Snapped: September 9, 2005
Locale: Red Hook Brewery in Portsmouth, NH
Flickr Set: Dandy Warhols

On a rainy night at the Red Hook Brewery in Portsmouth, NH, The Dandy Warhols made their only appearance in New England a memorable one. Playing the third of a 4 show “warm up” mini tour (before heading over to Europe for the month of October) the Dandys took the plastic wrapping off their just released new album “Odditorium or Warlords of Mars” and played a diversified 75 minute set covering tracks off all 5 of their albums.

The Dandys took stage at 9:00pm and opened up with the gritty “Ride” off of their first album. The first song to be introduced off the new album, Warlords…., was “Holding Me Up” which set the mood for the first half of the show. The commercial favorite, “Not if you were the last junkie on earth”, got the big tent rockin. From there, the Dandys seemed to “experiment” over the next few songs by bringing the mood down a bit. A softer “Last High” (Welcome to the Monkey House) was a treat but there was a feeling that we were missing something. A quick chat between Zia and Courtney mid set seemed to then shift the show (the convo could have been nothing more than “I can’t hear my keyboards over the guitar”) into high gear. Minnesoter, Boheminan Like You, and the new single “Smoke It” got the big tent jumpin as the 2nd half of the set was definitely cookin w/ gas! “Boys Better” wrapped up the set in true Dandy fashion as the crowd was left on a high note by the crew out of Portland, OR. The maturity is noticeable as Courtney et al. sounded tight and professional. Commercial success has brought musical goodies to the Dandys that all of us enjoyed in Portsmouth. My prediction- look for the Dandys to roll back thru Boston on return from what should be a Fast Driving Rave Up with the Dandy Warhols!