92 / 93 -- Jack’s Mannequin / Guster -- Monday, August 15, 2011 -- Wolftrap -- Vienna, VA

JACK’S MANNEQUIN: It's a pretty safe bet that Jack’s Mannequin will never be among my favorite bands. Most of their songs power through in too high a key, and it's hard to recall specific rhythms and lyrics a minute after you've heard them. They’re like Counting Crowds without the dreds…or the memorable melodies. There’s no “Round Here,” no “Rain King,” no “Mr. Jones” – just a whole lot of earnestness.

All of that said, I couldn’t help but be impressed by the band -- frontman Andrew McMahon knew how to bring it live. He ran across the stage, he jumped on top of his piano, he made occasional use of profanity, etc. Some might not see how profanity could be considered ‘bringing it,’ but a short burst of expletives at a vanilla show can be very effective. Some members of the audience will think it adds edge to the performance; others will take it as comic relief. No one will be bored.

His comments between songs proved equally entertaining: “I love opening for Guster. I get to start each performance in a sunset – and finish beneath the stars!” He also told a funny story about his jeans: “I thought they were going to be too tight, but the doctor had to give me a bunch of medicine, and now, thanks to the steroids, the jeans fit just fine…”

The set actually did feature some solid songs (“Dark Blue,” “Bruised,” and “Holiday From Real”), but the point is McMahon’s personality took center stage. And as Bob Dylan and Jack Johnson have previously shown, a little charisma can go a long way…

Grade: B+

GUSTER: Jack’s Mannequin had charisma. Guster had a lot of charisma. Guster also had six albums of great songs to pull from. Here are some of frontman Ryan Miller’s many mid-song quotes that give an indication of Guster’s dominance:

--- “God, we have to go there every night. People can’t get enough of their ‘Chariots of Fire’ references!”

--- “Yes, Christine [Something], person who requested this on Twitter, it is time for your moment. We are about to play ‘Mayday Parade.’ [A barely audible shriek comes from the back of the auditorium.] Apparently Christine is here tonight.”

--- [Said with hilarious choppiness] “Will I be afraid? Will I be afraid? No, I will not be afraid. When the keyboard player randomly starts playing ‘Stand By Me’ as the fourth song in the set, I will not be afraid. Because everyone [beat] knows the chorus [beat] to ‘Stand By Me.’”

--- “We’re Guster. We started playing music a really long time ago, singing songs about Massachusetts. And here we are now, still singing songs about Massachusetts.”

--- “Alright, so this is the last song of our set. Then we’re gonna walk over there for 17 seconds and play our encore.” [They really were back in that amount of time!]

--- [After explaining that his mom wanted him to wear a Gravitron hat during a different song] “This really is a new low. What could be worse than listening to a 38-year-old dude work out his mommy issues in front of 4000 people?”

A lot of things could be worse, Ryan – a lot of things…

Grade: A

Endnotes: Here are two awesome realizations I had during the show:

(1) DAR Constitution Hall has great acoustics, but it drowns out vocals. Wolftrap has all of DAR's acoustics, and it actually improves vocals. The bands sound better than they do in the studio!

(2) The most important reason to get a good seat at a concert is not to be close to the band. It's to be close to people in the audience who actually care about the band. Seeing them anticipate each key change, hearing them join in each chorus...it's worth the price of admission.

91 -- Alkaline Trio -- Sunday, August 14, 2011 -- The Black Cat -- DC

So it took a while, but after six shows, Alkaline finally earned an ‘A.’ Here’s why:

1. The Black Cat was the smallest venue I’d ever seen them at. I could stay a few throws back, watch the pits churn, and still be fifteen feet from the performers.

2. It was the best setlist I’ve seen them play: “Armageddon,” “You’ve Got So Far to Go,” “Private Eye,” “Blue in the Face,” the return of “This Could Be Love” / “Radio,” and a ton of early, obscure songs. Somehow I had never heard of the last song, “97,” but that actually made it better. I could experience it for the first time, I could appreciate that there were people in the crowd more committed than me, and I could watch Matt Skiba hit bottom.

3. Dan Andriano sounded great. In the first few shows, he was the definite weak link. This time, vocally, he may have actually been better than Skiba. I barely even remember “Fine” on This Addiction. As soon as I heard him sing it live, though, I had to go back and re-listen.

4. I spent the entire encore an arm’s length from the stage! Not only that, as I stood there, among the faithful, a jet of air conditioning pumped down on us! It was as if it came from the band’s own twisted version of heaven!

5. The band and the crowd connected. At one point in the show, Matt Skiba checked with a tech guy what time the metro closed, was told it closed in thirty minutes, and came back to say, “Alright, we’re gonna play these songs really fast – speed everything up.” He continued to bond with the audience during the intro to “This Could Be Love,” explaining that DC’s Vietnam War Memorial was an important place for his mom, a Vietnam vet. He then dedicated the song to all moms. I’m not how many moms would appreciate being linked to a character’s murderous pyromania, but it’s the thought that counts...

6. Undoubtedly the strongest band-crowd connection was made right before the encore, when Skiba noticed that a girl had lyrics on her arm. He asked her which song’s lyrics those were, and she said “Eating Me Alive,” a song that they had never played live. Usually I’d be skeptical of a band saying they had never played a song live, but it would be an awfully elaborate hoax for him to mess up twice during the song to prove it. As soon as the song ended, he looked into the crowd, saw the girl, saw that there were tears in her eyes, and said, “That made my night.” Mine too.

Grade: A

90 -- Rise Against -- Tuesday, April 26, 2011 -- 9:30 Club -- DC

At this point, Rise Against’s supremacy has been pretty well established. Other than Bruce Springsteen, I have never seen better live performers. What made this performance special is I got to experience everything. I started out near the door, casually recalling the story of the “Long Forgotten Sons.” (‘Casually’ might not be the right word though. ‘Casual’ for Rise Against is a mild heart attack.) A few songs in, I let myself get thrown to the middle of the pack. There, as “Kotov Syndrome” directed, things spun out of control. I flung people; people flung me. It’s hard to describe how intense it was: Human Bumper Cars? Punk Ballet?

At the start of the encore, chill songs started, so I moved to the edge of the stage. I didn’t want to get tripped up by meatheads who misunderstood the mood. By the last note of “Swung Life Away,” however, I saw that there was no reason for concern. As soon as they struck the last note, this huge shirtless goon, who had been silent for the entire acoustic set, let out a floor-shaking, Cutter-worthy moan. He – and everyone else in the audience -- knew when to be loud, when to be quiet, and how to pay tribute to the band they loved.

Grade: A+

87 / 88 / 89 – SWEET LIFE FESTIVAL [Girl Talk / The Strokes / Lupe Fiasco] -- Sunday, May 1, 2011 -- Merriweather Post Pavilion -- Columbia, MD

GIRL TALK: This Girl Talk show had the same strong features as the first Girl Talk show: inflatable beach balls, inflatable cylinders, mashups that made no sense, mashups that made perfect sense, etc. DJ Greg Gillis continued to do everything he could to pump the audience up.

The issue with this concert, though, was that I was nowhere near the stage. I stood hundreds of yards away, on the outdoor lawn, watching people inside the tent enjoy themselves. The people on the lawn and I did our best to rock out, but it’s hard when you see people getting showered with confetti, and you’re stuck baking in the sun.

Grade: B-

THE STROKES: My reaction to The Strokes, the last band to play at the Sweet Life Festival, was the same as my reaction to Third Eye Blind, the last band to play at HFstival the year before: What happened?! How could a band that I loved listening to in the weeks and months beforehand be such a letdown? With Third Eye Blind, the issue was lead singer Stephan Jenkins’ voice. What came across as earnest and passionate on the albums came across as whiny and amateur live.

The Strokes’ issue was vocal as well, but there was also lead singer Julian Casablancas’ whole manner. Everything that sounded chill with headphones sounded lazy live. It was also a visual problem: Casablancas kept himself hidden behind dark sunglasses the entire time, pausing occasionally to mumble between songs.

I haven’t completely given up on The Strokes. They have too many quality songs and a night at the 9:30 Club might showcase their natural Garage Rock sound. For now, though, I’m left wondering: Is this it?

Grade: B-

LUPE FIASCO: I didn’t prepare enough. This my first straight up rap show (Naughty by Nature seemed more like DJs than rappers), and I didn’t prepare enough. The lyrics were more important than they’d be at a usual rock concert because this concert was almost entirely lyrics – there were very few stage effects or instrumentation to pick up the slack.

That said, I would definitely go to another Lupe Fiasco show. I really liked the songs I knew (“The Show Goes On,” “Muhammad Walks,” “State Run Radio”), and he made me want to know those I didn’t. He threw all his energy into each performance. Next time, I’ll put all my energy into knowing know the songs, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy the show.

Grade: B-