Via Shutterstock.comMetro platforms are typically dreary, boring, quiet places, and almost never the site of (planned) public entertainment. But for the first time since 2010, Metro is hauling out its MetroPerforms! series, in which local musicians and other performing artists will be hired to attempt to brighten the wait times of people whose trains haven’t arrived.
The busking scene here is hardly equivalent with that in, say, New York—hell, even Boston’s subway platforms are more welcoming to aspiring troubadours. But next Tuesday, Metro will attempt to re-introduce some live entertainment into its otherwise drab train lines. Auditions will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. at Metro’s headquarters at 600 Fifth Street.
Try-outs are first-come, first-heard, with the winners being invited to perform at Metrorail stations throughout the District between later this month and September.
And there’s an additional venue this year, with MetroPerforms! artists participating in the Music on the Mall program sponsored by the National Park Service and the office of Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.
The last batch of performers, in 2010, was overwhelmingly acoustic. That’s nice and mellow, we suppose, but given recent events—Pepco failures, shadow campaigns, oppressive heat waves—we’re itching for something a bit louder. Maybe some hardcore bands could stir shit up during rush hour at Farragut North.
