Saul Williams - 04/07/2008 - '9:30 Club' Washington, DC

As mentioned last night I went to a Saul Williams concert on Monday. At first I wasn't quite sure whether I should go or not as I was quite exhausted all day. However I'm very happy that I came through and decided to go. I didn't really look at the venue's website except to catch a brief glance of where it's located so I didn't see the part about Saul Williams only getting on stage at 10 p.m. Not wanting to spend 3 hours all by myself in the club I decided to go home for a brief snack and a change into more reasonable clothes (jeans and t-shirt) instead of the 'business-casual'-look that I wear at work.

At this point I can also freely admit that prior to last week I actually hadn't listened to too much music by Saul Williams. The first time I actually heard about him was only a couple of months ago when I listened to the 'Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D' album by Nine Inch Nails which included two or three remixes that Williams had contributed. I really liked them and my friend Patrick actually decided to purchase a couple of Saul Williams CDs as a result. So as preparation for the concert I started listening to his three latest CDs: 'Not in My Name' [2003], 'Saul Williams' [2004] and 'The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!' [2007] late last week. In the morning on my way to work I can't quite take any music that intense so I normally settle for some Trentemøller - 'The Last Resort'. However as the day progresses towards lunch and especially in the afternoon I tend to go for something more energetic. So Saul Williams' music was really perfect for that, especially as his intense songs are often followed my relatively quiet pieces.

Saul Williams getting up close with the crowd

That's basically also the way the concert worked out. Some super-intense and energetic songs followed by bursts of fast-spoken poetry and quiet songs. On stage he does seem to take himself a little too serious but I guess that's also part of the atmosphere that he's creating. Overall I found it to be the perfect mixture and I was also quite happy to recognise many songs some of which I've linked to below.

I also liked the venue, called '9:30 Club' and I'll definitely try and go there for more concerts in the future (Apocalyptica are going to play there some time in June I believe). The crowd was quite an interesting mix of people to watch and again I enjoyed the fact that hardly anyone sported a suit there. I've never really had this before but even after only two weeks I'm already quite sick of all the generic suits walking through this city (again, I'm being one of them) and I smile every time I see someone sporting a regular outfit.

All in all a great concert that made for a great evening!

I know the quality is crap but it's better than nothing, right

I'm going to leave you with this video of Saul Williams 'Sunday, Bloody Sunday' cover which in my opinion is one of the best covers of the recent past. On the other side of his spectrum you find 'List of Demands' and the accompanying video (YouTube link) which I also like a lot, especially since it's a really nice sample of his power and energy which he brings to the stage. One song which I'd really love to see being made into a video is 'Talk To Strangers' as its lyrics are simply outstanding.