It was satisfyingly good; both bands seem to be perpetually on the verge of becoming uninteresting/annoying to me, but they've managed to maintain their appeal on the basis of fun.
The middle of the Hold Steady set included a bunch of new songs. A big part of the overall Hold Steady concept seems to be the recurring characters and cross references between songs. New song Stay Positive seemed to take this to an almost Destroyer-esque level. I guess it makes the new songs seem less new when there are lots of reference points built in.
Art Brut are still more enjoyable than I thought they'd be by now. The setlist was obviously from a can as they had powerpoint projections for each song and a bunch of the banter. Still a lot of songs are so recognizable and fun that they feel like hits.
You can listen to the Washington DC sets from the bands at NPR.
The Washington Post has an A to Z Hold Steady Glossary.
Photos by Ezwai Flickr
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