When it came time for college, Segall headed north to the city by the bay, a music mecca of a different sort. That life had little to do with the “Laguna Beach” that was prettied and blonded up for mass consumption by a certain reality show, and in fact Epsilons did a genius send-up of that show that can still be found online. A child of the ’90s and ’00s living in Laguna Beach, he surfed daily, skated almost as often if less proficiently, worshipped southern California music legends Black Flag and Redd Kross, and even had his own well regarded high school punk outfit, Epsilons. Sign up here for our daily DC email and be the first to get all the food/drink/fun in town.There is no disputing Ty Segall’s California bona fides.
Thanks to its incredible sound system, professional staff, and mid-size settings, U hall pulls off either kind of show without a hitch. U Hall is known for scheduling two shows a night most evenings: an earlier more “traditional” act (think indie bands, or at least acts involving guitars) and a later show geared towards dance music or hip-hop fans. Thanks to its partnership with the 9:30 Club, U Hall (as it’s known to fans) regularly books artists that would otherwise be playing much bigger venues, meaning that most shows are packed with engaged, rapt audiences who are often rewarded with unexpected surprises - such as the time that Drake showed up to rap alongside his protege PARTYNEXTDOOR during the encore. Owned and operated by a group that includes local music legend Will Eastman, U Street Music Hall was the first of its kind and ushered in the wave of small, high-fidelity audio music venues popping up around the District.
Aerialist at Galaxy Hut, 1998 | Courtesy of Galaxy Hut Regularly open late on the weekends and attracting world class DJs and electronic producers - including legends such as John Digweed, Carl Craig, and Derrick May - for sets starting around 1am, we wouldn’t be surprised if you find yourself dancing at Flash until sunrise. Appealing mainly to dance music purists - your one friend who went to Berlin and couldn’t stop talking about the 12 hours he spent at Berghain - Flash is a multi-level immersive experience where each floor offers a different vibe: a more relaxed lounge when you walk in the incredibly impressive club room on the second floor, with a perfectly equalized set of speakers and judiciously used set of LED lights a rooftop deck evoking the tropics - complete with a retractable roof - up on the third. Flickr/Metal Chrisįlash has been slowly building up its reputation as one of the premier electronic music venues on the East Coast, adding further legitimacy to the DC Dance scene.
The Black Cat continues to book extraordinary talent in a no-frills environment on both their Mainstage as well as the Backstage Concert room - a perfect space to catch some of the smaller, more “out there” acts performing in the District. The Black Cat has seen many incredible acts come through over the years, and they were the site of a couple of “pop-up” shows by the Foo Fighters in the Fall of 2014 - an incredible event that somehow made total sense. Opening in 1993, the club was the biggest of its kind at the time - offering a real stage and platform for indie acts to play to larger audiences right as the genre was gaining traction nationally and internationally.
Opening on 14th St when things were very, very different in that part of town, the Black Cat was both a cause and consequence of shifting demographics in the DMV region, and an indicator of changes that are still happening today. Much like their historic rivals at the 9:30 Club, the Black Cat has been the backbone to the live music scene in Northwest Washington DC for a long time.