Dandy Warhols - w/ Silversun Pickups & Los Campesinos! - Perth, 13th November 2012
Words: Todd Lockley
Perth often gets left off the so called "national tour" list. And while this is indeed the case with the full Harvest Festival, organisers are certainly aware of the fact and put on a number of sideshows in this fair city. This night in particular saw not one, but two special Harvest shows. While Sigur Ros played a sold out show at Belvoir Amphitheatre, the Dandy Warhols, Silversun Pickups and Los Campesinos! took the stage in the beautiful Fremantle Arts Centre.
The weather was breezy and the sun was setting as Cardiff Indie seven piece Los Campesinos! graced the beautiful surroundings of the Fremantle Art Centre to rock out with the early birds getting their money’s worth. Charging through Hello Sadness and Songs About Your Girlfriend before lifting the intensity and developing a small mosh for The Sea Is A Good Place. Well worth the early entry to see a band which has been around for many a year. They certainly deserve more success.
The weather was breezy and the sun was setting as Cardiff Indie seven piece Los Campesinos! graced the beautiful surroundings of the Fremantle Art Centre to rock out with the early birds getting their money’s worth. Charging through Hello Sadness and Songs About Your Girlfriend before lifting the intensity and developing a small mosh for The Sea Is A Good Place. Well worth the early entry to see a band which has been around for many a year. They certainly deserve more success.
A thick fog of smoke circulated as the Silversun Pickups entered the stage in a strobe of flashing purple and yellow light, opening straight into the fuzz rock of Skin Graph. The incredibly sexy lady on bass tonight wasn’t Silversun original Nikki Monninger, as she was in the US expecting twins, however The Happy Hollows Sarah Negahdari was a handy and hot replacement, bashing out bassy goodness in a little red dress.
Bloody Mary and Mean Spirits sounded great, with the nasally Brian Aubert in fine voice and drummer Chris Guanlao looking kind of like Animal from the Muppets, with his thrashy style and epic head swings. The beautiful and very recognizable Lazy Eye signalled the end to a very solid set, with the only major disappointment being the disappearance of No Secrets This Year from the set list. Bummer.
Bloody Mary and Mean Spirits sounded great, with the nasally Brian Aubert in fine voice and drummer Chris Guanlao looking kind of like Animal from the Muppets, with his thrashy style and epic head swings. The beautiful and very recognizable Lazy Eye signalled the end to a very solid set, with the only major disappointment being the disappearance of No Secrets This Year from the set list. Bummer.
The unfortunate part of the evening was the short set time left for the final headliners. Audio issues at the start of the evening left Los Campesinos! starting their set 20 minutes late and it wasn’t possible to make up time during the night. That meant that by the time the almighty Dandy Warhols took to the stage they were in a race against the clock to meet local time restrictions.
Now, for people who like the Dandy’s as a band that released that “catchy single”, they were shit out of luck when it comes to commercials tunes live. Sure We Used To Be Friends and Bohemian Like You are begrudging standards, but paired with the fact they only had barely an hour to play, the set list was sweet, sweeter for the experienced Dandy fan.
They rolled onto stage and moseyed their way through Mohammed. Now, with this reviewer having seen the Dandy’s two previous shows at the Melbourne Harvest Festival as well as several other shows over the years, it’s easy to say that starting off slow is the norm. But on this occasion it was ultra slow, with a drunken Fremantle crowd jostling for position on the barrier.
Holding Me Up and latest single, the brilliant Autumn Carnival, chimed in beautifully, with Dandy frontman Courtney Taylor Taylor expressing his pleasure with the beauty of the whether and the surrounding “castle” that is the Fremantle Art Centre. However, now and then the breeze would pick up inside the erected stage canopy and the vocal would be washed out. Unfortunately most of Good Morning was lost.
Now, for people who like the Dandy’s as a band that released that “catchy single”, they were shit out of luck when it comes to commercials tunes live. Sure We Used To Be Friends and Bohemian Like You are begrudging standards, but paired with the fact they only had barely an hour to play, the set list was sweet, sweeter for the experienced Dandy fan.
They rolled onto stage and moseyed their way through Mohammed. Now, with this reviewer having seen the Dandy’s two previous shows at the Melbourne Harvest Festival as well as several other shows over the years, it’s easy to say that starting off slow is the norm. But on this occasion it was ultra slow, with a drunken Fremantle crowd jostling for position on the barrier.
Holding Me Up and latest single, the brilliant Autumn Carnival, chimed in beautifully, with Dandy frontman Courtney Taylor Taylor expressing his pleasure with the beauty of the whether and the surrounding “castle” that is the Fremantle Art Centre. However, now and then the breeze would pick up inside the erected stage canopy and the vocal would be washed out. Unfortunately most of Good Morning was lost.
Taylor Taylor’s drawn out drumming interpretation of You Come In Burned was kind of lost on the audience, many of whom were more interested in shouting out for Heroin Is So Cliché (the crowds’ words), and Everyday Should Be A Holiday. Those tracks weren’t forth coming, however Horse Pills was and keyboardist Zia McCabe partied like it was her birthday.
Latest album This Machine got one more proper rinse with the desperate yet beautiful Sad Vacation before Get Off, finally, had the crowd celebrating the awesomeness that is the Dandy Warhols. But it was all too short lived as Boys Better blasted through the distorted vox, as the Dandy’s made their way off the stage, never to return.
It wasn’t a great show, though no fault of the artists, all three were in stellar form. But due to the longer time given to the supports and the major delay in starting the show, the main meal was left a little unfulfilling. Hopefully when the Dandys return next year to celebrate 13 years of 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia, someone will keep an honest eye on the time.
Latest album This Machine got one more proper rinse with the desperate yet beautiful Sad Vacation before Get Off, finally, had the crowd celebrating the awesomeness that is the Dandy Warhols. But it was all too short lived as Boys Better blasted through the distorted vox, as the Dandy’s made their way off the stage, never to return.
It wasn’t a great show, though no fault of the artists, all three were in stellar form. But due to the longer time given to the supports and the major delay in starting the show, the main meal was left a little unfulfilling. Hopefully when the Dandys return next year to celebrate 13 years of 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia, someone will keep an honest eye on the time.