TICKET STUBS
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06.23.26 12 Rods
I was baffled when I got a notification that 12 Rods was not only going to be on tour, but playing around the corner from my house. Ryan Olcott played solo, leaning into all the songs "the band never let him play" while accompanied by taped backing tracks that he tossed on the ground after each was over. But he's a sound engineer: the backing tracks were crisp and clean and his guitar tone is heavenly, his strumming light and clear with his voice soft and strong and sincere. I am admittedly still a massive Split Personalities fan, which was great because he started with 'Make-Out Music' and ended with 'I Wish You Were a Girl,' which is when everyone started singing regardless of how cool they were trying to look. I never thought I'd get to see him live. I can't believe I got to meet him and I can't believe he's such a great person.
06.22.26 Of Montreal
This was the second time I was supposed to see Of Montreal with my friend Raven, but unfortunately they were out of commission for a myriad of reasons including but not limited to surgery. Aethermead didn't have the turnout of last year's Sunlandic Twins 20th Anniversary concert – both of which were at the 9:30 Club – but it brought the same level of energy and visual spectacle. I am admittedly not well versed in Of Montreal, but I feel like this is music that Spongebob might make when he grows up. That's a complement. I also love the three dancers they bring out for every tour. I imagine their giant wardrobes take up as much space as the rest of the band on the bus.
My favorite song of the night was "Tennessee Blues," which is strange because I hate country music and Of Montreal "loves old country songs." These were also my favorite costumes of the night, all ombre dip-dyed dresses with a great sense of motion and fluidity. They tangled and traded partners throughout the song.
06.04.26 Kali Uchis
Having been a Kali Uchis fan for ten years, I wasn't going to let this opportunity pass by even if it was at Merryweather Post Pavillion and it took us two hours to get home. Sincerely, is my least favorite album of hers and outdoor concerts are not usually my thing – the acoustics suck and it can feel like you were barely there – but this was the perfect concert to have under a sunset. Girls all around were dressed in babydoll dresses with curls and ribbons that made the look more old Hollywood than infantilized. The venue passed out glow bracelets that changed color and attempted to synchronize during sets.
If I knew she was going to be this good, I definitely would have gotten seats. Kali Uchis is the ultimate summer concert, and she started the show with her catalogue of hits instead of Sincerely.
05.21.26 Christone Kingfish Ingrahm
Having never been to a blues concert, I showed up to Kingfish on my sister's invite with no expectations. He's really good and my sister says that she can only play his songs for fifteen minutes before she gets too tired and has to tap out. I think growing up with such capable musicians in my family made me take great musicianship for granted. Kingfish is great. I don't understand why blues songs take ten minutes even though they could have been over in four minutes and was super tired since we had come for Violent Vira only the night before. Shoutout to his pianist Darius, who was from "the mothership, not the othership" and played Scoobydoo-esque haunted house funk as we made our way out into the parking lot.
05.20.26 Violent Vira
Violent Vira is the best metal vocalist I've seen live, which is saying a lot because no other metal vocalist is good enough that I'd want to go to their concert a second time. She's still young, still fresh, and never tired.
05.09.26 Ashnikko
05.08.26 Dry Cleaning
05.04.26 Pinkpantheress
This was one of the wilder lines I've fought through this year and the whole crowd was younger than me! Everyone dressed up in plaid, red, and blue to be on theme with Fancy That. I think I was the oldest person there other than that girl I took on a date once who was apparently on the balcony below me.
I'm so glad that Pink has gotten over her stage fright and found a way to perform that works for her. I knew from her late night and Coachella sets that I should see this one from the balcony to get the best view. Going with the Stateside theme, the screens behind her transformed into airports and train stations and she emerged center stage dragging a carry-on.
04.15.26 Hayley Williams
I killed for this ticket. Having played her last show in DC at Capital One, which has a capacity of 20,000 people, Hayley Williams pissed everyone off by choosing The Filmore as her solo venue, which only allows for 1,500 people. I presaled, got locked out of Ticketmaster, and then got last chance tickets when someone else relinquished them. I snagged them in only 20 seconds.
04.13.26 Florence + the Machine
We drove 13 hours to get to this concert. Little Caesar's arena is
I got to touch Florence's hand.
03.18.26 FKA Twigs
FKA Twigs
03.14.26 Short Lives
Ended up seeing these guys by accident. On a Saturday where I hadn't gotten off the couch until 5:00 PM, I googled if the record store down the street was still open and made my way over after seeing that they were putting on a small show. I turned up way too early and assumed that the people around me were the audience, but they were actually the band. The rest of the audience was primarily family and friends. The room was too small! So small that I had to step outside of it after the first set and watch from the arcade hall. One opener, Resuming Inertia, gave me a 01/20 woodblock print poster before he went on stage and played loopy, fascinating solo guitar.
By the time Short Lives went on shortly after 10:00 PM, my patience had worn thin and I was ready to go home, but they ended up being one of my favorite local bands so far. They play beautiful, intricate blues that has a very 90s alt inflection. Apparently, they're a long time DC mainstay, mostly playing the Wonderland Ballroom. Highly recommend both of their albums.
03.03.26 Machine Girl
Machine Girl
02.13.26 TWICE
For the TWICE Valentine's day show, we went all out. We started at the Hilton KPop pop-up before grabbing sushi at the Chinatown Kura, which does not understand what a reservation is and lets people without one get into the restaurant before you while you stand in the freezing weather for half an hour.
TWICE started at 8:04 PM sharp and apologized for being four minutes late, which is totally not an American sentiment. They had all around screens with internal projectors that rivaled only those I've seen in Japan and danced around an S-shaped stage that let the whole stadium feel like they had front row states. At this point, 360 stages should be the norm for all stadium concerts, no exceptions. I wish that I had gotten a light stick. I didn't know that they syncronized in America! Their flashing made it feel like being in a field of fireflies for two hours and sent shivers down my spine.
They were supported by a full live band who were punchy and sharp and relieved my fears that this would be another karaoke pop concert sing along. Their band even got a full song during the intermission while TWICE were busy with costume changes.
02.11.26 Nine Inch Nails
As soon as I stepped on the train to the venue, I saw NIN shirts on a couple in their sixties. I didn't mention I was going to the same place –I was dressed in work clothes and was the only one in the whole stadium wearing pink– but there was definitely a dress code for the event. As I watched kids as young as twelve getting merch, I realized I'd been in this game for almost twenty years and that NIN was the band I had been following the longest even if I did fall off of them when I was in high school. I was ecstatic to hear the remixed classics with Boyz Noize, but even more intrigued by the decade of work he'd produced in the time I wasn't following him.
Reznor appeared in a box in the middle of the arena with his back turned to me and his hands at the piano. I had never heard '(You Made It) Feel like Home,' and I was caught off guard by the vulnerability and beauty of it, especially as he briefly transitioned into 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence,' which was enough to make me cry.
The entire show bounced between two sets: a piano and synth center stage that started vulnerable and turned into a synth shop and the front stage with a full band ready for a mosh pit. Design was sparse. Fog machines and flickering reds turned the center stage into hell while the front stage was most frequently painted in shadowy black and white. Overall, I favored the updated versions of songs with the throbbing backing of Boyz Noize. I hope their collaboration goes on for many years to come and I would buy Nine Inch Noize tickets. My favorite front stage feature was 'Copy of a Copy,' which I had admittedly never heard before. As Reznor posed around the stage, a net of projector mesh encircled him with a dozen shadow copies of himself all around. I like how NIN's set design is so square in a way that evokes images of mecca, hundreds of onlookers circling around their greatest object of worship. Only one thing could have made the night better: hearing 'Heresy.' On the train home, it was the only thing people were talking about.