The air at the 9:30 Club on October 21st, 2024, was thick with expectation. It was the final night of AMPlifying Democracy - Dispatch's 10-show crusade for civic action.   

Before Dispatch to the stage, indie singer-songwriter Brooke Annibale took to the legendary 9:30 Club. Annibale, known for her heartfelt lyrics and soulful voice, performed alone with her acoustic guitar under a few singular spotlights.  Her music blends elements of folk, pop, and indie rock, and she often accompanies her vocals with acoustic guitar.  Annibale remarked that she may be unfamiliar with the DC crowd, so she would play a song to make us all feel connected.  Under that singular spotlight, she performed a heartfelt "Fade Into You" by Mazzy Star. Feeling further connected to her newest fans, Annibale opened and revealed deeply personal songs such as "Better By Now," written in January 2021, and confiding like many of us, thinking that we had somehow crossed a miraculous threshold of surviving 2020. Despite her 30-minute debut at the 9:30 Club, it was profound and beautiful, and we look forward to her return to the stages of the DMV.

At 9:15 PM, Dispatch took to the stage. For a band that had rocked amphitheaters and festivals across the country, returning to this legendary DC institution for the first time since 2001 was special and a homecoming for them.  What's more, this appearance allowed them to deliver a punctuation mark to their AMPlyfing Democracy tour within a few miles of The Whitehouse and US Capital. Despite being deep in the heart of DC, the venue felt more like a rented rehearsal space, perhaps a better description - a small stage set inside a rustic New England barn akin to The Barn at Levon Helms Studio. The band, having spent the latter half of the month barnstorming for democracy, was set to gather around the jam space, glance smiles at one another, exchange instruments with glee, and jam around Brad Corrigan's drum kit. They had their jam space and one big musical campfire - but with 1,200 diehard fans crammed in, like the "Patch" family, sitting in the rafters taking in a very special "let it all hang loose" and "let it flow" evening of music.

From their first notes of "Skin the Rabbit", Dispatch limbered up their fingers in their newest and most intimate of practice spaces.  Chad Stokes' gravel-soaked vocals ricocheted off the walls while Brad Corrigan, a whirl of kinetic energy behind the drums, kicked off the groove that propelled the room forward. The campaign wasn't just about music; they were registering voters for the Ballot Ready initiative at every stop. Tonight, though, it felt like they were plugging everyone directly into the electricity of democracy itself.

Time felt fluid as they blasted through "Time Served" and "Came for the Fire" —songs that seemed to burn with the urgency of the moment. Then, when they launched into "Midnight Lorry", a mellow groove took over, wrapping the crowd in a collective sway, with Jon 'JR' Reilly's explosive percussion vibrating through everyone's bones. The new song "Johnny Whoop" merged as a moment of levity, Mike Sawitzke alternating between guitar and trumpet like it was all one instrument, bringing a touch of the surreal to the set.

The profound depth and love within the Dispatch community, "The Patch," swelled to the surface during "Bound By Love." The band led the audience in a chorus of, "🎶 We are bound, we are bound, bound by love 🎶," not one time, but at the band's request, the audience sang these binding words twice. Deep in the heart of the Nation's Capital, we were bound by democracy - but more importantly, as a community, bound by love.

Dispatched leaned into their comfort space as the lyrics of "Beto" emerged in the 9:30 Club. They embraced the space and let it all loose, relaxing in this private rehearsal space and showing us what it must be like for the band as they jam together off-tour. Brad Corrigan came out from behind his drum kit and walked to the front of the space to sing and play guitar on "Beto" while JR filled in on drums. The audience watched as the band shed any formality of a performance - they were at home jamming with one another, and we were lucky enough to witness the band in their own private groove.  Chad Stokes, now manning a bass guitar, danced and grooved on stage as though no one else was in the performance space - but we were all there, and we took in every beautiful and authentic moment on stage.  Stokes, ripping through "Past the Falls", seemed possessed by something larger than himself. His voice and guitar were drenched in emotion, lighting the crowd up like live wires.

The band took a slight breather on stage when a solitary voice rose: "You Guys Rock!"  With a wry smile,  Stokes responded that the next song does not rock and was mostly written by Emily Dickinson. Without missing a beat, he continued, "But she did write about rocks."  With those comments in hand, Stokes pulled out "Trinket," another new cut. You could feel the band expanding, evolving in real time. The crowd, packed in tight, held on to every note as though it were part of some great secret revealed only to them. Dispatch, defying convention, inked "Passerby" with a thunderous, haunting interlude of Midnight Oil's "Beds are Burning" —a mashup that felt like an urgent call to action before sliding back into the rootsy comfort of "Passerby" once more. It was the old-school Dispatch magic with a twist of revolution.

"The General" hit with an explosive force. Stokes' iconic anthem for peace stirred up memories of protest. As Sawitzke's trumpet echoed in the hall, the sacred words of "The General" spontaneously rang out from the audience - "Go now, you are forgiven. Go now, you are forgiven." What was once a tiny rumbling erupted into a beautiful and mighty roar in the 9:30 Club. Instead of Dispatch singing to the audience, the audience serenaded the band with a chorus of love.

Stokes took a moment to talk about the importance of democracy, voting, and making your voice heard - no matter what your political affiliation.  Stokes continued by mentioning how the band partnered with Ballot Ready and how easy it was to register to vote. Lavishing praise on the DC fans and venues, the band spoke about the future and announced they have a new album coming out in May 2025, and with a twinkle in their eye, they stated they would return to the DC area to support the forthcoming album.

The audience's love of Dispatch was mightily returned when Dispatch closed their performance with "Only the Wild Ones."  Everyone in the room was part of that wild, passionate pack, following Dispatch wherever they led. It felt like the band tipped their hat to the audience and hung out with them while they played in their intimate rehearsal space.  

But it wasn't over. As the band came back for the first encore, the room erupted as they launched into a frenzied, jaw-dropping cover of "Crazy Train".  Ozzy Osbourne's signature riff transformed the 9:30 Club into a madhouse, with Corrigan and Reilly pounding out the rhythm like it was their lifeblood. They followed it with "Letter to Lady J," giving the crowd a brief moment to catch their breath before launching one of the biggest treats of the evening - an extended encore.

The final encore was a heartwarming, unexpected twist. Brad Corrigan led the crowd in a singalong of "Do Re Mi" from The Sound of Music, dedicating it to his four-year-old son. For a moment, the room felt like a giant family singalong. The juxtaposition of Dispatch covering Ozzy Osbourne followed by a children's classic could only have happened in a place like this, on a night like this. And then, "Flying Horses" and "Elias"—two pillars of their legacy—brought the night to a stirring close. These weren't just songs anymore; they were vessels of joy containing decades of history, friendship, and activism.

The final chords reverberated through the room like an exhale as Dispatch walked off the stage for the last time on this tour, leaving the crowd uplifted, inspired, and —most importantly— ready to act on behalf of democracy.