For those of you who have never had the pleasure of being right up close at a U2 concert, let me divulge a spoiler: Bono — a.k.a. Paul Hewson, a.k.a. The Fly, a.k.a Mr. MacPhisto, champion of Africa and two-time Nobel Prize nominee, debt-relief crusader and F-bomb-dropping bane of the Federal Communications Commission, the big-brained, big-hearted, big-mouthed and wholly unembarrassable front man for The (all together now!) World’s Biggest Band — is a wee, short......

Ever wonder what it's like to be a band out on tour? And by "band out on tour" we don't mean U2 or even Scott Stapp. We mean bands that load in themselves, play their show and then get in the van and drive all night to the next gig. D.C.'s own These United States is such a band. Criss-crossing the country, playing upwards of 100 shows a year with bands like Califone, Someone Still......

When the band first broke onto the scene in the mid to late 1990s, Glasgow's Travis was at the forefront of the British trad rock revival. Like its counterpart, Oasis, Travis is a descendant of established bands, such as The Beatles, U2, and Radiohead, as well as a progenitor of Coldplay, the more recent arena kings. The band never attained the success of either Oasis or Coldplay, partly because it rarely attempted to be......

If you've been to the box suites at RFK Stadium, you may have noticed photos of acts that have played the stadium lining the hallway - U2, New Kids on the Block, the Promise Keepers and so on. But after we finished laughing at the New Kids, one plaque off to the side caught our eye: "Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, site of Olympic football, 19 July-4 August 1996." What? The Olympics were at RFK? There......

The first thing we noticed when City-State's first full-length, Monument, arrived is that it looked very professional. Often with local bands the CDs look (and usually are) homemade. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just something that stuck out as a good sign. The CD cover has a picture of Vladimir Tatlin's unbuilt sculpture "Monument to the Third International," one of those things that pops up in architecture books from time to time, superimposed over......

We really enjoy giving away free stuff, and so apparently do your favorite local bands. That's why we got together with Cedars to arrange for an EP and ticket giveaway to their show tonight with Scotland's the Cinematics and Chicago's the Changes at the Rock and Roll Hotel! Who loves ya? DCist loves ya. We've been big fans of the band since way back in the days when they had a different name and played......

We've complained about D.C.'s bad radio before, so when we heard about 94.7 "the Globe" we were skeptical. But after a few recommendations from people whose musical taste we respect, we checked it out -- and it's not half bad. The playlist is mainly mid 80s to mid 90s "alternative," but also includes some classic rock and newer stuff. We heard a mix from the Beatles and the Doors to Talking Heads to U2......

During last year's DAM!fest, I had some time to kill between shows one night and headed over to DC9 to catch some of the ridiculous bill that had bands like De Novo Dahl, Bound Stems and Bishop Allen all playing the same night. I got there right as the first band, Pela, were starting their set. I had read the name on a few different music blogs but wasn't familiar with their music at......

Call us old fashioned, but we like our year-end backward glances to come after we're done furiously ripping open presents and before we pop the champagne for New Year's. Rather than subject you only to what we on the DCist music staff deemed this year's best and brightest (don't worry, we'll do that too), we asked a handful of our favorite local artists what their favorite albums of 2006 were. A lot of great musicians......

Wednesday’s unseasonable warmth called for sunny day music. A happy coincidence then, that Ben Kweller, a purveyor of cheerful college rock, was headlining the 9:30 club that evening. Looking at the small crowd of underage early arrivals jostling for position, a question came to mind: is Kweller an artist or a phase? To paraphrase a famous film quote, it seems that he gets older but his fans stay the same age. The answer came......

You don’t have to be a recently-disgraced member of the U.S. Congress to be a little freaked out about what breadcrumbs you’re leaving as you schlep around the World Wide Web. They can pretty easily be gathered and presto – you’re an instant demographic target, with preferences and interests neatly catalogued. Aside from whatever skeletons we’d like to keep safely tucked away in our closets, you can color us curious as to what our tastes......

Written by DCist Contributor E.K. Eckert. DCist's angst-ridden inner teenager was summoned last night to the Verizon Center to party with the only grunge band from the mid-90s to have managed to avoid heroin overdoses and general disintegration. Pearl Jam, in short, rocked. Opening with “Release,” an atmospheric track off their first album Ten, Eddie Vedder’s iconic voice soared through the indoor stadium and never sounded better. After such a soothing opening, they jumped......

FRIDAY: >> There have only been a handful of actors in this world who are genuine badasses. Robert Mitchum. Robert Redford. Robert Loggia. Any of the Roberts, really. And then there's Kris Kristofferson. This is a guy who has hung out with both Sam Peckinpah and Janis Joplin, been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and oh, makes time to kill a few vampires on the weekends. Dude is so virile a gal could......

This review by DCist contributor Genevieve Smith. On the last night of a three-day local music extravaganza, DC9 played host to the Orange and Blue-liners as they hip-shimmied and head-bobbed to the musical-stylings of local acts Monopoli, Hello Tokyo, No Second Troy and Mira Stella Stella Mira. If Train and Coldplay are your jam, DC9 might have been your musical Mecca Saturday. But if you're the sort that prefers to lurk in the dark corners......

FRIDAY: And you thought tickets to a U2 concert were expensive. Yes, apparently Bono is out on the lecture circuit these days, and he's pulling in $95 a seat to share deep thoughts on the following topic: "The Future in Front of Us: Living a More Involved Life." Oh dear. Is there anyone in the world more sincere than Bono? Just look at his expression in this photo. How are we not supposed to make......

Monday: >> Over at Black Cat there's a Pitchfork friendly line up of mid-tempo, indie folk, with John Vanderslice, Portastatic, and Brandon Butler. There's sure to be some quality balladeering, but you'll probably want to hit the 14th Street Caribou for some caffeine beforehand. $10. >> As for us, DCist is going to see The Sentiment at DC9. They're loud, they're fun, and they let you jump on stage. On a Monday, this is what......

Hey trivia fans, if you're up tomorrow morning, be sure to tune into National Public Radio's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" between 11 a.m. and noon (on 88.5/WAMU) because a DCist contributor (not your editor) will be on the air lending his authority on a certain subject to confuse the hell out of an unlucky contestant. We don't want to ruin the surprise, but it may or may not involve something in a triangular-shaped park......

Calm down, you World Bank bureaucrats. We have not allowed the news of your new boss to pass us by. As President Bush positions his nominee to run the Bank and European governments brace for the coming change, it’s difficult to see who comes out ahead in the transfer of power. One early winner is definitely the guy who’ll change the office nameplate, as they’ll merely have to scrape the “-ensohn” off the door and......

When U2 originally announced dates for their "Vertigo" tour, in support of their new album "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb", local fans must have been upset. The closest the Irish rockers were coming to D.C. was Philadelphia's Wachovia Center -- a road trip that wouldn't dissuade the most hardcore fans, but would leave more casual fans without the chance to see the band's live show. But local fans have reason to celebrate: U2 is......

Continuing on with the WHFS obituaries ... Today marks the first full day in over 20 years that FM 99.1 has not carried HFS. It could be argued that the end of WHFS was inevitable. The station began going downhill some time ago -- perhaps at the introduction of "Loveline" in the place of the Top 11 at 11, the inexplicable addition of Metallica to the playlist, or the mainstreaming of alternative music in the......