The Best Live Band In The World

I haven't really made a habit of "following" bands for a number of years now. Sure, I spent a good chunk of the years 1993 to 1996 following either Phish or the Grateful Dead around the Midwest, but my days of sleeping in the car, "showering" in the rest-stop bathroom sink, and selling bottled water for gas money pretty much ended around the time I graduated college and moved to New York for grad school.

That said, in the past 11 years, there have been exactly three bands who have regularly inspired me to travel long distances to see them live. One of those bands was Guided By Voices, who may be my favorite band of all time, and who I followed with my friend Matt on their last tour from New York to Philadelpia to D.C. and eventually to their final shows in Chicago. The second band is Wilco, certainly a top 5 all-time band of mine, who I've traveled to Texas, Rhode Island and Ohio to see, and who I'll be seeing in Massachusetts in June.

The third band? The Frames. As I've said before, and as I'm sure I'll say many more times, they are, quite simply, the best live band in the world today. I'd see them pretty much anywhere. So when I saw that they were playing in DC just a couple of days after NYC, I knew I had to go. Good decision on my part. Tonight's show was among the best that I've seen from the band, and probably the best performance I've seen so far this year. And it reminded me how good a venue the 9:30 Club is. (I just wish they got better bands than, ahem, Third Eye Blind and Five For Fighting. That alone may veto any thought of my moving to DC.)

To hear for yourself how good the show was, direct your browser here. NPR recorded the show and should be adding it to their online archive any day now. For your sake, I hope they recorded the "Messy Room" (is that what Glen called it?) portion of the show, which included inspired covers of Will Oldham and The Osmonds. (Edited to add: It's up at NPR, and they have the whole set!)