Dawes – Lincoln Theatre, 3/8/2017

Row J, Seat 109 (general admission) – center section, middle seat

 

I saw Dawes do two truly great shows in 2015, first at the Warner and several weeks later at XPNFest. This one didn’t reach that level, although it had some great moments, especially in the second set. With no opening act, the amount of music was certainly generous, with a couple dozen songs spanning about 105 minutes across the two sets and two encore numbers.

 

The biggest issue for me was the volume. Most of the band’s repertoire sounds about right at a relative sound level of about 8, but they had things cranked up to 11 through most of the show, pounding their more subtle and melodic material (including one of my favorites, “A Little Bit Of Everything”) into complete and utter submission. Basically, THEY SOUNDED LIKE THEY WERE YELLING MOST OF THE TIME.

 

The first set really didn’t do much for me, until they got to “When My Time Comes” and “Less Than Five Miles Away” at the end, both of which worked well with things cranked up. However, their performance of “Somewhere Along The Way” lacked the stunning two-guitar interplay of  the 2015 shows, and they chose to short-change “Time Spent In Los Angeles” by segueing into “Most People” after the first verse. And I’ve already mentioned their treatment of “A Little Bit Of Everything”.

 

Nevertheless, I decided to stick around for the second set, and was rewarded when they went acoustic for the first 2½ songs. “From A Windowseat” was a highlight shortly thereafter, and the crowd rose to its feet during “If I Needed Someone” and remained standing for the rest of the show. After ending the set with the title cut from We’re All Gonna Die, they encored with a rave-up version of the normally placid “Peace In The Valley” from their debut album, and concluded with a heartfelt rendition of “All Your Favorite Bands”, at the end of which the crowd added an extra a cappella version of the chorus.

 

Setlist