Chunky doc martens. Fishtail maxi denim skirts. Silver accessories everywhere. Observing the crowd at the Sir Chloe concert at The Atlantis on April 10, I felt, dare I say, slightly uncool.
Yet, everyone I met was immensely warm. Two girls, literally screaming over the pre-concert music, complimented the clips in my hair before asking, “Who are you here to see?” I learned they drove to D.C. from Annapolis to see Daffo, the singer-songwriter opening for Sir Chloe.
Daffo’s sultry voice, paired with her confidence and camaraderie with her bandmates, made for a formidable opening act. Explaining that it was her first time in D.C., Daffo exclaimed, “I haven’t even had the time to see the monuments yet. I want to see Washington’s big d—!” At another point, Daffo made the audience bark. Once the venue was filled with imitations of dogs of all breeds and sizes, Daffo smiled coyly and launched into her song “Waste.” Daffo ended her act with “The Experiment,” the bonus track off her EP Pest, which tackles the absurdities and joys of life: “I’m adult I’m a child / I’m a pluviophile / I’m a fish / I’m a cow / I’m a man / I’m a plow / I’m a dog / I’m a log planet crocodile adult child!” Pulling a harmonica from her pocket, Daffo happily tooted out the last verse, much to the audience’s surprise.
Sir Chloe’s performance needed no introduction – and indeed, frontwoman Dana Foote did not give one. Stepping on stage donning her signature sharp suit and bob, Foote effectively silenced the audience, a rare feat in our attention-deficit economy. Starting off with “Should I,” the opening song from their major-label release I Am The Dog, Foote sang with a force that can only be described as positively violent: “I wanna climb inside / Be someone impolite / Wanna eat you alive / Should I? Should I? Should I? Should I?”
Although Sir Chloe maintained their confrontational and cool attitudes for I Am The Dog, I enjoyed their confessional ballads as well. One of my favorite moments was when Sir Chloe performed “July,” a melancholic song about saying goodbye to a summer fling, and a throwback to their EP Party Favors, which put the band on the map in 2020. “In late July, in late July / I was so happy I could cry / I can’t remember why,” Foote sang.
The core members of Sir Chloe started playing together in their senior year of college, sharing a sense of trust that was evident on the stage. Each band member knew what individual changes were necessary to enhance the collective sound. On the live rendition of “Obsession,” I noticed that Teddy O’Mara (guitar) added some harmonic overdubs, while Palmer Foote (drums) switched to half time on the last chorus, as a nod to Sir Chloe’s shoegaze and grunge influences. During “Seventeen,” Foote and O’Mara extended the last verse with the band, repeating a self-assured “Uh-huh” as Foote sank lower and lower to the ground for dramatic effect.
During “Michelle,” the song that introduced me to Sir Chloe when I was chronically online and had TikTok in 2020, the band led the audience as the room chanted in unison: “Michelle, Michelle / You are a monster from Hell.” Guess everyone has had a bad experience with love!
But, as a band that has constantly evolved to defy everyone else’s and their own expectations, Sir Chloe wasn’t going to end with their most popular song. Instead, they closed the night with I Am The Dog’s “Feel Again,” a song about learning to be alone and content with uncertainty: “So, into tomorrow / Is where I go, I always go. / No, nobody’s sorrow / Is mine to hold, is mine to hold.”
As I left the concert, I certainly felt that way.
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