183 -- Givers -- Wednesday, November 11, 2015 -- U Street Music Hall -- DC

Oh, Givers.  I have finally gotten to the point where I don’t wince when I see the band’s name, but it’s taken months.  How is it possible that a band that earned the highest possible rating for their first live performance earn the lowest possible one for their second?  How can a group generate 52 minutes of excitement one time and fail to generate 52 seconds of excitement another?  Put simply: how could Givers have possibly gone an A+ to an F?

1.  Just four of the twelve songs came from In Light.  Their bubbly debut album lent itself to a live performance.  I don’t think Sketch, Deej, Evan Rochkind, and I understood what all the songs meant when we saw them in 2011, but we were fans.  We were intrigued enough to go to the show, and be caught up in the “jumping, shouting, clapping, and slapping” that accompanied those debut songs. Listening to the second album, New Kingdom, I did not hear the same qualities.  In Light had both loops and hooks – parts that drifted, that piqued your curiosity, and parts that gave you something to grab onto, that helped you connect with most of the songs.  New Kingdom was just loops.  No matter how many times I listened, it just sort of…drifted.

2.  All songs sounded terrible this time.  I eventually recognized In Light’s “Atlantic,” “Ceiling of Plankton,” and “Saw You First.”  It did not matter, though, because the beats of those tracks and all others were swallowed by the crackle and drone of speakers.  I wish the U Street speakers would have also swallowed the lyrics, considering the blood-curdling SHRIEKS that came through whenever the lead singer hit a chorus.  I held out hope that something would be salvaged with “Up Up Up” at the end.  It’s a song that a hundred audience members jumped for four years ago at The Black Cat, and hundreds of students voted for in the intervening years at Frost.  On that night, though, no one was jumping or voting for anything.  The audience just sat there, numb to the listless wail in front of them.              

3.  Stakes were sky high.  I was not the only one excited for the show.  Ten awesome Rock Club students and parents volunteered to go to the show, a midweek DC show at that.  There was also the matter of our club actually influencing the band’s set time!  Long story short, after emailing the band members, manager, publicist, booker, and U Street Music Hall management, they agreed to change the set time from 10:15 (impossible to attend on a school night) to a more manageable 8:30.  Our little rock group had influenced an actual rock band!  The fact that this was the first rock concert for all but two members of the group made it an even bigger deal.

4.  Everything came crashing down.  For the first few songs, students TK and AV tried to work up head bobs.  JS tried to keep the tone light by good-naturedly calling the lead singer’s name.  I tried to stay positive by remembering how satisfying different elements had been the first time.  Very quickly, though, it became apparent to everyone (TK, AV, JS, AR, CS, WS, me, Hark, and the parents) that nothing was going to get better.  The set could have featured every track from In Light or all covers from the Rolling Stone 500, and it would not have made any difference.  The sound quality was that awful.  I did my best to avoid eye contact during the show, but that little to lessen the shame.  Others had placed their trust in me, and it had been squandered.  When would it end?  When would we be rescued from this sonic abyss?

5.  A final indignity.  It ended on the twelfth song.  You would think they would conclude with “Up Up Up,” but in keeping with the night’s Logic Free theme, they did not.  I have to admit, however, that there was an amazing irony in the last song.  Its title: “Record High, Record Low.” Givers’ first performance was one of the best concerts I have been to; the second one was the worst.  (You’re welcome, Jack Johnson and Bob Dylan.  You both move up a notch.)  The title may not have rescued the concert, it’s still dead last, but that’s some fine gallows humor…

Grade: F

Endnote: What ultimately saved the concert (and the club) was everything that happened after.  Most members who attended stayed tight the rest of the year, strengthened by a kind of War Buddy bond.  (“Where did you serve: Normandy?  Korea?  ‘Nam?”  “Nah, I was there for Givers.”)  It also helped that many of those members, and some news ones, attended a genuinely great Muse show soon after.  Plus, by the end of the year, members took part in a third concert, this time at school and featuring student performances!  The Ramones, Nirvana, and CCR are among the bands who came from very humble beginnings to become rock stars.  If Nuns ‘n Moses ever make it big, they will sure have something to talk about…