Wild Flag‘s D.C. debut back in March was already one of the most riveting local shows of the year, but the indie-rock “supergroup” arguably managed to top it during Thursday night’s return engagement, electrifying a capacity crowd with stunning renditions of songs from their recently-issued self-titled album, adding a pair of exhilarating covers that paid tribute to the group’s collective punk-rock roots.
Having honed their live chops with months of gigging, Carrie Brownstein, Rebecca Cole, Mary Timony and Janet Weiss displayed the tight synergy of a band fully coming into its own powers, while retaining the raw energy and convivial rapport of a musical partnership that is still quite new. D.C. native Timony guided the quartet through the lively, stop-and-start dynamics of the set-opening “Black Tiles”, Brownstein taking over lead vocals for the propulsive strut of “Romance”. Cole’s sprightly keyboards and Timony’s sharp guitar licks punctuated the taut “Future Crimes”, while “Glass Tambourine” started with a slight miscue before the band reloaded and locked into a cadent psych-rock groove that gradually turned into an oscillating instrumental jam. After premiering two new songs (the second of which Timony dedicated to the sizable contingent of her guitar students who were in attendance), Wild Flag capped their main set with the explosive classic-rock swagger of “Racehorse”, Brownstein unleashing a salvo of ferocious, echoing mid-song howls before leading the band through an expansive free-form rave-up.
Having sounded for much of the set like they could have been playing The Fillmore (San Francisco, not Silver Spring) circa 1967, Wild Flag switched into full-on CBGB mode for its two-song encore, starting with a blazing run-through of The Ramones’ “Judy Is a Punk”, which Brownstein claimed they had just learned during soundcheck earlier in the day. Finally, the stuttering opening chords of Television’s “See No Evil” drew cries of delighted astonishment from the crowd as the band launched into a showstopping cover of the 1977 art-punk classic. It takes temerity and skill to step into the shadow of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd’s incomparable fretwork, but Brownstein and Timony — six-string virtuosos in their own right — were more than up to the task, nimbly navigating the song’s spiraling, interwoven solos while Weiss wailed away on the drum kit with her trademark power and precision.
