OK Go kicked off its 2014 fall tour on the East Coast at 9:30 Club on Sept. 16. Before the band members even took to the stage to set up, audiences gathered over two hours early in order to get a good spot at the sold-out show. Surprisingly, OK Go didn’t have an opening act—yet they still managed to perform one of the coolest shows around DC.
OK Go will release its newest album “Hungry Ghosts” on Oct. 14, but a few lucky fans got a sneak peak into a couple of its new songs not yet revealed to the general public. Well, “few” might be a bit of an understatement to the packed audience standing shoulder-to-shoulder at the show. But the alternative rock band did not disappoint. The show began with the band’s new hit “Upside Out” followed by two brand new songs, “The Writings on the Wall” and “Obsession,” which rang out with more electronic beats than its first three studio albums.
It was evident the audience enjoyed these new jams from the way they had no shame dancing on the balcony or accidentally elbowing faces on the main floor. However, OK Go also played some well-known crowd favorites, like “This Too Shall Pass,” giving audience members the chance to sing out some of their favorite lyrics into the microphone.
The lead vocalist, Damian Kulash, captivated the eager audience with his charm and wit. The band played a few unreleased songs, threw in some jokes and then had a quick question-and-answer session with the audience. All of this happened on top of Kulash grabbing an audience member’s phone in order to take a few selfies.
One might say that’s enough to win over an exhilarated bunch, but Kulash also made sure to perform at least one serenade in the middle of the crowd—but was sure to surround himself with a few giant “close friends” in order to prevent injury or (possibly) kidnapping by the people’s reactions.
In fact, OK Go may have beat out all other competing modern electronic bands through audience interaction alone. The concert began with a short video montage of carefully pieced together famous movie clips featuring the words “ok” and “go.” Then, the group jammed to its electric guitars and electronic keyboards with a netted screen in front of the entire stage that displayed a very intense and dizzying moving light show design. And if that wasn’t enough to pump up the crowd, every chorus of every other song was met with bursting canons of confetti and smoke. Needless to say, the band members were not hesitant to show off their tech-savvy sides.
If anyone is ever given the chance to check out a concert for OK Go, they should definitely go, OK? You will not leave disappointed.
