Album anniversary tours are proliferating in these post-pandemic times, and though the merits of each can be debated, rolling from city to city to celebrate a specific record affords a band the chance to breathe new life into its songs and remind how compelling they were to begin with.
DeVotchka formed in the late 1990s in Denver as a cabaret group to back burlesque shows. Around the turn of the century, the band solidified its lineup and began recording its own material shaped by a spectrum of influences, from Mexican folk to Eastern European immigrant dance.
But with the 2004 release of its fourth album, How It Ends, the quartet created a masterpiece, blending styles from all over the world into its own rich and stirring sound. DeVotchka’s been out on the road to end the summer and to mark 20 years since the initial release of How It Ends, playing the pivotal album almost in its entirety. The night of Sept. 14, the band found itself on stage, facing an exuberant audience at Black Cat in Washington DC.
With an invigorating performance that aroused and mesmerized those on hand, DeVotchka stylishly reaffirmed the lasting power and the stunning start-to-finish beauty of How It Ends.
Listen to DeVotchka’s masterpiece fourth album, How It Ends, recently re-released in remastered form, via Spotify:
As it has been since its beginning, DeVotchka was lifted Saturday night by the elegant vocals of Nick Urata, but he and each of his colleagues play an assortment of instruments to widen the band’s breadth and to give each tune its distinct character.
Urata wielded the guitar, bouzouki, theremin, and more, while Tom Hagerman — who also records his own material — played the violin, accordion, piano, and Melodica; Jeanie Schroder played upright bass and the massive sousaphone; and Shawn King played drums and percussion and handled trumpet duties, too.
Sergio Mendoza, another skilled multi-instrumentalist and the founder of the Tucson-based Sergio Mendoza y La Orkesta, has been rounding out the live shows, and his presence in DC as a do-it-all moving about the stage added to the set’s action.
Urata — who sipped and eventually gulped from a 2021 Pinot Noir he kept nearby — savored the moment, sharing tidbits and memories about how certain tracks were born.
“This is the first song that came to me and that led to the rest of the album,” he said before moving the room with his impassioned delivery of “You Love Me,” the record’s longing opener.
He suggested the audience sing along as it liked, cracking that he “wasn’t so sure” on some of the lyrics anymore. But he and his team would nail each piece with precision, building intensity along the way. Some compositions, Urata pointed out, were never really intended for live performance.
“But we’ve backed ourselves into a corner,” he grinned, shifting instruments and tuning as he spoke.
Matching the timing and enhancing the adhesive textures of How It Ends, DeVotchka didn’t simply recite it, but took pride in every track and took pleasure in the warm response — screams of joy — each drew from the crowd. Urata would gaze at his bandmates, nodding his head in approval of the most thrilling solos. He’d hold up his instrument to the cheers, respectfully bowing behind it and redirecting the applause to his team.
As longtime listeners know, How It Ends brought DeVotchka wide acclaim in various stages, as the record’s ominous title track was used to promote the motion picture adaption of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything is Illuminated, as well as a successful video game — Gears of War 2.
But it also piqued the interest of a pair of movie directors who enlisted DeVotchka to create the score for Little Miss Sunshine, an award-winning 2006 film starring Steve Carell. The compositions were crafted largely from songs on How It Ends, and the cinematic interpretations — now readily available on streaming services — only add to the longevity of the originals. Since then, Urata has gone on to create the music for a list of Hollywood films and animated features, with more in the works.
Watch DeVotchka perform “Straight Shot” for Live at WFUV via YouTube:
At Black Cat, he and his longtime friends left the stage after a wild and festive take on “Lunnaya Pogonka,” listed on the setlist as “Gypsy Jam.” By design, the band had saved the track of honor — “How It Ends” — for the encore, and in the dark confines of one of DC’s most storied venues, this unforgettable number and its inevitable gloom echoed like never before.
“Well, we made it through the whole album,” said Urata, who at one point balanced his bouzouki on his cranium and at another actually played it using the Pinot bottle.
“You got time for more?” he loaded his inquiry and of course DeVotchka tore into additional favorites, including “Straight Shot,” the opening adventure from 2019’s This Night Falls Forever.
Listen to DeVotchka’s 2019 studio album, This Night Falls Forever, via Spotify:
Though the pandemic temporarily prevented the band from making it to DC, Urata pointed out that DeVotchka had previously made regular stops in the nation’s capital. After the set, all five members came out to greet the audience, relishing with them in the special occasion and a long overdue return.
“Thanks for taking this journey with us,” Urata told the crowd, “and thanks for letting us come back year after year.”
Devotchka Setlist
You Love Me
Enemy Guns
No One Is Watching
Twenty-six Temptations
Charlotte Mittnacht (The Fabulous Destiny of)
We’re Leaving
Dearly Departed
Such A Lovely Thing
Too Tired
This Place Is Haunted
Gypsy Jam
Encore
How It Ends
Straight Shot
Clockwise
Contrabanda
Below are home-rolled/developed/scanned 35mm motion picture film photos of DeVotchka along with the night’s opening act, Rock Creek Kings, performing at Black Cat on Sept. 14, 2024. All images copyright and courtesy of Casey Ryan Vock.
DeVotchka
Rock Creek Kings
