Tonight we have a show loaded with harDCore bands and Go-Go bands from days of old to celebrate the Corcoran Gallery's "Pump Me Up" exhibit featuring art of the famous DC music scenes. I have not seen the exhibit yet, but plan a visit prior to the April 7th close. Henry Rollins is here to host and introduce the bands tonight and there are a lot of bands here to fill in the eight plus hours the club is open today and tonight. That is a lot of time to spend on the concrete balcony, so I did not stay for all of it, but here is what I took in...
Worlds Collide - A more 'modern era' hardcore band gets things underway with their metal tinged strong and assertive songs. Dense, straight ahead and good solid opening set to greet the surprisingly large crowd here at 4pm.
Static Disruptors - Playin' the DC Groove is what this old Go-Go collective does here with their half-hour set. There some original members that go back to 1980 and some younger guys. Plenty of brass helps, but the sound is mostly percussive. The vocalist looked and sounded like he belonged in Nashville instead of fronting this collective.
Youth Brigade - Two shows in two months? What seemed impossible is now becoming routine. I enjoyed their last set quite a bit. It seemed a bit rougher tonight and I am thinking their has not been much rehearsal in between shows, which is understandable. The closer was again "Stepping Stone" with guests like John Stabb helping out. Not as much magic tonight and that may have been in part due to the pace being closer to the Monkees than SOA. Oddly enough, the 'other' Youth Brigade from the west coast was playing with the Cockney Rejects in Baltimore tonight. My head is spinning.
Junkyard - Another Go-Go collective here with a powerful sound. The multiple vocalists were quite good as their voices harmonized a bit and the dance steps got the crowd worked up for the first time tonight. The percussionists were fantastic and songs were coming out non-stop. This set was excellent, fresh and popping.
Black Market Baby - These guys retire more than Terry Funk. But I am happy to catch their set as I did not have a golden ticket to their Black Cat show in December. Their signature old style punk song structure played at hardcore pace was still working well tonight. I enjoyed it as did much of the crowd. Before their set Henry Rollins mention that he didn't like calling something a problem (at least the third time he talked about not doing something before doing it with different wording), but instead said that problems were solutions waiting to happen and everyone in the room is the solution, so go out there and be the solution. Apparently, that did not extend to the monitors which some of the band struggled with. The drummer threw a fit and his sticks a song before he called off the set prior to what was to be their closing number. Awkward and a fitting time for me to take this aching body home before I need a cane to get me there (I saw three canes tonight).
Quote of the Night: from Mr. Rollins while introducing Junkyard... "As we go deeper and deeper and further and further into the night... well, I don't like to play favorites, but I've waiting for this for a long time."
And people actually pay to hear him talk... a cover charge... three times what we can pay for a good Velvet Lounge show... I would pay to see Rollins sing in the Black Flag reunion. Unfortunately, after decades of no Black Flag, there are now two factions revisiting those classics. So Henry is possibly the wisest of all of them, steering clear of the mess.
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