Preview: Hiss Golden Messenger @ 9:30 Club, 10/20/23
Acclaimed Grammy-nominated band Hiss Golden Messenger performs at 9:30 Club on Friday, Oct. 20, in support of their recent album Jump for Joy (Merge Records).
Preview: Morrissey @ The Anthem, 10/18/23
Influential English rockers The Smiths released “Hand in Glove,” the band’s debut single, 40 years ago! The Smiths had a profound impact on music at many levels, and chief among those wave-making vibes were the witty and occasionally acerbic lyrical power of frontman Morrissey.
Morrissey, of course, has maintained a storied solo career since 1988, and the Mancunian singer-songwriter celebrates his 40 years in music with a performance at The Anthem in DC on Wednesday, Oct. 18.
Live Review: Iris DeMent @ The Birchmere — 10/10/23
“My whole religious thing is pretty broad,” Iris DeMent told the audience at The Birchmere Tuesday. “I don’t fit into any category.” But it’s a deep faith, one committed to love and justice.
Born in Paragould, Arkansas, in the Mississippi Delta, DeMent was the fourteenth and youngest child in her family. Her family moved to the Los Angeles area when she was just three, but she inherited the culture — and clearly, the accent — of her Delta heritage, as well as their faith. Her parents were Pentecostal, and, as she said during her set, she grew up believing in the Rapture. She didn’t like school, and she often “laid up all night praying for the Rapture, so I wouldn’t have to go to school.”
Live Review: Maisie Peters w/ Grace Enger @ 9:30 Club — 10/9/23
“There’s nothing scarier than my romantic history… I love ghosts, I like demons, but I LOVE clowns!” Maisie Peters recently joked with her sold-out audience at the 9:30 Club. The fall spooky vibes were abundant, between the allusions to her “scary” past relationships, lyrics that sing of the month of October, and dramatic lighting.
After all, the album she is supporting on tour is called The Good Witch.
Preview: Melt @ 9:30 Club, 10/14/23
New York indie soul band Melt released their breakout single, “Sour Candy,” in 2017, and the song soared to No. 5 on Billboard’s US Viral 50 Chart when the band members were just 18 years old.
In 2021, the band released their debut EP, West Side Highway, and they have been releasing new singles like “Fade Into You” and “Walk to Midnight” since then. They perform their growing catalog of songs at 9:30 Club on Saturday, Oct. 14.
Preview: Gregory Alan Isakov @ The Anthem, 10/13/23
GRAMMY-nominated singer, songwriter, and musician Gregory Alan Isakov continues his extensive headline tour with a show at The Anthem in DC on Friday, Oct. 13. Lucius joins Gregory as special guests to open the show!
Live Review: Billy Joel @ M&T Bank Stadium — 10/7/23
“It’s 9 o’clock on a Saturday / the regular crowd shuffles in,” Billy Joel sang recently to a packed and eager M&T Bank Stadium. But this wasn’t any regular Saturday in Baltimore. The Orioles were wrapping up the first of the American League Division Series as fans made their way to see the rare co-headlining Two Icons, One Night Tour with the musical legends Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks.
As the crowds slowly made their way to the stadium through the bottlenecked parkways and side roads, the first chill of the Fall seemed to blanket the area. And they were still making their way in as Stevie Nicks took the stage for an incredible set heavy on both Fleetwood Mac hits as well as solo favorites. But the highlight of Nicks’ set was the genuine surprise when Billy Joel joined her onstage to sing the Tom Petty classic “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.”
As Joel and Nicks sang the two of them seemed to be having genuine fun and sounded like two kids having the time of their life.
Snapshots: Tom Odell @ Howard Theatre — 10/6/23
Tom Odell released his fifth studio album, Best Day of My Life, last year via UROK. And now the acclaimed English singer-songwriter is back with a new single, “Black Friday.”
In a recent show at Howard Theatre, Tom performed the new song along with selections from his studio albums. Micaela Cerball was there to photograph the show!
Live Review: Bob Mould w/ Jason Narducy @ The Atlantis — 10/6/23
I am always impressed by the level of energy Bob Mould brings to his live shows. I’ve seen him three times, and, each time, he’s been a livewire performer, as he was at a recent sold-out show at The Atlantis in DC. He may be decades removed from fronting Hüsker Dü, but he still brings the fire and the fury, along with searing electric rock.
Live Review: Pink Talking Fish @ Pearl Street Warehouse — 10/4/23
Pink Talking Fish, the hybrid tribute band that melds together the sounds of three of the world’s most cherished bands — Pink Floyd, Talking Heads, and Phish — brought its unique act to DC’s The Wharf recently with a show at Pearl Street Warehouse on Oct. 4.
I first encountered the band while on a trip to Chicago two years ago with childhood friends. A tribute to not one, but three bands we began following together as kids; what could be better? Between their superior musicianship and trippy light show, I couldn’t wait for the band to make its way to DC where I could photograph them for this publication.
