Kyle Gustafson – Bandwidth

Six Pics: Santigold At Fillmore Silver Spring

Kyle Gustafson — Mon, 09 May 2016 15:56:04 +0000

Santigold visited the Fillmore Silver Spring Friday night for the last stop on her North American tour promoting her recent album, 99¢. Her set showcased her unique blend of dancehall, hip-hop and pop, and tracks like “Unstoppable” and “Freak Like Me” had the crowd dancing along from the get-go.

All photos by Kyle Gustafson

Six Pics: Smashing Pumpkins And Liz Phair At Lincoln Theatre

Kyle Gustafson — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 14:25:38 +0000

Billy Corgan brought the latest incarnation of Alternative Nation titans Smashing Pumpkins to the Lincoln Theatre Sunday night as part of his “In Plainsong” tour.

The set started off with a solo Corgan playing a few acoustic numbers before being joined by guitarist Jeff Schroeder for a cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and a sublime version of “Mayonnaise.”

The rest of the band, including original Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, joined the duo for a plugged-in mini-Siamese Dream set that included “Rocket,” “Soma” and “Today.”

Liz Phair opened the show, prepping the crowd for the night of ’90s nostalgia with a killer set that focused on her first three albums. Whip-Smart‘s “Supernova” sounded particularly fab.

Liz Phair

Billy Corgan

All photos by Kyle Gustafson

Six Pics: Unknown Mortal Orchestra And Lower Dens At 9:30 Club

Kyle Gustafson — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 16:05:29 +0000

Scenes from Wednesday night’s Unknown Mortal Orchestra show with Lower Dens at 9:30 Club.

Lower Dens

Unknown Mortal Orchestra

All photos by Kyle Gustafson

Six Pics: Foals At Lincoln Theatre

Kyle Gustafson — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 16:28:50 +0000

Scenes from Foals‘ show at D.C.’s Lincoln Theatre Wednesday night.

All photos by Kyle Gustafson.

Six Pics: Deafheaven’s Metallic Shoegaze At Howard Theatre

Kyle Gustafson — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 15:08:20 +0000

If you like your metal with a healthy dose of shoegaze, Friday night’s Deafheaven show at D.C.’s historic Howard Theatre was sonic nirvana. The San Francisco band’s set focused heavily on its latest album, New Bermuda, but also touched on the high points of critically acclaimed 2013 release Sunbather.

All photos by Kyle Gustafson.

Six Pics: Kendrick Lamar At Lincoln Theatre

Kyle Gustafson — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 15:13:58 +0000

Fresh off his acclaimed Oct. 20 performance with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar returned to the District to play his second local gig in as many weeks this past weekend. Here’s what we saw at the sweaty, sold-out Lincoln Theatre Sunday night.

All photos by Kyle Gustafson.

Six Pics: Morrissey’s Not-So-Triumphant Return To D.C.

Kyle Gustafson — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 14:59:53 +0000

After postponing and/or canceling six of his last seven D.C.- and Baltimore-area concerts — much to the consternation of local fans — Morrissey finally showed his face around these parts last night at Echostage. Exclaiming “Washington! Wednesday! Wooo!” as he took the stage, his band launched into “Suedehead” to uproarious applause.

At that point, the audience probably thought it was in for a triumphant return to form. However, following that up with “Staircase at the University” and “Ganglord,” Moz soon made it clear that the crowd was in for an uneven night.

Morrissey is in a tough spot on this tour. He’s basically touring behind a record he seems proud of, but his fans can’t currently buy or hear it. Released last July, World Peace Is None of Your Business was quickly dropped by Harvest Records after the label and Morrissey had a rather public disagreement about its promotion. It’s not available in iTunes, Spotify or Rdio right now, so the album may as well not exist.

That’s why Morrissey’s choice to lean heavily on the album last night was a misstep. Each time he trotted out one of those songs, you could feel the energy drain from the crowd — and see the glow of phones reappear on attendees’ faces.

Highlights like “Now My Heart Is Full” and “Every Day Is Like Sunday” were followed by slow, plodding message-heavy songs like “Instanbul” and “I Will See You In Far Off Places.” The crowd seemed to want a release, but those moments felt few and far between.

All photos by Kyle Gustafson

Six Pics: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds At Lincoln Theatre

Kyle Gustafson — Fri, 05 Jun 2015 16:27:44 +0000

“I waited in the rain, my feet too wet to stand in…”

That line from “Riverman,” the first track from Noel Gallagher’s latest album Chasing Yesterday, took on new meaning to the hundreds of people that stood in yesterday evening’s downright Mancunian downpour waiting for Lincoln Theatre’s doors to open. Huddled under umbrellas, pizza boxes and any sliver of shelter they could find, fans lined up around the block for the chance to see the penultimate club gig on the ex-Oasis member’s U.S. tour.

They didn’t have to wait long. Taking the stage sharply at 8:10 p.m., Gallagher maneuvered expertly through a 20-song set that evenly split material from his two solo albums and included six Oasis songs for good measure. Seven songs in, one fan screamed “Best. Gig. Ever!” right before Gallagher played “The Death of You and Me.” She wasn’t wrong.

The night’s first big singalong came to a reworked version of the Oasis hit “Champagne Supernova.” One of the band’s biggest songs in America, it was often played at a dirge-like pace and killed momentum in their sets. The new version, a jaunty acoustic ditty, brought everyone out of their seats to contribute to the chorus. Other highlights included an energetic rendition of “Digsy’s Dinner,” a brutish “The Mexican” and an hymnlike “If I Had A Gun.”

The only complaint I’d level at this show was the distinct lack of bon mots from The Most Quotable Man In Rock™ between songs. He stuck mostly to “thank you” and a few short conversations with fans in front. The omission of “The Ballad of Mighty I,” Chasing Yesterday‘s second single, was also a bit of a head scratcher. But it was replaced in the set with “Whatever,” Oasis’ best-ever non-album track. Some might call that an upgrade.

All photos by Kyle Gustafson

Photos: Spoon And Hamilton Leithauser At Lincoln Theatre

Kyle Gustafson — Thu, 04 Sep 2014 14:22:21 +0000

In the second of three sold-out shows at D.C.’s historic Lincoln Theatre, indie-rock idols Spoon played to a crowd last night that seemed even more pumped than the audience on Tuesday. Many attendees who would have been stuck in the upper balcony streamed down to the theater’s lower section as Britt Daniel and Co.—now featuring Divine Fits’ Alex Fischel—played a set of songs pulled more from their older albums (and less from They Want My Soul and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, the foci of Tuesday’s performance).

According to setlist.fm, Spoon debuted “Let Me Be Mine” live last night—a special touch that made up for the lack of the snazzy all-white outfits they wore Tuesday. The Austin band plays one more gig on U Street tonight, this time without support from D.C. native and ex-Walkmen frontman Hamilton Leithauser—instead, D.C.’s Ex Hex opens.

Hamilton Leithauser:

Spoon:

Due to an editing error, the original version of this post inaccurately said Hamilton Leithauser is opening for Spoon Thursday. Ex Hex is the opener.