The Raveonettes and Nickel Eye at the Black Cat

I must apologize for the lack of activity on the blog over the last couple of weeks. I promise to be more active and achieve my goal of posting something new two or three times a week.

I went to see the Raveonettes play at the Black Cat on January 17 (once again, all apologies for not getting this review posted sooner). The Raveonettes are one of those bands where I have heard and liked their songs but I actually don’t own any of their albums. Judging from what I have heard and from their live performance on Seattle’s KEXP (the finest radio station in the land), I thought that this would be a good show to see. The Raveonettes did not disappoint.

Pre-concert notes:

• I thought I would switch it up a bit and try to go to Ben’s Chili Bowl for my pre-show meal. Unfortunately, the following factors made going to Ben’s an impossibility: it was inaugural weekend and DC was flooded with visitors; President Obama (then President-Elect Obama) had dined at Ben’s with DC’s Mayor Adrian Fenty that week, which made the visitors want to go there even more than usual; and their was a pre-inaugural event occurring at the Lincoln Theater right next door. When I got to Ben’s the line was out the door and getting worse by the minute. Therefore, I went back to my old-reliable Taco Bell. So disappointing.
• Once I was inside the Black Cat I was relieved to be away from all the inaugural revelers outside. It was a nice respite from the crowds.
• I checked out the merchandise table in the Mainstage (the Black Cat has a large upstairs “Mainstage” and a smaller first floor “Backstage”). I was surprised to find not a single piece of Raveonettes merchandise. No t-shirts, CDs, stickers, etc. I think they might need a new business manager.

The opening act was Nickel Eye. I admit that I did absolutely no research before the show on Nickel Eye. Turns out Nickel Eye is the solo project of Nikolai Fraiture (get it – Nikolai and Nickel Eye), bass player for The Strokes. It explained all The Strokes shirts I was seeing in the crowd. Nickel Eye, backed by his band and a bottle of Jack Daniels, came out and played songs from his debut disc (which was available for sale at the merchandise table – see how that works Raveonettes?) While he is not the strongest singer, Nickel Eye’s set was solid and enjoyable. However, it just made me yearn for more new material by The Strokes. I was glad to hear that The Strokes are actually getting together this month to start working on new songs.

The Raveonettes are a Danish duo consisting of Sune Rose Wagner (boy) and Sharin Foo (girl). Both of them play guitar and sing. They were backed at this show by a bass player that was possibly a vampire (but the good kind; the kind that you would gladly become a creature of the night for) and a drummer. The Raveonettes are clearly influenced by The Velvet Underground, even down to the minimalist stand-up drum kit. The Black Cat was playing The Velvet Underground & Nico before the show, which served as a good prelude. The Raveonettes played a great show, hitting the crowd with a sonic assault of driving beats and noisy guitars. The Raveonettes can be intense without resorting to playing hyper-fast songs. I truly loved the show and I left the Black Cat that night to brave the inaugural crowds with a ringing ear, but unfortunately without any Raveonettes merchandise.