Well if it isn’t our good ol’ friends the Dandy Warhols.
Almost 11 years ago to the day we captured a show of theirs at the same venue we find ourselves tonight, Newtown’s Enmore Theatre.
Tonight was extra special though as it wasn’t the album tour they usually grace us with, but a 25th anniversary tour. That’s a quarter century of psychedelic-garage-glaziness that speeds up your spine and trances you where you stand. Whilst their studio sound has naturally evolved through what’s been an outstanding tenure, their live shows have retained the five D’s of Dandy - distortion, dizziness, daziness, drama and distortion.
It was chilled groover, ‘Holding Me Up’ which kicked off the night. A song that seemed to be written to open sets - it glides and builds with backing vocals that give it a steady kick right when it needs it. Frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor looked both nonchalant and concentrated - a combo that maybe only he can pull off.
Fan favourite ‘We Used To Be Friends’ was third cab off the rank and that’s when the sing-a-longs really stepped up a gear. Not only in-tune “ahhh-ah’s” but unified claps from the crowd made the band feel all the more at home. Except for maybe Brent DeBoer who’s actually been calling Australia home for sometime now.
If we thought that was the tip of crowd involvement, ‘Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth’ spun us back to 1997 when heroin was so passe. Zia on the keys was looking as cool and calm as always but even though they’d performed the song 1000’s of times before, the excitement started to beam through when this hook came back ‘round.
‘Godless’, ‘Be Alright’ and ‘Bohemian Like You’ were set highlights, but collectively everything was spectacular. 25 years on the Oregon group obviously still have a lot to offer. This reviewer would’ve loved to have gotten one track from Distortland but alas, with that many hits it actually is impossible to please everyone.
We’ll be there next time Dandys, and every time after that!
Photos by Peter Dovgan
