New Release: Live at the 9:30 Club

It was the day after New Year’s, 2006, at the 9:30 Club. But it could have been anywhere.

That’s because the entertainment, Virginia Coalition (known to friends as VACO), has made it their habit to meet or beat the expectations of their fans, whether opening for the Dave Matthews Band, O.A.R., and Counting Crows, or packing the House of Blues in Chicago and Irving Plaza in New York on their own.

No matter where they perform, whether close to home in D.C. or further away as they break nationwide, each appearance reflects the talent and motivation these guys have exhibited ever since they first surfaced on the Georgetown club circuit.

In truth, that night at the 9:30 Club was really not that different from most of their gigs … and that’s what makes Live at the 9:30 Club, their second release on the bluhammock music label, worth hearing.

First of all, the place was jammed with supporters, whose enthusiasm feeds the energy of the band. (Check that chant-along passage on “Jerry Jermain.”) Like every Virginia Coalition show, this one is about how the love they get from their audience fuels what they do onstage.

That, of course, is the real point: This set might have been played at any one of the college dates, or the open-air amphitheaters, or the festivals that fill the VACO schedule. Through word of mouth, on message boards, and in the kudos they’ve earned from the Washington Post (“Reader’s Choice: Best Local Band” two years in a row) and other media, VACO is becoming part of this summer’s soundtrack throughout America.

But for now, let’s go back to this one performance, on a freezing night in Washington, when the tapes would roll and the world would learn what it means to hear Virginia Coalition in its glory …


Virginia Coalition – "Gates Of Wisdom": http://vista.streamguys.com/jspiewak/vaco_gates.wma

TOUR DATES:
Sep 21 2006 9:30P
EXIT/ IN
Nashville, TN

Sep 22 2006 10:45P
Visualite Theatre
Charlotte, NC

Sep 23 2006 10:00P
Cat's Cradle
Carrboro (aka Chapel Hill), NC

Sep 25 2006 9:30P
Smith's Olde Bar
Atlanta, GA

Sep 26 2006 11:00P
Cumberland's
Charleston, SC

Sep 29 2006 9:00P
Alley Katz
Richmond, VA

Sep 30 2006 8:00P
8 x 10
Baltimore, MD

Oct 3 2006 9:00P
Milestone's
Rochester, NY

Oct 4 2006 11:00P
Castaway's
Ithaca, NY

Oct 5 2006 10:00P
Red Square
Albany, NY

Oct 6 2006 10:30P
Higher Ground South
Burlington, VT

Oct 19 2006 10:30P
Mexicali Blues
Teaneck, NJ

Oct 20 2006 7:00A
WFXT Fox Morning News (A.M.)
Boston, MA

Oct 20 2006 10:00P
The Pickle Barrel (P.M.)
Killington, VT

Oct 21 2006 11:30P
Harper's Ferry
Allston, MA

Oct 27 2006 12:30A
The Blue Note
New York, NY

Oct 28 2006 10:30P
North by Northwest Philadelphia, PA