By DCist contributor Graham Hough-Cornwell

When opener Chad VanGaalen first walked out on stage to prepare his one-man band setup, things looked less than promising. Donning one of those white ninja headbands tied around his head, he arranged a bass drum, hi-hat, snare, and drum machine around a short stool and his hollow body electric. I typically run from something like this, jaded by previous unfortunate experiences with openers like VanGaalen’s fellow Canadian New Buffalo and Apples in Stereo side project/farce Marbles.

But when VanGaalen began strumming – and stomping on his kick drum and buzzing into his harmonica – it appeared as though he planned to leave (most of) the bizarre indie pretensions at home and play a warm and engaging set of well-written bedroom pop. Some of his songs ran together a little bit, but his warbling voice and odd sense of humor (non sequitur comments abounded, and he asked the crowd in earnest if D.C. was a state) made what would have been a passable opening into something thoroughly enjoyable and worth checking out.

Seattle’s Band of Horses followed, sporting an expanded five-piece lineup with two guys from the night’s first opening band, Simon Dawes, joining in. Immediately, the band got to work on their breakthrough LP, Everything All the Time, appropriately opening with “Part One” (“First Song” would have to wait until later). This led into their lead single, “The Funeral,” which unfortunately threatened to come off the rails at nearly every stop-start.