I had the most amazing weekend, mostly because I got to sleep in MY OWN BED for three consecutive nights. Bless. I also saw some killer shows.

Saturday was the DC101 Chili Cookoff, which was a nice primer for the upcoming summer festival season. Silversun Pickups, who seem to be playing D.C. once a month lately, played another great set, playing a few different songs than when they opened for Snow Patrol. If we're not careful, "Lazy Eye" could very well be the song of the summer, even though it's a year old.

The Bravery were next and I was excited to hear some of their new stuff, but sadly, most of it was fairly meh. It seems like all the new songs are a big fat chorus wrapped around some flimsy verses, like they wrote the songs backward or something. I liked the new single "Time Won't Let Me Go" better live than the recorded version, so it wasn't a total loss. They played a few "hits" from their last album too. "An Honest Mistake" still sounds great to my ears.

Buckcherry were next, and they were all flash and no substance. They look awesome but have no songs, except for "Lit Up" which brings back fond memories of the late 90's. Catherine said she had never heard of them, so here is their big hit if you're in the same camp:

[MP3] Buckcherry | Lit Up

Jet were Jet. I hate them and find them terribly derivative, but got a few good snaps of them all the same. The slideshow above is just a sampling of what I got on Saturday, so if you want to see all my photos, check out the Flickr slideshow.

I was supposed to finish up Saturday by seeing The Kooks at the 930, but upon arriving at the venue, they only left one ticket and no photo pass, so I gave the ticket to my DCist compatriot Abby and let her have at it. I went home and went to bed. I was beat.

Sunday I grabbed Ms. Smith and we headed over to Artomatic to take it all in before it closes this weekend. However, after about two hours, we gave up after only seeing the sixth floor. There's alot of art to see over there. Hopefully we'll make it back this week before the show closes. The rest of the day was spent doing laundry and watching my DVR (Paul Rudd on Veronica Mars was teh awesome!) before taking in the LCD Soundsystem show at 930 later that night.

I wouldn't call myself a huge LCD fan by any means, and to be honest, the amount of hype they're getting from NYC was turning me off on the band a bit, but holy shit, they brought the noise last night. It was one of those shows where the band plays for over an hour and you're having so much fun it feels like only 10 minutes. And the best part of it was the usually stoic D.C. audience was totally letting their hair down and absolutely turning it loose. Most everybody in the club was dancing, even old men like me. I was proud to be from D.C. last night.

The only bad part of the night was the guy standing next to me, who felt the need to provide commentary to his friends through the first few songs, dropping gems like "It's like punk AND disco," along with "It's crazy. Rock and roll YOU CAN DANCE TO," like this was a concept never before introduced to society as a whole before last night. Jeezy Creezy. But I digress...Believe the hype about LCD Soundsystem, the live show anyways. Can't wait to see them again at Virgin festival in August.

[MP3] LCD Soundsystem | Daft Punk Is Playing At My House (live)

Also, they dropped "Daft Punk" with the third song last night. I love it when bands play their hits early in the set. Best.

Last night I was lucky enough to have my first ever (somewhat informal) photo assignment for a non-DCist media outlet (actually it was probably my second if you count this), that being photographing The Good, The Bad & The Queen at the 9:30 Club. The show was sold out, but as far as I could tell, there were a lot less people there than there were at the (insanely packed) Scissor Sisters show the week before.

As for the performance, it was...pleasant. Not amazing, not boring, mostly middle of the road. The music isn't exactly upbeat and merry. That said, the band sounds much better live than on record, but with this lineup, you'd kind of expect that. The album, to me, sounds like a band playing a bunch of Gorillaz b-sides. Not much energy or hooks to be found, just Damon whinging about whatever he's on about. Live, the backing vocals take more shape, the sound fills out nicely and you honestly can't help but get into a little groove while you're watching Paul Simonon bound all across the stage. Man, he was great. He was full of gusto and looked like he was waiting to bust into "Death or Glory" or something like that at any second. You could tell he's enjoying being back on stage. Not so for Simon Tong. He mostly stood there, looking down at his guitar the whole time. I was waiting for him to wow me, but then I remembered that was always Nick McCabe's job. Damon was/is Damon. I want to like him, but I just can't. I do give him credit though. He gave me two good shots during the first song, staring right at me in-between verses. His gaze was all like "Get your fucking photo now and leave me alone," but props for doing that. I got a decent shot the first time but my second one was too blurry to use. Also, he was ducking behind his piano every once in a while to hit his bowl and he has droopy eyes in most of the photos I took of him. Just saying.

Sadly, we didn't get their cover of "Guns of Brixton" at the end of the encore, instead we got some less-than-stellar b-side sung by some random dude named Eslam. Not the best ending to the show, but other than that, not bad overall. I still think Damon's a ponce though. There, I said it.

But hey, don't take my word for it. Thanks to the magic of the internerd, you can listen to the show and decide for yourself. You can either stream it or download it from NPR. Joel was there taking photos and they packaged his photos into a cool slideshow you can watch, so check that out too. My photos of the night are here. Some of them should be up on Read Express fairly soon. I'll update the post when that happens.

**UPDATE** - Here it is. Click through and read it, Mike wrote a GREAT review.

No rest for the wicked. I have to DVR the Duke game tonight since D.C. United are taking on Mexican power Chivas at RFK.

Three concert reviews for you in 75 words or less.

Saturday
Middle Distance Runner @ Black Cat

Another great set from what is quickly becoming D.C.'s finest. MDR has a tendency to play it too cute in front of their hometown fans, it would be interesting to see how that part of the show works on the road. The played "Naturally" late in the set and it was a nice change of pace from the delicious drone-rock that preceded it. Probably the first of many shows at the Cat for them.
Click here for more photos of Middle Distance Runner at the Black Cat.

Sam Champion @ DC9

Walked into this show having no idea what these guys sounded like, but whoever described Sam Champion as Tom Petty meets Pavement is spot on. Their live show is tight, but rough around the edges (that's a good thing) and makes you wonder why the NYC bloggeratti aren't burning up bandwidth talking about them. The lead singer's slow drawl puts you at ease, letting you listen and rock out with abandon.
Click here for more photos of Sam Champion at DC9.

Sunday
Aberdeen City @ 9:30 Club

Every time I see Aberdeen City they are playing a better set in a bigger venue than the last time I saw them. Brad, the lead singer, was playing so hard he had to take a deep breath before "In Combat" to take it down a notch. By the end of the gig, Chris was playing the cymbals with his guitar, Combat Rock steez. Keep in mind they were playing to a seated audience.
Click here for more photos of Aberdeen City at the 9:30 Club.

What Grambo said. (Comment #5)

Best digicams of 2006. I want a 30D bad, real bad.

Hey, here's the one Top 40 copycat list that I can totally get behind. Nice work.

Torr has a new Moz B-side.

New Radiohead.

Apple iPhone?

Sox lock up JD Drew and Julio Lugo.

Go download Noel live on XFM.

From Chromewaves, The history of Pulp and the genius that is Bandwagonesque.

Last night I took in my first concert in what seems like forever, as I dragged Mike Grass with me to the Rock N Roll Hotel to check out The Changes, whose album Today Is Tonight is one of the best things I've heard all year. I got it two weeks ago and haven't listened to anything else since. To say I was looking forward to this show is a huge understatement. Unfortunately the band's live show hasn't yet reached the heights of their recorded output. They started off strong, with two of their catchiest tunes, "When I Wake" and "Water Of The Gods" but things went downhill from there. They played "On A String," a slower, twee-leaning momentum stopper that took them forever to start because everyone had to switch instruments. Then they followed that up with another song in the same vein and never really got their momentum back. The worst part was the band's (lack of) stage presence. The drummer seemed to be the only person into the show. The other three had this nonchalant, uninterested air to them that I just couldn't get past. Their lack of charisma really sucked the energy out of the show.

Locals Middle Distance Runner have a similar sound and tunes, but they ooze energy, charisma and charm onstage and when you see them play, you can't help but be drawn in to the show and have a great time. I'm not sure how many shows The Changes have played, but they're not there yet. A little work (switch up the set, talk to the audience more, less time in between songs) would go a long way for them.

All that said, I'm still a fan. "Modern Love" and set closer "Her, You And I" were uniformly awesome. "The Machine" had some of the best drumming I've heard in quite some time. The songs are there, and hopefully the live show will catch up soon. I'm definitely going to check them out next time they come through D.C.

Here are some MP3's from The Changes that I posted a while back:

[MP3] The Changes | When I Wake

[MP3] The Changes | Water of the Gods

[MP3] The Changes | Such A Scene

First of all let me say My Morning Jacket are a great live band. They are insanely tight, Jim James' voice is other-worldly, they're incredibly loud and absolutely pulverize their riffs when they feel like it. They've obviously worked many long hours on their live show. They're ready for amphitheaters right now. They wouldn't have to change their show at all, just get a few more lights and maybe a big backdrop. I'm not going to be able to say anything about their live performance that you haven't already read somewhere else. Oh wait, here is something you probably haven't read anywhere else. Those cool boots that Jim James wears? They're held together by clear plastic tape.

That said, they're really not for me. I like carefully crafted four minute, verse-chorus-verse pop songs. MMJ obviously don't play this game. I really enjoyed the few songs I recognized, "The Way That He Sings" - a complete surprise - was borderline incredible, but they really lost me when they would veer into improvised-instrumental jam land. And that's not really their fault, they just really reminded me of every one of the hundreds of truly shitty "jam bands" I was forced to endure while going to college in Eastern North Carolina. When I hear that type of music, I start grinding my teeth and looking for sharp objects to stick in my ears. Ms. Smith and I ended up leaving just before the end of the regular set.

The Slip were the perfect opener for this tour. They're like a lo-fi Secret Machines that wear funny hats. I enjoyed their set, especially the "Baba O'Reilly" cover at the end. If you're heading out to this show, go early and check them out.

I had a hard time really enjoying the show for other reasons. It was really effing hot in the venue and it was easily one of the most crowded shows I ever been to in the 9:30. It was shoulder to shoulder from the stage barrier to the sound board and from bar to bar. I did score a photo pass and after wading through the sea of people on my way up front, I was jump-up-and-down-happy when I found out there was a barrier in front of the stage. The lighting for The Slip was great. I got some good shots during their set. The lighting during MMJ was another story. They were almost entirely back-lit and when not running around the stage and head banging everywhere, JJ just stood at the mic and sang while his hair was falling down into his face. And when he did step away from the mic for a break, it was always in the corner of the stage where there was no light. For my purposes, the lighting for The Slip was much better. Oh well. I managed a few decent shots I think. Still, hooray for MMJ for the photo pit. I wish more bands would have them at the 9:30.