From our special roving reporter, Bao, on the DC WAS show:
So Brooklyn bands, We Are Scientists and Oxford Collapse invaded Washington DC’s Black Cat on Tuesday, with their Aussie friends, the Grates, in tow. Oxford Collapse opened up–not a huge fan of their music but they do put on a good live show.
Instead of talking up the sex appeal of Keith Murray as Laura would, I will take this time to declare my love for Patience Hodgson of the Grates. It’s hard to find a lead singer with more of a stage presence than her. There’s a lot of Karen O in there but with more of a girl next door type of vibe. You can tell she’s always having fun and it seems infectious. Looking into the crowd during their set all I saw were smiling faces. I also saw a lot of parents enjoying the show with their teenage kids – a departure from most indie shows in New York. The old paradigm would have the parent in the back, arms crossed, waiting to take their kid home after the show but no–the DC parents were next to the stage rocking out and having fun.
Coming out to Phil Collin‘s “Against All Odds”, a song that no one wants to admit they know verbatim, We Are Scientists return to the same venue they played 6 months earlier. It was the last night of the tour for We Are Scientists, well not if you count tonight’s show at the Annex, and for a band that never stops touring, they were full of energy. The usual stage banter between Chris and Keith kept the show friendly, and Chris would often talk to the crowd, asking them what’s up with DC lately.
Responding to his own question, “Oh guacamole and chips. Same thing in every city”. The crowd constantly wanted to hear the band’s cover of the classic Ronette’s song “Be My Baby” and they got their wish as both Oxford Collapse and the Grates joined WAS. All those people onstage I felt like it was the equivalent of an indie rock hip-hop show where the entire entourage charges the stage at the end. They ended the show with their perennial hit “The Great Escape” and the parents in the front went crazy. Maybe that’s the solution to uninterested, well-behaved crowds at indie rock shows – bring your parents.
More photos at Bao’s Flickr.
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