Friday night D.C. welcomed a fresh face, an old friend, and a foreign band with a peculiar fascination with hands, eyes, and lights.

We walked in to American University’s Bender Arena catching only the tail end of the Silversun Pickups’ set to find the bleacher seats completely filled. It was as if the concert goers were forced to attend some lecture rather than voluntarily choosing to buy tickets to a show. Maybe they were just waiting for Snow Patrol to play “Chasing Cars”? While certainly this was not the case for everyone, we couldn’t help but wonder why else anyone would sit so far back in the room of such a large arena. Neither could OK Go, who took the stage next in front of a giant video screen.

Led by St. Alban’s graduate Damian Kulash, the Chicago-based band found much of their popularity through their videos. “A Million Ways” quickly rose up in the YouTube ranks, soon followed by the viral treadmill antics of “Here It Goes Again”. But don’t expect an awesomely amateurish choreographed dance routine on stage. OK Go opted to go with the flow and incorporate more videos into their set, streaming bizarre paisley images across the screen. In between songs, we got an almost too close-up look into Damian’s nostrils with the carefully positioned mic-cams. He reminisced about his days in D.C., including a Red Hot Chili Peppers show at the very same venue, as his ominous looking oddly stretched head towered over the crowd. It was really amusing but a bit distracting as we found ourselves occasionally watching the screen more than the stage.

Photos by Kyle Gustafson. Click here for photos from all three bands.