[ATTENDED: October 1, 2018] Evan Dando
Back in 2015 I saw that Evan Dando was playing at the New Hope Winery. I had no idea that there was a concert venue so close to me and that Evan Dando would be there. For some reason, I was unable to make that show, (Thurston Moore was also playing there around that time and I couldn’t make that either, so we must have been away).
Since then I have monitored the Winery to see what other cool bands would be playing there. Sadly, pretty much since that day, aside from Dar Williams (who is awesome) everyone playing there is a cover band. Which sucks.
I have loved The Lemonheads since college and It’s a Shame About Ray is a stellar album. I’d never seen him play, so when I saw he had announced one show (which has since turned into a small tour) at Monty Hall in Jersey City, I knew I had to go.
Evan came out pretty late by any standard. But I wasn’t even sure if he was going to show up. He seemed surprisingly discombobulated (he forgot his capo) and it took a pretty long time or him to get set up. This was all fairly surprising since he’d been doing this forever.
He had a total artist look: pants that were filthy and a suit jacket that had a giant rip under the armpit (and which seemed too small for him).
He was wearing glittery flip flops!
I know of his history with substance abuse, so I wasn’t sure if this was an artsy look or a troubled look. However, he still looked quite a bit like he used to as a 90s pinup (he was always hunky), although obviously older. I love that his hair is the same length as always (even if it wasn’t very clean-looking). But hell, he’s an artist.
He brought an acoustic guitar and started right away with a Lemonheads song “Being Around.” And he sounded just like he did in the 90s. His voice really hadn’t changed at all. Although he couldn’t hit some of the high(ish) notes. He explained that he coudln’t get a hotel room so he had stayed up very late the night before with a friend (you know how that is). It was, mind you, 10PM, so whatever.
He then proceeded to play some 40 songs in a little under two hours.
He played a bunch of Lemonheads songs, as expected, but he also played a lot of covers–mostly of songs I didn’t know.
He played songs by John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, Chris Brokaw, Lucinda Williams, Victoria Williams, Elvis Costello, Willy Mason, The Jayhawks, NRBQ. But he also played songs buy somewhat unexpected bands like Misfits, The Replacements, The Rolling Stones (a song I didn’t know) and even Nick Cave.
He played a couple of songs from his solo album as well.
Throughout the show his playing was a kind of controlled looseness–but never off (Well, once or twice). The same with his singing.
After a few songs, people started shouting titles and he ignored them or nodded vigorously and started playing them. He spoke a few times, but I have no idea what he was saying.
I was pretty sure that no one was going to put the setlist for the show online, so I made a point to record a few seconds of every song and then figure out what they were. I did a good job, although there are a couple I never figured out. This exercise also led me to some fascinating information that I never knew.
Like Dando’s connection to the band Smudge. Smudge was an Australian pop rock band and one of the members Paul Duncan was a writing partner with Dando. They wrote many songs together and Dando covered “Tenderfoot” on Car Button Cloth. And I had no idea that “The Outdoor Type” was a cover (it’s one of my favorite Lemonheads songs)
I also had no idea that the beloved song “Frank Mills” is actually from the musical Hair (!)
I was absolutely there to hear Lemonheads songs, so the fact that he played over 20 of them is pretty great. I loved hearing “Down About It.” and “My Drug Buddy”
I also love that the crowd was so supportive–everyone sang along when there were backing vocals (or Juliana Hatfield vocals) like on “Rudderless” He even had some fun with us like in the vocal fake out on “The GReat Big No.”
I also really enjoyed hearing him play songs that I knew–especially by artists that don’t sound like him. The Elvis Costello cover of “Man Out of Time” was terrific. And his take on Misfits was revelatory (I didn’t know he had recorded a cover of “Skulls” already).
He also played “Now and Then” by a band called Natural Child whom I’ve never heard of. Evan broke the low E string during this song (and kept playing through). He had had a hard time with the borrowed capo (like seriously hard time), so I was worried about the prospect of changing guitar strings.
But instead he switched to the electric guitar. Overall, I felt the electric guitar songs didn’t work quiet as well. The settings he had his guitar on were less forgiving, it accentuated his mistakes a bit more. He sounds good on electric with a band, but since he was by himself it was less exciting.
Having said that, I enjoyed these songs as well.
There were a few Lemondheads songs in this batch–I loved hearing “Stove” and “Hannah and Gabi.”
He did some extended soloing on a couple of songs and he ended “Kitchen” with a tag that I guess he often puts on the end of the song, a rocking “young mum pushing a stroller along.”
Then a woman came up on stage to sing a couple of duets with him. I have no idea who she was (I read that she is his girlfriend?). She was either undermic’d or I was in the wrong place because I could barely hear her. They played Big Gay Heart and a song about fickle friends which I cant’ find online.
He played the song “Lights Are Changing” by the Bevis Frond but which I now as a Mary Lou Lord song. He played the song “Magnet” by NRBQ which sounded really familiar although I’m sure I don’t know the original. He also played The Replacements “Here Comes a Regular” which I didn’t recognize right away but which everyone sang along on.
I was super psyched that he played “Confetti.” At this point in the show people were shouting things at him and he was agreeing to play everything .
Then he called someone else on stage. They were going to do a song together but then someone shouted the opening to “Bit Part” just like on the record and so he nodded and played it. After that, he and new duet partner did “It’s a Shame about Ray” (where Dando held a note for 20 seconds, which was impressive). He ended the set with “If I Could Talk I’d Tell You.”
He was about to leave but was somehow talked into doing one more song–an unexpected and really great-sounding cover of Nick Cave;s “Straight to You.”
After the show, the people around me were pretty pleased by what we’d experienced. Dando was hanging around meeting people but I didn’t feel I needed to say hi.
But when I got home I heard that other people who were there felt that the show was bad. Since I’ve never seen him before, I can’t compare, but it was pretty much what I expected, a kind of loose, rambling but fun run through Lemonheads songs and other things. And that’s what I got.
It’s true that I wasn’t sure if he was utterly wasted or if he’s just a weird dude or what. But he sounded good and played nearly everything I wanted to hear.
Hell, he played 40 songs, that’s fifty cents a song and I’d say they were (mostly) worth more than that.
- Being Around (The Lemonheads song)
- Speed of the Sound of Loneliness (John Prine cover)
- I’ll Be Here in the Morning (Townes Van Zandt cover)
- My Idea (Chris Brokaw cover)
- Side of the Road (Lucinda Williams cover)
- All My Life
- Down About It (The Lemonheads song)
- Man Out of Time (Elvis Costello cover)
- Frank Mills (Galt MacDermot cover)
- My Drug Buddy (The Lemonheads song)
- Tenderfoot (Smudge cover)
- Hard Drive
- Hospital (The Lemonheads song)
- Rudderless (The Lemonheads song)
- Skulls (Misfits cover)
- The Great Big No (The Lemonheads song)
- Backstreet Girl (Rolling Stones cover)
- Now and Then (Natural Child cover)
switched to electric guitar - Snow Don’t Fall (Townes Van Zandt cover)
- Into Tomorrow (Willy Mason cover)
- The Turnpike Down (The Lemonheads song)
- Kitchen (The Lemonheads song)
- Young mum pushing a stroller along?
- Don’t Tell Yourself (The Lemonheads song)
- Stove (The Lemonheads song)
- (Unknown)
- Abandoned (Lucinda Williams cover)
- Big Gay Heart (The Lemonheads song)
- Fickle friends?
- Settled Down Like Rain (The Jayhawks cover)
- Hannah & Gabi (The Lemonheads song)
- Lights Are Changing (The Bevis Frond cover)
- Magnet (NRBQ cover)
- Confetti (The Lemonheads song)
- The Outdoor Type (Smudge cover)
- Here Comes a Regular (The Replacements cover)
- Rockin’ Stroll (The Lemonheads song)
- Bit Part (The Lemonheads song)
- It’s a Shame About Ray (The Lemonheads song)
- Frying Pan (Victoria Williams cover)
- If I Could Talk I’d Tell You (The Lemonheads song)
Encore: - Straight to You (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds cover)
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