CHICAGO – I’ll go pretty far to see one of my favorite bands live, so a Thursday night jaunt to Chicago to see the Dandy Warhols is a no-brainer for me.
Yeah, it would be easier to see them at Turner Hall, like I did last year (and it admittedly would make more sense to review their show locally). So I’ll just say this about their show at Thalia Hall: Even though this glam-jam-trance-vamp band (I just made that up) has been touring and putting out music for some 20 years, they still put me in my concert happy place. They make time stand still.
At this point, most of the Dandy’s live material is cherry picked off their first three amazing records, and that’s just fine. Casual fans last night certainly knew tunes like "We Used To Be Friends" and "Bohemian Like You." But those of us who’ve seen this Portland band a bunch of times were excited to hear a little bit of older stuff, like "Pete International Airport," although they didn’t play some of their mainstays. For the first time in five or so shows, I didn't hear them do "Every Day Should Be A Holiday" or "Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth."
Maybe it was the acoustics to blame. For a historic opera house, the sound was very, very muddy. "The Last High" was hard to hear, and only a few fans even caught the line about Chicago. Similarly, the band seemed a little subdued, though I couldn’t argue with Zia singing the horn part on "Godless" and picking up a bass on "Plan A." They were much better in Milwaukee last year, but they stepped up the energy heading into the last song, "Boys Better."
Never mind, though. I was just happy to be there. At one time, I thought their 2000 masterpiece "Thirteen Tales From New Bohemia" was the Dandy’s absolute gold standard (and it may just be), but now I can appreciate just how good the records before and after are, too. Part of me wants them to make more new music. Part of me wants them to just keep playing these great songs and leave their legacy alone, although their new single, "Chauncey P vs All The Girls In London" wasn’t bad.
I’ve now seen the Dandys more often in Chicago or Madison than I have in Milwaukee, so it felt good to be in that space. I could forever watch the mesmerizing Zia McCabe become one with the keyboards and Courtney Taylor-Taylor own the stage while Peter Holmstrom keeps his low profile stage left and "Fathead" keeps the beat, amazing poof of hair and all. It was a really nice 80-minute show. No encore, per usual.
Portland based trio The Shivas opened.
Please come back to Milwaukee soon, Dandy Warhols. I’ll be there for you. Again and always.
Set list (as best as I could tell):
"Mohammed"
"Crack Cocaine Rager"
"Get Off"
"Somethings You Got To Get Over"
"I Love You"
"The Last High"
"Everyone Is Totally Insane"
'Plan A"
"Good Morning"
"Welcome to the Monkey House"
"Solid"
"Chauncey P vs All The Girls In London"
"We Used to Be Friends"
"Bohemian Like You"
"Godless"
"Pete International Airport" / "Boys Better"
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
