The Infamous Stringdusters at the Lincoln: Tight Grooves, Loose Spirits, and All the Smoke in Between

A clear March evening on U Street, a century-old room glowing under its marquee, and two bands built on strings and stories. The Infamous Stringdusters brought their 20/20 tour to the Lincoln Theatre for a night that walked the line between bluegrass and jam, polished show and loose hang. Fireside Collective set the tone, the Dusters carried it home, and a late-night ice cream stop turned a Friday gig into a full-on D.C. memory.

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Arrival and Dinner

Doors for the 7:00 p.m. show opened at 5:30, and the plan was to get there early and lock in prime general-admission seats. My wife and daughter had other ideas, so we parked in a garage three blocks from the Lincoln around 6:45. After a quick five-minute walk, they peeled off to grab dinner nearby while I headed inside to claim seats and catch the opener.

I found a comfortable spot about a dozen rows back, close enough to see hands fly but far enough to relax. The Lincoln is worn in all the right ways, an old neighborhood theater that still feels like it has stories to tell.

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Pre-Show Atmosphere

With my family running behind, I took a quick lap before the music started. The lobby hummed without feeling cramped. Bars were tucked into the lobby corners and at the back of the main floor, serving a full range of drinks. A small snack setup offered candy and those classic red-and-white popcorn boxes that perfumed the whole room with butter for most of the night.

Outside, people lingered under the marquee, talking setlists and tour dates. Inside, the house lights shifted from warm gold to a deeper glow as showtime approached and more folks filtered in.

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Merch Table

Before the opener took the stage, I slipped over to the merch area along the lobby wall. The Infamous Stringdusters had a solid spread: 20/20 vinyl front and center, shirts, hats, and posters celebrating twenty years of the band. Nearby, Fireside Collective held their own with a well-organized table of shirts, patches, and other swag that felt dialed-in for a hardworking road band.

It was the kind of setup that invited a return trip later, which turned out to be exactly what happened on the way out.

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Inside the Room

The Lincoln Theatre dates back to 1922, and you can feel that age in the best possible way. The main floor seating slopes steeply enough that sight lines are strong from almost every row. Above, two narrow side balconies curve along the walls like small wings, each with only a few short rows. They offer intimate overhead views of the stage, and by the time I arrived, those balcony seats were already snapped up.

Even from the floor, the view was clear and the sound balanced. Vocals sat nicely on top of the mix, and each instrument had room to breathe. A light haze floated through the room, catching colored beams as the night went on and giving the stage a soft, smoky glow.

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The Music

Turning Up the Heat

Fireside Collective from Asheville hit the stage right at 6:58. The room was still filling, but their easy presence grabbed attention quickly. They are a five-piece with dobro, mandolin, guitar, bass, and drums, and their sound leans more rock and jam than straight bluegrass. Both the dobro and mandolin had a slightly electrified edge, giving their tunes a modern sheen that I am still chewing on. As someone who loves jam bands but came in tuned for more traditional Dusters territory, it was an interesting twist.

Midway through the set, dobro player Tommy Maher smiled and said, “It’s always better with a ‘J,’” then clarified with a laugh, “In this case, jam.” The crowd chuckled, and the band dropped into a groove that backed up the joke. Songs like Rambling Fever, The Way to Caroline, and Shadowland of Dreams rolled one after another, built on tight rhythms and plenty of solo space. As the minutes went by, more people slipped into their seats, drinks in hand, nodding along.

They wrapped up around 7:45, leaving behind a warmed-up room and a stage already framed by the glowing 20/20 backdrop.

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A Band at Twenty

At 8:07, the lights dropped again, and the Dusters took the stage.

They opened with Sentenced to Life With the Blues, a soulful kickoff that put Andy Hall’s dobro and Jeremy Garrett’s fiddle out front while Travis Book’s vocals carried the weight. The band sounded locked in from the first chorus, tight without feeling stiff. After Sirens, they pulled out Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On? with Travis Book lending his smooth voice to the soulful vocals. From there, they moved through Working Man’s Blues and Darlin’ Corey, each tune handing the spotlight to a different corner of the stage.

When Tommy Maher returned for Gravity, the two dobros traded lines with an easy camaraderie that turned the song into a highlight. The pair continued the dobro interplay through Sophronie. Down the Road, Tears of the Earth, and Where the Rivers Run Cold  followed later in the set, kicking the tempo up and giving the banjo room to run. The crowd answered with claps, shouts, and a little more movement in the aisles.

Later in the set, Longclaw arrived, a new instrumental off 20/20 that already sounds like it belongs in the long-term rotation. It feels new but comfortable, played with precision and just the right amount of mystery. The Dusters closed the main set with When the Nightbirds Cry, No More To Leave Behind, an a cappella Let Him Move (Gospel 32), I’ll Be Alright, and Looking for Something Good, stepping off at 9:51 to an ovation that filled the old theater.

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The Encore

They were back within minutes, joined by Fireside Collective’s guitar, mandolin, and dobro players for I Feel Like Traveling On. The encore felt more like a friendly picking circle than a high-pressure finale, with solos passed around the semi-circle and smiles bouncing from player to player. By 10:00, the last notes hung in the air, the lights came up, and the room exhaled together.

On the way out, while my wife and daughter wrapped up in the lobby, I stopped back by the merch table and finally made good on my earlier mental note. I grabbed a hoodie with the Hit the Nail on the Head logo, a cartoon frog sitting in the bed of a 1950s pickup, swinging a hammer. They did not play that song during the show, but the design felt like the right souvenir for a night that hit exactly where it aimed.

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The Real Encore

On the drive home, my wife suggested a swing through Georgetown for ice cream, and there was no argument from me. We rolled into Thomas Sweet around 11:15, safely ahead of their midnight close, and I went big with a brownie sundae stacked with chocolate-chocolate-chip and peanut-butter-cup ice cream, topped with whipped cream and a cherry. The peanut butter chunks were huge, almost comically so, and somehow exactly what the night called for after all that picking and singing.

Standing on Wisconsin Avenue in the soft spring air, with the sound of dobro and fiddle still echoing somewhere in the back of my mind, it felt like the perfect way to close out the evening.

Sometimes the best encore is ice cream and quiet streets.

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The Crowd

By the time the Dusters took the stage, the house was nearly full and buzzing. The audience leaned older, with tie-dyes, gray ponytails, and bald heads scattered through the rows, and it was clear people were there for a good time. Some stayed in their seats and soaked it in, others got up to dance when the tempo jumped, and the overall mood stayed friendly and relaxed.

It was not a rowdy crowd, but it was an attentive one, the kind that rewards a band that listens to each other as closely as the Dusters do.

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Would We Do This Again

Absolutely. Next time, I would tweak the timing, arrive a bit earlier, and sit down to dinner with my family before heading into the theater. The Lincoln is an easy room to enjoy, with decent seats still available even after Fireside Collective finished, and its size and sound fit this kind of show just right.

Catching the opener solo turned into a quiet gift, giving me space to really listen and settle into the night before the main set began.

And the ice cream? I would definitely do that again. A late-night stop at Thomas Sweet might just become part of the concert ritual.

Setlist

Sentenced to Life With the Blues
Sirens
What’s Going On?
Working Man’s Blues
Darlin’ Corey
Gravity
Sophronie
The Way That I Was
Dead Man Walking
Holding On To You
Down The Road
Tears of the Earth
Where the Rivers Run Cold
Longclaw
When the Nightbirds Cry
No More to Leave You Behind
Let Him Move (Gospel 32)
I’ll Be Alright
Looking for Something Good

Encore

I Feel Like Traveling On