Voxtrot, The Little Ones @ Black Cat, DC [10/6/07]

So what is it with lead singers getting sick just as they're set to play a show in D.C.? Last week it was Okkervil River's Will Sheff, who nevertheless gave us an excellent, powerful performance, right up until the point that his voice started to disintegrate during the last song of the night.

And last night it was Voxtrot's Ramesh Srivastava, who let us know early in the show that he had a fever and wasn't feeling well, but who nevertheless bounced, jumped and danced around the stage for an hour as if there was absolutely nothing wrong.

His voice, though... well, it didn't hold up for quite as long as Will's did last week. Thankfully, Voxtrot is a rock band with two guitars and a keyboard, because for most of the night Ramesh's failing voice wasn't that apparent (it also helped that it seemed like his vocals were turned down in the mix). But by the time the band's set ended after a short 50 minutes (I assume this is short for them?), and Ramesh came back on stage to try to ask the crowd's permission to skip the encore (the crowd did not abide), his voice was pretty much shot. Still, though, the rest of the band sounded excellent, and, voice or not, Ramesh still jumped around as if nothing was wrong.

Openers (co-headliners?) The Little Ones were excellent as always. I've seen the band a number of times now, and they always have the biggest smiles on their faces. It's rare to see a band truly enjoying every being on stage, but it's clear that the Little Ones love every minute. My only complaint from their set? The new songs leave a little to be desired. They're almost... ahem... Jimmy Buffett-like. I sure hope they sound better on record (the band's debut LP should be out in March).

The first band of the night was House & Parish. They were fine.

Voxtrot



The Little Ones