So some time back, my friend Dan sent me an enthusiastic email informing me that Unrest was getting back together for a Teenbeat reunion tour celebrating their 26th anniversary.  Then 15 minutes later he sent me a follow-up email that I was going to be taking the bus down to DC to acccompany him to the show.  Dan is sort of like Sir Ben Kingsley’s character in Sexy Beast, in that he has both a shaved head and an ability to convince people to say yes to any proposition he might put forward.

But of course it didn’t take much convincing.  Unrest is great, and I’ve never seen them play (though I think I’ve seen a couple of Mark Robinson’s other projects), and what better place to catch them then at Teenbeat Records’ former ground zero, the Black Cat in DC.  Also, it was a great opportunity to hang out a little with Dan, Alia and their two hilariously energetic daughters.

I don’t want to really bang out a full review of the show, but it was totally satisfying.   All three versions of the band played, each introduced separately by Robinson, who also let each of the first two bassists do their own thing for a couple of minutes, which included both country blues riffing and a Brecht song.

The dominant emotion of the various reunited bands (Bossanova, The Rondelles and Versus) seemed to be a sort of giddy joy at getting to rock out again in front of a big crowd like they used to in the old days, mixed with a slightly awkward amazement at the earnest, younger selves they were impersonating.  And of course the crowd skewed a little older as well, your humble narrator included.

I normally don’t like dinosaur acts, but this was hardly a nostalgic cash-in, or at least not on the scale of a Billy Joel or even the Pixies.  It was a good time, and everyone rocked out plausibly, and still hit their marks with confidence.  And most of these folks are either still playing with their original bands or making music with others.

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