Sammy Rae & The Friends brought summer in February to 9:30 Club
Review By: Jess Daninhirsch
If there were a term to describe a Sammy Rae & The Friends concert, fittingly, it would be the joy of friendship. The “Friends” extend beyond the seven-piece band; when you go to one of their shows, they make you feel like you are one of their friends.
Sammy Rae & The Friends headlined the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 16 and 17 as a part of their Camp tour. San Diego band We The Commas opened for them, bringing in a beachy energy before The Friends’ woodsy camp feeling. Together they brought summer sunshine to a cold February night.
“Go put a smile on somebody’s face,” lead singer Sammy Rae told the sold-out crowd at the Saturday night show. “Go tell somebody they’ve got a place in this world; go tell somebody you want to be friends with them.”
This is the band’s mantra, and they certainly succeeded in putting smiles on their fans' faces. Onstage with vocalist Sammy Rae were Kellon Reese and Max Zooi on saxophone, C-bass Chiriboga on drums, Will Leet on guitar, James Quinlan on bass, and Debbie Tjong on keyboards. The group’s chemistry onstage was palpable.
The band has been touring across the United States and Europe since September with a break in December and January. The last leg of the tour will end in March. We The Commas joined them for the second leg.
We The Commas is a band of three brothers–Cam, Jordy, and Lenny Comma–from San Diego. They describe themselves as “the Black Beach Boys,” according to their Instagram. Their style of music, which I might describe as “cabana rock,” tied in perfectly with Sammy Rae & The Friends’ theme. It was as if the audience took a trip to the beach before going to camp for the summer. Sammy said that We The Commas quickly became her favorite band after they reached out to her about opening for The Friends.
We The Commas just released an EP on Thursday, the day of the first D.C. stop on the tour, entitled “Aeroplane.” They like to bring a bit of San Diego wherever they go, so they also sang their 2023 single “San Diego.”
Sammy Rae & The Friends are also planning on releasing their first full length recorded album in 2024, so they sang a few of their unreleased songs, including “Thieves,” set to release as a single off the album on March 8. They taught the audience part of the song so they could sing along, and they even recorded the live performance to be used for a live music video for the song.
Numerous fans dressed in colorful vests, flared pants, bucket hats, friendship bracelets and denim jackets (an homage to their song, “Denim Jacket”) to get into the camp mindset. Even one stagehand was wearing a Girl Scouts vest. Sammy wore an army-green 9:30 Club t-shirt while the rest of the band was decked out in colorful camping gear, and her microphone stand was wrapped in friendship bracelets.
A lot of The Friends’ songs – such as “Jackie Onassis,” “The Box,” and a cover of Cher’s “Believe” – follow a theme of introspection, self-love, and queer joy. The band closed the show with their newly-released single, “Coming Home Song,” which became an anthem for prioritizing one’s own needs and loving yourself.
“You have to flip that mirror and figure out the ways that we, uniquely us, can show ourselves love,” Sammy Rae said before introducing the song. “You can’t fill up somebody else’s cup until you fill your own cup up first,”
She then taught the audience a section of the song so that they could sing along, and every corner of the 9:30 Club was full of joyous singing.
Connecticut native Sammy Rae is one of the most talented vocalists of our generation. Her control, range, and vocal agility is astounding. I saw Sammy Rae & The Friends in March of 2022 at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and at the time it was the best concert I have ever seen. They topped their performance this time around.
I loved seeing that Sammy Rae continued some of her traditions from previous shows, including wearing a colorful cape made of ribbons during “Jackie Onassis” and borrowing an audience member’s jacket for “Denim Jacket.” But the band continues to surprise audiences with fun moments and interactions with the crowd. At the beginning of the show, Sammy Rae knelt down at the front of the stage and made sure that the audience was alright and excited for a night of powerful, beautiful music and joy.
The band truly knows how to connect with an audience on a deeply personal level, and Saturday’s audience reciprocated that connection.
Photos by: Jess Daninhirsch @daninhirschphotography
