There were a lot of cover bands from Dewey Beach, but this was the only one I liked (and we had their Drunk at the Stone Balloon and Baked Fresh Daily CDs on consignment at the store). They actually played originals in addition to their unique take on covers. They didn’t play the DMV too much before cover bands took over Friday Night Live!, so it was fun to go to Fairfax to see them.
N/A
After the previous year with Pearl Jam and Neil Young playing the Voters For Choice benefit, I was interested in seeing how they could follow it up. I wasn’t familiar with Jimmie Dale Gilmore, but Nanci Griffith and Bruce Hornsby were good (especially the latter including some Grateful Dead classics from his time with the band. Natalie Merchant was the big draw, and she gave a wonderful (although abbreviated) performance.
Washington Post review
Eric was always great at getting free tickets from the record labels, but this was probably his greatest achievement. The 9:30 Club was moving from its original location at 930 F Street to the renovated WUST Radio Music Hall, and they’d booked The Smashing Pumpkins for two nights. The Smashing Pumpkins was one of the hottest bands, playing arenas, so to see them play a club would be quite a treat. But we got tickets and went, and they played most of their set from the then new Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Most memorable about the night was getting home though, as we came out to a world of snow. I was mostly staying with Heather in her apartment overlooking 395, and Eric dropped me off before making it to the store and holing up for 3 days as the storm became known as the Blizzard of 1996.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/01/06/remembering-the-blizzard-of-1996-that-paralyzed-washington-d-c/
Washington Post review (1st night)
