A
gig over 2 ½ years in the waiting, this... the last of my pre-Covid booked gigs
to actually take place, I booked tix for this one in December 2019, only for
various lockdowns either side of the pond to delay the tour 4 times overall
(although it seemed more!). Either way, it’s finally here; former Galaxie 500
and Luna frontman Dean Wareham, delivering a rendition of his first band's
seminal 1989 sophomore album “On Fire” to celebrate its 30th (well, 32nd
now!) anniversary. A serious precursor for the early 90’s shoegaze scene, this,
with dreamy and droney material taking a slight cue from the Velvet Underground
but otherwise sounding unlike anything else of its era, I picked up on it as
part of my late 80’s Boston-area musical voyage of discovery - Pixies, Muses,
Dinos, Tom, Dipper... heck, even Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic found their way onto
my radar back then! Only got to see G500 the once (November 1990, gig 178 -
missed them a couple of times before that) and honestly they weren’t all that,
but I subsequently enjoyed my Luna shows (gigs 269 and 294) better, so happy to
give Dean and this album another chance!
Old
friend Beef joined us too - disgracefully, this was the first time I’d seen him
since before lockdown! What happens with a friendship predicated on going to
gigs, I guess... anyway, much catching up ensued during a swift drive to
Brizzle, thence parking up just round the corner of The Fleece and chatting
outside before 7.30 doors. Got the drinks in inside, running into “Shiiine On”
buddy Matt and finally meeting Martin, our erstwhile 4th “Shiiiner” for this
year! Support Ryder The Eagle was bloody awful - a young bullfighter-clad bloke
singing moody dirges to backing tapes? Nope nope and thrice nope, so Beef and I
scuttled back outside, being joined later by Matt, who advised Ryder had since
hopped offstage, gone round the crowd singing in people’s faces and was
currently rolling on the floor, stripped to the waist...
Joined
the muso throng back inside and stood by the bar, 2/3rds back - no need for
front row spots for this one, given the atmospheric mellow melancholy of the “On
Fire” material... Sure enough, Dean led his 4-piece band onstage to little
fanfare, easing into a few choice cuts from his current album “I Have Nothing To
Say To The Mayor of LA”, which veered between slow-burn atmospherics (“As Much
As It Was Worth”) and more upbeat yet still languid grooves a la early Luna
(opener “Corridors” and the catchy “Cashing In”, which featured the delicious
line, “every fuck was a flying fuck”!). Again, with little fanfare, “Blue
Thunder” then heralded the “On Fire” rendition, Dean lifting his vocals through
numerous octaves to hit the mainly falsetto notes required by this dreamy yet
discordant material - largely successfully!
On
my only Galaxie 500 “live” experience, I felt their performance veered too much
towards jarring noise, even finding a few “On Fire” numbers a little too much
during recent revision listens in the car... tonight, however, Dean and crew
balanced that off-kilter discordancy skilfully with delicate dreamy atmospherics,
providing a heady and beguiling mix. “Snowstorm” was a hushed and fragile
delight, building to a meandering wah-wah guitar riff, and “Another Day”, sung
by guitarist Britta (more on her later) was a 60's influenced psychedelic San
Fran drug den drone with a baroque, almost Jefferson Airplane chorus! “Leave
The Planet” featured some thrilling Byrds-ian backwards psych-guitar riffery
and Mo Tucker-esque tub thumping, overlaid by Dean’s own slightly misbehaving
mouth organ clarion blare, whilst “Isn't It A Pity” was a touching,
air-clearing ballad to close out a surprisingly fine set.
A
couple of encores, including the tumbling, undulating “Flowers”, the slow-build
to crescendo of my favourite G500 number “Tug Boat” and a Red Crayola cover, “Victory
Garden”, which required a break midway through thanks to some nasty feedback,
rounded off a splendid performance. Swiped a mixing desk list (hooray!) and got
it signed by an affable, masked-up Dean and his merch-stand bound wife and band
guitarist Britta. Ah yes,Britta... Britta Phillips (for t’was she) was the lead
singer of excellent early 90's US shoegazers The Belltower, hosts of my
landmark gig no. 200 in November 1991 and a couple of other performances back then,
including a Friday Big Tent set at my first Reading Festival in 1991, which I
attended at the expense of the mainstage debut of a then-unknown band called
(ahem) Nirvana... I shared said story with Britta before farewells to Matt and
Martin and a swift drive home, Britta being just amazed that anyone still
remembered The Belltower! A surreal way to end a better than anticipated gig 2 ½
years in the waiting!
