The Ting Tings bang the drums at 9:30 Club in 2009

Katie White, in a space age dress with a sweater around the waist, was all about destroying the stage with dance. Nothing was safe from her furious motion. Not the microphone stands or the cords that got twisted and unplugged or the drum, the drum, the drum that fell after repeated banging.

After awhile, she gave the stage hand a shout out for being the hero of the night, repeatedly putting things back in perfect order, until she danced back through.

After a 3-year absence, Katie White and Jules de Martino, who make up The Ting Tings out of Manchester, returned in full dance mode to the 9:30 Club with their new album, Super Critical, and tour. The new songs are part disco and a few, like “Only Love”, are reminiscent of their first album, We Started Nothing.

This marked he fifth time I’ve seen The Ting Tings play live, and this was most certainly their best performance yet. With three albums worth of material to play, they took the packed club on a 13 song odyssey.

They spent much of the night doling out gems from Super Critical and We Started Nothing. They largely skipped their second album except to play “Hang It Up” and “Give It Back” early on in the show.

New songs like “Communication”, takes one back to early 90’s electronic dance, and “Green Poison” gives off a whiff of funk. Katie opened the latter by requesting the light crew to shine the nastiest green lights they can find.

The crowd was constantly in motion, feeding off of Katie’s smooth vocals and the peppy beats from Jules.

The Ting Tings are back. You need to pick up their new album and start your own dance party.

KANEHOLLER opened for The Ting Ting’s during this early Saturday show. The electro singing-songwriting duo of Chelsea Tyler and Jon Foster formed in Brooklyn in 2011 under the name “badbad” and are now based in Venice, CA.

This was their first show ever in DC. They seemed pleased to be here and played a number of catchy electro-dance songs like “Paper Games” and “Evermore”. Chelsea Tyler often resembled an electronic version of Alanis Morissette in motion.

A fine set that got the crowd loose and ready for The Ting Tings.

The Ting Ting’s Set List

Do It Again
Shut Up and Let Me Go
Hang It Up
Great DJ
Communication
Give It Back
Fruit Machine
Only Love
That’s Not My Name
Wrong Club
Green Poison
Hands
Super Critical