place Jacoby wasn't willing to go to intensify the crowd. I was delighted by both the number of songs of theirs I knew as well as how much I got into theit set. They even got the Mrs to \m/ and jump up and down for most of the set!
The 9:30 club was a great venue, reminding me of what a couple of other shows I should have seen there over the past year. We left completely pumped up and completely exhausted at the same time.
The only way to rock.
--Torch