SZA performs from the high dive for a sold-out Capital One Arena on Feb. 27, 2023. (Photo by AJ Waugh)
The water wonderland of SZA’s SOS Tour recently sold out DC’s Capital One Arena. The TDE songstress is on her first-ever arena tour in support of her platinum album of the same name.
The Messthetics (Photo by Antonia Tricarico)
The Messthetics — the instrumental trio formed by former Fugazi members bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty with guitarist Anthony Pirog — perform at the Black Cat on Saturday, March 18, on a bill with Quasi and James Brandon Lewis with special guests Bat Fangs.
Bill Callahan performs at Capital Turnaround on Feb. 28, 2023. (Photo by David LaMason)
Bill Callahan’s performance at Capital Turnaround Tuesday evening was a homecoming for the singer-songwriter. The child of language analysts for the National Security Agency, Callahan was born in Maryland and grew up in Silver Spring and later Columbia, as well as spending several years in England. Between songs, Callahan talked about his memories of attending shows in our area, mentioning the old 9:30 Club in particular.
Smino and J.I.D perform for a sold-out crowd at The Fillmore Silver Spring on Feb. 26, 2023. (Photo collage by AJ Waugh)
Hearts in the sky was the theme for night one of the sold-out Luv Is 4ever Tour, recently co-headlined by J.I.D and Smino at The Fillmore Silver Spring last Sunday. The duo sold out back-to-back nights at the venue.
Aoife O’Donovan (Photo by Omar Cruz)
In late 2021, Aoife O’Donovan shared an album-length live cover performance of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska for Bandcamp. Now, she takes her versions on the road for Aoife O’Donovan Plays Nebraska, which stops at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, on Wednesday, March 15.
Jeffrey Scott performs at the Music Maker Foundation’s showcase at the National Gallery of Art on Feb. 26, 2023. (Photo by Timothy Duffy)
On Sunday afternoon, the National Gallery of Art hosted a series of four concerts sponsored by the Music Maker Foundation: blues guitarists Jeffrey Scott and Gail Caesar, sacred soul band The Dedicated Men of Zion, and blues vocalist Pat “Mother Blues” Cohen.
The concerts, which were free to the public, were well attended; at the first two, held on the mezzanine of the Gallery’s East building on the National Mall, the audience overflowed the available seating, with a number of folks sitting against the walls, and even just on the open floor.
The Bad Plus, recently morphed into a quartet, performs at Keystone Korner in Baltimore on Feb. 23, 2023. (Photo by Casey Vock)
Some projects are simply too good to be stopped, even if the name might suggest otherwise.
The Bad Plus came into being on a bit of a whim, and the extolled experimental jazz band from the Upper Midwest has been through a few permutations in its day. But with its current lineup and the release last fall of the band’s fifteenth studio album, the group has again redefined itself and at the same time managed to renew its place as one of the leading improvisational outfits making music today.
Yelle performs at 9:30 Club on Feb. 25, 2023. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)
Julie Budet began her recent 9:30 Club show in the middle of the stage, clad in in a full-face glitter mask and a trench coat. As beams of light illuminated her, they struck her face in a disco-ball effect, giving Julie the air of an otherworldly and mysterious creature here to delight us with French electropop.
Julie, of course, is Yelle, the lead singer of the same-named European band, and she began their highly anticipated show at 9:30 Club with “Emancipense,” from the band’s 2020 album L’Ère du Verseau. That album did not receive a USA tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and so Yelle made up for lost time with a dazzling performance dominated by that fourth studio record.
Jeremy Greenspan fronts Junior Boys at Black Cat on Feb. 24, 2023. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)
Junior Boys, a smooth Canadian synth outfit leading into R&B, recently returned to Black Cat after roughly seven years away with a new album, Waiting Game, to soothe our restless spirits.
Maya Hawke (Photo by Celine Sutter)
Actress Maya Hawke is also an accomplished folk musician with two full-length albums to her credit. She released her most recent album, Moss, last year via Mom + Pop. Now, Maya comes to the 9:30 Club for two shows — on Wednesday, March 15, and Thursday, March 16.
