dc rock live's review of the Flaming Groovies show:
It is hard to believe this is the first ever show in Washington DC for this band that formed in the 1960s. Granted, their career has not exactly been on a straight trajectory and there were many years of down time, but this rare event did bring out a good crowd tonight. But based on tonight's show, this likely will also be their last show in DC as I doubt too many people would bother coming back. It is a credible line-up with 2-3 long-time members manning the guitars and bass along with a newer drummer. And there was some of their signature energized power pop flair evident in the set. But with the awful, awful sound full of feedback, there were plenty of grumbles on stage and in the crowd. They played a lot of cover songs which was ok, although when they played "Jumpin Jack Flash", it reminded me that I only saw the Stones play this a few months ago. They had a guitar string break (with no back-up), leaving one guitarist to go solo by playing the second Byrds (Dylan penned) song of the night, "Chimes of Freedom". I am not sure there was any magic even early on, but any positive vibes were slipping away, even as some of the crowd was trying to keep it lively. I had to laugh and agree with the shout of "Nooo!" when they said they were going to another Jagger-Richards cut. "Paint It Black" came out and again reminded me of the real deal just this past summer. I decided I had enough and followed a few people out the door, not waiting for the mighty "Shake Some Action". Serves me right for not following my own advice I wrote only yesterday about shelling out $25 bucks for a name band as opposed to checking out 3-4 bands at the smaller clubs for $8. Oh well.
