There are holiday traditions in DC, and then there’s The Pietasters’ Annual Holiday Show — a long-running homecoming that turns 9:30 Club into a joyous, horn-blasting dance floor. This year’s edition lands Saturday, Dec. 27, with doors at 7pm and a stacked local lineup: The Loving Paupers, The Players Band, The Upstarters, plus DJ Selah keeping the vibes moving between sets.
The Pietasters are DC punk/ska/soul lifers — an eight-piece (and then some) institution with a catalog that can swing from rude-boy bounce to smoky R&B groove without blinking. If you’ve been away from their newer output, cue up their more recent release “Glimmer” (single, 2024) as a quick refresher before you head out. But really, this night is built for the classics: big choruses, tighter-than-tight horns, and that familiar feeling when 9:30 collectively decides it’s not done dancing yet.
Watch the official music video for “Glimmer” by The Pietasters on YouTube:
The supporting cast is tailor-made for this party. The Loving Paupers bring DC roots reggae with a lovers-rock glow (and they’ve released music via Easy Star Records, including Ladders). The Players Band, a Baltimore-bred horn-heavy ska/reggae crew formed in 1999, are pros at turning any room into a singalong. And The Upstarters fuse ska/punk energy with hip-hop and R&B rhythms — a genre-mash approach that plays especially well on a multi-band bill like this one.
The Pietasters
W/ The Loving Paupers, The Players Band, The Upstarters, and DJ Selah
9:30 Club
Saturday, Dec. 27
Doors @ 7pm
$32.50
All ages
