Support act Los Huevos were not as Spanish-sounding as their name suggested, featuring a Bloc Party-style guitar and rocking instrumentals. They had everyone at just the right state of happy and excited before The Dandy Warhols hit the stage.
A massive guitar intro under misty lighting led to Be-In, a weird choice for first song that was warmly welcomed by those who knew it, and those who did realised we were about to receive a collection of their biggest and best.
The crowd received a seemingly endless compilation of hits from their 16-year career, with Solid, We Used To Be Friends and Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth within the first handful of tracks.
It soon became clear who the die-hard fans were and who was just clinging to the ‘big’ songs, with Lou Weed popping up from their very first album Dandy Warhols Rule, OK? and a total of six tracks from their ’97 follow-up …The Dandy Warhols Come Down.
The Last High was a bit too mellow for me, but girls seemed to love it as lead singer Courtney Taylor-Taylor stood motionless, basking in his own aura.
The middle section was dedicated to a heap of new stuff, with five tracks from 2008’s …Earth To The Dandy Warhols and a couple of sneak previews from their upcoming album. Luckily, the band realised they were losing the crowd’s interested and sympathised, “Sorry guys, we’re nearly done with the new stuff.”
They came to a close with tracks from Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, including Bohemian Like You and Godless.
The first encore kicked-off with a country-sounding Get Off and followed with older songs Pete International Airport and Boys Better. The band then left the stage once more andfinally returned to end the night with Country Leaver.
For a band with so much material this really was a best-of set. The crowd was full of both young and old, with individual tastes ranging from new and old material. But in the end, it’s hard not feel that everyone got exactly what they wanted.
