Best of the Year: Top 10 Photos of 2018 by Jason

Posted on 12/17/2018 by Jason Nicholson "Le Mouton Flâneur" in Live Review and tagged 9:30 Club, Belly, Best of 2018, best of the year, Black Cat, Daniel Ash, Dave Vanian, Gail Greenwood, Gary Numan, johnny marr, Lisa Stansfield, Peter Hook, Peter Hook and The Light, Poptone, Psychedelic Furs, Richard Butler, Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts Center, Roger Daltrey, The Birchmere, The Charlatans, The Charlatans UK, The Damned, The Fillmore Silver Spring, The Who, U Street Music Hall, Union Transfer, Wolf Trap.

Johnny Marr slings his guitar at The Fillmore Silver Spring on Oct. 17, 2018. Jason Nicholson chose a picture from this show (but not this one) as one of his Top 10 of 2018. (Photo by Jason Nicholson)

Editor’s Note: This year, we asked our bloggers to name their Top 10 shows of 2018 or choose their Top 10 photos of the year. We will run them over the course of mid-December as our Best of the Year posts.

While sitting back in my chair and listening to a vinyl record is a favorite pastime of mine, there is nothing like going out and experiencing a performance live. For me as a concert photographer, the challenge is trying to capture the image of an artist you have spent a lifetime getting to know or at least your representation of what they mean to you. Here’s my Top 10 favorite photos of 2018 I had the pleasure of shooting for Parklife DC this year with a little commentary. Hope you enjoy seeing them again and best wishes for a great 2019!

Snapshots: Gary Numan @ 9:30 Club — 9/21/18

Posted on 09/27/2018 by Jason Nicholson "Le Mouton Flâneur" in Live Review and tagged 9:30 Club, Gary Numan, industrial, Los Angeles, Nightmare Air.

Gary Numan performs at 9:30 Club on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. (Photo by Jason Nicholson)

Industrial pioneer Gary Numan enthralled a packed 9:30 Club for the second time in a year with a concept album themed around a post-apocalyptic future. Jason Nicholson took some photos!

Parklife DC Presents: Urgh! A Music War @ Black Cat, 10/1/18

Posted on 09/11/2018 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged Black Cat, Echo and the Bunnymen, Gary Numan, Joan Jett, Klaus Nomi, new wave, OMD, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, post-punk, punk, The Fleshtones, The Go-Go's, The Police, Urgh! A Music War, X, XTC.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (often abbreviated to OMD) are a synthpop group whose founding members are originally from the Wirral Peninsula, England.

Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark pose in San Francisco for NME in 1981. (Photo by Chester Simpson)

Urgh! A Music war, a cult-classic concert film, straddles divides across new wave, punk, and post-punk acts performing in 1980. Parklife DC screens the film at Black Cat on Monday, Oct. 1. Admission is free!

Ticket Giveaway: Gary Numan @ 9:30 Club, 9/21/18

Posted on 08/08/2018 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged 9:30 Club, England, free tickets, Gary Numan, industrial, synthpop, ticket giveaway.

Gary Numan (Photo courtesy BB Gun Press)

The iconic Gary Numan will visit 9:30 Club on a return trip to DC on Friday, Sept. 21! Gary released Savage (Songs from a Broken World), his 18th studio album, last year and performed at 9:30 Club almost a year ago. Now, he’s back, and you can win tickets to see him with Parklife DC.

Music Park: Parklife DC Top 10 Concerts of 2017 by Mickey

Posted on 12/21/2017 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged 9:30 Club, Adam Ant, Alison Moyet, Black Cat, Book of Love, Capital One Arena, Colin Hay, Depeche Mode, disco, Duran Duran, Earth Wind & Fire, Emily Haines, folk, Gary Numan, industrial, MGM National Harbor, Modern English, new wave, post-punk, punk, punk cabaret, Rock and Roll Hotel, Saint Etienne, Sixth & I, sophistipop, Squeeze, synthpop, The Birchmere, The Dresden Dolls, The Lincoln Theatre, The Regrettes, top 10, U Street Music Hall, Yelle.

Martin Gore performs with Depeche Mode at Capital One Arena on Sept. 7, 2017. (Photo by Ben Eisendrath /Instagram+Twitter: ConspiracyCaptures/GrillworksBen)

The year 2017 was a good year for revisiting old friends as they returned to remind us that they truly still “got it.” In the past year, Parklife DC reviewed a great deal of musicians and bands, and the performances that really distinguished themselves often came as something of a pleasant surprise.

Music Park: Gary Numan @ 9:30 Club — 12/9/17

Posted on 12/12/2017 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged 9:30 Club, England, Gary Numan, industrial, Los Angeles, synthpop.

Gary Numan rocks out at 9:30 Club on Saturday, Dec. 9. (Photo by Paivi)

The thing you should know, first and foremost, about Gary Numan: He’s a showman. And his showmanship was on full display in a nearly sold-out show at 9:30 Club on Saturday.

Ticket Giveaway: Gary Numan @ 9:30 Club, 11/9/17

Posted on 11/08/2017 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged 9:30 Club, Careless Memories, Dodge City, free tickets, Gary Numan, industrial, new wave, synthpop, ticket giveaway.

Gary Numan (Photo courtesy BB Gun Press)

Synth pioneer Gary Numan released Savage (Songs from a Broken World), his remarkable 21st album, on Sept. 15 via BMG. The record entered the UK Album Chart at #2, making it his highest charting album since Telekon in 1980.

Gary will conduct a North American tour to accompany the album release, and he will play at 9:30 Club on Saturday, Dec. 9. You can win tickets to see them with Parklife DC by joining a free raffle at Dodge City on Thursday, Nov. 9 — tomorrow!

Interview: Andy McCluskey of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (@ 9:30 Club, 3/6/18)

Posted on 11/06/2017 by Mickey McCarter in Interview, Live Review and tagged 9:30 Club, Andy McCluskey, Chester Simpson, England, Gary Numan, Interview, Joy Division, Liverpool, New Order, new wave, OMD, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, synthpop.

Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey (right) of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (Photo courtesy Ticketfly)

The brilliant Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) released The Punishment of Luxury, their 13th studio album, on Sept. 1 via 100% Records subsidiary White Noise. The album fared very well commercially, hitting #4 on the UK Albums chart as well as #7 on the US Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart.

I had the genuine pleasure of again chatting with Andy McCluskey, vocalist, bassist, keyboardist, and songwriter for OMD, as the band will launch a North American Tour with a performance at 9:30 Club on March 6, 2018. (It’s not officially announced by 9:30 Club yet, but buy your tickets online here.)

In our chat, Andy provides insights into songs on The Punishment of Luxury, shares his feelings on recent work by Gary Numan and New Order, and reveals artists (with some surprises) with whom OMD would like to collaborate (particularly as they approach their 40th anniversary as a band).

I babbled a bit more than usual because he’s a personal hero, and as such my interview covered a lot of ground. I’ve edited the order of the questions to improve their logical flow and trimmed them where necessary for brevity. (Also, perhaps read our previous Parklife DC interview with Andy McCluskey from May 2016.)

Don’t Miss: Gary Numan @ 9:30 Club, 12/9/17

Posted on 06/30/2017 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged 9:30 Club, Gary Numan, industrial, Los Angeles, synthpop, synthwave.

Gary Numan (Photo courtesy the artist)

Gary Numan will release his 21st studio album Savage via BMG on Aug. 11, and in support of it he has launched a tour that includes a stop at 9:30 Club on Saturday, Dec. 9.

Music Park: Parklife DC Top 10 Concerts of 2016 by Mickey

Posted on 12/23/2016 by Mickey McCarter in Live Review and tagged 9:30 Club, Belinda Carlisle, Birchmere Music Center, CHVRCHES, Culture Club, David Bowie, DC9, Dragonette, Duran Duran, Echo and the Bunnymen, Echostage, Gary Numan, glam, Gwenno, High Waisted, Howard Jones, Midge Ure, neo-psychedelia, new wave, OMD, Operators, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Pet Shop Boys, post-punk, Rams Head Live, Savages, Squeeze, Strathmore Music Center, surf rock, Survive, synthpop, The Go-Go's, The Sounds, top 10, Verizon Center, Warner Theatre, Woody Woodmansey's Holy Holy.

Lauren Mayberry of Chvrches sings at Echostage on Oct. 17, 2016. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

I’ll confess that I’m a man whose taste in music is readily apparent. If you have new wave tunes to play, particularly from 1976-86, I’m going to show up and listen to them. That said, a number of incredible legacy new wave bands happened to travel through the DC metro area over the past year, and I took the opportunity to review them for our humble blog.

That said, a number of younger bands definitely broke through and seized my attention, most notably Canada’s Operators, who were the most exciting new band I’ve seen in some time. As with Operators, many of the best performances I witnessed in 2016 came from bands whose leaders are among the Masters of Synthpop, and so I have dedicated a postscript of really great synthpop shows that may have “missed” the top 10 but otherwise deserve a lot of applause.

Check out my top 10 list of concerts I saw for Parklife DC. (Click on the concert slugline to revisit the full review.)