I still love hearing those songs and apparently, over the years, quite a few others have kept them close to heart because I got to see the first of two sold-out shows at Black Cat in Washington D.C. on Friday night amongst an enthusiastic crowd.
And, in reality, Velocity Girl was never mine alone. The band’s label, Sub Pop, gave the debut a publicity push that it really only matched with Nirvana’s debut Bleach.
The problem with the show was Black Cat’s sound. Shannon’s voice was buried in the mix and then the overall sound suddenly improved halfway through the set, which made it clear the sound people realized after many songs that something was wrong and, oh well, they were finally going to get around to doing something about it.
I’ve really scaled back my attendance at Black Cat in recent years, and I was writing about what bad sound the club (which I would love to love) sometimes has even way back in 2011 at the Yuck show. Perhaps that’s also because we’ve been spoiled in this town by the consistent excellence of sound quality at other venues like the 9:30 Club and The Anthem.
But back to Velocity Girl: the band played excellently and is surprisingly loud on stage. Apparently that’s always been the case, it’s just that I had never gotten to see them live until now. The highlights from debut Copacetic included “Audrey’s Eyes,” “Crazy Town,” and “Pop Loser.” The best moments from second album Simpatico were “Drug Girls,” “Sorry Again,” and the Pixies-like “I Can’t Stop Smiling.”
Velocity Girl was 5 out of 5 stars, but Black Cat’s sound was 3 out of 5 stars (at best), making the overall show 4 out of 5 stars
Side notes:
- D.C.’s Tuscadero opened and we’re pretty enjoyable. Love the Happy Days reference in the band name!
- Ate at Moi Doi across the street before the show. Very tasty Vietnamese. Go with the beef jerky, drunken noodles, and pear salad.
- Attended the show with my wife and ran into friends Angie and Linda at the show.
From setlist dot com:
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