I can't even express to you how awesome the Katrina Benefit @ Rothko last night was. Honestly, so many people came out and all the bands really brought their best for a great cause. The GoStation played a fantastic set, with perhaps the best performance of "Next In Line" maybe EVER. I'm sure I say that all time about that song really, because it is certainly one of their strongest, but last night the room was jam packed and people in the front were going CRAZY for it. Matt also opened their set with a personal story about his family in Louisiana and an acoustic rendition of Green Days "Wake Me Up When September Ends" which was really very nice.
The Upwelling sounded good as always, and have really come together with their new keyboard player to the point where you would think Conner has been in the band forever. Ari wore a nice shirt,
Josh wore an even BETTER shirt, and everything sounded loud and rockin, especially one of my favorites "Annie on the Rooftop." They made me jump around in the DJ booth more than anyone else that night. The Diggs were brilliant as always, and every time they play and there is a friend of mine in the room who hasn't seen them yet, they will ALWAYS come up to me and say "WOW you were right this band is GREAT." But don't take my word for it, go see them for yourself. They just finished their new EP that I can't wait to get my hands on -- big things to come for these three. Other Passengers were also fantastic and in good form after having to cancel their CMJ performance because of vocal problems. They also busted out a brand new supercool light display. OP are playing a residency at Pianos every Tuesday in October and I'm going to be DJing at one of their shows which will be fun x 10. The Crackers United boys really impressed everyone with how well they organized this event, even creating commemorative t-shirts with the proceeds going to charity. So now I have a shirt with my name on it -- and the names of five bands that I absolutely love. They gave me one for free, which was awesome, but I ended up buying one for my little sister anyways -- and they were almost all sold out by the time that I did!
At the end of the night as I was leaving Rothko someone told me that they raised over 2000 dollars for Oxfam which is AMAZING. Things like last night really renew my faith in people and that always feels good.
Rachael has more photos of last night on her Flickr acct here.