I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: August 11, 2017] The Districts

We had seen The Districts at XPN Fest in 2016.  Well, seen isn’t quite the right word.  We were very hot, the kids were wiped out, so we stood off to the side while The Districts rocked River Front Stage.  I was really impressed with what I heard (and could sorta see), so at one point I moved to the bleachers and watched a couple of songs.

 

About that show I had written:

It’s great finding a young band (they have two albums and a couple of EPs out)  who is really good and looks to have staying power.  I’d love to see them again in a club sometime.

One year later and the band was planning to release their third full length Popular Manipulations.  And release day also happened to be the night of their hometown show in Philly.

By the time the band came on, the crowd was ready to party.  And by the middle of the first song, the slam dancers shoved their way up front and pushed all of us spectators out of the way. 

I hadn’t heard any of the new album (except for two singles), but the songs sounded great nonetheless.  And, even though this was a record release show, they didn’t play the new album front to back (they didn’t even play all of the songs, actually).  They knew to mix popular songs in with the new ones and they kept the crowd at a frenzy, dancing, pogoing, singing along, crowd surfing and generally causing wonderous mayhem.

Amazingly, the crowd was already singing along to the new song “If Before I Wake.”  But on older faves like “Chlorine,” they were practically louder than the band.   I felt like a bit of a fraud being so close up because I clearly am not as much of a die hard as everyone else.

But even I could sing along to “Long Distance.”  And there were a few new ones that no one else knew the words to either, like “Point.”

I was in front of guitarist Pat Cassidy and his box of effects.  It was fun to watch him and drummer Braden Lawrence ( I couldn’t really see bassist Connor Jacobus because the lights were pretty dark for much of the show).  But really, all eyes were on singer Rob Grote.  Both when he was singing and when he wasn’t–because nearly every time he stopped singing he hurled himself around the stage (while still playing guitar).  He lurched and danced and was just all over the place–so much energy!

I had remembered that energy from the last show, and he still had it.

Even though the band plays melodic and friendly music they’re not afraid to experiment with some noise, like this opening to “Bold” and some of their rocking jam sections.

As I said, the lights were pretty dark for much of the show–waves of reds and blues but in the middle things cleared up a bit so it was nice to actually be able to see the guys.  Like in this clip from “Fat Kiddo” (as song they were playing as far back as XPN Fest last  summer).

By the middle of the show everyone was stage diving–men, women, people taking selfies as they fell to the ground, guys dancing with the band, guys taking their shirts off, women taking their shirts off and even a guy who danced with Grote and drank the bassist’s beer.  I compiled a clip of nine divers at this Instagram link.

The fans weren’t the only ones dancing.  Coming back for the encore Grote did a cartwheel and then was called on to do a second one (with a dance at the end).

For the encore they said they’d play one song from each of their albums (the EP doesn’t count I guess).  I don’t know their first album Telephone, but we all knew “Young Blood,” and they stretched that song out with a rocking jam that was as much fun to watch as it was to listen to.  Grote even did  some crowd surfing himself.

And if I though that The Spirit of the Beehive had a cool ending to the show it was nothing compared to the Way the Districts ended their show with Grote flinging himself to the ground and still wailing away.

The band chatted a lot with the crowd although I couldn’t really hear what they were saying (earplugs maybe?).  But there was all kinds of interaction, like when someone threw beef jerky on stage.  Grote read the ingredients but then threw it back into the crowd.

I imagined that a record release party would mean that the show would run really long–especially playing a home town crowd.  So I was a little surprised (pleasantly) that they were done by 12.  i don’t know if this show went particularly long (other shows on setlist don’t include all the songs, clearly.  But an 18 song set is no slouch.  And I think we were all pretty exhausted by the end.

I’m glad I got my ticket early before they sold out.

Setlist comparison

 

 

XPN Fest 2016	Record Release Party 2017
4th and Roebling  [f+s]	If Before I Wake [pm]
Chlorine  [f+s]	4th and Roebling  [f+s]
Rocking Chair  [ep]	Chlorine  [f+s]
Long Distance  [ep/tele]	Point [pm]
Hounds  [f+s]	Lyla  [ep/tele]
Airplane  [pm]	Fat Kiddo  [pm]
Peaches  [f+s]	Salt [pm]
Fat Kiddo  [pm]	Long Distance  [ep/tele]
Bold  [f+s]	Airplane [pm]
Young Blood  [f+s]	Funeral Beds  [ep/tele]
	Violet [pm]
	Why Would I Wanna Be [pm]
	Bold  [f+s]
	Ordinary Day [pm]
	encore
	Sleepy Song Pt. 2  [tele]
	Will You Please Be Quiet Please?  [pm]
	Young Blood  [f+s]
[ep] from The Districts ep	[tele] from Telephone
[f+s] from A Flourish and a Spoil	[pm] from Popular Manipulations