I was a little disappointed last night when I got to the venue and my Arctic Monkeys photo pass said "Support Only." Disappointed, but not surprised. I'd heard that the Monkeys were a bit protective about photos at their shows (as is their right). Oh well. At least I got to take photos of Be Your Own Pet. I saw the Nashville foursome open for Sonic Youth last year and walked away impressed. They were just as good last night. All of their songs sound the same to me, the thump-thump-thump-thump of the bass drum propelling the rest of the group to go crazy on stage while they plow their way through song after song. But their energy and enthusiasm is infectious and a joy to behold. I love watching them perform, they're the perfect opening band. You definitely have to bring your A game on-stage to follow them.

As for the headliners, they did just that, and while I enjoyed the show, I wasn't blown away. First, the positives: They played just about every song from their first two albums - something like 19 in total - opening with current single "Brianstorm (I love it when bands play the hits early in their set). They are super tight on stage and have talent way beyond their years. "Teddypicker" sounded wonderful. Alex Turner reminds me of a young Paul Weller with a bit of Richard Ashcroft's cheekbones thrown in.

Unfortunately, some of their positives also worked against them. After the first half hour, a lot of the songs started to sound the same, which is why I like Favourite Worst Nightmare much more than their debut. Songs like "Do Me A Favor," "If You Were There, Beware" and "Old Yellow Bricks" show nuance and subtleties nowhere to be found on their debut, and those songs go a long way in breaking up the repetitive monster mash of big bass lines and noodley surf-guitar heroics that beat you over the head for the majority of the show. Oh, and they didn't play "505." Jerks.

As I said earlier, I enjoyed the show, but much like the few times I've seen Bloc Party live, the Monkeys just left me cold. Concert nirvana ™ was not reached. I guess the overwhelming hype is clouding my view a bit, but I have no idea why the kids are going batshit crazy about a band that sings about "tracky bottoms tucked in socks." But then again, 10 years ago I went ga-ga over a bunch of geezers from Manchester singing "I know a girl called Elsa / She's into Alka Seltzer," so who am I to talk?

City: Amsterdam
Soundtrack: Mew - Frengers & The Zookeepers Boy EP
Accomodations: Hotel Alexander - Nothing fancy, but nothing to complain about. Smallish room with a bed, small table, TV, wardrobe and a safe. Bathroom was fairly large with a nice shower. Our room was off the back of the building, so it was nice and quiet. They also had an elevator, which, as I would learn later on in the trip, was huge. Nice breakfast buffet in the morning. People in Amsterdam like chocolate sprinkles on everything, even especially toast.
Best Bar: I didn't write down the name of it, but on the back end of the Leidseplein we found a little corner bar that had board games and decks of cards for all the patrons. The service was fast and friendly, the Duvel was cheap and it seemed to be mostly locals. There were two big windows in front, so the ventilation was great, a rarity in the city. They also had a cat that sat in the front window. Awwwww. We ended up there both nights we were in town.
Best Meal: Italian at Pasta Pino. I had Spaghetti Bolognese and it was delectable. I was surprised at how many Italian pizza joints and Irish bars Amsterdam had. They're like Quiznos here in the States. One on every corner.
Sights Seen: The Flower Market, The Old Church, The New Church, Anne Frank House, Van Gogh Museum, Red Light District, many, many bars.
Best Bit: It goes without saying that the Anne Frank House was incredibly powerful. I still remember doing reports on The Diary of Anne Frank in fourth or fifth grade. It still resonates (thanks to Ms. Obrien - my English teacher). But the best thing we did in Amsterdam, hands down, was the very last thing we did in town. We saw a flyer for something called The 2007 World Press Photo Exhibition and it took us a while to actually find it, but it was worth the hassle. It was, for me, probably the best thing we did the entire trip. The exhibition is basically a collection of award winning press photos from the last year from all around the world, covering a wide variety of subjects - news, sports, nature, etc. Each and every photo that was included was simply incredible. It gave me tremendous inspiration. It's no coincidence that my travel photos got much better after I saw this exhibit. Also, it was fitting that they were showing these in the Oude Kerk (Old Church) because that's what seeing these photos was for me, like going to church. I walked out of there one highly motivated photographer. It was impossible to see those images and not be inspired. You can see all the photos at the Exhibition website. Some of my favorites are the jewish settler v. the police, prayers at a ruined mosque, film watching in Africa and Crouchy. Seriously, this was one of the most powerful things I have ever seen. I couldn't buy the book fast enough.
Random Thoughts: We took it pretty easy in Amsterdam. Ms. Smith had a job interview as soon as we got back, so we couldn't really do any funny stuff. But we did drink. A lot. Mostly in the Leidseplein, a great little town square with tons of bars and lots of outdoor seating. This place kind of set the tone for our whole vacation. In every town we went to, we'd find the happening town square, plant ourselves outside at a cafe or bar, drink heavily and do some people watching. Did I mention it was 80 degrees and sunny every day of our trip? I actually got sunburnt. Not a drop of rain to be had.

A quick general note. I'm going to try and get the recaps for each city we visited up in the next week or so (otherwise, I'll probably never do it). I tried not to go crazy posting all my photos (I took close to 1600 for the whole trip), just the best, because I hate when people post every travel photo they take. So bear with me.

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.

All my photos will be up soon and there will be a full recap tomorrow on DCist, but I couldn't resist posting this photo, which I'm thinking is the best shot I've ever taken.

And guess who I saw wandering around during the show? None other than D.C. United's Bobby Boswell and Clyde Simms. After The Bravery's set, I went over and introduced myself and after we chatted for a bit, they were gracious enough to let me take a photo.

I first spotted Bobby earlier in the day due to his Freddy Adu shirt. Apparently he had to wear it because he lost a bet with one of the DC101 DJ's. Read all about it on Bobby Boswell dot com. Vamos United!

**UPDATE** Here's the Flickr slideshow.

Two good shows tonight featuring local bands, all part of the Six Points Music Festival.

Middle Distance Runner / These United States / Black Tie Revue
@ (The) IOTA / 21+ / $10 / Showtime: 9:30pm

And...

Kenna / The Dance Party / The Vita Ruins / The Sentiment
@ Rock and Roll Hotel

I'm heading to the RnR Hotel to see The Vita Ruins and check out Kenna. I'll get my Middle Distance Runner on next month at the Black Cat, but (the) Iota is a great venue to see them. I saw them there last year and they were brilliant. Plus you get to see These United States, who recently recorded their very own Daytrotter session.

Also, I talked to Luke and Fico from Cedars on Wednesday night after the TVotR show and they told me that they have been added to the Cinematics / Changes show on May 10 at the Rock and Roll Hotel. I am so pissed I'm going to be in Vegas and miss that. But hey, Vegas. Still, I highly recommend that show if you're in town.