|
|
Richard Lloyd Band and Dream Syndicate
Richard Lloyd Band and Dream Syndicate treated the packed house at Once to a rip-roaring night of stoked rock n’ roll and guitarissimo. Lloyd takes the stage looking a touch worse for wear. His hair is mussed up. If his apartment burns down, no one will have to lose their life saving his wardrobe. His guitar, on the other hand, needs no dressing up.
Lloyd’s sound was always the earthy contrast to Tom Verlaine’s more airy output. That doesn’t mean Lloyd is a heavy player - he leaves most of the crunch to the man with the hat on rhythm guitar. Lloyd’s fingers move like a spider. The solos spindle out, buzzing with an immediately recognizable tone, succinct, tart, angular with a touch of squeal. He exercises his crunch pop jones on "The Word" from his most recent Rosedale disk. He grinds through the Velvets' "Waiting for My Man". He nods to Keith on the stoned "Swipe It". Gives up the power pop of "Amnesia" and the wistful, stick with the silver, "Alchemy". He cherry picks the Television back catalog with "See No Evil", "Friction" and a roughed up take on the quintessential, Television goes Dark Star, "Marquee Moon" with it’s beautiful, build it until it goes supernova ending. Has it been 30 years since some configuration of Dream Syndicate hit town? Steve Wynn solo, or with his long-term touring crew Miracle Three, never disappoint. Ditto for the resuscitated Dream Syndicate. Contrary to Lloyd, Wynn looks Saturday go to meetin’ in a trim, blue, buttoned sharkskin and an, of course, paisley shirt. The band takes the stage and explodes. It’s the first night of their tour. No warm-up is necessary as they tear into a "Halloween" from The Days of Wine and Roses. Wynn’s slash and burn, monster treble-tone intro, set the VU meters to redline for the night. The band has a new disk, How Did I Find Myself Here. They use the first tune from it, "The Circle", to show that they haven’t forgotten their legacy.
"80 West" dips into one of Wynn’s favorite tropes: something nasty happened out on the backroad, and it’s giving him a worried mind. The tune hands Mark Walton’s bass an opportunity for a big intro. It also lets Wynn’s long-term Miracle Three guitar gunslinger, Jason Victor, flex his thick, fly up and out, psych tone. The band drops the dynamic down to spiritualized velvet territory and remind us of Wynn’s talent with the pen for “people who spend their whole lives waiting, Like Mary,” "Filter Me Through You", "Burn" and "Whatever You Please".
Dream Syndicate launch into the second half of the show with incendiary takes on "The Medicine Show", "Forest For the Trees", and "Days of Wine and Roses". By now the room is toast. The encore of "Tell Me When it’s Over", "John Coltrane Stereo Blues" and "Boston" for the hometown faithful add kerosene to the fire. The band drives the crowd. The crowd drives the band. Everything moves with the wild push and pull of the songs. The volume is tremendous. Twist up the tension and explode. Do it again. Do it again. It’s one of those nights. There is nowhere else we should be.
|
links | contact us