November 18, 2023
The Atlantis, Washington, DC
Week: 365
This week’s thing: I love a band with horns and a female singer and that’s exactly what Couch is! I can’t remember how they first came on my radar – maybe a placement on a Spotify Discover Weekly playlist? – but their sound is giving Lawrence, Lake Street Dive and other bands-with-horns-and-female-singers and I was very excited to see them announce a headlining show here in DC.
Music: 4/5: I really liked Couch’s songs and knew a handful of them which were on available on Spotify from the band’s EP Sunshower. They don’t have a whole lot of original songs just yet so we were also treated to some fun covers, more on those in the bonus points section.
Lighting/backdrop/visuals: 3/5: One point for the big printed backdrop with the band’s name/logo printed on it. One point for the little umbrellas hanging from the ceiling. And one point for the little couch placed on the side of the stage that band members sat in when taking breaks or moving out of the way to let a soloist shine. Not sure it was the most cohesive stage production and I could have used some more interesting elements or lighting displays. Maybe next tour.
Overall vibe: 3/5: Not sure why, but the vibes were a little off… lots of talking in the crowd and just some general restlessness. Felt like people were walking from one side of the venue to the other for a lot of the show rather than staying put and enjoying themselves and the music.
Bonus points:
Cover (s, at least that I recognized): +2 for a set of fun covers of Billy Joel’s “Vienna,” CCR’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” and Harry Styles’ “Late Night Talking” to kick off the encore but unfortunately need to take one of those points away for the “Conjunction Junction” cover – just not a song I need to be hearing outside of an elementary school classroom.
Fashion: +1 for tour uniforms for each member of the band
Amount of green lighting: -1, no green ☹
Final: 11/15