Ticket Giveaway: GWAR @ 9:30 Club, 12/27/19
GWAR (Photo courtesy Freeman Promotions)
Conquering alien overlords GWAR ransack 9:30 Club on Friday, Dec. 27, on their Use Your Collusion Tour, and you can win tickets to go with Parklife DC.
Preview: Twin Peaks @ Black Cat, 12/11/19
Twin Peaks (Photo courtesy of Pitch Perfect PR)
Chicago stoner rockers Twin Peaks will grace our nation’s capital with their headlining event at Black Cat on Wednesday, Dec. 11.
Preview: Béla Fleck and The Flecktones @ Strathmore Music Center, 12/2/19
Béla Fleck and The Flecktones (Photo courtesy the artist)
In 1988, groundbreaking banjoist Béla Fleck was asked to put together his “dream band” for the Lonesome Pine Specials television series. The resulting band was The Flecktones, and they launched their first official tour a year later. Now, Bela Fleck and The Flecktones mark their 30th anniversary at the Strathmore Music Center on Monday, Dec. 2.
Snapshots: Killing Joke @ Capital One Arena — 11/25/19
Killing Joke performs at Capital One Arena on Nov. 25, 2019. (Photo by Chris Smyth)
Tool burned through DC recently to close the band’s Fear Inoculum Tour in spectacular fashion, and to our surprise the prog rockers brought along perhaps the best possible opening act — English post-punks Killing Joke.
The gothic quartet even shared a bow with Tool at the end of the stage. Given that this was quite a combination, Chris Smyth took some photos of Killing Joke performing at Capital One Arena to open Tool recently.
Live Review: Tool @ Capitol One Arena — 11/25/19
Tool performs at Capital One Arena on Nov. 25, 2019. (Photo by Chris Smyth)
For the band’s final performance of 2019, prog-metal icons Tool brought the Fear Inoculum Tour to Capitol One Arena recently. Known for putting on one of the best concert performances across all genres of music, Maynard James Keenan and company did not disappoint. A light- and laser-filled spectacle, a Tool show is a two-hour long sensory overload.
Preview: The Joy Formidable @ Rock and Roll Hotel, 11/29/19
The Joy Formidable (Photo by Steve Reynolds)
The Joy Formidable celebrates the 10th anniversary of the band’s debut EP, A Balloon Called Moaning, at Rock and Roll Hotel on Friday, Nov. 29, with The Ten Years Floating Tour.
Live Review: Fruit Bats @ Union Craft Brewing — 11/23/19
Fruit Bats rock Union Craft Brewing on Nov. 23, 2019. (Photo by David LaMason)
There’s a comfort to the Fruit Bats’ music. Eric D. Johnson writes songs that seem to glide from over the hills from the West Coast to this year’s fantastic Gold Past Life on the band’s new label, Merge Records.
Live Review: Chris Knight @ City Winery — 11/22/19
Chris Knight (Photo courtesy Thirty Tigers)
Slaughters, Kentucky native Chris Knight makes gritty, powerful country music. Eschewing the country pop of the Nashville machine, he records sparsely produced albums that draw the listener’s attention to his compelling lyrics. Live, he performs solo and acoustic, delivering the lyrics with fittingly gruff vocals, as he did at City Winery DC recently.
Live Review: Clan of Xymox @ Union Stage — 11/21/19
Ronny Moorings fronts Clan of Xymox at Union Stage on Nov. 21, 2019. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)
I’m going to say it right out of the gate — Clan of Xymox deserve to be a much bigger act than they are.
As seen at DC’s Union Stage recently, frontman Ronny Moorings and company walk a straight line through buoyant synthpop — a bit more dark and distracted than their contemporaries in New Order and a bit less complicated than The Cure.
Snapshots: Gaelic Storm @ The Birchmere – 11/21/19
Gaelic Storm on stage at The Birchmere, where they played to a sold-out audience, Nov. 21, 2019. (Photo by Ari Strauss)
Gaelic Storm breezed into town recently to perform in front of a sold-out crowd at The Birchmere. It was the band’s 41st appearance at the iconic Northern Virginia music since forming as a Santa Monica, California pub band in the mid-1990s.
