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Tour Dates
06/11/13 Denver, CO Gothic Theatre
06/12/13 Aspen, CO Belly Up 06/14/13 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern 06/15/13 San Francisco, CA Fillmore 06/19/13 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom 06/20/13 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom 06/21/13 Seattle, WA Showbox Market 06/22/13 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom 08/02/13 - 08/04/13 Jisan World Rock Festival 08/09/13 Landerneau, Bretagne Fete du Bruit 08/11/13 Brussels Brussels Summer Festival 10/12/13 Festival Corona Capital 2013 MX Read More Just a reminder that the Dandy Warhols are currently on tour in celebration of their 13th anniversary of their Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia album …
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Gospel According to the Dandy Warhols
For fans of Portland psych-pop hipsters the Dandy Warhols Sunday night’s show at First Avenue was like Christmas, Halloween and your birthday all wrapped up into one glistening package. The band is currently in the throes of a massive nation-wide excursion celebrating thirteen thrilling years of their breakout album Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia and unleashed the entire album on a very diverse, very excited crowd.
Opening were fellow Portlanders The Shivas, a quartet whose sound swayed from easy-going surf-rock to reverb-y freakout. Robert and Jared slayed on their guitars (strings were breaking left and right - sheer carnage!), but it was drummer Kristin that really stood out. Not only did she begin and end the band’s performance with a Prom Night-esque shriek, she also provided great lead and backup vocals all while feverishly beating the drums. I have said it before and I’ll say it again: drumming whilst singing is a feat I liken to karate-chopping a piece of wood or saying the alphabet backwards - it’s an incredible skill I’m simply in awe of.
Forty five short minutes later, those attractive Dandys took to the stage. Under the glow of the multi-colored spotlights bearded guitarist Peter Holmström worked his e-bow to make the whale-sound-feedback intro to Thirteen Tales’ beautifully trippy opener “Godless.” Frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor followed Pete’s lead, strumming the song’s wonderful melody as the band’s multi-instrumentalist Nathan Jr. accompanied on trumpet. Drummer Brent DeBoer sang (YES!) with Taylor-Taylor and keyboardist Zia McCabe added tambourine while gazing off into the crowd. Indeed, the album’s first three atmospheric tracks cast quite a spell. With the aid of some unique background visuals and cool light effects, the Dandys turned First Avenue into a disco ball-shaped cathedral; part ultra-hip dance party and part intimate confessional.
There was little chit-chat as the band played through the excellent, but sobering 5-minute plus “Mohammed,” “Nietzsche,” and through the honky-tonk jaunt “Country Leaver.” The irresistible uptempo pop of “Solid” made me smile as it has some of my very favorite lyrics: “Well it`s a brand new day and I`m walking around old town/I feel cool as sh*t cause I got no thoughts keeping me down/I`m thinking blah de blah blah blah to your trip/Cause I must have a door in the back of my head.” The band got fans bouncing along and throwing their hands to the ceiling with a seizure-inducing “Horse Pills” and the punchy “Get Off.” Both songs include extremely singable, sometimes shoutable choruses (like “PILLS!” and “HEY!”). When the raucous Rolling Stones-flavored “Bohemian Like You” started up, everyone went into full-on karaoke mode; my concert companion and I turned to the people next to us and sang the song at them while they sang it right back.
Taylor-Taylor, who looks like the lovechild of Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Evan Dando, has a very droll vocal delivery that reminds me a lot of David Bowie or Peter Murphy. But when he wants to break hearts, he goes for an airy higher register harmonizing with DeBoer and the band’s touring bassist like on the album’s sadly beautiful closer “The Gospel.” Hearing that song as well as the elegant ballad “Sleep” left me feeling surprisingly emotional.
When The Dandys wrapped up Thirteen Tales, everyone but Taylor-Taylor left the stage. Fans finally got to hear a little stage banter as he introduced the next song “Everyday Should Be a Holiday” from 1997’s The Dandy Warhols Come Down. He even flipped his microphone towards the audience and invited folks to sing along. The band rejoined Taylor-Taylor for the dreamy “Good Morning” and two songs Taylor-Taylor said were inspired by a former Minnesotan girlfriend: newer track “Well They’re Gone” (featuring McCabe on mouth organ!) and another beloved crowd-pleaser “Minnesoter.”
Well, I didn’t get everything I wanted for Christmas/Halloween/my birthday (“Last High” was unfortunately absent from the setlist), but I am thankful for The Dandy Warhols and for Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia. And just like Christmas/Halloween/my birthday, these special times come but once a year (or several years) so I’ll be waiting patiently with my nose pressed against the window for the Dandys to come back to town.
For fans of Portland psych-pop hipsters the Dandy Warhols Sunday night’s show at First Avenue was like Christmas, Halloween and your birthday all wrapped up into one glistening package. The band is currently in the throes of a massive nation-wide excursion celebrating thirteen thrilling years of their breakout album Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia and unleashed the entire album on a very diverse, very excited crowd.
Opening were fellow Portlanders The Shivas, a quartet whose sound swayed from easy-going surf-rock to reverb-y freakout. Robert and Jared slayed on their guitars (strings were breaking left and right - sheer carnage!), but it was drummer Kristin that really stood out. Not only did she begin and end the band’s performance with a Prom Night-esque shriek, she also provided great lead and backup vocals all while feverishly beating the drums. I have said it before and I’ll say it again: drumming whilst singing is a feat I liken to karate-chopping a piece of wood or saying the alphabet backwards - it’s an incredible skill I’m simply in awe of.
Forty five short minutes later, those attractive Dandys took to the stage. Under the glow of the multi-colored spotlights bearded guitarist Peter Holmström worked his e-bow to make the whale-sound-feedback intro to Thirteen Tales’ beautifully trippy opener “Godless.” Frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor followed Pete’s lead, strumming the song’s wonderful melody as the band’s multi-instrumentalist Nathan Jr. accompanied on trumpet. Drummer Brent DeBoer sang (YES!) with Taylor-Taylor and keyboardist Zia McCabe added tambourine while gazing off into the crowd. Indeed, the album’s first three atmospheric tracks cast quite a spell. With the aid of some unique background visuals and cool light effects, the Dandys turned First Avenue into a disco ball-shaped cathedral; part ultra-hip dance party and part intimate confessional.
There was little chit-chat as the band played through the excellent, but sobering 5-minute plus “Mohammed,” “Nietzsche,” and through the honky-tonk jaunt “Country Leaver.” The irresistible uptempo pop of “Solid” made me smile as it has some of my very favorite lyrics: “Well it`s a brand new day and I`m walking around old town/I feel cool as sh*t cause I got no thoughts keeping me down/I`m thinking blah de blah blah blah to your trip/Cause I must have a door in the back of my head.” The band got fans bouncing along and throwing their hands to the ceiling with a seizure-inducing “Horse Pills” and the punchy “Get Off.” Both songs include extremely singable, sometimes shoutable choruses (like “PILLS!” and “HEY!”). When the raucous Rolling Stones-flavored “Bohemian Like You” started up, everyone went into full-on karaoke mode; my concert companion and I turned to the people next to us and sang the song at them while they sang it right back.
Taylor-Taylor, who looks like the lovechild of Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Evan Dando, has a very droll vocal delivery that reminds me a lot of David Bowie or Peter Murphy. But when he wants to break hearts, he goes for an airy higher register harmonizing with DeBoer and the band’s touring bassist like on the album’s sadly beautiful closer “The Gospel.” Hearing that song as well as the elegant ballad “Sleep” left me feeling surprisingly emotional.
When The Dandys wrapped up Thirteen Tales, everyone but Taylor-Taylor left the stage. Fans finally got to hear a little stage banter as he introduced the next song “Everyday Should Be a Holiday” from 1997’s The Dandy Warhols Come Down. He even flipped his microphone towards the audience and invited folks to sing along. The band rejoined Taylor-Taylor for the dreamy “Good Morning” and two songs Taylor-Taylor said were inspired by a former Minnesotan girlfriend: newer track “Well They’re Gone” (featuring McCabe on mouth organ!) and another beloved crowd-pleaser “Minnesoter.”
We don’t normally do encores
I had heard that the Dandys were playing Gordon Lightfoot’s folk epic “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” at previous gigs and to my delight they closed the set with a slow-burning version of it. It took a few measures before I recognized it, but sure enough I was soon yelling out “Fellas, it’s been good to know ya!” The band conducted a short pow-wow after returning to the stage for an encore, something that apparently doesn’t happen often. “We don’t normally do encores,” Taylor-Taylor explained. The audience must have done something right because we were treated to the fierce jangly guitar of “Boys Better” and hip-shakin’ jolt of “We Used to Be Friends.”
Well, I didn’t get everything I wanted for Christmas/Halloween/my birthday (“Last High” was unfortunately absent from the setlist), but I am thankful for The Dandy Warhols and for Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia. And just like Christmas/Halloween/my birthday, these special times come but once a year (or several years) so I’ll be waiting patiently with my nose pressed against the window for the Dandys to come back to town.
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The Dandy Warhols at First Avenue, Minneapolis (06/09/13)
photo courtesy of Sheena Dean
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