Escort @ Southpaw, February 29th, 2008

Escort is without a doubt, hands down, my favorite band out right now. An 18-piece band that includes a full horn section, strings, two drummers, three background singers, guitars, keyboards, and the AMAZING Zena Kitt on lead vocals. Although they don't exactly have an album out, they've got several singles available on vinyl, all of them amazing, and all of them worth picking up. I've seen Escort a couple of times now, and each show has been completely different. The new songs they keep premiering are top-rate dance songs, bursting at the seams with energy, soul, and the spirit of Brooklyn. I wouldn't be surprised if their first album ended up being a live recording, because that is how flawless they come off on stage. It was highly nostalgic, but so very progressive, as the crowd varied from the neighborhood Park Slope hipsters, to the urban couples, to the disco-enthusiasts like myself that just wanted to dance to what Escort was giving us.



Opening the show at Southpaw was T.H. White with guest vocals by Meghan Wolf, who was pretty effing dope. They played very smoothed out, downtempo stuff, very similar to Sade, actually. Whatever, they did a great job of warming the crowd up for Escort, and I bought both of their CD's, so they must've been doing something right. Next thing you know, at around 11:30, Escort hit the stage! It was really great watching them pile onto the tiny stage and take charge the way they did, launching right into a high-energy version of their first single, "Starlight". I glanced around and literally everyone in the front 3 rows of people were dancing. And dancing hard. People sang along, hollering and snapping, basically getting into it like they were seeing Chic at Studio 54 or something. They premiered two new cuts, "Turn it Back" and "Can't Fake the Feeling", both of which were first-rate cuts just begging to be played on repeat. Their cover choice proved to be top-rate once again as they broke down Belle Epoque's "Miss Broadway" and Gino's "Dancer" into a full on attack of percussion and sass on the dancefloor. They rounded out the set with a recap of their three other singles, "Love in Indigo", "A Bright New Life", and closed it on out with "All Through the Night", which Zena dedicated to "the freaks in the house", which was totally appropriate in this case. The set was way too short, but I can't blame them, seeing as they don't even have an album out. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to dance and see the finest musicians out there doing their thing!


Setlist:

Starlight
Turn it Back
Love in Indigo
Miss Broadway
Can't Fake the Feeling
Dancer
Get On Up
A Bright New Life
All Through the Night

(Photos courtesy of Escort's MySpace, and Flickr.)

St. Vincent @ Rock and Rock Hotel, February 26th, 2008

Up until last Tuesday, I'd never actually seen Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent live, although I'd been listening to her debut album, Marry Me, sporadically for the past 6 months or so. I had zero expectations when it came to her live show, I had no idea what her setlists looked like, what her stage presence was like, or if she even had a live band with her, but I knew that I couldn't pass up checking it out for myself. Some songs on the album were very epic, orchestral pieces about a dissolving relationship (Landmines), but on the contrast, she had these very visceral, raw songs where she really let her guitar shine (Your Lips Are Red). She's so damn versatile, I love it.


Her background is really all over the place, going from being the background guitarist for Sufjan Stevens, to being in the epic uber-band The Polyphonic Spree. Who knew what she'd bring to the stage? Turns out, she brought it all, every side of her that Marry Me hinted at, she fleshed out in a live setting. There were sleigh bells, a very capable string player, drum kits, keyboards, synths, little hand bells, and her trademark guitar shredding. The opener, Foreign Born, was okay. Thats all I have to say about that. Mind you, I wasn't really paying them much attention, I was focusing on the group of people behind me who were busy comparing life in Ohio to that in DC, and adequately lost it when Foreign Born did a song about Cleveland. I love free entertainment, I really do!


So, Annie came on the stage, soundchecked a bit, set up the "psychedelic forest" ("We are all giants in a psychedelic forest", she proclaimed when asked why there were plastic trees on stage.), and launched into a very awesome version of "Now, Now", going back and forth between the special mic she had set up which distorted her vocals, and the regular one. She went back and forth between album cuts and extended instrumentals, even managing to throw a pair of well recieved covers in there. Talking with her afterwards, she proclaimed that this was "the most fun they had on tour thus far". I'd have to agree that this show was super fun, and I highly recommend her.


Setlist:

Now Now
Jesus Saves, I Spend
All My Stars Aligned
Ring My Bell (Anita Ward cover)
Human Racing
We Put A Pearl Into the Ground
Landmines
Dig a Pony (Beatles cover)
Marry Me
What Would Your Mother Say?
Paris Is Burning
Your Lips Are Red
--
What Me Worry


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All of the above pictures are courtesy of Joel at KingpinPhoto.com


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Here are some downloads you guys should check out, two of them are from her live show in Denton, Texas in 2007, at her first headlining gig. If you like what you hear, please check out her MySpace, or buy her album from Amazon. Her next gig is a scheduled performance at Coachella! Whoo!

These Days (Nico cover) [zShare]
All My Stars Aligned [zShare]
Your Lips Are Red [zShare]
Landmines (live from Denton, TX) [zShare]
Your Lips Are Red (live from Denton, TX) [zShare]

Spice Girls @ Verizon Center, February 21st, 2008

...and then there were five.

So, I went with some friends to see the Spice Girls at the Verizon Center for their "Return of the Spice Girls" tour. Supposedly, it's the last time you'll catch them until either (a) need more money, (b) stop hating each other, or (c) get desperate...and none of that is happening anytime in the foreseeable future. I spent a good $120. on a ticket to this, which in retrospect, was SO worth it. This show was perhaps the most fun, well-performed, jolly, saccharine, estrogen-filled event I've been to since drag night at Escuelita's in New York. (Actually, both events have a LOT in common, but you'll see that later when I post the setlist.)

I don't know how we did it, but we managed to pull 4th row seats to this VERY sold-out show at the box office, just about 20 minutes after doors opened. Not just 4th row, but 4th row, sitting right against the catwalk, and being inches away from whatever they had planned for us! Scattered among my seatmates were older gay men, younger gay men with their boyfriends/f-buddies/fat friends/dates, groups of sassy, middle aged gay men, and a couple of teenage girls. Okay, apparently there were lots of teenage girls, but I must've been seated in the affluent, "Yes I bought these tickets from a scalper for $600", fresh off the Orange Line from Northern Virginia section. Basically, we loved our neighbors!


At around 8:20, they came up on the stage from a platform beneath the stage, dressed like crazy fembots doing "Spice Up Your Life" which had everyone screaming like the rapture was among us. Eventually the screams all blended into a resonating high C, which was a good balance to what was being performed onstage. They actually sung live! And they danced, kinda! I was floored.


I loved every song they did, sang along, and gave more sass to the people around me than Halle Berry's performance in B.A.P.S. (remember that?!). By the time they did their "solo" performances, I was on such a high that nothing could bring me down, not even the teenager who decided to essentially pummel my toes with her stilettos, or the ridiculous mass-texting that was going on in my pocket.


...then Victoria Beckham came out for her "solo" showcase, which consisted of her walking down the runway, talking on a cellphone, and generally posing while RuPaul/Madonna mixes played in the background. This happened for about 3 minutes in total. There wasn't a better 3 minutes in the entire show. A lot of other stuff happened, but seriously I'll just let the pictures/setlist talk for me on the rest of this one, and let you guys piece together what happened.


Ohhh, and they did "Spice Up Your Life" again at the end. Hmm, no "Move Over", but I didn't even notice until I got home and checked the setlist.


Setlist:

Intro
Spice Up Your Life
Stop
Say You'll Be There
Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)

Dancers Interlude

The Lady Is A Vamp
Too Much (Jazz Version)
2 Become 1

Dancers Again.

Who Do You Think You Are?

Solo Sections:

Attack of the Catwalk (Posh Spice)
Are You Gonna Go My Way? (Scary Spice)
Maybe (Baby Spice)

Dancers Yet Again, Dazzling.

Viva Forever
Holler (sans Ginger)

It's Raining Men (Ginger Spice)
I Turn to You (Sporty Spice)

Let Love Lead the Way (sans Ginger)
Mama

70's Medley:
Celebration
Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)
That's the Way (I Like It)
We Are Family

Goodbye

Dancers Interlude

If You Can't Dance
Wannabe

--Encore--

Spice Up Your Life (reprise)


Oh, and as usual, here's some downloads from their show in London. They're all really great and these were my favorite performances, in order.

Viva Forever (live in London) [zShare]
Encore Break / Spice Up Your Life [Reprise] (live in London) [zShare]
Headlines (Friendship Never Ends) (live in London) [zShare]
Intro / Too Much (Jazz Version) (live in London) [zShare]
Stop (live in London) [zShare]