Evan Dando
Corner Hotel
April 3, 2009
A conversation with a mate on the outskirts of musical taste went a little something like this, ahead of Evan Dando’s performance in Melbourne:
Mate: “What you doing tonight – keen for a beer?”
Me: “Got tickets to see Evan Dando at the Corner”
Mate: “He’s the guy from The Lemonheads, yeah?”
Me: “Yep”
Lengthy pause.
Mate: “I thought that bloke was dead – who knew?”
In the interests of keeping this review in the realms of a PG rating I may have paraphrased my mate’s last response – but you get the sentiment.
A warrior from the early 90s grunge heyday, Dando has survived with, for the most part, musical reputation intact. He’s been through a lot in his time – surviving everything the music industry had to throw at him, albeit minus a fair chunk of royalties. But none of this would appear on his obituary for the simple fact that no one then or since has been able to better capture the essence of the three-minute love song. This isn’t a throwaway line or a segue to my next paragraph – it’s a statement of fact.
At risk of sounding like the tagline of a cliched Jerry Bruckheimer film, Dando’s performance at the Corner was simply a man and his guitar. Stripped back to his purest, acoustic form, Dando shuffled onto the stage and began what would be an hour-long medley.
Shambolic is probably the best way to describe it. One song after the other, no intermission, no banter with the crowd – no interaction with the crowd whatsoever, for that matter (save for a grabbing a patron’s camera and taking a self portrait – some lucky soul’s new Facebook profile pic no doubt). His voice cracked and bum notes were strummed.
You’d be forgiven for thinking my interest in the gig was waning, and for a moment you’d be correct – if it wasn’t for those damn fine songs. It was a best of set including such gems as ‘Rudderless’, ‘It’s a shame about Ray’, ‘Hospital’ and ‘If I could talk I’d tell you’. Dando then launched into the hauntingly beautiful ‘Ride with me’, a genuine showstopper that had everyone in the room reliving their youth, summers spent with friends and the joys of a life less stressful, where the major concern was where the next beer was coming from and who you could scab a lift from to get down to the coast.
From here Dando ventured into ‘My drug buddy’, a well-crafted ditty that includes lyrics such as, “We have to laugh, to look at each other, we have to laugh coz where not alone” — lines that really capture the simplicity and ease with which Dando so simply depicts relationships. He then delved into a raw version of ‘Into my arms’, packing more sentiment into this striking 90-second verson than most writers could craft into a full LP.
So contrary to popular belief (well, my mates anyway), Evan Dando is not dead and those that still appreciate the splendour of the pop song can rejoice that one of the pioneers of the modern genre lives on.