Two ex-D.C. residents, Bob Mould and Ted Leo performed at the 9:30 Club last night with their usual bluster and volume. Mould, supporting his latest release Patch the Sky pulled from many spots in his musical past, kicking the night off with Sugar‘s “A Good Idea,” and winding down with the night five Hüsker Dü songs (“Something I Learned Today,” “Hardly Getting Over It,” “Celebrated Summer,” “In a Free Land,” and “Makes No Sense at All”).
But the highlight of the night was definitely his encore, which featured two cover songs. The first had drummer Jon Wurster come to the mic, with opener Ted Leo on drums, for a rousing rendition of The Ramones‘ “Beat on the Brat.” “This is to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Ramones,” Wurster said, “and John Stabb.” (Staab, Government Issue’s frontman, was recently diagnosed with stomach cancer.) “Boycott cancer, but never boycott Stabb,” he said. The second was a punk rock version of the theme song from the Mary Tyler Moore Show, an homage to Minneapolis, MN where the show was shot, and where Mould resided during the Hüsker Dü years.
See photos from both sets in the Gallery.