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Real quick like, the R.E.M. show last night at Merriweather was great bordering on pretty fucking awesome. Band was spot-on in every way, except for the setlist, which had 63% less early stuff than the Raleigh show the night before. BTW, Dumbek, I am totally jealous that you went to that show. Jerk.

Highlights:

• "Pop Song '89" Rock! Stipe even did the little shimmy dance he did in the video.


• "Driver 8" - As an intro, Stipe said "This next one is a request. From me."


• "Let Me In" acoustically. Pretty great.


• "Orange Crush" - Well, if they're not going to play half of Reckoning like you did in Raleigh, at least they played this. And it was absolute sonic-godhead. Buck just killed it.


• "These Days" - Seriously, this was one of the best things I have ever heard at a concert. Absolutely incredible.


• "Rockville" - Mills sang it and it was awesome. It was great to hear this song in "D.C." The entire audience sang along.

Lowlights:

• "Houston" - I am all for bands writing about "The Bush administration's pathetic response to Hurricane Katrina," but this song might as well be called "Bathroom Break."


• Would it have killed them to play "Harborcoat?"


• On "Little America" any mention of Jefferson Holt was erased. Poor Jefferson.


• Traffic. It was bad. Real bad. 2 hours to get there.


• Modest Mouse - Johnny Marr aside, they really suck. Marr was incredible though.

Stipe was very energetic last night. Running all over the place. Good times. And I got some kick ass photos if I do say so myself.

More on this show later. Possibly. Read the Chris's awesome review over at DCist soon.

More photos after the jump.

At some point in the very near future I hope to put my experiences from last night -- which, going forward, will officially be known as "One of the Greatest Nights of My Life" -- into words. What I can remember of it anyways. I spent most of the night KGing as much as possible, yelling "Beat L.A." with all the other people dressed in green and all the while downing, not drinking - downing, beers as fast as possible. But that recap will not come tonight. I have driven over 1,000 miles in the last 48 hours and I face another 700 this weekend as I head to NC for a wedding. Sigh. My friends need to move closer to me. Or stop getting married during the NBA Finals.

For the record, even though the first half was close, I knew we were going to win. We had a good omen at the bar. I was sitting right next to Gerald Henderson, Sr. (you remember him, right?) and his son, Junior. Best Evs.

I've been pumping this Future Islands track off of their MySpace page for the last week or so. I can't get enough of the ramshackle exuberance. And that keyboard melody! It's like Jack Black making The D into a Rentals cover band.

[mp3] Future Islands | Nu Autobahn

Since it's listed on their MySpace, I am pretty sure Future Islands will be playing Whartscape again this year, even though they were not in the first round of artists announced yesterday. I covered the event last year for Pitchfork and even though I was dreading having to drive back and forth to Baltimore that entire weekend, I really enjoyed it. The lineup was made up entirely of bands that I had never heard of (aside from Dan Deacon) and they were all pretty incredible. Dirty Projectors were there, as were High Places and Double Dagger. I don't think they were on many people's radar back then. So yeah, I'm looking forward to the whole thing again this year.

After turning in one of my favorite performances of 2007, the likely lads of Pela are back in D.C. tonight at the Rock n Roll Hotel. Color me excited. The band had to cancel their tour in March because lead singer Bill McCarthy cut his hand real good in Chicago. I spoke to guitarist Nate Martinez about the incident, their new band member and some other stuff on behalf of DCist. Go here to read it.

The band also released a new song through KEXP.

I saw Live play during the DC101 Chili Cook-off last weekend and I could not believe what has happened to them. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I rocked out to "I Alone" back when I was in college. In the 90's. But times have certainly changed. They were the biggest cheeseballs I have ever seen. It was jaw-droppingly bad. Ed was the worst offender. What's with the Vin Diesel look?

More photos after the jump.

I had a pretty good day yesterday.

First the Pitchfork thing, and then late yesterday afternoon I got a call from the Washington Post asking me if they could use some of my Radiohead shots to run with J. Freedom DuLac's review of the show.

I said yes.

Obvs.

I had to rush home from work and get them edited and handed in, but it all worked out. I got quite a rush this morning buying a copy of the paper and seeing my photos in there. Front page of the Style section! Pretty exciting. Special thanks to the fine folks at PrefixMag.com for letting me send the Post some photos even though I was on assignment for them. I'm looking forward to shooting even more stuff for Prefix in the very near future.

So, enough of my babbling.

Check out my full set of Radiohead & Liars photos on Prefixmag.com.

Check out my two Radiohead photos on Washingtonpost.com.

Screenshots from the web edition after the jump.

I thought I would give everyone a break from my "All Elbow, all the time" coverage late last week before I wrote up the review from their show on Sunday night at the 6th & I Historic Synagogue. Simply put, the show was phenomenal.

Guy and Co. worked their way through a hand-picked set of tunes that played up the band's sonic strengths in a venue unlike any other. Although we did a get a few stompers ("Leaders of the Free World," "Grounds For Divorce"), the band mainly stuck top their mid-paced material like "Mirrorball" and "The Stops," letting the songs expand and contract as necessary. The audience, seated in pews, sat in wonder and gave the band no fewer than three standing ovations. "Newborn" earned one of them, and rightfully so, even if the end bit didn't melt anyone's face off like I had hoped. Elbow saved the best for the last song of the night, as they played a truly memorable version of "Scattered Black & Whites", one of my favorite Elbow songs and one of the songs I requested from Guy when I did my DCist interview earlier in the week. That's what I call BEST.

Last night The Future Ms. Leaf (formerly known as Ms. Smith) and I went to see Dolly Parton at the Patriot Center, which was ultimately a bit disappointing. Mostly because the show was a concert for people that don't go to concerts. Everyone sitting in our section was twice our age. Seriously. It was more like a dinner theater show without the meal. Dolly talked for what seemed like forever in between songs, so the pacing was a bit hit-or-miss.

Oh, and the show STARTED at 7:30. Started. It took us forever to find parking and to be honest I wasn't in that much of a hurry, because, who starts a show at seven freaking thirty? So apparently we missed "Jolene." (Argh!) But Dolly's voice was fantastic, and she did tell some good jokes. I just wished she had played more tunes.

It was a beautiful night last at RFK. The stadium smelled like freshly cut grass and i got to give my new 40D a run for its money as United took on the Columbus Crew. D.C. gave up two first half goals and never really challenged in the second half, losing 2-1.

I forgot to tape the match and see if I made it onto ESPN2.

I was very anxious to try out the 40D in a sports setting, as that is mostly why I upgraded from my 30D. It was definitely worth it. Focus is much more accurate and the better frames per second really came in handy. I got many more keepers than usual, hence the 35 photos above. Enjoy them while I go back outside on the balcony and enjoy the beautiful weather today.

More United:
DCist recap by Matt.
Behind the Badge recap.
DCenters recap.
Soccer Insider recap.

So as I said before, I went in to the 9:30 Club last night with an open but still slightly pessimistic mind about seeing (and enjoying) Okkervil River and The New Pornographers. After a quick bite during our first ever visit to Nellie's Sports Bar (First impression: Thumbs up!) Ms. Smith and I got there fairly early and secured a spot dead center, about three people back.

Unlike when I saw them in 2005, Okkervil River really impressed me. I have a hard time listening to their recorded work (it's soo S L O W), but it's much easier to connect to the band and lead singer Will Sheff in a live setting. We he gets those far away eyes and his voice cracks on the high notes, you're there with him. I feel disconnected to him listening to the CD. They started out strong and faded in the middle of the set with some slowies before picking it up again at the end. They sounded great even though you could tell they weren't used to playing venues so big. When Sheff was pitching back and forth on the stage it looked like he kept expecting to bump into another band member, but he hadn't accounted for the extra few feet of space everyone had. My only complaint was they didn't play the two songs of theirs I really like, "No Key, No Plan" and "Last Love Song For Now," but that's nitpicking. So yeah, I finally "get" Okkervil River.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for The New Pornographers, even with Neko Case in tow. I tried, I really did, but all of their songs have the same tempo and feel really samey to me. This group should be right in my wheelhouse, but I just don't get it. I will say that the harmonies between A.C. Newman and Neko sounded brilliant, I just couldn't hear any hooks in the tunes. To make matters worse, there really is no "show" to speak of with this band. Neko just stood there and stared at the floor when she wasn't singing. Newman did little more stand behind the mic or walk back to the drum kit with his back turned to the crowd. And he had his eyes closed the entire time he was on stage. We left after 7 or 8 songs and headed down the street for a beer.

[mp3] Okkervil River | Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe
[mp3] Okkervil River | The President is Dead

[mp3] The New Pornographers | Myriad Harbour
[mp3] The New Pornographers | My Rights Versus Yours

Ms. Smith and I made our first trip to Nationals Stadium yesterday. We had hoped the weather would warm up a bit but no such luck. After shivering through seven slightly soggy innings, we decided to call it a day. Here are my impressions of the newest MLB ballpark.

The Good:
1) The food and beer options are much, much better than they were at RFK. I drank Pilsner Urquell and Blue Moon, but they had Peroni, Red Stripe and a bunch of other good beers as well.
2) Lots of room to wander around a see the game from different vantage points. You can basically walk all around the ground level and watch the game as you stand behind the seats. Pretty nice. The outfield has a plenty of space to walk around and there are some picnic tables along the first base side.
3) The standing room only spots in the outfield (where this photo was taken). A nice place to drink your beer and eat your food.
4) The Nat Express. I decided we would try the "park at RFK and take the bus over" route to the stadium and it couldn't have been easier. Took us under 20 minutes each way. As long as you're not in a hurry, this is the way to go.
5) Merch prices are apparently negotiable. Ms. Smith was freezing her ass off, so I bought her a hoodie for just $30, almost half of the $55 price tag. Thanks talkative merch-seller dude!

The Bad:
1) Lines for food were still pretty bad. Hopefully this will improve as the concessions people get used to everything.
2) There are still some bad sight lines in the outfield. You can't see what's happening below you if you sit up high on the first base side.
3) Ticket prices. Jeebus. If I am reading this right, there are no cheap seats in the outfield! Apparently the Nats don't believe in bleacher seats. Shame.
4) The team still sucks.

Overall, I liked the stadium, although it has too much concrete to have any sort of vibe or personality. It's kind of like a junior version of Comerica Park in Detroit. I'll definitely go back to see a few games this year, but I can't see me buying a ticket plan any time soon.

Check out some more photos on Flickr.