Given the fact that I had just moved back to school in Maryland the previous day, I didn’t think I’d be able to make this show on such short notice, but come on, it’s REGGIE AND THE *FUCKING* FULL EFFECT! A heck of a lot more would have to stand in my way to prevent me from seeing this one. And so I went, even with the scary prospect in hand that I had to go through KOUFAX first. Blech…Actually, they weren’t half bad live, but their overall brand of adult-contemporary, 1970′s Lounge Music/Emo-pop just bores me to tears. Fortunately, their set ended before I could develop a real bad taste for it.

The ULTIMATE FAKEBOOK were up next and I had only seen these guys once before, at St. Andrew’s Church when they were out with THE GET UP KIDS almost two years ago. Since then, it’s more than apparent that one, they got pretty good, and two, people are paying attention to them. I had no problem at all slipping into their comfortable brand of rock with heavy emo tendencies, and loads of WEEZER influence. As only a three-piece, these guys deliver a sound that’s much bigger than you’d expect and do it with the necessary amount of energy to keep attitudes and rhythms fresh. I also appreciated the hefty guitar sound.

I didn’t recognize much of their set besides, “”She Don’t Even Know My Name,”" but I was definitely impressed with what a I saw – maybe the singer could cut down on the rock-star posturing though, it was pretty annoying after awhile, especially when it became evident that he wasn’t joking around.

During the set change, I was contemplating how many times I’ve seen HOT ROD CIRCUIT, and it has to be like 8 or 9 times already, and I don’t even really care for them, but it seems they tend to tour almost non-stop. Although they have their fair share of catchier material, I have a difficult time getting over their odd-guitar tone arrangements. The sound just doesn’t click for me, I suppose. On this evening, HRC played a lot of new material for their upcoming Vagrant Records album, and it was suprisingly very good and heavier than their older stuff. I think this release will help them move away from their fairly repetitive TGUK stigma and allow them to develop an entity of their own.

Another thing with HRC is that their music always seems like a soundtrack to a brisk drive on some European thoroughfare. Strange. It should be noted that during the HRC set, the bassist for ULTIMATE FAKEBOOK walked across the stage and took the HRC’s drummer’s crash symbol while in use, and carried it right off the stage. It was more than hysterical.

Now that the above has been taken care of, it’s time to talk about REGGIE. My goodness this was cool. Being that the DC date was the last on the tour, I had been faithfully forewarned of what was to come and damnit if I didn’t come close to wetting my pants in anticipation.

Right from the time the KOUFAX boys were playing, REGGIE was participating in “”gig destruction”" as they called it – mostly a flury of diapers and other goods tossed between band members aimed to make the “”other guy”" screw up. Fun!

From the moment the monstrous “”metal”" REGGIE banner fell as the backdrop, it was an undeniably cool trip between the mating of good ol’ fashion emotional pop tunes and sick 80s style glam metal. The thoughtfully coordinated stage act played out like a Broadway musical. Not quite knowing what would come next, between the SLAYER flashback, the intro of “”One”" by METALLICA being covered, and their own published mayhem, it was an hour plus of sheer joy.

REGGIE also came well prepared with costumes abound, especially the required Viking gear used by COMMON DENOMINATOR on the magnificent, “”Dwarf Invasion”" (monster swords included!). I don’t know if it’s intentional but almost all of the REGGIE songs that were played from the “”Promotion Copy,”" album had nearly the exact same intro, which well, got freakin’ confusing after awhile, and since I’m not good with song titles, I’ll just say that they played the ones that everyone likes (or almost all of their entire catalog – soundbites included).

In any rate, REGGIE, even with its mysterious foundings seemed right at home at rockin’ the 9:30 club nonstop, and I honestly didn’t want their set to ever conclude. I guess it’s not surprising that I was humming “”Jazz Hands,”" to myself on the metro ride back home.