Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit @ 9:30 Club, DC [3/1/09]
Fantastic show by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit tonight. They sounded fantastic, and played a good mix of songs from both albums as well as some older Drive By Truckers stuff (including a cover of Patterson Hood’s “The Assassin”, which was sent out to Patterson to wish him a speedy recovery from his pneumonia). Wish turnout had been better, but I have to assume that the weather here in DC had something to do with it.
If you haven’t heard Jason’s new album yet, do yourself a favor and pick it up NOW.
As for the opener, Deer Tick… well… their first two songs were OK. After that, though, they devolved into what sounded like warmed-over college bro-rock. It didn’t help that some of their fans in the audience were doing the old Grateful Dead-style side-to-side half-twist dancing, or that they ended their set with a cover of… “La Bamba”.
Seriously, guys. “La Bamba”?
Oh, and some quick props to the 9:30 Club. It’s been a while since I’ve been there, so I don’t know when it happened, but they got rid of the tall speakers on the sides of the stage that cut down on sight-lines from the crowd. Now you can stand anywhere on the floor and see the stage. It’s great. And the sound was better tonight than I remember too. So maybe 9:30 Club is on it’s way back. We’ll see.
As you note, Jason and the band were outstanding. The show was criminally under-attended. I would estimate about 250 in attendance, mostly huddled around the stage, with the balcony virtually deserted. The weather likely scared away some walk-ups, but DC had almost no snow at 11:30, so people stayed home for nothing.
I normally think security is a little heavy-handed at the 9:30, but they escorted a drunk guy away from the edge of the stage during the second song and then let him go back, whereupon he proceeded to be a distraction to everyone around him (and probably the band) before they finally gave him the heave-ho a few songs later.
Jason Isbell is a very talented songwriter and player who didn’t get his due while with the Drive-by Truckers, which is Hood and Cooley’s band. I hope that his career as the band leader takes off–he already has two excellent albums.