The Lemonheads, ABC Glasgow, review: Grunge-light volume blends with perfect pop sensibility
Evan Dando seems stuck in the sound and style of the early 1990s – on this showing it's not a bad place to be
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Your support makes all the difference.“This song’s loud-ass, man,” pointed out Evan Dando before the band played ‘My Drug Buddy’, a song not previously noted for its volume. Dando, perennially floppy-haired and deliberate of speech, is a figure apparently stuck in the sound and style of the early 1990s, when the Lemonheads first came to prominence. It’s not a bad place to be; his audience is adoring, and the songs, as ever, blend a sludgy, grunge-light volume with a perfect pop sensibility. Any show performed by Dando is also a reminder of just how many deservedly memorable tracks he managed to pack into a relatively short space of time in the glare of public attention.
Backed here by a new iteration of the band which includes such luminaries of his era as Juliana Hatfield and Codeine’s Chris Brokaw, Dando explored his group’s back catalogue, from signature tracks like ‘It’s About Time’, ‘It’s a Shame About Ray’ and ‘The Great Big No’ to less familiar tracks from the back catalogue including the lengthily grinding closer ‘Rudderless’. Dando returned for an acoustic encore featuring ‘Why Do You Do This to Yourself?’ and ‘Hard Drive’, demonstrating the sweetness in his voice, and ‘Alison’s Starting to Happen’ and ‘If I Could Talk I’d Tell You’ powered this welcome nostalgia trip to a close.
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