Monday night’s triple bill at DAR Constitution Hall had something for everyone, assuming they liked their guitars loud and their venues cavernous. Headliners Kings of Leon, touring behind their latest release, the stadium-rock ready Only by the Night, whipped fans into a prolonged frenzy by playing it cool, while openers We Are Scientists and The Whigs had to put in some extra work to win over the late-arriving crowd. KoL lead singer Caleb Followill seemed…

With jambalaya simmering in the corner, and people waiting in line to get a haircut, you wouldn’t have thought you were in a bar, let alone at a rock show. But last week, upstairs from haircut-and-a-shot night, The Red & The Black was in fact hosting a lineup of several very different styles of local music. Despite a modest midweek crowd — consisting mostly of other bands — one group from Baltimore introduced a unique…

Good morning, Washington. The weather-related headlines today are all generally pretty disappointing — The Post proclaims that “Rain Likely to Dampen Area But Not Douse the Drought”, and others have followed suit. But waving like a lone reed in the pessimistic sands of weather prognostication is CapitalWeather.com, who just minutes ago put up a prediction, based on a brand new model, suggesting that “several factors are finally lining up to bring the potential for…

We really enjoy giving away free stuff, and so apparently do your favorite local bands. That’s why we got together with Cedars to arrange for an EP and ticket giveaway to their show tonight with Scotland’s the Cinematics and Chicago’s the Changes at the Rock and Roll Hotel! Who loves ya? DCist loves ya. We’ve been big fans of the band since way back in the days when they had a different name and played…

It was quite the party last night at the Black Cat, full of skeezy mustached men (think 70s porn) and hyperactive girls in tutus (think Dakota Fanning plus Red Bull). Under normal circumstances, this is probably a law suit waiting to happen, but it turned out to be one of the most entertaining shows by all three acts on a bill that we have seen in some time. You know you are in for a…

When last we spoke with We Are Scientists, it was October of last year. Their debut album, which already had a few singles in the UK charts, wouldn’t be released in the US until the following January. Since then the band have taken the UK by storm, touring with the likes of Art Brut, Maximo Park and the Arctic Monkeys. Overall, it’s been quite a year for the New York based trio, or so we…

Monday >> Hear the man behind the sound. Don Zientara runs Arlington’s legendary Inner Ear Studio, and has been behind the board for more of this town’s seminal punk records than we can count. But it turns out after all these years that Zientara is also an excellent songwriter in his own right. His 2003 collection of stripped down solo tunes garnered solid reviews, and he is joined by Sentai and Shift tonight at the…

In 1946, the Third Programme launched in Great Britain blasting classical music to the masses. Sixty years later, it has re-emerged, not as a station on the BBC, but as one of D.C.’s newest purveyors of trippy Brit pop. It is very appropriate that this band, who only recently formed at the beginning of the year, chose a name with such experienced undertones. With but several months under their belts working together, Simon, Fidel,…

LAist is flashing a sad peace out to their editor Carolyn Kellogg with one hand and bumping knuckles with their new head typist L.A. blogger king Tony Pierce with the other. Where do ist editors go when they hang up the ‘editorial we’? They take on MySpace, apparently. At least Ben Brown does. Austinist reminds of the just rewards of less savory careers this week and then they witness the Arctic Monkeys and We Are…

Along with lilac and hyacinth, the sweet sweet smell of summer concerts is in the air. Here’s a breakdown of some exciting dates so far. >> Belle & Sebastian, Broken Social Scene & Ted Leo + Pharmacists, Merriweather, July 8. If you’re interested, the belle tix presale started today. Tickets go on sale en masse this Saturday at 10 a.m., via Ticketmaster or the Merriweather or 9:30 Club box offices. >> Wolfmother’s been doing their…