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Review: Dandy Warhols, O2 Academy – ‘Lo-fi sludge and tie-dye psyche-outs’
Dandies are big. They’re not huge, for sure, but they are so authentically big that they are also literally big. Though only four of them on stage, the stage looked small. This is either because it is very small or because (I think more likely) the members of The Dandy Warhols are really big. They lined up vertically along the stage because if they laid down head-to-toe the stage would be too small.
Singer Courtney Taylor-Taylor is the tallest of these tall people, a fact which is artfully foregrounded by his cousin Brent DeBoer who sits down next to him on a stool, playing drums and singing.
At the other end of the stage is keyboardist Zia McCabe who, a brief survey of the room – or at least those punters closest by – confirmed, is and always shall remain “the coolest woman on the planet”.
is needed now More than ever
Zia – too cool.
Zia is probably the least tall person of The Dandy Warhols which means she doesn’t have to reach very far down to play her keyboard, and her bass looks suitably outsized when she picks it up. When the band are in silhouette, backed by gurningly bright visuals in motion, the scene from the balcony appears hyper-real, like a music video.
On the right is guitarist Peter Holmström, with a larger-than-typical space between him and the rest of the band. This is not because he wants to stand out. In fact, it is because he wants to stand almost invisibly in shadow. And this is, perhaps, because he laments having accidentally dressed as Bluma de los Reyes-White from last year’s University Challenge.
Where’s Pete?
Basically, you have to look cool in Portland. It is an imperative in order to manage the mental health toll of living in a future earthquake catastrophe zone. Also, if you survive the earthquake catastrophe, it will help to appear unruffled and to know how to check you are still wearing shoes. Some of The Dandy Warhols make these checks whilst playing music.
They are delightfully lo-fi and sludgy as always, chucking in unidentified tie-dye psyche-outs, seemingly at will yet masterfully crafted. And while the band emulate stoners, the crowd of people watching mostly look like they have long since left such habits behind for nice jobs, although it takes them a long time to realise they aren’t stoned and to start dancing.
Phones out for Bohemian Like You
The Dandy Warhols play very good music. Tonight, they play a good selection of their good music. This is knowable, ascertainable and cognoscible because of ears. However, the sound of a good selection of good music when made in the O2 Academy in Bristol is a bad sound.
I’d never been to the O2 before but a friend who is an acoustics expert advised that the least worst spot to stand is by the bar. After several pints and a few songs in, I wondered if the advice was mostly to do with being close to the bar. But no – a brief expedition to another part of the ‘auditorium’ seemed to prove that the bar was definitely the least worst place to ‘hear’ the music.
It isn’t sporting to be critical of struggling music venues. But then it isn’t very sporting for a series of music venues to be sponsored by a mobile phone network. Local independent spots like The Louisiana choose not to oversell tickets and invest in great PA while places like the Attic Bar offer beds to bands, all so musicians and music-lovers can have a better gig.
Maybe it’s a shame those places don’t get bigger bands. But also if being a big band means you are all really, really tall then such venues might need to extend their basement rooms to fit in longer beds and mattresses. Normal-sized pillows would be fine, I guess, but they would also need to be tied around people’s heads in order to replicate the sound quality of a gig at the O2 Academy.
All images: Ursula Billington
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