Comfortable Disappearance

Last night, March 24, Dana and I went to the Black Cat to see one of my favorite bands, Ted Leo/Pharmacists. It was my 7th time seeing TL/Rx last night, and I was not disappointed. I encourage everyone to go to the TL/Rx homepage and click on “Audio” in the upper-left. Download a couple tracks, and don’t worry he put them there, so it’s legal.

The opening bands, Les Aus, and The Duke Spirit, were actually pretty enjoyable I thought. Les Aus was intersting…I would compare them to Fugazi, but more stripped-down (there’s only two of them), and a little more abstract (more noise-jams). Oh, and Spanish. The Duke Spirit were just a solid British post-punk band. Good rhythms, nice melodies, and they rawked.

TL/Rx rawked the house, as always. Ted lived in DC for quite awhile, as I understand it, and so DC holds a special place in his heart. Unfortunately, it does not hold a special place in his larynx. He lost his voice completely about a week ago, so he probably should not have been singing at all. But he did well. I missed some of his trademark, “Oh, we oh oh oh oh oh’s,” but I wont’ complain (much more).

TL/Rx started their set with the old classic “Dial Up,” a solid beginning for sure. He then played a new song, which I’m not sure of the title. It was pretty decent. He then followed up with a couple of Shake the Sheets. After playing for about an hour, and ending with Biomusicology, he came back for a two-song encore. All-in-all, I can’t say there was any one moment to highlight, but it was a great show. Exactly what I expect from TL/Rx.

Setlist:

1. Dial Up
2. New Song
3. Little Dawn
4. Me and Mia
5. Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?
6. The High Party
7. Heart Problems
8. Hearts of Oak
9. New Song #2
10. The One Who Got Us Out
11. Counting Down the Hours
12. Under the Hedge
13. Shake the Sheets
14. Biomusicology

Encore

15. Timorous Me
16. Walking To Do