[ATTENDED: July 26, 2021] Bacchae [postponed from July 21, 2022]
I was excited to take my daughter to see The Linda Lindas since she is the same age as they are. She didn’t really know their music (I heard about them when they played at a library in LA), but I thought she’d enjoy the show and the venue.
But when the show was postponed (it was pretty cool that it was only postponed five days), the new date was on a night that she has a 4H commitment. So she couldn’t go.
So, I went since I wanted to see them while they were still buzzed about.
The opening band I hadn’t heard of. They are called Bacchae (a good start for a intellectual show, right?). They are a Washington D.C. based punk band with really smart lyrics.
They released their last album just in time for the pandemic.
The band is made up of Katie McD — Vox + Keys ; Rena Hagins — Bass + Vox ; Eileen O’Grady — Drums and Andrew Breiner — Guitar.
They play a fun upbeat punk with splashes of keys that adds a dose of whimsy their sound. And Katie McD has a cool scream that can soar and gorwl. I like the way the chant of in “Sour” starts slow and then speeds to the end: “L-E-M-O-N: I’m not the one to put the sugar on your tongue”
There’s some good tonal shifts and shreiking guitars in in “Dig” and I enjoyed that Rena adds some lead vocals in “Stop Looking.”
My favorite song was “Read.” Katie mischievously asked, does anyone here like to read? How’s this for a great chorus:
Condescension in your eyes:
A look your smile cannot disguise
In your mind I’m lying prone;
Let me read my book alone
There’s some great jabs at toxic masculinity in that song as well as in the follow up, the unsubtle, “Prick.”
Many of those songs were from their debut EP, but they played some songs from their new album as well. Like the slightly more mellow, but no less pointed “Everything Ugly” and the upbeat “Hammer.”
As an old, I enjoyed the sentiment behind “Older I Get,” especially from a bunch of rather young rockers. The song totally rocked.
I really liked the heavy doomy “Losing War,” with the heavy chords and big old splash cymbal and that they followed it with the faster “Leave Town” (those are the closing and opening tracks off their new album).
Bacchae were great and I would love to see them again.
SETLIST
- Life Online ∀
- Sour ⇓
- Dig Ψ
- Stop Looking ∀
- Read Ψ
- Prick Ψ
- Everything Ugly ∀
- Hammer ∀
- Older I Get ∀
- Losing War ∀
- Leave Town ∀
∀ Pleasure Vision (2020)
Ψ Bacchae EP (2018)
⇓ Down the Drain (2017)
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