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...that Ra Ra Riot put on such an amazing live show? I caught them at the Black Cat last night opening for The Cribs and I was totally blown away. I didn't know anything about them going into the show other than the unfortunate passing of their drummer. But I walked out a fan. A very lazy comparison would be Reckoning -era R.E.M. with cello and violin. In other words...BEST.

They were on stage when I got to the venue and I really liked the first song I heard. By the fourth or fifth I was dancing along so much I was having a hard time taking photos. Good stuff! They are on tour through April so go check them out. I can't recommend them highly enough.

On the way home as I was listening to the EP I bought, I thought to myself "these guys would be perfect playing with someone like Jukebox the Ghost or Sam Champion." Then I checked my email upon returning home and I saw a show from last November at the Rock n Roll Hotel with that very lineup! Argh. Whenever I tell you I am ahead of the curve on something, be sure to point me to this post.

As for The Cribs...Yawn. Too much shouting with nothing to say, but they did do a nice cover of "Bastards of the Young."

Last night D.C. United played their first home game of the 2008 season at RFK Stadium as part of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
Their opponent: Jamaica's Harbor View Football Club.
The result: a 5-nil win for United, who advance to the Champions Cup semis in April.
Peep the recap at DCist.
I love shooting MLS. There's nothing better. It's only been four months since I shot MLS Cup at RFK, but it seemed like an eternity.

Highlights from last night:
Fred's weird pacifier/cradle rocking goal celebration (apparently his wife is expecting)...

...and Santino Quaranta's act of contrition towards the Barra Brava and Screaming Eagles, the D.C. United supporters clubs. Tino is a former United player and local product that had lost form due to a series of injuries. He was subsequently traded away and made some not so friendly gestures to the Barra and Eagles while playing with the Los Angeles Galaxy. This was not taken kindly. He's fallen on hard times and signed a contract with United during the off season to get his career back on track. He played great last night and it looks like he is on the road to forgiveness.

New Futureheads!

Sounds great, like they got sick of being such wusses on the last record.

Loud and fast, rinse, repeat.

Pretty please.

The band will give you a free download of the track "Broke Up The Time" if you give them your post code and email. Done!

Interesting...

"The album was mastered and completed in the first week of March. It was then taken immediately to a vinyl pressing plant. Then to a CD pressing plant. Then preparations to sell it digitally began. March 25th became the soonest date to have it available in EVERY FORMAT AT ONCE. The band have done no interviews or advertisements for this record before this announcement.

With this release, The Raconteurs are forgoing the usual months of lead time for press and radio set up, as well as forgoing the all important “first week sales”. We wanted to explore the idea of releasing an album everywhere at once and THEN marketing and promoting it thereafter. The Raconteurs would rather this release not be defined by it’s first weeks sales, pre-release promotion, or by someone defining it FOR YOU before you get to hear it."

Can't say I'm a huge fan or anything, but it's cool to see bands trying out new types of release strategies with an eye towards long term sales.

In the interest of lateness (this shows almost a week old) and brevity, let me just say that I enjoyed Say Hi's show last week at the Black Cat immensely. I was a bit worried when only two people got up on stage, but I was pleasantly surprised at how full and alive their sound was. On CD, the band's sound is a bit slick and lifeless, but live, it's much more organic and "rock" sounding. The lead singer has the "Awwww, shucks" shtick down pat, and had the surprisingly young crowd eating out of his hand.

I should also mention that the sound in the Backstage was great - head and shoulders above what it used to be like. I think I've mentioned this the last few shows I've seen in that room, but it's worth noting. The band also deserves props for taking like 10 minutes on the changeover. They literally set up the drums, banged the snare a few times, strummed the guitar to make sure the amp worked and then went at it. Respect.

Unbeknownst to me, Quaterlifeparty and Instrumental Analysis were also at the gig.

Full photo gallery after the jump.