The Dandy Warhols at Webster Hall (photo by Kate Hoos)
On a windy, rainy night in New York, The Dandy Warhols blew back into town as part of the tour for their latest album Rockmaker, their 11th studio record. Over an impressive 30 years the Dandys have racked up a lot of miles and a lot of tunes, and they played a set that spanned their career while highlighting their newer work.
Detroit psych-rockers Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor were a suitable opening act, whetting the audience’s appetite with their fuzzed out guitar. Their most recent album Nocturnal Train to Mars came out last month on Little Cloud Records; I recommend the track “Zapalski.”
Their poppier singles may be part of the zeitgeist of the late 90’s and early 00’s, but The Dandy Warhols are actually a pretty heavy band, and nowhere is that more evident than at a live performance. They have cultivated a thick wall of sound which was demonstrated immediately by the opener “Ride” from 1995’s Dandys Rule OK and continued right into their latest single “I’d Like To Help You With Your Problem.”
They employ an interesting stage setup, with singer and guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and drummer Brent DeBoer set somewhat back from the edge of the stage while flanked by guitarist Peter Holmström and keyboardist and bassist Zia McCabe. She’s the most energetic member of the band, grooving out in her keyboard corner with her fan-blown hair streaming behind her, making me wonder if I, too, can pull off a beret. (Probably not.)
Taylor-Taylor uses twin microphones to get a variety of vocal effects, while DeBoer provides a lot of indispensable harmonies. I do wish that Taylor-Taylor’s vocals hadn’t been so low in the mix on many songs; as the sound crew at Webster Hall is generally quite on point, I have to assume this was a choice by the band. Holmström achieves a wild guitar sound, with effects and a number of different Koll guitars, including a baritone (which he discusses in a Guitar.com interview here.)
The Dandy Warhols at Webster Hall (photo by Kate Hoos)
The song choices were strewn across their eras and included tracks from their “failed” 1996 second record known as The Black Album (“Arpeggio Adagio” and “Crack Cocaine Rager”), all three singles from 2003’s Welcome To The Monkey House (“We Used To Be Friends,” “You Were The Last High,” and “Plan A,” which was beautiful and laid back) and selections from the albums of the past decade Distortland (“STYGGO”) and Why You So Crazy (“Be Alright”). Four selections from Rockmaker (I’d Like To Help You With Your Problem,” “Danzig With Myself,” “Summer of Hate,” and “I Will Never Stop Loving You”) were also in the set, seamlessly melding with their oeuvre and proving the Dandys are still making crowd-pleasing tunes.
They didn’t play “Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth” or “Every Day Should Be A Holiday” which may have disappointed some audience members (myself, I wanted to hear their 9 minute noise cover of “The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald” but I knew that wasn’t happening). They ended on a high note, though, with “Godless” (probably my favorite song of theirs), “Bohemian Like You” and the swirling, noisy “Pete International Airport” gliding into a blazing rendition of “Boys Better,” while the Webster Hall disco ball twirled. There was no encore; rather Zia McCabe treated us to stories of coming to New York in previous years, seeing the Violent Femmes and touring with Love and Rockets, and an acapella version of The Velvet Underground’s “After Hours.”
Although the band is a tight unit live, there was something pleasingly raw about their sound. I always prefer this instead of a totally slick performance that simply duplicates a record. I’ve been a fan since Come Down came out back in 1997 but this was my first time seeing them in concert, and I wasn’t disappointed. I’m happy the Dandy Warhols are still making music and touring after 30 years. What more can be said other than Dandys rule…OK!
Scroll down for setlist, pics of the show (photo by Kate Hoos)
Setlist: Ride, I’d Like To Help You With Your Problem, We Used to Be Friends, Crack Cocaine Rager, Danzig With Myself, STYGGO, Plan A, Be Alright, Summer of Hate, I Love You, You Were the Last High, I Will Never Stop Loving You, Arpeggio Adaggio, Holding Me Up, Godless, Bohemian Like You, Pete International Airport / Boys Better, Zia Outro
THE DANDY WARHOLS
