Anticipation was building before The Lemonheads took the stage at the Electric Ballroom in Camden for the first of two shows here. We were all wondering what type of gig this would turn out to be- would Even Dando be on good form or would he be erratic and unfocussed. By the end of the night, I would say that both were true of tonight’s performance.
When Evan came on stage with the rest of the band and started to set up it felt like there was a palpable tension in the room until the opening riffs of ‘The Great Big No’ started up. The crowd joining in with backing vocals and Evan’s voice still sounding good, if a little weathered, starting off the set quite nicely. ‘Into Your Arms’ followed and was well received after which Evan’s between song interactions started, which threaten to derail the performance as it was difficult to follow the between song banter much of the time.
Evan Dando has a kind of goofy energy and comes across as charming despite the rambling tales and inside jokes he told during the set. He namechecked The Replacements during the set and sometimes matched their underlying teetering on the edge of breakdown energy. At times this was distracting and meant that the set didn’t maintain momentum when it could have. It is easy to forgive him though given how much wonderful music he has made, and I think this was why when he was singing with the crowd behind him it felt celebratory.
‘Down About It’ and ‘Rest Assured’ are full of hooks and ramshackle charm and are ably performed by Evan and his band. They should be commended for needing to follow and be responsive to Dando when he plays snippets of covers at various times. ‘Being Around’ and ‘Favourite T’ are played faster and lose some of their playfulness of the originals but are still great to hear. Occasionally the songs feel rushed through although ‘Style’ was appropriately heavy sounding and slowed down matching the druggy nature of the song.
Following the main band set Evan stayed on stage for a solo performance that started with a chaotic rendition of ‘Jello Fund’ on the piano and was followed by a handful of covers including Townes Van Zandt (‘Snow don’t fall’) and Big Star (‘Holocaust’). His Smudge cover of ‘The Outdoor Type’ was lovely despite his loose interpretations at times during the song. Evan always seems to make good choices for covers but his solo set was at times difficult to watch. Having the band back on stage for the final part of the gig he seemed more focussed.
The final part of the set included a few new tracks off Love Chant which were enjoyable and are a sign that The Lemonheads don’t want to be only remembered for their past glories. They bookend new songs with a number of It’s a Shame about Ray tracks which brought the audience together again as the lyrics were bellowed back and we were transported back to 1992. The band tore through the title track, ‘Bit Part’ and ‘Allison’s Starting to Happen’ sparking more sing-a-longs and exuberant dancing. Amusingly Evan gave shout outs to various venues around London that he has played at – some long forgotten and some forgotten by him – noting that this was his first gig at this venue. Evan and the rest of the band wrapped up with ‘The Deep End’ with Evan singing “going off the deep end, depends” highlighting both the feelings of love for his music and concern about the man who created it.
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Reviewed by Jason McDonald @jaygigphotos.bsky.social
Photography by Rupert Hitchcox: instagram.com/ruperthitchcox
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