Review: Jukebox the Ghost at the Black Cat

Cross-posted from Rise Up With Fists!!! because if Michael isn’t going to write his introduction, I’ll just start posting, doggone it.

Do you like Juxebox the Ghost?

I do. I like pop music, theatrics, harmonies, and clapping along with songs. So I couldn’t wait for them to headline at the Black Cat Saturday night, especially since I hadn’t seen them headline a show since New Year’s Eve. (Side note, some guy who’d been talking to me at that show then posted on their Myspace looking for me! That’s way weirder than a Missed Connection!)

I can’t speak much to the opening acts, as we missed Junior League and didn’t pay much attention to Say Hi. What I heard seemed ok, but a little garbled and guitar-heavy.

After Say Hi left, some friends of Jukebox jumped on-stage to hang pictures of ghosts on the sound system, the beams above the stage, and Ben’s piano. They strung ghost-shaped lights across the drum kit and wrapped the mics in red streamers. The crowd got gifts, too! Some got bubbles, others got fake mustaches or glo-sticks. Since when does Jukebox have roadies and, um, props? Cool, cool, cool.

The tension was palpable after some open letters were exchanged between Jukebox and These United States, who were playing across town at the Rock and Roll Hotel. This posturing culminated with footage of a knife fight between the bands posted on Vimeo. This feud went unmentioned early in the night.

I think they opened with one of my favorites, “Under Your Skin,” before running through a mix of the old favorites and some great new ones. For their three-song epic about the apocalypse, the band played “Fire in the Sky” and “Where Have All the Scientists Gone?” and the crowd launched into “Matter of Time”… preemptively, as it turns out. Ben grinned and Tommy laughed as they instead transitioned into “Victoria,” their latest single. (I guess? It has a video.) New songs like “Mistletoe” and “Ghosts in Empty Houses” were well-received by me and Gimmy at least. Gimmy also kept shouting “Tommy Siegel!!!” at the stage, after which some girl on the other side of us unfailingly screamed “Ben!!!!!!!!!” The ladies love ‘em!

The band invited Say Hi onstage to play a cover of a New Order’s “Temptation,” which whipped the crowd into a frenzy that peaked when Say Hi’s Weston dove into the crowd. (That might be a no-no around here, or else I just listen to too much shoegazer indie wimp music. But I’ve never seen it.) Jukebox closed their set by promising to play a few more songs, “but only if you cheer loud enough.” The crowd obliged, continuing as Jukebox opened their encore by finishing their previously-truncated trilogy with “Matter of Time.” Fan favorite “Good Day” closed the night, and when the crowd hesitated to disperse, Black Cat staff quickly coaxed them to the back of the room and out the doors.

Tommy and Ben didn’t banter much on-stage, which was unusual for them; but the continuous music created a nice flow and a lot of energy through the entire set. They finally offered closure on the TUSA issue by inviting fans to a joint after-party at Dahlak on U Street.

The crowds at Jukebox the Ghost shows are some of the best I’ve seen in DC; their enthusiasm feeds the band, and vice-versa. People dance. They clap along. They blow bubbles and bounce balloons around the room, all while wearing fake mustaches. It’s like Jukebox picked up where Washington Social Club left off–playing bouncy pop music that can get even the notoriously immobile DC scene dancing.

With performances like these, it’s only a matter of time (rimshot!) before Jukebox really blows up.