Bonnie Prince Billy

We visited DC on our roadtrip, and stayed another night so that we could see this concert. The concert was great! Well worth the waiting! The venue likewise, with accoustics perfect for this kind of music. Thank you so much!

BPB and the Cairo Gang entertained with an awesome range of music in including costume changes from florid pbs to suit and tie! Guest performers joined mid-set, and the audience loved the generous sets, going until about 11pm. Entertained!

The venue was old and cramped but who cares when Bonnie Prince Billy is performing! He's amazing and I loved seeing him live. The staff at the venue were very nice and the view from mezzanine was great.

This show was just so good- Bonnie and the band were so talented and played each song with so much feeling.

as usual, the Troc's sound left something to be desired and the opening act was pretty much atrocious. BPB & his band however were extremely into their music and very interesting to look at. great show, overall!

a casual country rock & roll evening of serious & fun contemplation, celebration & confusion. you know--laughed, cried. oldham & band were simply terrific: beautiful, but imperfect; rollicking, yet cohesive; it all leaving me feeling sublimely human.

I have been an Oldham fan for some time, but I expected his show to be understated like many of his albums. Not even close... 8 piece band and a show I'll never forget!

This may have been the best live show I've seen in my entire life.

Can t wait to see him again. I loved his stories and how he connected the dots. Great vocals and very memorable.

Bonnie Prince Billy was amazing! His voice is incredible and I enjoyed his banter in between songs. I highly recommend seeing him if you have the chance. You won't regret it!

I've been a BPB fan since the first Palace album in the early 90s, though I've only seen him 4-5 times over the years. The reason for this is because Will Oldham is about as hit-or-miss as any artist I've ever known. Saw him about 7 years ago and it was an amazing concert, with a super-tight band and great song selection. But I've also seen him where it's just him and a guitar and my god it was boring. Overall, I would say the 2011 show at the Birchmere was pretty good in that had features of his best and worst shows. When it was great, like You Want that Picture, it was fabulous. But as stated by another reviewer, Oldham has this awful weakness for these 10 minute melodramatic, spacey dirges that go on forever. No song should have 1-2 second gaps in it, in an effort to prove how "amazing" this music is supposed to be, and too many tunes seemed to strive for majesty but were just dull. It always kind of amazes me when performers pull these out repeatedly. Sure, a couple slower songs can help provide some variety, but half the set were practically atonal, beatless, rhythmless slogs.

Bonnie Prince Billy always puts on a good show and this was no exception. I wish we had arrived at The Birchmere earlier because it was a general admission show and it would have been nice to sit closer to the stage. That being said, we still had a good view even from the back.

The 3 part harmonies were spot on. Stage presence for lead guitarist and Will Oldham very positive, though the backing vocalist was a little steely. Great performance! They played lots off of "Wonder Show" and plenty off the new album too, with a few old faves thrown in.

Loved it. Here's a picture. Just wanted to upload a picture.

Show was great. IT WAS A PAIN IN THE ASS NOT HAVING WILL-CALL at the DOOR.

absolutely awesome. strange form of life was unbelievable.

A great performance. Wish they could fix the buzzing on the speakers, but nothing that distracted from the show to much. Drinks were a bit expensive as well.

Good not great. Better than the Apollo show last year, when it sounded like show-tunes played at the Grand Ol' Opry. Still way too much over-long, ballad-y, theatrical monologue space jams for my tastes. I loved parts of it, but sometimes I wish the guy would just play songs instead of these hippie dirges. When Matt Sweeney came on it made me long for the good old days. The opening "act" was absolutely terrible. And the Cairo Gang guy looks just like McLovin.

I bought these tickets for my fiance, who is a Bonnie Prince Billy fan, not knowing that this was going to be BPB and the Cairo Gang / The Babblers. The Town Hall website didn't give much explanation about what to expect, and we were pretty disappointed to come in to see Will Oldham on stage with several people all wearing hooded one-piece pajamas and sunglasses. The music was OK, except for the bizarre and boring last song where they repeated "It doesn't matter who you are / We know who we are" over and over and over for 5 minutes to dissonant clanking on the piano. Where these The Babblers? Was this the Cairo Gang? When they broke for "intermission," was the same gangly crew coming back, or was Will coming out solo? We didn't stay to find out and left, very disappointed and irritated that we dropped $80 on the tickets.

I have to say, I have been to hundreds if not thousands of concerts of all different types from metal to opera. This was hands down the most enjoyable, beautiful concert I have been too. I saw Bonnie Prince Billy when he was still Will Oldham back in the '90s and even though I was a huge fan, the live performance was lacking. But this was totally different. It was tremendous to see him having grown as an artist to being in total control of his abilities, and the band was just tremendous. Their renditions were spectacular and innovative. The music was soulful and beautiful and took me to another place.

It was an intimate night. truly had fun! had great seats the apollo could use a renovation. otherwise no complaints.

Bachlorette started things off on this fine Friday evening. Their music was light and engaging like their on stage personalities. It felt a little like a lite version of Laurie Anderson only not quite as serious, I could not however get the image SNL's Will Ferrell and Ana Gastayer portraying the corny husband and wife music teachers the Culps out of my head. Throw in a little NPR pretentiousness and there you have Bachlorette. The main act of the night was Bonnie Prince Billy aka Will Oldham. Apparently he has so many projects going he has to name them differently (maybe it helps him but I found it confusing/annoying). The music was a beautiful example of what is commonly referred to as Americanna. The Lyrics were interesting and usually told a story that gave you an interesting visual while not being "story songs" per se. It was pretty sleepy music for a Friday night and the venue while beautiful might not have been exactly the right place for this particualr show (please note though that this show was pristine sonically speaking). Overall it was an ok show but I would say that the pairing of the 2 bands did not generally flow well and Will aka Bonnie Prince Billy would have been better suited to a venue with sawdust on the floor or a coffee house in the early after noon.

The show was great. It was my first time seeing Will Oldham play and i was not let down. When he and his band played "New Partner" from the record "Bonnie Prince Billy Sings Greatest Palace Music" it wrecked me. Beautiful moment. However, I did not like the opening band Bachelorette and would definitely not recommend them. Im not sure why they are on this tour.

This was my second Bonnie Billy show. The first was at Mershon in Columbus about three years ago. My son who is 30 (Im 52) turned me on to him. I bought his last two albums and love them. His writing and song arrangements are very good. LIve he is very interesting to watch and his music is fresh and fun to listen to. I really enjoyed this show. It seemed to be a little brief. Billy said there was a curfew and ended a little after 11pm I recall. Sure glad I was there. I want to see more of his shows.

Bonnie Prince Billy: Bachelorette is one of the best shows I have seen recently. The sound was beautiful and on occassion the lyrics so moving and beautiful I was brought to tears. I recommend this show to anyone who loves music with real feeling and emotion, and wants to chill to the melodic sounds of country mixed with art.

i cannot express how amazing this show was... i would see it over and over and over again. the location was beautiful. the crowd was in awe. will oldham sang his tender heart out. if you ever have the chance to see this amazing artist perform under any name, do so without a second thought... love him!

I have listened to BPB for ~4 years now and I am a huge fan of his music. There's no one that compares. With that said, the studio versions of many of his songs pale in comparison to how they sound live. The band had a great vibe, and BPB was animated and expressive. The songs were just incredibly dynamic. I attended this show with a friend of mine who had only heard BPBs's music in passing, and he thought the show was amazing also. If he comes anywhere within 6 hours of me again, I'm there!

This was quite possibly the best show I've seen. The backing band was amazing, the energy was incredible, and the venue was great. If BPB comes back to Atlanta, I'll be there.

Incredible performance. Great song selection. Played very enthusiastically and energetically.

I highly recommend seeing Bonnie "Prince" Billy in concert. His live performance gives creative and vibrant interpretations of the studio versions. No matter how many times you have listened to the albums, his live performance reveals something new in each song. The band was equally engaging and worthy of praise. I wish I had seen them in a venue where more patrons were interested in listening to the music instead of socializing, although if you're looking for a lively scene with good beer, the Variety offers just that.

Simply breath taking!!!! I was able to meet Mr. Will with my lovely lady. Very neat!

The sound wasn't that great, but after seeing Spiritualized at the Apollo I was expecting that. The band made up for it with their energy. Bartenders could definitely speed up their action.

Great show...great location for the show (Birchmere). Front seats!

A great show with songs from Oldham's greater catalogue. I'll see him every chance I get! The other musicians in the band were top notch. The drummer and fiddle player/vocalist stood out as being exceptional.

Will Oldham is so talented, and his band is as well (diverse), but the show needed a little more variety to reach maximum performance potential...

Fantastic fantastic show. First time I had seen him in a couple of years and he is still just a joy to watch perform.

Will Oldham is a strange man, but he knows how to put on a great live show. His current touring band sounds great together and songs that are a bit mellow on his CDs are presented with more energy in the live setting, with his folk leanings mostly taking a backseat to a harder edged set. Highly recommended.

BPB's performance was excellent. I'm a big fan of his albums and it was my first time seeing him live. The venue was kinda lame though. It was like a dinner theater setting. Not like a normal venue. He even commented on it... There were constantly servers bugging you during the set trying to sell drinks which is rather distracting...