Post Show Banter >>>>

[bearman🐻]

I think my problem was that I had (unfairly) sky-high expectations. It was probably impossible to temper my excitement on this because I still listen to Psychocandy obsessively and had been disappointed by how it was short-changed at the reunion show a few years ago. So even though I'm usually smarter than this, I spent the past few months frantically awaiting the moment when the best ever album would be performed by the same surly Scottish teenagers that made it 30 years ago and the whole thing would be as electric as it was when I first heard it in 1985.

I think I need to just chill out on show anticipation, unless the show in question is Diarrhea Planet (which is coming in just 2 months!)

Ah...I can totally understand that. I went last night with a friend who saw the original Psychocandy tour in 1985 or so...they went on at 2:30am, played for 15 minutes, and all Bobby Gillespie did was kick a floor tom around the stage in time to the music. It was a brilliant trainwreck apparently. I almost didn't go last night, but I'm glad I did because to me it had better sound and energy to the performance than anything I've seen in about 23 years from them. But again...I didn't expect much, LOL.

[Yada]

dropping this in here for the Frank Turner reviews.



Built to Spill was rippin' on Saturday. I haven't seen them since almost exactly five years ago at the club and Doug is still f'n great. Thanks to the awesome staph for the free ticket hookup!! 

[Vas Deferens]

ohhh nice DC got Velvet Waltz     full 8 minute song?

Built to Spill was rippin' on Saturday. I haven't seen them since almost exactly five years ago at the club and Doug is still f'n great. Thanks to the awesome staph for the free ticket hookup!! 

[Yada]

ohhh nice DC got Velvet Waltz     full 8 minute song?

Built to Spill was rippin' on Saturday. I haven't seen them since almost exactly five years ago at the club and Doug is still f'n great. Thanks to the awesome staph for the free ticket hookup!! 

Yessir!! Good stuff.

[StoneTheCrow]

Spent the weekend at the Ottobar. Thoroughly enjoyed both nights of the UN Fest.

Creepoid was the big take away for me. Had only heard of them thanks to the festival and they were even better than I hoped they would be.

Roomrunner.....really sad to see those guys go. Great set. Glad I caught them one more time.

There were a few acts that didn't live up to their hype but the less said about the the better I guess.

[killsaly]

I had a great time as well. I was planning on doing a little write up, I just haven't had time yet.  I plan on talking smack about the artists that I didn't like, along with the highlights.

[Got Haggis?]

creepoid did seem pretty good, but i think i watched them mainly from the merch area.  i drank too much friday night, memories fuzzy around priests + after, heh

[killsaly]

FRIDAY

SNAIL MAIL 

We arrived early enough to catch a chunk of their set.  They were the youngest band of the festival, by far.  I was not expecting much based off of a demo that I heard, and I was pleasantly surprised by their guitar driven tunes.  The singer definitely had some emotion behind her vocals.


POST PINK

A second floor set in a row?  Why have a floor "Stage" and a "stage" stage if you are not going to alternate?  Post Pink did their thing.  It was good, but not the best I have seen them.  They played one song that it seemed like Angie did not have vocals ready for it, so she awkwardly just kind of stood there for a few minutes. 


HONEY RADAR

OK finally, some stage switching.  I decided to watch this one from the balcony.  I do not regret this.  This was my least favorite band and set of the weekend.  They had three guitars, and that was about two too many for them.  It sounded sloppy and the band did not seem to know when their songs ended, and each song just kind of stopped. 


SNEAKS

I had heard Sneaks music, but had never seen her.  I am a fan.  The setup was minimal; a drum machine that was turned off and on with a foot switch (and the songs were changed via hand between songs), a bass guitar, and a microphone.  The crowd dug it, and was dancing along with her infectious grooves. 


CREEPOID 

I missed most of their set (I saw them a few months ago and did not need to see them) but could hear them from the back.  They sounded fine.  I ran into Got Haggis at this time and he recruited me to the enlightened side. It was cool chilling with him.  I also was scoping out the t-shirts to see which one I wanted (I ended up not getting anything the first day).

Guided by Wire
Azaghal1981 and I decided to check out this Guided by Voiced/Wire cover band.  We left after one song. 


BARRERACUDAS

This floor set was my second least favorite of the weekend.  They were just cheesy.  Some in the crowd seemed to like it.  I wandered around being social for most of the set.


WING DAM

If you know anything about me, you would know that I love me some Wing Dam.  They are awesome people and I always have fun watching their grunge/90s ish take on rock and roll. 


PURE DISGUST

They win the award for craziest crowd of night one.  I watched their fun, high energy punk set from the side of the band.  I am glad I finally saw them. 


PRIESTS

I was three beers deep by this time and enjoyed Priests.  They played some new tunes and some of their older stuff.   The crowd was definitely there for them. 


SCREAMING FEMALES

The last set of the night was my second or third Screaming Females set of the year.  They rocked and Marissa once again blew my mind with her guitar virtuosity and her impassioned vocals. 


All in all a fun night.  It was well organized, beer was cheap (my Brooklyn Easy IPA's were three bucks), and there were tons of cool people there.  This was also the most crowded night, but was not suffocating.

[killsaly]

SATURDAY

PELLARS
We got there during their last song.  So I cant really say anything other than they played. 


CHRISTI

I finally saw Christi.  They were cool.  I called them garage rock, Azaghal1981 said they sounded very 60s girl group like.


LOUD BOYZ

DC's Loud Boyz played a fun set.  God bless the two people trying to do a pit (I think I am remembering this correctly).  I would see them again.


RED DEATH

Red Death make punk.  But they are almost metal.  Really great high energy set that the crowd got into. 


EXPERT ALTERATIONS

They have a new LP coming out this month and they previewed some of it during their indie pop set.  They are always fun. 


ANGIE DU$T

The band Angel Du$t plus Angie of Big Mouth/Post Pink on vocals.  I think they did all covers, I have no idea.  The crowd was really into it and a bit of a pit happened.  Also Nolen of Double Dagger fame joined in on vocals on one song.  It was fun, and the crowd dug it. 


BIG EYES

Big Eyes were pop punk.  They were good.  It is not my favorite type of music and I watched most of this set from the merch area as I tried to figure out what t-shirt to buy. I grabbed one from Expert Alterations (I dug the design, plus wanted to support my friends).


BLANK SPELL

I first heard about this Philly punk band because of this festival.  They were cool, and the crowd did seem to like them, but I think most people were saving their energy for Roomrunner. 


ROOMRUNNER

Sadly this was their last show.  Their hardcore fans were out in force, and the area around the stage was way too crazy for me.  I snapped some pictures and headed to the back.  This was the 12th or so time I had seen them, and owned all their records (including a signed one) and generally considered them one of my favorite bands of the current decade... Oh well. It was fun but at the same time I was sad.  It seemed like one or two of the people in the crowd was getting out of hand.  Jeff had to ask if people would stop throwing beer, and also the security guards were watching hard, and I think some dude got kicked out (the same guy who grabbed me at the beginning of the set and asked if I could hear the music with my earplugs in; yeah, go deaf asshole.  I will wear my plugs).   We drove past the dude standing on the corner away from the club... I have no idea what happened.

SHEER MAG
I don't do Sheer Mag anymore.  No thanks. We left before they played.

I had a blast both days.  Both had a good turnout, but the first was definitely more crowded.  I saw a few people that I knew, and was able to see great bands each day. I probably liked the music a tiny bit more overall for day two, but both were solid.  Dana/Unregistered Nurse did a great job booking and running this. 

(all pictures by me from my Instagram) 

[Dejecty-hatch lııllı|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|llıl]

So Frank Turner was great, crowd was enthusiastic as usual
and Seth was spotted in the VIP balcony for most of the show (so suck it all you FT haters)

They were taping for something too, so possible life performance video possible?

Tons of shout outs to DC and the 930 club
He mentioned when he was a kid and being in to Hardcore and all the DC bands (MT/fugz/BB) and whenever he told someone in England (in the late 90's) that he was in to hardcore.  They thought of two things: really bad EDM music (happy hardcore) or porn. 

Great selection across his whole catalog with a lot of rare gems as well as a number off the new album.

Closed the night with a fantastic 'song for josh' and many of the staph were teary-eyed

[azaghal1981]

Paul from Expert Alterations told me that Angie Du$t played all Angel Du$t songs other than "Rebel Girl" and some Agent Orange song which Nolan sang.

[killsaly]

Cool.  I had no idea about any song they played.

[Space Freely]

Wow, an out of town artist name drops Minor Threat at a DC show. That's never been done before.

[Dejecty-hatch lııllı|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|̲̅̅=̲̅̅|̲̅̅●̲̅̅|llıl]

Wow, an out of town artist name drops Minor Threat at a DC show. That's never been done before.

can't argue there

[sweetcell]

sidehatch, all of your pictures appear to be blocked.

Wow, an out of town artist name drops Minor Threat at a DC show. That's never been done before.

if you were performing in chicago, you'd probably give a shout-out to Wilco, or one to the old 97s while in dallas... because they were/are important bands to you, not because you only do original things all the time.

snarking is easy.