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| Rock and Roll Hotel |
** I know this is late. I had it written out as a draft but never actually submitted it. I'm trying to get these out fairly soon after the shows, but delays happen.**
This concert was phenomenal in so many ways. I've always loved Sea Wolf, but in this venue and setting my appreciation grew. First, I must say that the Rock and Roll Hotel is BY FAR the best music venue I've ever been to. It's not actually a hotel at all, just a building with 3 levels. It has a really fun atmosphere, 3 bars, a small but intimate stage, nice staff, and and good sound. The rooftop bar was a nice place to hang out before the show started. They offered the usual bar food, but in the setting overlooking DC on top of the building everything was better. After this concert I immediately looked up the rest of the summer event schedule at the venue, and saw that The Lighthouse and the Whaler are playing there in July. I like the band a lot, but the band mixed with this venue is what makes me want to go so badly. It's small, so of course huge big name mainstream bands won't ever go to it, but the less known bands who haven't made it big yet will stop by and at the end of the show hangout by the bar on the level with the stage, where they'll take pictures, sign stuff, talk to their fans, and just have fun.
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| Bar on the 2nd level of Rock and Roll Hotel |
People seem to go to this venue not necessarily just for the band, but for the experience of the venue, so I didn't feel like I was running into the usual obnoxious, pushing and shoving crowds. I was able to easily get to the very front right next to the stage without any problems. I didn't have to push my way through, the spot was just open waiting for me.
Savoir Adore opened for Sea Wolf, and it was a very nice surprise. I usually don't love the openers, but these guys had a really good sound and were a bit faster and more upbeat than Sea Wolf. They're sort of a mix of MGMT and the xx. It's that strange genre that goes by so many different names, but is still really vague and nobody knows what to call it. Some stick with alternative, others with indie, but they're a self-coined "fantasy rock" duo. Basically rock plus synthesizers and electronic stuff. Spotify's description classifies them as a "neo-psychadelic" group, which I think fits pretty well. The band is full of talented members, and during the show they kept switching instruments, so they're all very musical people.
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| Savoir Adore |
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| Savoir Adore at Rock & Roll Hotel |
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| Sea Wolf at the Rock & Roll Hotel |
I thought Sea Wolf was amazing. As I said, I've always loved their music, so maybe I'm a bit biased, but everything was great at this concert. The lead singer even had a cold, but I could only tell when he spoke. My only complaint would be that they were scheduled to start at 9:15, but came on closer to 9:45, which is a pretty long delay. The band was started and is led by Alex Brown Church, who signed the shirt I bought after the show, along with the guitarist, Scott Leahy. I love small venues since I was able to grab a spot near the front, and at the end of the show I was close enough to lean over and grab the band's set list they had left on the floor. The set list is below and appears to have the lipstick from Lisa Fendelander, the band's keyboardist. All these words are just a short part of their song names, but if you don't know Sea Wolf enough to know what those songs are, then there's probably no reason for you to be reading this. Of course, if you go look them up and listen to their music, then you'll figure out what the songs actually are, why I love them so much, and we'd all see that there were plenty of reasons to read this. They did have a 3 song encore, and at this point I unfortunately can't remember what they were, but there were three additional songs played that were not on their set list, so it was a nice surprise for anybody close enough to read the set list.
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| Sea Wolf at the Rock & Roll Hotel |
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| Signed Sea Wolf T-Shirt & Set List |
There's been a number of shows along with a 3 day music festival between the Of Monsters and Men show and today, so this won't be my most detailed post, but it'll give you the gist of how Of Monsters and Men are live.
Ok enough with my philosophy on music, Of Monsters and Men were really great, but didn't play enough of the music everybody has grown to love. Of course they played all their hits, and they were all great, but I was surprised by how early they played "Little Talks" in the show. I can't remember exactly what song they closed the initial set with, but I remember wondering if they wouldn't have an encore because they had played all their hits already. They ended up giving us one, but it was not at all what I expected. They played a cover of a song by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and ended the entire show with "Yellow Light" which is a fine song if you're in the mood for it, but at a live show I would want to leave with a song that the band didn't just describe as a "lullaby" right before they played it. The lighting was cool with the song, they had yellow streaks of light all over the stage, but still not what I would expect or want from a live show. The show overall though was great and really fun, but I was disappointed with the very end of it.
