DC9: Balance and Composure, The Jealous Sound, and Daylight

I had the wonderful opportunity of going to see Balance and Composure at DC9 on the 20th. Balance and Composure is one of the bands that got me into listening to heavier music so it really felt like things were coming full circle for me. I've said before that DC9 is currently my favorite venue and that was confirmed again after last night. No matter how big of a name band they bring in, DC9 still retains a DIY vibe. You find yourself walking into the venue at the same time as the drummer for B&C and all of the guys in the bands chilling around before they play. Unlike some other venues where they have a backstage area, having the band hanging around definitely brings a sense of community to the music that I love.

Daylight played first and they are definitely gaining a place in my heart. Other than the energy that they brought with their performance, Taylor kicked a kid off of the stage--physically kicked him. Don't worry, Taylor isn't a tool, the kid was. That's one thing that will be consistent in this post is that all of the fans were total assholes. Firstly, just because the bands are high energy--doesn't mean that it's music to mosh. This kid just ran and jumped on everyone like it was a fucking Terror show. Calm your Tits kid! Taylor did apologize and said that he just lost his temper because his mic was slammed into his face. Good on you, Tay. You should have kicked him again, honestly. Which just gives points to Taylor--he had every right to be pissed and still found it in himself to apologize. Good Guy. They played several of my favorite songs from, "The Difference In Good and Bad Dreams" and their new song, In On It, which I've included below.



I will confess that before this show I had never listened to The Jealous Sound. In most scenarios, I listen to the other bands before I go at least and see if I'm into them and in most situations get really into them before the show. I was just strangely apathetic in this situation though and didn't even look up one single fact or song about The Jealous Sound. I regret that because they were genuinely fun. They have this early 2000 indie-emo-punk sound that could best be described as Alt-Rock. It was simple and good, and I keep wanting to compare them to someone but I can't place my finger on who. All of their songs are kind of a jam where it would have been really fun to sing along if I had known them. Besides that, I realized that they were really good and I had totally dropped the ball on that. Never too late to reprimand though, and I am currently cruising through their list of songs and really enjoying it.



Finally Balance and Composure played! Per usual I don't have much to say about the last band because anyone who is reading this already knows that they were good. I had heard a few rumors that they weren't going to be good live, and that rumor can be disbanded because--not true. The same situation that happened during the Daylight set went down. WHY WERE PEOPLE MOSHING TO B&C? I understand bouncing, jumping, throwing around...but their were some honest attempts at slam dancing, that's not okay. Also, bad timing on the fan side--even in the slow section of a song the crowd would be throwing themselves on each other. I'm all about getting thrown around in a crowd and I was definitely IN that crowd, but not every song is like that. I think the only time I got to really listen was during Echo. It was all good though. The music was great,the fans were all assholes but I'm an asshole so I should have known that the people there would be assholes like me.



Great time, and I hope all of these bands come back to DC soon. I know it can be harder to get to DC because of Hotel prices and what not but it really means the world to everyone here who can't make it the shows that skip over DC and go to Baltimore.