Headliner: Night Beats (Genre: Garage rock, Psychedelic rock)
Opening Act(s): Strawberry Sleepover, The Beginner’s Mynd
Venue: DC9 Nightclub
Thoughts: As I mentioned in my previous post, I really enjoy DC9 as a concert venue. Recently, I’ve been wanting to go to more concerts, and so have been looking through the upcoming artists at a number of venues. DC9 is an easy one because of its affordability. Tickets for shows are relatively cheap, typically in the $15 to $18 dollar range.
I had never heard of Night Beats, but while looking at upcoming shows at DC9, I came across them. After listening to a few songs on Youtube, I thought it might be a fun show. I arrived early to catch the two openers as well. The first of the bands was The Beginner’s Mynd. The band members appeared to be a bit older, and their music sounded like it was inspired by the rock of the late 60s and 70s. They were easy to listen to while having a drink by the bar. Behind the band, there were two white sheets, and a guy with a pair of overhead projectors (shown above), who was using them to create psychedelic background images. I have never heard of overhead projector art, but I guess it is a thing, and this guy was strangely good at it.
The second opener was Strawberry Sleepover. I do not want to be unfair to this band, but it was too loud during their set. During the soundcheck, the band members kept asking the audio person to turn up their equipment. During the actual performance, I found it really difficult to hear the lead singer, or any of the vocalists for that matter. They appeared to be an upbeat group, with the lead singer continually jumping around stage with a tambourine. Their music wasn’t really for me. But, again, the projector guy put on an amazing light show.
The Night Beats came on a bit late. The last opener ended at around 9:45PM, and so the Night Beats did not come on stage until about 10:15 or 10:20PM. This would not be a large issue, but they only played till just before 11pm so it was not a long set. Sadly, the projector guy did not stick around for the main performance, but they had great lighting none the less. Instrumentally, I thought they put on a great show. Again, though, the vocals were completely drowned out. During the sound check the lead singer kept asking for more “reverb” which I guess is a technique that is typically used to make a singer sound better during a recording. In this case, for whatever reason, it seemed to make the lead singer’s voice less powerful, and again, made it really hard to hear him. I still will listen to this band, but some of the audio visual aspects of the performance need to be fine tuned for live shows.
Overall, I was happy to go to another concert. I don’t normally mention the AV aspect of a performance but this was unique, as it really seemed to have an impact on the shows. Got to find my next concert now. DC JazzFest is coming up in June, but I would like to see at least one more show in May. Let me know if anyone has any suggestions!
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