crowd control

A whirlwind of activities yesterday - some planned for an extended period, some not. I had a ticket to the Dawes show last night at the 9:30 Club but doors were at 8p, the opener (Sara Watkins) at 9p, Dawes at 10p. Throughout the day I was trying desperately to figure out a way to avoid my normal show arrival (one hour prior to doors to get a sweet seat upstairs) because I didn't much feel like leaving work, hitting the city for a bite, and then spending almost five hours at the club. At about 4pm I was hit by a brilliant idea: I bought L. and I tickets to see Wes Anderson's newest, Moonrise Kingdom. We met in town about 5:30 grabbed dinner at Cedar (her early prom dinner), and caught the 7p show in Penn Quarter. Post-show timed out just right for me to skidaddle over to the club and arrive in a more timely manner.

L. and I both love Anderson so the movie was a pleasure, as expected. This was it's national opening and based on what I've read and seen (sold out last night) my suspicion is that this one will breakthrough and garner him, and his crew of actors, much more attention than what he's seen from the cultists over the last 15 years. I'm not going to ramble on with a review because if you like Anderson you'll love the film, if not, you won't. I think it's his best yet.

The Dawes show was excellent; the crowd was middling to poor. Not in a "they didn't enjoy the band" sense, in a shitty crowd sense. One thing that I've noticed at nearly every 9:30 Club show, and always in the summer, is that the floor crowd is horrid. I don't know if the transplants to D.C. are the worst of America, or if summer brings out the worst. I've covered the basic rules of floor spectation at concerts, but it appears the normal 9:30 crowd refuses to read my blog. Even if they don't, experience shows at concerts and if you attend more than one every five years you might get the swing of the deal. I've been to hundreds of club shows all over America and the 9:30 Club is head-and-shoulders above (worse?) than any place I've ever been; it always weighs on my mind before I decide to head to that venue.* The better part was the band - these guys are great live. Excellent mixing at the board, lyrics understandable, band simply up to the task of blasting it out on a Friday night. I'm happy to see them exploding and packing such a big club.

L. has her prom tonight so I'll try to update with pictures (steam punk theme) later tonight.

* I realize that a good bit of this is me - don't rant back. I've decided to move regions on the floor the next time I'm there. If you look around you can see pockets of fans who are often better than where I might end up standing, but sometimes the hatred of the group of jackasses is too gravitational strong to escape...