BigYawn

I did not grow up in DC, and despite my starting college here in the mid-90’s, I missed DC’s golden age of music. When the first Fugazi album you buy is The Argument, it tells you something. This being said, Scream(331) was not a band I had seen or knew much about. Nor was RUSTBUCKit(330), though my understanding is they are really just old DC musicians in a new band.  Regardless, their set was not all that interesting, and was at times a bit awkward, actually. I keep thinking of the term aging gracefully, and yet have no idea how to apply it in this situtation.

The original line-up of Scream — ie the one without Dave Grohl — was back together for the first time in awhile. (see a very young photo of them on the left) And, having seen a few retro DC bands this year, I have to say they may have held up better than any of the others. Though, despite Their energy on stage, the crowd only followed suite late in the set. Early on, it was a lot of folded arms and lifeless legs. The band mixed in old and new songs with a variety of styles, including hardcore, rock and even a R+B/Funk sound. Being uninitiated, I didn’t know what songs were new or old, nor could I tell the difference by the style, so that at least says their material wasn’t too dated.

No, it was not a mind-numbing show, at least not for me. But it was interesting seeing an old-school DC band capture some relevance again. Having seen John Stabb’s new band only a couple nights before fail miserably at relevance, this was a step in the right direction.