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THE DANDY WARHOLS
+ Magic Machine
@ The Gov, Adelaide,
2nd May 2024
(Live Review)

Review and photos by Colin Reid (@cdrimagery)

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The Dandy Warhols / Photo – (@cdrimagery)

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In case you’ve been under a rock for the past couple of weeks let me tell you that The Dandy Warhols have just completed a complete sold-out tour of Australia and New Zealand. Not only that but such was the demand that Adelaide and Melbourne had the pleasure of an extra show each a week apart from the original gig!  Thirty years on from their formation their appeal down under is stronger than ever and the gigs have been great showcases for the band’s extensive back catalogue as well as a promotional vehicle for their 13th album release ‘Rockmaker’.

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Magic Machine / Photo – (@cdrimagery)

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Support across all legs of the tour have been Sydney band Magic Machine and they are relishing the opportunity to play extra gigs to packed houses.  Entering the stage in a configuration of mostly long hair, hats, tattoos, jangly guitars and swirling organ sounds they sound great and are clearly having fun as they engage the crowd right from the start, or at least those willing to leave the bar and beer garden. I wish that I’d seen their setlist as the first track was really good but alas, I didn’t get its name. Full of catchy riffs they moved on to ‘By The River’. A great sounding band, perfect for supporting the Dandys. The second to last song ‘Sweet Creatures’ was immense before they closed out their short set with ’Horror Movie” which was even better. I’d love to have the opportunity to see them have the play a longer set some time they are well worth checking out if you have the chance.

The stage now set and the crowd packed in tight the venue bathed in a sea of purple light and The Dandys hit the stage and they crash into ‘Not If You Were the Last Junkie On Earth”.  Hidden under his trademark hat, Peter Holmström’s distinctive guitar sound lets you know this is The Dandy Warhols gig while Zia McCabe’s hair wisps around her face as one hand drives the keyboards and the other keeps time on the tambourine. Courtney Taylor-Taylor positioned back alongside the Brett DeBoer’s drums as always using his dual microphone set up sounds fantastic.  The volume coming back from the crowd after that first song was incredible. The crowd are so up for this and the band draws on the energy.

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The Dandy Warhols / Photo – (@cdrimagery)

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The music is hypnotic and mesmerising, it is an undulating soundscape mixture that drives us onwards and is seemingly without end.  The crowd are more than willing to take this ride with the band, bodies swaying in a trance of delight. Two weeks in a row to experience this is incredible, can’t they play every week and never go home?

“It feels like years since we were here but it has only been 7 days” says Courtney before asking how many were here at the first gig. “I’ve said it before but Adelaide really is my favourite Australian city” he continues “It feels like Portland where I grew up”.  How much does the crowd love you right now? More than words can say!

The newer songs sound just as great as the older classics. The band give the new record a few plugs and namedrop the guest artists on it such as Slash and Debbie Harry.  We are told that Peter is out slashing Slash on ‘I’d Like To Help You With Your Problem’ and Zia deputises for Debbie on ‘I Will Never Stop Loving You’. “I’m being Debbie” exclaims Zia to which Courtney quips back “probably easier than being Zia”.  She laughs before giving a plug for the after-show party at the Crown and Anchor. “Save the CRANKER” she shouts and we all cheer as that iconic venue is under serious threat from a proposed property development which would been the loss of yet another inner city live music venue.

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The Dandy Warhols / Photo – (@cdrimagery)

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The setlist is slightly freed from the rigour of its standard mix.  STYGGO is played making so many in the crowd happy, many that perhaps thought they would never hear it live again.

“It sounds really good in here you guys” Courtney tells us. It is always such an amazing experience when the band and crowd are like one.  How can it be that this band has been around 30 years, it surely isn’t possible? The music is timeless, feeling so fresh and new.  Courtney laments his youth “I remember being paid to get high and get laid” before Zia replies that “this queen still has it” much to the crowd’s delight.

‘I Love You’ is in Courtney’s words “most definitely dedicated to Adelaide” and nothing has ever sounded better or louder in The Gov.  A never-ending wall of sound, its waves crashing against our ears whilst the band becoming almost invisible in a blue light haze, that swirls until finally slowing and crashing over us.  The light changes to a low red, like the glowing embers of a blast furnace, the sound infectious as we become as loose limbed and hip swaying as Zia herself.  Time has stood still, a sea of smiling faces with arms raised aloft in praise and acknowledgement of something really special.

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The Dandy Warhols / Photo – (@cdrimagery)

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Still the band goes on with no sign of the set slowing. ‘Godless’, ‘Get off’ and ‘Bohemian Like You’ follow in quick succession. There are 800 pairs of arms held aloft clapping and still they play on. We are in a sonic temple that both bombarded and washed us clean at the same time as they merge ‘Pete International Airport’ into ‘Boys Better’ and it is over, surely the gig of the year so far for me. 

The band embrace and hug at the end of the regular set and the guys say their farewells to the crowd leaving Zia to end the night by playing out ‘Daisy on My Toe’ on the keyboards. The love the band showed for each other left me wondering if it is the warmth and the harmony that brings us to a Dandys gig whereas the it is the dischord and tension that brings us to a Brian Jonestown gig? I’m not entirely sure but the difference between the two bands recent Australian tours couldn’t be any greater.

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The Dandy Warhols / Photo – (@cdrimagery)

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Check out Colin’s full gallery of this event HERE

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The Dandy Warhols / Photo – (@cdrimagery)

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Follow THE DANDY WARHOLS
Website – Instagram – Facebook
Twitter – Youtube – Tiktok

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The Dandy Warhols / Photo – (@cdrimagery)

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Press Release 17th March 2024 (below) HERE

THE DANDY WARHOLS 

DEBBIE HARRY
adds her brilliance on
“I WILL NEVER STOP LOVING YOU”
taken from new album
ROCKMAKER
out today

+ April Tour sold out
– Low tix for NZ

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AMNPLIFY – DB