Here’s my question to you person that lives in the LA area but does not attend yearly Evan Dando/Lemonheads concerts: What is up? I realize that pop music is going all crazy disco now with all of our favorite bands opting for synths and drum loops, but people are still playing songs out there.
Evan Dando is just a man with a bag of songs, and he will stop by about once a year to play you those songs. Sometimes he might show up with an acoustic guitar, not even acknowledge the audience, and put on a stellar musical performance. The next night he might bright is electric SG and act super bubbley, maybe throw in a few Black Sabbath riffs. Maybe he’ll play a deep track from Gram Parsons. I’ve heard the Lemonheads songs performed every way possible. I attend these shows to hear some of my favorite songs, but also to see how they’re going to be delivered.. because it’s ALWAYS different.
Tonight we got it all. I kinda wanted Kate (the girlfriend) to see a more offbeat Lemonheads show than she saw at the Troubadour last year. I wanted her to enjoy herself, but I wanted her to see why I keep coming back year after year, refusing to miss a performance. Tonight we got it all.
First of all, my brother had just seen The Lemonheads at the Hatch Shell (video here) in Boston. Apparently they played as a three piece. Tonight, they apparently added a 14 yr old lead guitarist that looked a little like Topher Grace with a puberty moustache. He was good though, didn’t seem to miss a note. He was wearing a black hoodie that said Kilslug on the back, I didn’t know if that was his hardcore band or his dojo. Then Evan took his sport coat off and he was wearing a Kilslug t-shirt. I looked it up, and I’ll let you experience Kilslug on our own:
Video: http://tr.truveo.com/Kilslug-Crying-In-The-Church/id/705731523
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/kilslugofficial
Evan Dando drum solo
Yeah that. Anyway, the set was plagued with problems. The PA went out and all of the microphones went dead. The band looked confused, but not drama-queen pissed off like they easily could have been. Evan filled in the would-be silence with a drum solo. Hey why not.
After Evan had enough of the drums he disappeared behind the shimmery curtains of Spaceland and emerged with his acoustic guitar. Not realizing that the microphones had magically come back to life, Evan played a couple songs completely unplugged. It was great. I’m sure half the crowd wished the other half would shut up so we could hear Evan singing to us in a more-personal-than-usual way, but if there’s any man that can lead a campfire sing-a-long it’s Evan Dando.
Evan Dando sing along
After the bass player informed Evan that the mics were back on, they resumed their full band electric set. The mics went out again for the second verse of Rudderless, and the band decided to continue on with an instrumental version until the PA began working just in time for the big finish. Evan played a bunch of songs solo/electric, most of which were apparently some personal favorites. He did play some old song that prompted Grace Slick and her hippie Rusted Root brothers (pictured below) to cheer extra loud to make sure the rest of the crowd realized that they were the only ones to know what song was being played. Also, one of these Rusted Root brothers poured some pills out of a prescription bottle into Evan’s hand while he was on stage, to which Evan thanked him and said “I’ll have to take these later.” Way to help keep Evan clean jackass.
The band came back and played 1 or 2 more, I forget, but Evan mentioned that they’d be selling the new covers CD Varshons out front and that he would “whore himself out” and sign the albums if you bought one. People lined up and clogged up the exit while Evan signed a few autographs, but that cleared up when Evan grew tired of that and went to smoke a cigarette on the curb.
Hey, great Lemonheads show though, still won’t miss one.
