Photos | Review: Ninja Sex Party Redefine “Pure Elegance” in DC with TWRP

Ninja Brian (L) and Danny Sexbang (R) play the Howard Theatre in Washington, DC, during the “Pure Elegance” Tour on Monday, March 31st.

Who: “Pure Elegance” Tour: Ninja Sex Party; TWRP

Where: Howard Theatre, Washington, DC

When: March 31, 2025

A lot can happen within seven years. Thankfully, Ninja Sex Party don’t know how to tell time.

Since 2018, the musical comedy rock duo of NSP — lead singer “Danny Sexbang” (Dan Avidan) and keyboardist “Ninja Brian” (Brian Wecht) — and their live performance companions, TWRP, have been keeping the pages of ConcertCrap.com rock–hard. However, nothing hit quite as hard as when the two bands toured together, and the Washington, DC area was feeling a seven-year-itch.

At long last, the itch was scratched! Via the sold-out DC stop of the “Pure Elegance” Tour at the historic Howard Theatre, NSP and TWRP reunited. In the process, the concepts of class and decorum were forever changed.

TWRP

Kicking off the proceedings, the retro-cosmic quartet of TWRP rolled on-stage — quite literally. Doctor Sung (lead singer, talkbox, vocoder, keyboards) glided across the Howard Theatre stage on his hoverboard, as-is tradition for the Canadian rock aliens that are from the 1980s and also the future.

As Sung greeted the eager audience, keytar in hand, his three bandmates began to play the instrumental title track of their latest album, Digital Nightmare. Not missing a beat, bassist Commander Meouch and guitarist Lord Phobos grooved together in time with Havve Hogan’s deadly drumming, made all the more menacing by his glowing red pupils peering over the top of his drum kit.

Within their synth-rock set, TWRP not only checked off some of the group’s staples, such as “Synthesize Her” and “Atomic Karate” (with a nunchuck kata finale from Doctor Sung), but also threw in a few newer bops! After playfully berating the crowd for choosing simple “circles” and ”triangles” when asking for their favorite shapes, the band launched into “Polygon” to prove no one shape reins supreme.

Later on, Sung and Meouch assured the crowd that the next song was not only “dedicated to all the ladies here tonight,” but also all of the fellas, those in-between, and outside of the spectrum of gender. Sung summed it up best: “everybody likes to go FAST!” Instantly, the quartet launched into the speed-chasing “Phantom Racer,” which TWRP had not played live since co-headlining around America with the song’s co-creators, The Protomen, in 2020!

Wrapping up their time as openers with the dramatic tale of ”A Human’s Touch,” TWRP once again solidified why they are the top of their class as a live act. In time, only the retro future will know where their next achievements will take them.

Mild Spoiler Warning?

Between the sets, an NSP crew member took the stage to clarify two rules for the audience: no waiting by the buses after the show for selfies/autographs, and no photos/videos were to be taken during the set… until Danny and Brian told them to. Impressively, the Howard Theatre staff were vigilant with the latter, never shying away from gently reminding specific attendees with phones in the air to put them away.

Since there are many cities Ninja Sex Party and TWRP have yet to visit on this tour, with the second leg beginning on May 28th in St. Petersburg, FL, we at Concert Crap will only spill the details of mostly non-spoiler aspects of the DC gig. If NSP performed a song that night that they’ve also performed on prior tours, we’ll mention it, but we won’t be held responsible for spoiling skits and songs that the band have crafted just for this new tour. (Go to setlist.fm for that, at your own risk.)

Ninja Sex Party

That being said, the fact that Ninja Sex Party began their set with a song they made explicitly for beginning a concert and released last March, “Get Ready (to Get Ready),” can’t really be deemed a big spoiler, in our opinion! If anything, it would’ve been far more shocking to not begin the set with that song!

Danny Sexbang and Ninja Brian performed in their signature, unique ways. Nothing but smiles, Danny sang each lyric beautifully, with the cape of his new black-and-holographic-blue costume floating in the breeze of his enthusiastic gestures and hip-shaking dance moves!

In contrast, Ninja Brian was, as expected, all stares from behind the keys. For almost two decades, the ninja of Ninja Sex Party has built an empire off of those two unflinching eyes. The only time he broke eye contact with anyone in the audience was to high-five members of TWRP between songs… except for Lord Phobos. (Did they put their sudden beef to rest? Go see the next leg of the tour to find out!)

As the night unfolded, the duo, with TWRP, played new and classic songs from their original comedy album repertoire, as well as their Under the Covers album trilogy of covers. During ”Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” even the staff of the Howard Theatre swayed along!

Suddenly, after almost an hour and a half of hilarious, face-melting rock, Danny told the crowd they were allowed to film the final song as a keepsake: their 2018 comedy chart-topper, “Danny Don’t You Know.” With a final bow (and from Ninja Brian, a final, spirited middle finger to the audience), the night came to a close. Without a doubt, the six musicians were the tightest they’ve ever been, proving the namesake of the tour printed on the stage backdrop — they truly played with ”Pure Elegance.”

Follow Ninja Sex Party on social media and music streaming platforms:

Website l Facebook l X l Instagram

YouTube l Spotify l Apple Music l Patreon

Follow TWRP:

Website l Facebook l X l Instagram

YouTube l Spotify l Apple Music l Bandcamp

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Post by Elizabeth Owens

Are you going to see Ninja Sex Party with TWRP on the next leg of their US tour? Comment below!