Pennypacker in Toronto: The Dirtbombs, Kelley Stoltz @ the Horseshoe

The Dirtbombs, Kelley Stoltz
@ The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
Toronto, ONT - April 16, 2008

The focal point of this show wasn't even the band. It was the crowd. Apparently a bunch of scenesters (I even heard one announce "I hope this band is good") thinking they were being cool, these morons broke the sacred rule of a Dirtbombs show: they moshed. They moshed with unauthorized drafting of innocent folks around them. They stage crashed and dived. They practically ruined the show, except that the Dirtbombs are so good, it's impossible to ruin a Dirtbombs show. Pat Pantano took it upon himself to question the heterosexuality of the troublemakers, knowing that such tactics usually disarm the meatheads who conduct such behavior. And as a band member, and not a priss in the crowd, he has some immunity from a backlash. And it worked. It also helped that the show ended with an AMAZING collaboration with the Kelley Stoltz band:

Speaking of Kelley Stoltz, third time was the charm. The band was tight, rockin', and full of pep and vigor. Everything was solid. They also sounded more pop than country on this night. Good work.

The Dirtbombs @ Bowery Ballroom

The Dirtbombs; Kelley Stoltz
@ Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY - April 11, 2008

At this point, after so many feeble attempts at being something akin to a rock critic, why bother? You all know how I feel about the music itself and about how they play live. All you need to know about tonight is that it was a much cooler, calmer performance than last night's explosion in Philadelphia. It was a straight, maybe even scaled back, performance - probably because the band was exhausted and also because the Bowery Ballroom just isn't conducive to Blackwell's shenanigans.
So let's just personalize it, in the spirit of a true blog, and not some half-assed hipster "mag" deal:

It was a night of accomplishment. After all these years, I was finally able to get a number of friends of mine to see the Dirtbombs live. It had only happened once before a couple years ago with my most notoriously stubborn and curmudgeonly rock classicist friend. The last two nights I was able to bring various sets of friends, from different walks of life, to see this unifying band. And it was a major success. Everyone was converted to a fan. Every single one. The non-rock guys loved the funky beats and the jams. The rock guys - one coming from the perspective of a musician, the other a casual fan whose personal tastes run along the lines of the Cure and the Smiths - each cited the same thing in their praise: professionalism. The casual fan even noted that having never seen either the Dirtbombs or Kelley Stoltz live before - and being a general fan of the Grateful Dead/Band style the latter works with - he was struck by how he was convinced he had just seen the highlight of the night until the Dirtbombs came on and made the whole thing look effortless (that's no slight at Stoltz, there is something admirable in what he's doing up on stage every night).
As a side bonus, 2 of the friends who did not previously know each other shared a fondness for comic books, which led to a nice discussion of the Alan Moore-infused "Leopard Man at C & A" with Mick Collins after the show (that song, by the way, as a live lead-off, is just phenomenal).

A lot of other bands have been filling the "pages" of this blog for a good while now and they are great bands all, but at the end of the night - by the power of their own performance, the warmth of the community they foster, and their ability to make true believers out of anyone - it is always satisfying to come home to the Dirtbombs.

Mondo Dirtbombs @ Johnny Brenda's

The Dirtbombs; Kelley Stoltz; Mondo Topless
@ Johnny Brenda's
Philadelphia, PA - April 10, 2008

After an intense, pitch perfect, textbook, sensational set by the Dirtbombs, sheer, utter madness ensued. Perhaps enthused by Mick Collins' declaration that this was the best Philly crowd the Dirtbombs have ever had, Ben Blackwell just about went absolutely mental. He climbed up to and then off of the balcony, making like Spiderman across the ceiling track lights, then dropping onto the stage, not breaking or spraining a bone in his body, nearly falling on Sonic Parthenon's own Jack T. Conqueror (who in turn nearly stumbled into Elwood D. Pennypacker who was busy trying to stop Troy Gregory's mic stand from falling onto drinking glasses). Eventually, JTC - the musician at heart that he is - put Troy's mic set up back in place, while Ben resumed the madness on stage leading the gang (minus Mick) in a looooong (and I mean looooooooooong) noise jam that included a couple members of the Stoltz band. Never seen anything like it.

Do you like the Grateful Dead? If so then you'll like San Franciscan-based Kelley Stoltz and his good time hearty country-ish stompy, boogie thing. A lot of it works, some of it gets a bit old.

Mondo Topless were their usual rocking self but the native Philadelphians were subjected to a surprisingly empty hall, populated by a handful of Williamsburg-wannabe hipsters and some normal rock n' roll blokes too self-concious to lead a party.

Pics

SPTV:


The great Corwin also has these clips up:
Ever Lovin' Man
Need You Tonight