The Dandy Warhols @ The Tivoli November 5th

Time for a bit of catching up! It was a rainy Wednesday night that we found ourselves on when The Dandy Warhols came to town. Due to a late meal on our behalf and an early starting time on the Tivoli's, we missed all but the last song of the support act, Downhills Home.

Before long, The Dandy Warhols made their way to the stage with very little fanfare and took up their instruments. Some may recognise the date of this gig as the day the US presidential election result was known, and consequently, the band dedicated the entire gig to Obama's victory. With that out of the way, they began their epic set, which consisted of a mix of songs from their latest album, Earth To The Dandy Warhols, interspersed with "hit after hit after hit" from their back-catalog. The hits certainly seemed to be among the crowd highlights for the evening, and included the likes of Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth, You Were The Last High, We Used To Be Friends, Get Off, All The Money Or The Simple Life Honey, Boys Better, and Bohemian Like You. The only notable absense I could think of was Every Day Should Be A Holiday.

Even though the lighting didn't highlight much of the band, it seemed to suit the set and music quite well. The sound was great from where were standing and I was very impressed with how Zia McCabe's synths more than made up for the bass-less lineup. Courtney Taylor-Taylor and Peter Holmström made great use of a variety of guitars and effects, adding but not deviating too far from the recorded sound of the songs. It was also interesting to see the straight-line formation of the band, with Brent DeBoer on drums sharing the front of the stage with the others, often chiming in on backing vocals to Taylor-Taylor's dual microphone lead vocal setup.

The highlight of the two-hour plus set for me, among the guitar drone trademark sounds of their slower songs, was hearing I Love You from their Come Down album. I have to say it was also a relief to leave the venue at the end of the evening, as the sold-out crowd combined with the downpour outside had pushed the Tivoli's air conditioning to its limits.