Concert Review: Who's Bad in Washington D.C.

One day after Michael Jackson’s death last week, Who’s Bad, the country’s  premiere Jackson cover band, had a show in our nation’s capital.  Fortunately, Editorial Page Managing Editor Austin Boehm was in attendance and willing to share his thoughts on the show:

Shortly after I arrived in Washington D.C. for the summer, I ventured out to famed small concert venue 9:30 Club for a show by the next big thing in hip hop, Wale. While at the concert, I noticed that Who's Bad, billed as the best Michael Jackson cover band, was playing on a Friday in June.

At that point, my game plan was to show up, grab drinks with friends, hit the dancefloor and dance in a manner as reminiscent of a Shooter’s night as possible while in a much classier capitol city. Can I just say the rest is history? I think I just did.

Skip the sad events of last Thursday and confusion around Michael's death, and the scene was a little different when I arrived just after 9:00 last Friday. My ticket, which said that doors opened at 8:30, was now valid for the first of two concerts that evening. Cameras and press mobbed the outside of the venue. Tickets were sold out for both shows and a somewhat angry walk-up line had formed. I was now at D.C.’s hottest show of the summer. Most importantly, Who's Bad was already a few songs into their set. So forgive me; I can't start from the first time that MJ moonwalked out onto the stage.

Inside, the club was packed. When 9:30 sells out, the upstairs fills in last, and that was less than elbow-room only. The group I was in let the ladies tunnel through strategically and we ended up (wouldn't you know it!) right next to one of the bars. We walked in to “Smooth Criminal,” which was a great first song to absorb the atmosphere. The band's front man (Joseph Bell) looked exactly like Michael Jackson in his prime, dressed for the period with ridiculously fluffy technicolor drab and dancer-freindly flair and definitely didn't have to lip sync. I thought it was my impaired vision from being so far away, but everyone in the club seemed to agree it was awesome.

The crowd was ridiculous. Besides the 1% of people like me that had my tickets before everyone linked the concert on their blogs, twitters and whatever, the audience was a mass of 20-30-year-olds who hadn't quite grown up and chose to only remember the part of Michael's life when he was a glowing teenage star. If you looked purposefully, you could find someone teary-eyed or straight up bawling. But you could also see a number of people "thrilled" out of their minds and having a great time doing so.

I have no idea what Michae---Who's Bad played before I arrived, but it was classic after classic thereafter. Prior to each hit, the band member providing background vocals would transform into an MC, and in a very loud and hip hop way would pump everyone up with grandiose intros that were very confusing and somewhat out of place. But nobody cared, and they provided perfect cover for Michael and the band to change into different outfits, which were sweet. I mean, nobody noticed that the Jackson 5 was six black and white dudes, or that Michael's version of not aging didn't involve a new nose or skin color.