Here's my feedback on the She and Him show.
This would have been better if it was a $15 show at the Birchmere. But they don't have $15 shows at the Birchmere.
I can't recall a show more packed that this one. We squeezed in front of poll in the very back, stage right. A number of people tried to maneuver after us, but there was nowhere for them to go and they were left unable to see. We had to crane our necks at times, and we're not short people. Total sweatbox. I was sweating profusely from every place you could imagine sweating, and some places you couldn't imagine. I can only imagine how badly the fat hairy guy who kept wiping himself with a wash cloth next to me felt. Fat hairy guys' 40something bleached blond friend kept gesticulating wildly (I think they call it middle age dancing), and I spent the entire show in fear that she was going to smack me with her hand or her flailing head. Thankfully, she didn't. All of these complaints would have been nonexistent if the show had been at the Birchmere.
And the show itself? Well Zooey may have been the second best looking woman in the building (actually maybe the fourth, the two sisters on backup vocals looked more attractive from my backrow vantage point), but she's not all that watchable. She's more annoying than cute. Bouncing like a rabied cheerleader, it's hard to see how a low key guy like M. Ward can put up with her, especially since he doesn't even get to fuck her. (I kept wondering if Ben was back home crying in his Miller Chill.) She does have a nice voice, and you can't go wrong with the guitar team of M Ward and Mike Coykendall. For all of her bouncing, many of the songs were pretty lifeless, though some (40%?) did actually catch spark. If only Zooey could buy a personality and some stage bantering chops. She did say that it was her first time in DC. Really??? Are we that insignificant? We did get M. Ward on lead vocals for two songs, so that was nice.
But alas, I didn't hate it, like one boardie told me I would. But that's probably because I set my expectations low, and because I was on a date with the sexiest woman in the building, and she like the show.
