#but i will go to a depeche mode concert and then b back for college 🤣

[angel-nero]

#5317

Heeeyyyy, okay, so it's really cool to be mutuals with you and you're also of my v limited mexican pals shdhjskd so we can speak in mexican meme together lmaoooo and talk about shiro and keith as su puta madre no aguanto, mi corazón se rompe wey aaaaaaaaaaa, que se vayan a la verga no mames. Papi shiro 😭🙌🏼 so, in short you're really funny and I'm glad we talk!!!! Aksdjskekdjejw. I always wanna reply straight away to u 😫 but my life has been 😬😬😬 me going from place to place lately and getting my energy suckd so i hope u have patience w me and that u dont think i ignore u cus fuck no 😩🙌🏼 im glad u messaged me in the post voltron s3 groggy af morning where i was dying and stuff lmao :') i actually will be in ur city in may next year,,,,, just saying lmaoooo 👀👀👀 😂😂 but yo, i really appreciate ur lov for shiro even if maybe is not that good for your health....... this pain can't be healthy, but I totally share the emotion and u know it. Ass in the air, for shiro.

Mutuals send me a number and I'll make a post talking about you

[awesomeandfancy]

10 live shows that mattered, all true

When that 10 bands meme circled around Facebook, what struck me the most was the breadth and variety of the music represented. There was death metal, there was classic rock, there was ‘80s pop. And so many people had at least 9 live shows they could list. That’s the power of live music.

I made a quick list of my own, but I started thinking more about the bands I’ve seen live, and the shows that have meant the most to me, or had the greatest impact on me.

So here are 10 live shows that mattered, all true.  

1. Adele, Sixth and I Synagogue, DC, June 17, 2008. My former boss was something of a trend spotter. One day he came over to my desk and had me watch the video for “Chasing Pavements,” by this rising young British singer. A couple of weeks later I heard she was coming to DC on her first tour. And that’s how I wound up seeing Adele at the historic Sixth and I Synagogue in 2008. The stage was so small she couldn’t fit her band and equipment so she played a mostly unplugged set, casually dressed with a knit cap slung over one side of her head. She hardly needed mikes or amplification; her massive voice filled the room and she charmed everyone with her between-song patter.

2. INXS, The Boathouse, Norfolk, VA, Sept. 13, 1997. I’ve seen INXS twice. The first time was thousands of other people at Compton Terrace in Phoenix in June 1988 when the band was at the height of their success, touring in support of the Kick album. I enjoyed the experience of traveling in a car full of other high school students down to the show and back as much as the show itself; the band was hundreds of feet away, specks on a massive stage. The second time was 9 years later at a small club called the Boathouse in Norfolk which was exactly what it sounded like: a converted boathouse. With a capacity of a couple hundred, the space was intimate, bringing everyone within the range of Michael Hutchence’s undeniable power and charisma. When he came down off the stage and climbed the rafters, the room was electric. I’ve never seen a frontman like him; this performance is what I imagine when I read about the heyday of Mick Jagger or Jim Morrison. Two months later Michael Hutchence was found dead and I truly felt the loss.

3. Elliott Smith, 9:30 Club, DC, May 12, 2000. My friend and former colleague Sam McDonald was a music reporter for the Daily Press when he came up to DC for a show and invited me to come along. I didn’t know the singer, but I trusted Sam’s taste. What a way to be introduced to Elliott Smith. I was in awe from start to finish and I’ve been a fan ever since. Another great loss to the music world.

4. Kenna, 9:30 Club, DC, July 20, 2003. Technically, this was a Dave Gahan show, a stop on his solo tour for Paper Monsters. As a Depeche Mode fan, I was there to see him. But the part of the show that really blew me away was opening act Kenna. Every song was a perfect blend of pop, rock, dance, and R&B. He’s only been back to DC once, again as an opening act (this time for She Wants Revenge), and his musical output has been frustratingly sporadic, but he’s released two perfect CDs and that’s more than many artists can say.

5. Crowded House, Tipitina’s, New Orleans, 1991. It would have been a great enough show if Crowded House were just consummate musicians playing tightly written pop gems. But they also had one of the best stage presences of anyone I’ve ever seen. Witty, bantering, interacting with the audience. The part that sticks out for me was the band and the floor crowd trying to shoot a ball through a basketball hoop nailed to the second floor balcony. We all felt like we were part of something together and it was joyous and fun.

6. Neil Finn, 9:30 Club, DC, Jan. 28, 2003. After Crowded House broke up, I followed Neil Finn’s solo career (more pop gems). His show at the 9:30 Club had the same infectious fun and impeccable musicianship of that Tipitina’s gig. We didn’t want it to end and neither did he; he played two encores and the show finished so late (unusual for the 9:30) that I barely made the last Green Line train from the U Street station—and got to Fort Totten too late for the last Red Line train and had to take a cab the rest of the way home to Silver Spring. It was still worth it.

7. Peter Murphy, Tipitina’s, New Orleans, March 21, 1990. I’d acquired Peter Murphy’s solo album “Deep” that year via the college paper and listened to it non-stop. Gloomy pop in the minor key? My favorite! So of course I went to see him at Tipitina’s on his Strange Kind of Love tour. It was a good show, but that’s not what makes this date memorable. It was his opening act, a band previously unknown to me called … Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor concluded their 8-song set by smashing his guitar on the stage, an audacious bit of rock star pageantry for a band whose album was only 5 months old and was still gaining word of mouth notoriety. (I would see Nine Inch Nails again, sort of, when they played the first Lollapalooza tour in 1991; due to faulty equipment, they never made it through their set, or even a full song.)

8. The Strokes, 9:30 Club, DC, Oct. 29, 2001. I had been hearing lots of buzz about this up-and-coming band from New York, but I’d yet to hear a single song when I saw they were coming to the 9:30 Club. I took a chance and got tickets and went by myself. Like Elliott Smith, it was a revelation to hear an act’s songs for the first time as a live performance. And what a performance. Their album was brand new and red hot and they were in full possession of their powers. Maybe some of the energy in the room that night was also the release of being together with other people, less than a month after 9/11, in some kind of celebration of music and New York and our continued existence.

9. The Weakerthans, Black Cat, DC, Oct. 24, 2003. The second time I saw them at the Black Cat, it was notable as much for the circumstances as the show itself: I was 3 months pregnant. (I nervously asked my OB/GYN if it was OK to go to the show and she patiently explained that the sound wouldn’t bother anything in utero.) So technically this is Julia’s first concert, too.

10. Half Moon Run, Strathmore, Bethesda, Sept. 21, 2012. Like the Kenna show, this isn’t about the lead act, it’s about an opening act stealing the spotlight. I was at Strathmore to see Metric; they are one of the best live acts I’ve ever seen, and this was the second time of now three I was seeing them in concert, so I was settled into my seat waiting to get through the opening act. And then Half Moon Run started to play. The first song made me sit up and take notice, and as they progressed through the set, I could feel the audience around me doing the same thing. I don’t know how to describe their music. In one song, all three play percussion. In another, the drummer is also simultaneously playing the keyboard. By the end, we were all new fans.