This review a little over a month late but I promised myself I would write about seeing Twin Forks and Augustana live in concert! This is my first “review” on the concerts I’ve been to these last few years so bare with me if my language sounds juvenile and the writing is unstructured with horrid style. I have more concerts in the future so hopefully my writing style improves. So here it goes!
Augustana ft. Twin Forks – DC show 2014
The concert was held Monday, May 19th at the 9:30 Club in DC. I just realized that the last time I was there before that night was for the One Tree Hill Concert Tour in 2005, for the show I was introduced to Dashboard Confession (Twin Fork’s Chris Carrabba’s previous indie rock band) and Augustana’s music! It’s been years since I’ve wanted to see them!
Twin Forks at the 9:30 Club 05/19/2014
Twin Forks
Twin Forks opened the show and my friend and I wanted to be in the front to see Chris Carrabba in person because we’re huge long time fans of DC! I’ve been listening to Twin Forks for about a year and I enjoy their folk rock and country style. It’s a change from the emo style of DC , but everything about this band and their music makes it raw and homey. On tour , the band is Chris Carrabba- vocals and guitar, Jonathan Clark- bass, Shawn Zorn – drums, Kelsie Bronoski- vocals and mondolin and Kimmy Baronoski – vocals. You could tell they were having fun on tour by the way they sort of played with each other and the audience during songs. Their set list was mostly from their self-titled LP released this past February where many fans sang along including myself! My favorites include ,”Can’t Be Broken”, “Cross My Mind” and “Back To You” which was a fantastic finale. The part that melted my heart was when Chris sang Swiss Army Romance on the acoustic guitar. I felt like I was in high school again! Them high notes, Chris!
Overall, their set was fun and lively ! I was hoping to meet them after in case they were by the merchandise table, but I was not willing to give up my spot. I somewhat regret that because not only did I possibly miss my chance to meet Chris and take a picture with him, I also wanted a physical LP but they were gone by the end of the night. However, when Shawn was packing up his drums and someone behind me asked for their set list, he asked who wanted his drum sticks and the nice girl beside me and I stuck out our hands so fast for them and thanked him! They were broken but hey, he drummed his heart out that night and I got something! I can’t wait to see them again again at Silopanna in August! I am even considering going to their next DC show this month! I know, I need to chill, but I have a concert addiction problem forming.
Augustana
Finally, the reason for the tour performed: Augustana. To be honest, after their single “Sweet and Low” was released, I didn’t keep up with their music up until they announced this tour for their new album Life Imitating Life. I decided to download all their albums and familiarize myself with the songs so I would appreciate the concert more than if 75% of the songs were brand new to me. I think I made a good decision to do that because they sang a good variety of songs from all their albums.
Augustana – 9:30 Club- May 2014
The lead singer, Dan Layus, voice sounded perfect like all the album recordings. The band also held strong the entire way through their set. They never seemed tired which may be because their songs are never high energy – jump up and down.That’s not their style. Their rock style is gentle and subtle if that makes any sense. I noticed there were no introductions or chitchat by Dan about the songs, they just kept singing and playing, which I don’t think the audience minded at all. Almost everyone sang along for each song. A couple of times, after “Boston” and “Sunday Best” (two of my favorite songs of theirs, I almost cried), he added or subbed some lyrics for DC and that always gets a crowd hyped.
Augustana played for maybe almost two hours or more. There were times when I was worried I’d get home too late and thought of leaving early but at the same time, I was in the front row and didn’t want to miss anything. For their encore, they played maybe four more songs, including “Sunday Best”. Good thing I stayed! I was satisfied with what I heard and saw from them.
At the end of the night, I remember feeling that great concert high you get, at least I get, after a show. It’s been more than a month since the show and I still think about it when their songs play on my phone. I still watch the videos I took too (yeah I am that kind of concert girl). I absolutely recommend seeing them live in a similar intimate venue if you’re a fan of the bands or their genres.
So here’s to great concerts and artists! I have a couple more concerts I am definitely attending this year so I promise to post my “review” within a week of the show. Until next concert!
Love is Real 😉
Vania
Jukebox Divvy 