No Concert for Old Men

stellastarr* w/ US Royalty - Sunday, November 9th @ RnRH "$16"

Don't send old men to do a young man's job.

Despite my recent review of The Who, here I am again reviewing this week's DCRC show. You may ask yourself what you did to deserve this. I have asked myself the same question. I'll spare you the details of my comrade's absences. But since we are not a professional sports team, I will out my clubmates publicly. They are weak.

I ventured down to H Street to catch both local band, US Royalty, and NYC's stellastarr* on Sunday evening. I had been listening to stellastarr* over the weekend via Myspace, not being all that familiar with their work. Survey said... not bad. I kinda liked it. With songs like Warchild and Jenny, I figured this to be a band with a pseudo 80s tinge.

Their live performance gave me an entirely different feeling, however. I saw somewhere that lead singer Shawn Christensen has had trouble with his voice in recent years, affecting his ability to hit the low notes. Maybe that was the difference... But in all honesty, I found it hard to really get into this band. They had a pretty loyal following, with the downstairs of the RNRH being 70% full on a Sunday night, and with a good number of superfans singing along - or at least mouthing the words.

There was also a large number of females in the audience for this show. I noted three incidents of upright spooning, not a good sign if you're the band inspiring this type of behavior. The Goo-Goo Dolls inspire upright spooning, ya know. Not sure if bassist Amanda Tannen inspires fellow fems to rock and is what brought so many ladies out Sunday night. But who's complaining? Amanda Tannen is not only hot, but she also lays down heavy bass lines and plays a prominent role (no window dressing here). Her singing isn't her best attribute, but it's not a detraction either.

Here's a clip that represents what this show did for me.

Overall, they were...fine. Nothing that really jumped out at me. Not offensive or annoying, but not all that inspiring either. At least not for me.

A quick word about opening act, US Royalty. I was interested in seeing another of DC's touring bands perform at the RNRH. I missed the first half of their set, but I was pleased to see a cover.

US Royalty were pretty tight, and their sound had a produced quality to it, which may have worked against them slightly. They actually sounded a bit too polished. Anyhow, onto more important matters, the guitarist needs to reconsider his boots. I don't mind it when chicks want to dress like it's 1982, but dudes need to think twice before returning down that path. Those boots do not make me envious of your rock and roll lifestyle. And that is job 1 for you Mr. Rockstar.