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Jain (Photo courtesy Ticketfly)
French pop sensation Jain released Souldier, her second studio album, in August via Spookland, Columbia, and Sony Music. She performs at 9:30 Club on Monday, Oct. 29, and you can win tickets to see her with Parklife DC!
Pink performs at Capital One Arena on April 16, 2018. (Photo by Chris R. Smyth)
Aerial acrobatics, costumed dancers, pyrotechnics, confetti, countless outfit changes, and fireworks filled Capital One Arena on Monday. Somehow, all of that was jam packed into two hours of Pink’s Beautiful Trauma World Tour, and it was a spectacle to behold.
Alvvays plays blissed out pop at the Rock & Roll Hotel on Oct. 7, 2017. (Photo by David LaMason)
Saturday night found Alvvays playing the first night of two sold-out shows at Rock & Roll Hotel. Even an hour before the doors opened, the line to the venue stretched down H Street NE, a testament to the band’s growing fanbase. And it’s certainly not hard to see why.
Maya Rudolph and Gretchen Lieberum are Princess. (Photo courtesy the band)
In April of this year, a great man left us too soon. Popstar Prince passed away, leaving behind a tremendous legacy of tremendously good music.
While we of course should always mourn his loss, we also should celebrate his work. And that’s the idea behind tribute band Princess. Princess is no ordinary tribute band. It consists of Saturday Night Live’s Maya Rudolph and musician Gretchen Lieberum, best friends since college.
It’s important to note that Princess has been around since at least 2012, when they first appeared nationally on The Tonight Show to perform Darling Nikki on the show. Princess have launched a short tour this month, and that tour stops at the 9:30 Club on Sunday, Sept. 25.
Watch Princess perform “Darling Nikki” on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on YouTube:
Parklife DC is giving away a pair of tickets so that you can celebrate the music of Prince with this loving tribute by Princess! To win, simply leave a comment on this blog, but you know I have to ask: What is your favorite Prince song?
For the rules of this giveaway–
Comments will be closed at 5pm on Thursday and a winner will be randomly selected. The winner will be notified by email. The winner must respond to our email within 24 hours or they will forfeit their tickets and we will pick another winner. We will email you instructions on claiming your ticket. Good luck!
If you don’t enter or win our contest, you also can buy tickets online!
Princess
featuring Maya Rudolph and Gretchen Lieberum
9:30 Club
Sunday, Sept. 25
Doors @7pm
$30
All ages
A signed copy of SHAED’s new EP, Just Wanna See (Photo Credit: Jeremy Bailey)
As the members of SHAED walked triumphantly off the stage at the 9:30 Club, the audience exploded with cheer and began to chant mightily, “One more song! One more song!”
SHAED opened (along with VÉRITÉ) for Marian Hill on Saturday, September 10th, part of the early show at the club that night (scheduled before a separate DJ set at 11pm). Opening bands don’t get an encore in that situation, but the crowd was not having it. Finally, with the expectant crowd in full chant mode, Chelsea Lee (lead singer) had to come back on stage to put the nix on our hopes.
SHAED (Photo courtesy of Gold Atlas)
Formerly known as The Walking Sticks, local DC band SHAED performs at the 9:30 Club on Saturday, September 10th, opening for Marian Hill, an electronic duo with R&B influences from Philadelphia.
Get your tickets here.
With new music to their credit, SHAED looks to keep winning over DC denizens to their cause.
SHAED is Chelsea Lee on vocals and the twin brothers Max and Spencer Ernst on all instruments.
They released two new singles recently, “Thunder” and “Running Through the Fields”, both highlighting their groovy, pop sounds and Chelsea’s powerful voice.
I first saw them play a few times when they were still The Walking Sticks, and enjoyed their performances then. With their new songs now available, it’s time to give them a another listen and come down to the 9:30 Club!
Also on the three-act bill is VÉRITÉ, electropop songstress Kelsey Byrne.
SHAED (Opening for Marian Hill)
w/ VÉRITÉ
9:30 Club
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Doors 6:00pm
$25
All ages
Yumi Zouma (Photo Courtesy of Pitch Perfect PR)
Yumi Zouma, by way of New Zealand, captivated the DC9 crowd on Wednesday, June 8th with a fine mix of dreamy pop, synth hooks and Christie Simpson’s exuberantly clear voice.
With their name etched in cursive, hovering in the stage background in bright lights, Yumi Zouma played 14 fun, breezy songs from their new album and two previous EPs.
Yumi Zouma (Photo Courtesy of Pitch Perfect PR)
Yumi Zouma comes to DC9 on Wednesday, June 8th, bringing an effortless, breezy dreampop sound.
From New Zealand, the band includes Christie Simpson (lead vocals), Sam Perry, Charlie Ryder (guitar) and Josh Burgess.
Their new album, Yoncalla, came out today, May 27th, just in time for their US tour (started on May 25th in San Francisco). I recommend you buy yourself a copy quick, on iTunes or even a vinyl copy.
Songs like “Barricade (Matter Of Fact)” and “Keep It Close To Me” are the perfect complement to our newly found summer (or is it going to rain again?). Light, airy and completely catchy.
Yumi Zouma
DC9
Wednesday, June 8
Doors 8:30pm
$10
All ages
Julia Holter (Photo Courtesy of Motor Mouth Media)
Julia Holter makes a stop in DC on her 3-month tour on February 25th.
From and based in LA, Julia brings her experimental pop vibe to the Rock and Roll Hotel, with Circuit des Yeux opening.
Her fourth and most recent album, Have You In My Wilderness, got good press in the UK ranking #1 on a few Year-End Lists. Here in the US, the press has described the album as, “Enchanting” by Rolling Stone and, “A breathtaking headphone record that rewards amplified, focused listening.” by the LA Times. Our own Washington Post wrote, “An alluring bundle of pop songs.”
The experimental part of her sound, is the eclectic range of genres she infuses and samples, from classical to jazz to rock to pop.
The “Sea Calls Me Home”, from the new album, is an airy song, that builds towards a horn driven solo. “I can’t swim. It lucidity. So clear!’ is the chorus, which is interesting but may or may not be as lucid as declared.
“Feel You”, also from Have You In My Wilderness, takes place on an optimistic rainy day, and reminds me a little of an Ingrid Michaelson song, yet slightly more adventurous.
Get your tickets to the show here.
Julia Holter will be ready to entertain you at the Rock and Roll Hotel in just under a month’s time. Come and see what all the fuss is about.
Julia Holter
w/ Circuit des Yeux
Rock and Roll Hotel
Thursday, February 25
Doors @ 7:00pm
$15
All ages
Marina Diamandis performs at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on Oct. 19, 2015. (Photo by Frank Mojica)
I saw Marina and the Diamonds perform twice in 2015, for the fourth and fifth times respectively, in Las Vegas and DC.
The first time in April at the Boulevard Pool at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas was a decidedly mature affair. Stopping between showcases at the Coachella Valley Music Festival on Monday, April 13, Marina Diamandis performed in a diva’s gown, meant to seduce us in the moonlight, opening her set with “Bubblegum Bitch” from the 2012 album, Electra Heart. The Welch beauty was staggering — her fantastic voice impossibly perfect and her striking poise formidable.
The second time on Friday, Nov. 6, at the Lincoln Theatre in DC as part of the Neon Nature tour was a decidedly different, albeit still quite enjoyable, experience. As a fully conceived tour stop for her most successful album to date — Froot, released in March 2015 — the tour was designed to take us through three phases of Marina beginning with her first album, 2010’s The Family Jewels, and ending with her third in three acts. The new wave diva didn’t change the content of her songs or some of their overt sexuality, which is often philosophical rather than physical in expression, but her audience on the official tour date was tremendously younger! As an attendee of the two shows, the difference was jarring.
Nonetheless, Marina and the Diamonds — she’s a solo act (Marina) and we are the diamonds — performed her heart out leaping into three different skintight outfits to strut, pout and dance away the evening in a thoroughly memorable concert performance.
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