Wednesday, June 24, 2026 – The State Theater – Falls Church, Virginia
The State Theater is a venue my wife and I have been to many times. It is a fairly convenient drive (about one hour) from our house and there is a reasonable hotel within walking distance. There’s also an amazing restaurant next door called Claire & Don’s Beach Shack that will transport you to a tropical location instantly. We have seen the Psychedelic Furs, X (twice), The Alarm and many other good bands, including Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers (multiple times) at the State. Unfortunately, like so many venues, it has become primarily a place to go see tribute bands. But Roger Clyne always stops there. I get the feeling he loves the place. Once, after a derecho storm rolled through and knocked out power for two days, Roger and his band set up on a makeshift stage by their tour bus in the parking lot and played an acoustic show just to avoid having to cancel (ticket refunds were also an option).
That’s just a little background. So, my wife and I saw the date, bought ourselves tickets, including a table, booked a hotel room and looked forward to the show. Soon after that, we saw that Ike Reilly, with help from his son Shane, would be the opener. I LOVE Ike Reilly and the Assassination, and I love Ike solo. I was stoked. Ike’s new record, which features his son Shane, is excellent. It’s called Blind and Surrounded. We checked into the hotel, headed to Don and Claire’s for a couple of appetizers and then wandered into the State a little after 6:00 for a 7:00 p.m. start.
Ike came on solo and led off with one of my favorites from his full band, called “I Don’t Want What You’ve Got (Goin’ On).” He played a couple of the new ones that he wrote and sings and then his son Shane came out and joined him. They played more of the new songs that Shane had written, highlighted by “Bad Bad Man” and they played a number of Ike’s earlier songs. Their set was excellent. This video is a from a show the week before, same tour.
“Bad Bad Man” by Ike and Shane Reilly:
Next up was Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. They are also out supporting an excellent new record, called Hell To Breakfast. In addition to supporting that record, the band was celebrating the 30-year anniversary of Fizzy Fuzzy Big and Buzzy by The Refreshments, which was Roger’s previous band. Every time we see Roger, they play numerous songs by The Refreshments, but on the 30-year anniversary, they decided to play basically the whole record, which was great news to me. When they play the song “Banditos” and the crowd knows every word, it’s pretty great. In addition to The Refreshments songs, they played much of the new record, including “Fireflies,” which I love. They threw in “Americano” and “Counterclockwise” which are two of their most popular older songs. It was fantastic show.
“Banditos” by Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers:
In between Ike and Roger, I did get a chance to talk with Ike, who I had met previously a few years before at a show in Vienna, Virginia at a club called Jammin’ Java. Ike is really nice and eager to talk to fans. We talked a little bit about the 2024 documentary all about Ike. It was made by Tom Morello and is called Don’t Turn Your Back On Friday Night. It is deeply personal, super-inspiring to me, award-winning and simply one of my favorite rock docs ever. You can watch it for free on Tubi TV.
Ike Reilly Documentary trailer:
Okay, go check out both bands, their new records, their old records, the documentary, all of it!
JCE, or John to his friends, was born in the Nation’s Capital and grew up in the VA suburbs of D.C. He is 63 years old, he has a wife of 35 years, and a grown daughter. He is now retired from working as the chief administrative officer of a VA county, and spends as many nights as possible listening to live rock n roll with his wife at any club that has a decent band within 100 miles or so of their house (and sometimes further).