Wednesday, Daffo at the 9:30 Club November 23, 2025 // 7:53 P.M. This past Saturday I caught Wednesday’s late show at the 9:30 Club, and I’m happy to say it was a good one! I always have a good time at the 9:30 Club – the sound mixing is good, I usually get there early enough to get a good spot, etc etc. I was on the upper balcony for this show, and I do lightly regret not being down on the floor. The show was sold out, and I’m short, so I knew I wasn’t going to have a lot of luck being able to see on the ground floor (and I like to see!). The energy on the floor is always better than upstairs, and I wanted to jump and sing loud with the rest of them. Upstairs is always much more mellow, and not as often acknowledged by the performers (because they probably can’t see us). Leaning on a railing surrounded by people who aren’t moving and singing doesn’t encourage you to start. Also, I’ve been wearing earplugs at shows in an effort to save my hearing, but this means when I sing along I can only hear myself. Which isn’t what I want to hear. So if anyone has concert earplug recommendations that don’t do that, send word somehow. Daffo opened and they were one of the better openers I’ve seen! Because it was a late show, they started off only half an hour after doors opened, which I liked. I wish all concerts had this level of urgency. The band had energy and pretty decent songs. My only complaint is that they were very obviously fans of Wednesday (and proclaimed so twice during their set) and their sound was super influenced by them. I want the vocalist to embrace more of her own style instead of a sort of knockoff of Wednesday’s Karly. I think they just need to come into their own a little more as a band. There were a few moments seeing them perform where I was thinking “wow, this is really good” only for the song to immediately undercut itself, usually lyrically, and in a way where I could tell they were trying to emulate Wednesday. The show was a lot of fun and I was sort of enchanted by Karly. She was bubbly on stage and interacted with the crowd a lot, and obviously topped it off by being an amazing performer. I’ve been getting a little parasocial with it – visiting her website, reading her blog posts. She’s the genre of woman who I just think is undeniably super cool. I also appreciated Xandy – the man playing pedal steel and lap steel – who, despite sitting, was grooving along and headbanging as much as he could. Some special moments include Karly getting a birthday cake and a couple getting engaged in the pit. Whenever I go to a concert I find myself more in awe of the actual art of their show, whether it’s the instrumentation itself, their voices, or even the physical performance they’re putting on. And they make it look so effortless, despite it being the polar opposite. I loved Karly’s vocals. Pitchfork’s review of Bleeds mentions that she wrote Wasp to follow up Bull Believer live, and part of that process was learning how to scream without destroying her vocal chords. I haven’t seen Wednesday live before, but Bull Believer apparently used to be their last song because of how strenuous the final act is to sing. This doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore, not only because of the Wasp follow-up, but the amount of respectable screams in the set as a whole. It was poetic in a way- they started with the scream in the beginning of Reality TV Argument Bleeds, and ended with an entire track of screams. Professional screams! Screaming in songs will always be a little controversial, and I think that’s because there’s a real spectrum of musical hollering that sort of gets flattened a lot in casual conversation. I don’t personally enjoy a lot of the deep, gravelly screams you hear in black metal or some hardcore bands. I’m more of a yell enjoyer, on the scream spectrum, if that makes sense. Where the singer's voice is still coming through. I need to do some more research into the different genres of screaming, and with the way music is trending now, I think we’re going to see a lot more of it in actual popular music soon (see Mirtazapine or Ice In My OJ from Hayley Williams’ new record, for example). Karly’s screaming is a wonderful, melodic take on a sort of stereotypical final girl scream. Whether it’s anger, desperation, or just a general overwhelming feeling – she always nails it. Live, it blew me away that she could release something so guttural and then revert back to her otherwise very gentle voice. I imagine it’s something she’s put a lot of practice into. The setlist for this show leaned into more of their hard stuff, especially in the second half. Which I actually didn’t expect! I peeked at setlists from the tour a few weeks ago, and I think I either misremembered what was on them, or they changed it up for their second DC night. (Mannequin Pussy did a different setlist on their second night at the 9:30 Club as well, which was also harder than the setlist the previous night. I wonder if this is a known tradition.) I wish they had performed Gary’s II, but I loved hearing Hot Rotten Grass Smell’s chainsaw ripping guitar in person. I was the most surprised by hearing Bath County – a song I love and had to keep it together for, because I was so happy they played it. I also kept it together for Bull Believer, but the pit actually had most of my attention for that song. Going back to screaming, she actually yelled more in the live version, during the chorus. Like Mannequin Pussy, they also didn’t have an encore, instead just playing the set all the way through. Which I prefer! I’m very happy I went to the show, even if I have regrets about my positioning. They also weren’t selling CDs at the merch station, so I didn’t end up getting anything, which I’m sad about. I like to try and pick up stuff at concerts as often as I can, but it does have to be something I want at the end of the day. The hat was cool, but it was a little too expensive to justify right now. I’d also feel like a bit of a poser wearing hunting camo… That’s all I have to say for now! See Wednesday live if you can!
hi! welcome to rebworld. November 15, 2025 // 3:23 P.M. Hi! Hello! First post alert! I want to make a creative outlet and a place to talk about media and music without being an extreme bother to my friends. Hopefully this website can function like that! I'm also using this as an excuse to learn html, css, and maybe one day… javascript (unlikely). Everything is going to be a work in progress forever but hopefully the website will grow and evolve as I keep making posts. If you’re here and you’re actually seeing the very first version of this website, congrats. I am also going to try and make this mobile responsive! It isn’t yet because I just want to get the ball rolling. But I think being mobile responsive is important, cool, and fun. I hesitate to make any sort of actual thesis statement about this place because I don't want to end up pigeonholing myself! I just like to analyze things! I want to get better at writing and expressing things, and again… the website building. Whatever else happens will happen. So, without further ado… welcome to rebworld. I'm Reb.