“The Best Gig I Ever Saw” is a weekly column that will see us ask a musician to chat about their favorite concert thus far. This week it’s Nicole Laurenne of garage psych rock girls The Darts…

The best gig I ever saw was The Damned playing at The Black Cat in Washington, D.C, in October 2018. The Darts were on a US tour supporting The Damned and every night was kind of like the best gig we ever saw. The vocals were flawless and mesmerizing, the banter was spontaneous and hilarious, and every instrument was played to perfection every single night of the tour. But there was something even more magical about the show we did in D.C. The crowd was completely into it. Dave Vanian invited The Darts on stage to sing backups and dance with him. I can’t really recall ever being at another show where I looked around me and every single person there was singing along or dancing or actually participating in the experience in some other way. All night we were pinching ourselves (even harder than the other nights of the tour), not believing our amazingly good fortune in getting to be part of it.

The Darts play with Honeychain, Bella Novela and Kill My Coquette at 8 p.m. on Friday, August 30 at the Viper Room.

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