I made it back from Chicago in time on Thursday to catch the Punch Brothers at 930 Club, the first of two nights they played in DC. It was a great show, but the original reason I went, and the reason I heard about the show was to see Sarah Jarosz who was supposed to open. Unfortunately Sarah was sick, so did not play. That was a shame.
The Punch Brothers were originally formed by mandolinist Chris Thile, formerly of Nickel Creek. They are bluegrass purists in instrumentation and play a combination of traditional and progressive arrangements. I had never heard of them before buying tickets for this show, but have quickly come to love their music, especially their album Who's Feeling Young Now.
The music was extremely tight, complex, but powered by infectious enthusiasm, especially from Chris Thile. When I showed my twelve year old daughter a picture of Chris, her first comment was 'he's cute'. I think if she had seen him in person, he would have had an instant new fan. The interplay between band members was great, with most everyone soloing and playing instrumental duets at various times. All of the instruments were pushed hard - these are clearly guys who are not afraid to find new sounds from their tools.
I have enjoyed bluegrass probably longer than any other type of music, having been introduced to it by my sister in the early 1970s, and later enjoying Jerry Garcia and David Grisman among others. I am now really excited by some of the contemporary bluegrass from the likes of Punch Brothers, Sarah Jarosz (and closely related Mumford & Sons and Frank Turner) that use traditional instrumentation with more modern interpretation.
You can't take a 'professional' camera into 930 Club, which they interpret as a DSLR, or more generally a big camera with interchangeable lenses. I have used my Canon G10 in the past, but it is horrible in low light, and useless at high ISO. I recently picked up a Sony DSC-RX100 as my new 'small' camera, and especially had concerts in mind. The camera did not disappoint. It is acceptably sharp at ISO 3200 and I was able to get an adequate shutter speed, even at an F4.9 aperture (which is wide open at full telephoto - while the lens has a maximum aperture of 1.8, it decays very rapidly at longer focal lengths). Overall I love the RX100 and actually wish I could put some of its software features in my Canon 7D.
Enjoy the photos, and give the Punch Brothers a listen.
