Last night's Jay Reatard show at the Black Cat was supposed to take place on the club's large Mainstage, but was moved to its smaller downstairs area—probably due to low ticket sales, thanks to the holiday weekend. Still, the Black Cat's Backstage was crowded, and those who ventured out were treated to Jay Lindsey (aka Jay Reatard), along with bassist Stephen Pope and drummer Billy Hayes, in an intimate setting.

The Black Cat staff, likely aware of incidents at past Reatard shows, were prepared for a rowdy crowd. Four staff members barricaded the stage to protect the band and attendees from each other. They proved especially useful when a nasty fight between two young girls broke out during "It's So Easy." Although the confrontation looked painful, it paid off when Reatard apologized to the triumphant girl as she stood  in front of the stage. It was the only direct interaction the frontman had with the audience all night.

The music itself also landed like a punch to the face. Reatard's set was a 45-minute assault on the ears: It was loud and frantic, with material mostly drawn from In The Red Blood Visions and Matador Singles ‘08. Pressed against the front of the stage, an energetic pit of mostly younger showgoers went especially crazy over "Oh It's Such A Shame" and  "Greed, Money, Useless Children," the best track of the night. (I was hoping to hear a lot of new material from Reatard's forthcoming album Watch Me Fall, but since that didn't happen I bought it at the show. I listened to it and it's good. Really good.)

During the encore, show opener T.V. Smith, of the legendary punk band the Adverts, rejoined Reatard and crew on stage. Covers of late ’70s Adverts songs like "Bored Teenagers" were performed to the pleased crowd. By the time the last collaboration, on Reatard's "We Who Wait," kicked in, it was easy to lose track of where the Adverts' covers ended and the contemporary punk started-a feat showing Reatard's music is not just a flash in the pan.

As the lights came up at last night's Metric set at the 9:30 Club, all eyes were on frontwoman Emily Haines—and her sparkling, light-reflecting top. The focus quickly shifted to music, though, as Haines (along with bassist Josh Winstead, guitarist James Shaw, and drummer Joules Scott-Key) kicked things off with "Twilight Galaxy," from Metric's latest album, Fantasies. The song started slow and built to a dance-y crescendo, which was a nice lead-in for "Help I'm Alive," one of the best tracks on the new disc.

During "Gold Guns Girls," Haines picked up a guitar, proving that the multi-instrumentalism seen in the "Gimme Sympathy" video wasn't as staged as one might think. Haines actually proved quite the multi-tasker, switching from guitar to keys seamlessly throughout the show. But when she stepped away and traveled the stage with a cordless mic, her voice became noticeably more fragile and raw—chalk it up to her dancing and twisting across the stage.

At one point, Haines declared: "For us it was such a big moment when we got to play 9:30 Club...there are showers backstage!" For Washington, D.C. it was a big moment as well—the sold out crowd often sang along (hear it on the NPR stream of the show). This was especially prevalent on popular songs from previous albums, such as "Hand$hakes" and "Empty" from 2005's Live It Out and "Dead Disco," from 2003's Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?

"Dead Disco" also succeeded in getting the majority of the crowd to loosen up and move along with the music. Toward the end of the set, Haines told the crowd, "We'll find enough love to fill the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC...stadium love!" then launched into a raucous version of Fantasies' "Stadium Love," which was a perfect way to urge the crowd to ask for more.

During the encore, Haines lowered herself into the crowd and gave an acoustic version of "Live It Out" (which she has dubbed Metric's "Freebird") Before the set ended, Haines said that "[m]usic just blows my mind. It's just vibrations...but it's just the most beautiful thing."