I caught my second Eisley concert last night, one of my favorite bands. It was rainy, windy, and downright soggy…a bad day for wearing your hair down but a good day for wearing your favorite boots, both of which I did! They played at the 9:30 Club here in DC, a nice little indie-type venue nestled in the sketchy/cool U Street Corridor in NW which has housed previous gigs by Metric, Doves, and Blonde Redhead which I also attended. This is actually the first time I’ve gone to a show there alone, but after walking sort of waywardly for awhile and finally spotting some skinny emo kids in hoodies, I knew I was going in the right direction. I got there as soon as the doors opened at 7pm to ensure my spot in the balcony at the bar overlooking the stage as my back is shit after about 20 minutes of standing. Doesn’t hurt that it’s a good view as well, though. Why does everything have to be so methodical with me?

There were not one, not two, but three opening acts before the actual main show started. I was a little annoyed, wondering how long they would take and hoping the whole thing didn’t lose its sense of excitement. I mean three? Come on. But they were totally great!

The Envy Corps, an all-dood group from Iowa, started things off with some very infectious hard-hitting drums and guitars (awesome guitar player) that kind of sucked you right into the melody going on, but unfortunately I have no idea what song that was (it’s the song on their website homepage above, later determined to be “Wires and Wool”). That’s the problem with live music…you can barely understand what they’re saying, especially song names if given, but damn it sounds good going through your whole body, whatever it is. Too bad you’re at a loss later (and it also never seems to hold up non-live). They were followed by Vedera, a sweet little Eisley-esque group with a pixie-like lead singer who sure could wail her head off at her keyboard. They have a new album coming out in June, I think. I picked up the free acoustic sampler, but I haven’t listened to it yet. Lastly, The Myriad were up and provided some very yummy stage theatrics including a slick guitar player with a very whimsical but polished look involving a vest, tight black pants, short tie, a violin bow to play his guitar with at times, and all that good stuff. I like seeing people really commit to those types of things. There was also a lot of full-body drum-beating going on at times with those huge mallet-type things on the big drum. They even asked if anyone was a David Bowie/Labyrinth fan as their new video just debuted on MTV and has puppets in it from the guys behind Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, etc. They made sure we knew that if we spotted a scene sometime with “adventure” and puppets around a campfire, it’s totally them.

Around 11pm, Eisley finally turned up and started their performance as I sipped down my second Amaretto. You could see them peeping at the other groups throughout the evening as the 9:30 Club has little private balconies looking down on either side of the stage that extend off of the “band area” backstage. They played a lot of stuff from their new album, Combinations, as this is indeed the Combinations tour. Too bad my favorite album is Room Noises. Too bad also for my boyfriend in general that his favorite stuff like “Over the Mountains” is from the even older EPs which contain a lot more girlish growling and wailing. I feel like Eisley has grown up too much…they still make beautiful music, and I’ll buy their albums any day, but it’s like the magic has drifted away a little and everything has been toned down. Where’s the epic dreaminess of “Tree Tops”, “Memories”, etc? And they didn’t even play my favorite songs like “Brightly Wound” and “My Lovely”. This isn’t a bad review, though. They did a great job, and the new stuff has its own charms. I quite like the title track, “Combinations”, and “Ten Cent Blues”.

All the DuPree girls looked adorable as usual, wearing the unspoken uniform of skinny jeans, flats, and random shirt or dress on top. Chauntelle looked really cute in her pastel sleeveless prairie dress over aforementioned basics, and Sherri (who is probably my favorite, then Chauntelle) had a simple fitted Goodwill-looking button up shirt on with gorgeous dark shoulder length hair and heavy bangs (good riddance, blonde!). She seems feisty, and I love the wildness of her voice. Stacy looked the way she always does, long hair and girlish top behind her keyboard in the middle. Then of course there’s those awkward male relatives on drums and bass. They always look so goofy! Highlights included a random version of “Mr. Pine” that they pulled out of obscurity as well as a rendition of “I Wasn’t Prepared” featuring teenage sister Christie, yet another female from the DuPree factory, on the opening verse. It was very cute. She sounds just like Sherri. I wish Sherri and I were BFFs. *girl crush*

Here are some of the poor excuses for video/photos my phone was capable of capturing:

1. Random stage shot (l-r: Chauntelle, Stacy, Sherri)

2. “Combinations” clip

Overall it was a very good night. I don’t know what more I could have asked for, except maybe my favorite songs being played. But that’s okay…I have them on the computer and can listen to them exactly as I expect to hear them whenever I want to. It surprises me how some of these “Christian bands” sneak by into my favorite music. I don’t know what I’m expecting or anticipating aversion to, but I dunno, it doesn’t seem like that’s how you’d classify Eisley or The Myriad. I know there are some pretty cool Christians out there though, who am I kidding?

As the show let out, I grabbed a free labeled and dated Combinations mini-poster outside in the drizzle and hopped into a cab, at home and asleep within a half-hour, dreaming of orange, gold and green and other whimsical little things in general.

Tags: 9:30 club, combinations, dc, eisley, the envy corps, the myriad, vedera, washington