we're all souls just trying to connect.

Portugal. The Man and Damiera at the Rock & Roll Hotel.

As Tall As Lions and The Second Sunrise at Mount Saint Mary’s College.

Well, we missed the opening band, Tera Melos, because we got lost and ended up in Anacostia, also known as the sketchiest place on earth, for those not familiar with the DC area. However, we did eventually find H Street NE and managed to get a parking space right in front of the venue too.

If you haven’t been to the Rock & Roll Hotel yet, you should. It’s this tiny little shoebox of a room, but it’s pretty sweet.

Damiera was pretty much just bad. I don’t know any of their songs, but they all sounded the same anyways.

Portugal. The Man, however, was very good. They had this crazy lights show with floodlights flashing on and off, and making their shadows look like they were dancing even when they weren’t. R&R’s acoustics aren’t the best in the world, but P.TM still rocked out. Mostly I just wanted to hear “Chicago,” and they played that second so I was happy.

Adam and I peaced out before The Fall Of Troy started so we could make it up to Maryland to meet Chelsea and the Amandas at the ATAL show.

Chelsea was friends with the opening band, The Second Sunrise. I was actually pretty impressed with their show – they’re kind of pop-punkish and had a very energetic show. And by energetic, I mean spastic. They were fun to watch and sounded pretty decent too.

And of course, As Tall As Lions is always good. Their set list was something like:

Ghosts Of York
Song For Luna
Milk And Honey
A Break, A Pause
Be Here Now
Stab City
Deep Sleeper
Kickin’ Myself
Maybe I’m Just Tired
Love Love Love (Love Love)
96 Heartbeats

I just love to watch these guys play. They clearly enjoy what they are doing. Plus, Julio and Rob make the most entertaining faces. There was one song toward the end where Rob got up from the keyboard and started pounding on the drum kit, and Brian started pounding the keyboard. I also love Rob’s trumpet solo during “Stab City.” There were a lot of times when it was hard to hear Dan's vocals, but it was okay. The extended jam parts of the songs they do more than make up for it.

Basically, ATAL is one of those bands that always restores my faith in music. Hearing songs like "Stab City" or "Love Love Love (Love Love)" live remind me why I love to spend ridiculous amounts of time and money on shows. I really hope more people start listening to this band. Hopefully the fact that they’re on the AP Tour with Circa Survive will find them some new fans. They really deserve it.