Review: 2 November 07, DAR Constitution Hall, DC

INTRO: Klaus Nomi, Wayward Sisters...Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before / Irish Blood, English Heart / Interesting Drug / Death Of A Disco Dancer / Sister, I'm A Poet / One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell / Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself? / Billy Budd / Jack The Ripper / The Loop / Stretch Out And Wait / I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris / Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want / Tomorrow / I Like You / Good Looking Man About Town / The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores / That's How People Grow Up / The Boy With The Thorn In His Side / Dear God, Please Help Me / Auld Lang Syne / How Soon Is Now?...ENCORE: First Of The Gang To Die

Well, the night started out great when my wife and I were waiting for the Metro (the DC-area subway) and I surprised her with the ticket envelope. Upon opening it, she screamed...and then hit me a la Elaine Benes (from Seinfeld, i.e. "Get OUT!!"). We had been to DAR Constitution Hall before to see the Strokes, and we were really far away (or so it seemed in row EE). Tonight would be different.

Security was pretty lax entering the Hall. It would have been extremely easy to get a camera/video recorder in there. The guards stood with metal detectors, but I didn't see ONE being used.

We get in, buy one overpriced cocktail ($10 for a dixie cup-sized mango thing) and grab our seats in row L. On the venue layout-map online, row L is 11 rows back. Well, it is actually row 7! We were really close. Not only that, but there were people who got tickets for the first 3 rows and some of them were all the way stage right or left, behind huge stacks of equipment...and were straining for the entire show! Suckers!!

Girl In A Coma were OK. Far better than Kristeen Young. But why the hell do women singers on this tour all have to sound like bootleg Bjorks?! At least they covered a Ramones tune (Do You Wanna Dance/Do You Wanna Touch). The bassist pointed out that a few weeks ago they were scheduled to play in some DC dive bar...and are now the luckiest girls on the planet.

Moz's band came out looking like Capitol Hill interns...grey pants, white shirts with rolled-up sleeves, and blue/brown striped ties. Everyone in the band sported black eyes and broken noses. I thought this indicated a possible "Boxers," but it was not to be! Moz introduced the band as "Thugs R Us."

Everyone was on fire. Jesse was incredible (the wife kept reminding me how HOT he is), walking up to the front of the stage several times. Boz and Solomon also wandered to the front rows quite a bit. The upright bass was perfect! It really adds a whole new dimension to those rockabilly-esque numbers.

It was sort of odd hearing Kristeen Young's yelping scream in That's How People Grow Up! As Auld Lang Syne rolled into How Soon Is Now?, Boz got pissed because his guitar amp wasn't on! He stood with his back to the audience, pointing to the rig, and finally a roadie fixed it by the end of the first verse. Has anyone mentioned Matt Walker's drumming at the end of How Soon Is Now? Dramatically smashing his massive drum with those mallets with incredible force!! Awesome.

There were two stage-rushers (both women), that essentially strolled onstage quite leisurely! The first got to hug Moz with his shirt off. (Cue my wife grabbing my arm off). During the encore, I was afraid that all of the stage invaders would cause him to cut the song off, but a happy-medium was reached, and security allowed the concert to finish properly. The huge enforcer at stage right smashed a couple unlucky dudes!!

Morrissey seemed to be in a great mood. Although he was much more talkative at Wolf Trap on 2 July, here he was concise and witty. The whole show put Wolf Trap to shame. The venue was louder, the stage closer, and Morrissey wasn't sick! Drumsticks, guitar picks, and setlists made it into the audience.

If you decided to go to Baltimore instead of this show, you made a BIG mistake!!

This poster (limited 160 copies) is available for sale: