Dandys Rule OK
The Dandy Warhols played at the Liquid Room last night as part of T on the Fringe. I was looking forward to this, because I missed them the last time I had the chance (Melbourne, 2001—feeling too broke). Because of their latest album, though, my expectations were modest; it just doesn’t do a lot for me.
But I’d forgotten how much I loved their first four—ever since hearing “Minnesoter” on the radio in ’98, they’ve been one of my favourite bands—and they played a ton of stuff from those, as well as some from Odditorium and a new track, “Have a Kick Ass Summer (Me and My Friends)”. They opened with “Godless” and “Get Off” from Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia, then a few from Welcome to the Monkey House, then “I Love You” from Come Down... and then one I barely recognised, because I haven’t listened to Odditorium enough.
As expected, the night was an impressive combination of drone rock and pop hooks. Courtney Taylor-Taylor and Peter Loew are both guitarists in the finest psychedelic tradition; some of the feedback I could feel in my teeth. (What happened to “Holmstrom”? Seems he took his wife’s name when he got married. I remember a TV sitcom from the ’60s or ’70s that had that as its entire premise.)
It was a strange moment during “Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth”, watching Trainspotting-style skinheads bop along to “heroin is so passé”. And “Bohemian Like You”, their big UK hit, had the whole room singing in Sensurround. Amazingly, that wasn’t the finale; the next song, “Boys Better” was just as good.
Odd to be reminded by Wikipedia that the Dandy Warhols have never been big in the US; and they aren’t as big in the UK as in Australia, I’ll bet. I guess this particular combination of sounds is never going to be embraced wholesale by the mainstream, even if certain songs are just too catchy to be denied. But the catchy tunes weren’t the best of the night; the best were the ones that washed over you in wordless waves.
Come down for more photos...