A sold-out show at DC’s 9:30 Club shows just how consistent Joey Valence and Brae have been since they began to put out music. Since 2022, the group has been releasing albums on a yearly basis and their recent release HYPERYOUTH only adds to the duo’s deep tracklist. It also feels fitting that their show is part of a duo double header with JVB being the early show and a sold out Heated Rivalry watch party being the following act. It’s just guys being dudes.
Enlisted to warm-up the eclectic crowd of hooligans was a relatively smaller act by the name of Joshua Raw. Dressed in a sasquatch-esque costume, Mister Raw lit up the venue with his energetic stage presence on Feb. 21. How he managed to overcome the heat and humidity inside 9:30 Club while donning such a thick outfit is beyond me. A running bit throughout his set is how he needed to stay hydrated because of the heat, even prefacing his closing song by letting us know he was only wrapping up because he was out of water. Every command he gave the crowd was followed with complete obedience. When he told us to sing along, we sang along. When he told us to sit down, we sat down. When he told us to pull our phones out and turn on our flashlights, who were we to say no?
Stream “Sasquatch” by Joshua Raw on YouTube:
Of course, commands only go so far if people are listening. A huge amount of praise needs to be directed towards the fun loving crowd. JVB have managed to gather such a wide variety of fans, ranging from kids being chaperoned to elders with walking sticks. Everyone put their differences aside for the greater good of creating a lively, moshing frenzy where not a single person was not dancing. I’ve never seen a crowd fully embrace an unknown opener, and that reflects so much of the energy that JVB puts out.
The DJ set by EWOOK, long-time friend of the duo, really showed how well the group knows their audience. Every track he played was received by an immediate pop from the crowd. The Icona Pop song “I don’t care” had nearly every person hopping with their hands in the air.
Finally out of the darkness, the two college best friends made their way to the stage to start one of the wildest shows I’ve seen in a while. In the pit, nearly everyone was moshing and the wilder the song, the wilder the crowd got. Following one of the group’s more explosive songs, they took a moment to address the crowd and make sure nobody got hurt. During that time, a random fan raised a shoe into the air, and the duo on stage began their investigation. Suddenly across the venue around 15 people started pointing at someone and the abandoned shoe made its way back to its owner. It really set such a positive tone of wholesome togetherness.
Watch the official music video for “Punk Tactics” by Joey Valence & Brae on YouTube:
At another pause between songs, JVB pressured everyone to greet a stranger within their vicinity. After we followed their command without question, our captors reminded us of one of their essential tour rules, which is to make a friend at their show. The rest of the rules are as follows; Dancing is mandatory, wear a cool outfit, no egos allowed, no vip tickets, scream the lyrics, mosh pits required, bring a friend, and leave covered in sweat. The duo joked that only 5 of us had read the rules, but even if they were right it seems like their faithful were following them. Particularly with the no ego rule, it seemed like everyone was taking that rule seriously. There was a young lady who got swept up and was crowd surfing and as she circled around the venue to get back into the crowd, you could hear her ecstatically repeating “I work at a bank! That was crazy! I just crowd surfed?? Like I work at a bank!!!” It just felt like everyone was working together to make the environment of the concert as safe of a space as it could be. There was even a sign language interpreter on the right side of the stage. I really cannot stress enough just how welcoming the show was.
As for the live renditions, the duo matched the frantic energy of their records perfectly. The vibrant, electrifying recorded performances were on full display live. The animated performance of their closer and biggest hit “Punk Tactics” did not skip a beat and was just the right boost of energy to send a crowd into hysteria after hours of dancing. Once their performance was over, the duo jumped into the photo pit and greeted as many fans as they could before 930’s staff forced them to leave in preparation for the Heated Rivalry extravaganza. For a group of their popularity, it was refreshing to see them wholeheartedly embrace their fans even after such a taxing live performance.
Here are some photos of Joey Valence & Brae performing live at 9:30 Club on Feb. 21, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Roman Meerzaman.
Here are some photos of Joshua Raw performing live at 9:30 Club on Feb. 21, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Roman Meerzaman.
