The Orwells – Washington, DC – March 8th, 2014
On March 8th, The Orwells quite literally tore down U Street Music Hall, leaving everyone – I mean EVERYONE – who was involved frazzled and wanting more. As you know, our Capitol Sound team interviewed the band before they took the stage. After our interview, we got in line outside to re-enter the venue for the show that evening. We arrived to the basement sized room and racked ourselves up against the iron barriers. We did all the usual stuff; y’know, talked to other fans, bought merch, etc. After all the social festivities were over, Silver Palms hit the stage. They gave a great performance (although there were problems with the bass), getting the crowd pumped for Twin Peaks and The Orwells.
On stage next was Twin Peaks. Let me say, I’ve never seen anything like what I saw when they stepped on stage to perform. Twin Peaks is clearly a DC favorite, the crowd erupted into a roar when they started playing. Accompanying the roar, to my surprise, was the lovely, yes lovely, mosh pit started by all the guys in the middle of the crowd releasing their teenage angst. For lack of a better term, it scared the actual sh*t out of my friends and I, and many other people in the crowd. Through out their set, one by one, people dropped like flies… but not I! Just like many of the concert-goers, the indestructible iron barriers turned out to be... well... destructible. This triggered major problems for security, as they held up the barriers for the rest of TP's set. Towards the end of their performance, they played a rendition of the famous Malcolm in The Middle theme song, Boss of Me by They Might Be Giants. The crowd got super hyped and Twin Peaks ended their set on a good note, gaining a few new fans, including myself.
Next up: The Orwells – aka security’s worst nightmare. At this point, security gave up completely on the iron barriers and used a better barricade: themselves. Energy is high and the crowd is insane when Grant, Henry, Dominic, and Mario join Matt on stage. They opened with Other Voices with the audience slipping in and tripping out. Next up was a relatively new song, Righteous One from their new album out this spring. After this, front man Mario Cuomo announced that, “security said they’ll shut down the show if I try to touch you guys.. SO TOUCH ME ALL YOU F*CKING WANT!” The show went on with other songs off of Remember When and Who Needs You EP. On the latter end of the set, The Orwells performed fan favorite Blood Bubbles. Everyone in the first few rows of the audience are screaming the lyrics back to the stage louder than Cuomo himself. The band closed with their most popular single Who Needs You and exiting the stage seemingly too soon from when they came on – but no worries! Of course they came back on stage and did their cover of The Stooges “I Wanna Be Your Dog”. Then, much to security’s dismay- and probably fear - asked fans to join them on stage. Left and right security are physically throwing people off of the stage, but can you really stop a fan of The Orwells? Absolutely not! Back on stage was Twin Peaks to join the party. Sadly, both bands bid adieu and left stage for a final time. By the end of the night, security is sweating as much as the performers themselves, putting up a good fight against the TRUE indestructible obstacle that night- The Orwells and their fans.
Rumor has it The Orwells are banned from U Street Music Hall, but I’m sure next time we see them here they’ll be at a bigger venue. Either way it’s their loss, because really, Who Needs ‘Em?
Check out the full gallery here!