7th of October, 2008
A noticeably unenthusiastic Dandy Warhols played to a crowd similarly sedated at the Palace on Friday the 7th of October. The Dandies' usually emphatic stage manner was substituted for a blasé performance riddled with feedback, stoppages and inaudible lyrics adding legitimacy to critics claiming the Portland band’s performances are gradually deteriorating, according to David Estcourt.
Navigated by infamous front man Courtney Taylor-Taylor, the trend-setting California artists we saw in Dig! were apparently not in attendance tonight. To add to the amply disappointing demeanour of the band, keyboardist Zia McCabe requested to stop 'Minnesota' ten seconds in to enquire what key she should be playing in. Due to the brief snippet heard however, and the distortion of sound, it is possible 'Minnesota' was not the song being played.
With no trumpet to accompany 'Godless', Courtney-Taylor personalised the song by getting the audience to fill the gap left by the instrument, to the delight of many of the members.
The Dandies are often regarded highly for their ability to maintain an experimental and interesting reputation while remaining reasonably professional. These were not the Dandies that played on Friday night.
The performance had its high moments, as any Dandy Warhols presentation does. Both 'Bohemian Like You' and 'We Used To Be Friends' drew exuberance from the crowd, now anxious at the prospect of seeing a Dandies concert that didn’t live up to their expectations.
With little warning to the crowd, 'Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth' became distorted at the crescendo of the song, a surprising turn after the set the night before was taken through without similar technical problems.
'Mohammed' provided an interesting start to the gig, one of their more instrumental pieces didn’t get the crowd as fervent as intended, an effect achieved adequately with 'We Used To Be Friends'.
Courtney Taylor-Taylor seemed to be shy of the audience in the opening tunes. Only adding to his shy manner was having to correct Zoe mid-way through 'Minnesota'. Although he did confidently pilot he band through 'Godless', which was filled, with much animation, by the audiences various impressions of the trumpet, the other mistakes still hung over the entire gig.
The set was not what people expected of the Dandy Warhols. Die hard fans called the set “amazing”, and called Zoe cute, remarking they wanted to enter matrimony with her. But on the whole patrons went away unimpressed. I personally am a Dandy fan, and writing this was hard, so the next time I see them, I hope they enflame that passion in me like they did thousands before.
by David Estcourt
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