Forty two gigs in this year and this will be the easiest review I have written. Fucking brilliant!!!
First off props to Lily and Madeline. After only seeing Dawes at one of the best gigs of last year I was going to give this one a miss but then I saw these sisters from Indiana were supporting and that was the clincher. Beautiful harmonies and talented multi instrumentalists they sailed through their thirty minutes and I would have welcomed thirty more. Check out their great album from earlier this year ‘Keep it together’.
Appetite whetted, Dawes are on at nine and its straight into the opening track ‘One of Us’ off their cheerily titled new album ‘We’re all gonna die’. I don’t imagine they sold any copies of the album tonight as the audience seemed to know most of the words to as many of the new songs as the old ones.
What’s clear is that this is a band at the top of their game. I compare them to Crowded House, producing intelligent story book pop songs with the odd ‘When the Tequila runs out’ for good measure. Like Crowded House, the interaction between singer and drummer is obvious and in Dawes case it’s the brothers Goldsmith with drummer Griffin proving he has a fine voice of his own.
It’s a well-paced set of oldies and newbies taking in all of their albums and it’s all killa no filla. They sound fantastic and really benefit from the larger room than I’m used to seeing them in. The bigger PA gives them a fuller, deeper sound and you can really appreciate their qualities as musicians and every tambourine shake, cymbal hit and bass note can be heard perfectly.
In a night of highlights it’s the double header closing the set of ‘all your favourite bands’ and the anthemic ‘When my time comes’ that prick up the hairs on your neck and bring a tear to the eye as the audience belts out the chorus.
If I had one slight criticism we are taken back down from the ceiling of the last two tracks for the encore of the fairly bland ‘From the right angle’ and then the title track of the new album.
That aside possibly the best gig of the year so far but with nine more to go there’s still time.
Keep on rockin y’all