Great Music in the Metro Area this Month

October has been and will continue to be quite an exceptional month for live music in the D.C. area.

I caught two shows this past week at 9:30...The first was Them Crooked Vultures, the newest 'super group' consisting of Josh Homme (Eagles of Death Metal and Queen of the Stone Age), Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters), and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin). It was a close second to the loudest show I've ever seen, the first being Animal Collective, but in the greatest way possible. It was a thunderous blend of Zeppelin and Queens of the Stone Age, highlighted by some otherworldly drumming from Grohl. I never got to see Nirvana, but Grohl looked exactly as he did in 90s bootleg videos, thrashing wildly about while shrouded behind a thick mane of long black hair.

The second was Built to Spill, one of my favorite bands of the past decade, even though they've been around since the early 90s. I fell heavily under their spell thanks to a recommendation from my cousin Jay, and a subsequent CD gifting of their live disc, simply titled LIVE. I've seen BTS three times before, and while they were solid, Saturday night completely blew them out of the water. Martsch and co. delivered a blistering set of BTS classics in a fashion that I can only describe as 'relentlessly blissful.' I really couldn't get enough...and was particularly enthused by 'The Plan', 'Time Trap', 'You Were Right', set closer 'Carry the Zero', and the entire encore.

Set list included below courtesy of setlist.fm.

Planting Seeds
The Plan
When Not being Stupid is Not Enough
In the Morning
Life's A Dream
Time Trap
Traces
You Were Right
Alarmed
Hindsight
(Unknown)
Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss
Carry the Zero

Encore:

The Weather
Big Dipper
Conventional Wisdom

Upcoming shows I'm attending this month are Dr. Dog, Andrew Bird/St. Vincent, Deer Tick, Guster, and potentially Dirty Projectors.