I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: September 17, 2025] Ekko Astral

We arrived at the venue plenty early and were right up near the barrier.  There was a giant “american” flag on stage, except the stripes were rainbow colored, the stars were pot leaves and the middle of the blue field said 666.  Amazing.

I had wanted to see Ekko Atral open for Ted Leo but I was late for that show.  So I was really psyched to be able to see them so soon.  And they were very clear about the rules: no bigotry of any kind would be tolerated.

And wow, what an opening.  We were right in front of bassist and singer Jael Holzman.  She was amazing and intense. Across the stage was guitarist Liam Hughes and he played the kind of noise guitar that I had to wonder how one even thinks of making sounds like that–and how he knew they would work so well.

On drums was Miri Tyler, playing loud and fast and acting almost like a distortion pedal for the overall sound.

Then there’s a song like On Brand which is mostly drums and vocals with occasional chords that point the song in the right direction.  With lyrics like

She’s got a pair of
Cheetah print pink pumps
Made by federal prisoners
She likes to wear ’em
To the seventies club
Wax nostalgic about racism
And sexual listeners
She’s got her eyes on a guy
In a green polo
She’s lefty loosey
But the right guy could
Make her swing right tho

And I see that it’s not in my setlist so that list is obviously wrong.

Towards the end of the set they played some newer songs which were more explicitly political (they are from D.C. and have a first row seat to the fuckery that is going on).  So they’ve written songs like The Beltway is Burning and Capitol Riot.

They were so good–angry and inspirational–and I really want to see them again.