Dumbek's Random Stuff

I'm still buzzing at how much fun last night's Dismemberment Plan show was.

Random Stuff:

I sat in the Red Room for a bit before the first band came on. After about 10 minutes, I realized I was sitting about 5 feet from Ben Gibbard.

Chad came on stage and said that the show sold-out in 4 minutes. I'll bet many would argue it was more like 4 seconds. Anyway, he said something like "If everyone in this room has one thing in common, it's that you're all very fast."

He also did a survey of where everyone was from. "Who here is from DC?" was greeted with the standard set of cheering and applause. "Who's here from out of town?" was greeted by a roar that almost had me reaching for my earplugs. Apparently, locals were in the minority last night. No wonder it sold out so fast.

The ever-evolving Beauty Pill was fantastic, if under-appreciated. Their records are just stunningly beautiful, yet biting at the same time. Live, they're a bit edgier, but still pretty mesmerizing. They played most of the Cigarette Girl... EP, a track or two from The Unsustainable Lifestyle and a new song or two. Jean plays a mean skillet. Chad commented that "The Idiot Heart" is actually about The Dismemberment Plan and some record company issues they were having at the time. "Art won."

Dismemberment Plan was just a blast. I'm ashamed to say that I paid no attention to them when they were around a few years ago. My first time seeing them play was actually their very last show. Coincidentally, that show was also the first time I ever heard Beauty Pill, who opened for them that night as well.

The Plan was just non-stop fun. Travis was just jumping all over the place, looking so giddy and joyful. It seemed pretty clear he was having as much fun as the rest of us.

There were just so many great moments...Everyone singing along..."The city's been dead...since you've been gooooooooooone!" "Pay For The Piano" was just insanely good. The highlight for me was probably the apex of "You Are Invited". You know the point in the song...where it goes from the nearly Suicide-esque sparseness of the pre-programmed tracks and the quiet, almost-spoken verse...to the moment when Travis' ex looks at him with a glazed smile...and...says... YOU ARE INVITED....!!!

BAM! The band kicks in full-force and the crowd just friggin' explodes. Jumping up and down...hands in the air...screaming the lyrics...EVERYONE was just going crazy. Wow. It's for moments like that that I go to so many shows. They could have just ended it right there and I would have been happy.

One look at the picture from my last post and even through the fuzziness you can see what a blast everyone is having by the end of the night. Word has it that Ben Gibbard was actually playing drums at that point. That was a bit hard to discern, being that there were about 100 people on stage by then.

Oh yeah - There was also a shout-out to Chuck Brown, who was also playing in town this weekend. Travis added a chorus or two of "Bustin' Loose" at one point, though I forget which song it was.

People started to leave after the first encore. Much to our surprise, they came back again and gave us a couple more songs. I'll bet a few folks completely missed that. Never leave until the house music comes on.

On a more serious note, J. Robbins came out to introduce D-Plan. He gave a heartfelt thanks to everyone for helping out in what's really a heartbreaking situation. I hope they raised a good chunk of money at these gigs. Read more about Callum and donate here.