Sydney, Australia - July 31, 2003

Online Review
at The Metro
by Lisa -


On Thursday, the 31st of July, I headed to the Dandy Warhols show at the Metro in Sydney. And what a show it was! It was truly excellent! I had to drive for 4 and a half hours to see them but it was every bit worth it. I was initially a little bit unsure of what to expect after the negative concert reviews coming out of the UK. I shouldn't have worried though because as soon as they came on stage and opened with a version of "Be In" I knew that they were in fine form. This show was every bit as good as the previous concert I saw in 2001. I managed to find myself a spot fairly close to the front so had a good view.

I enjoyed it all including the new stuff, something that seems to have become a little controversial amongst some old fans. The falsetto was mostly gone and the songs were done pretty much in the same style as those songs we love so much. What did surprise me though was the crowd reaction when "Last High" and "WUTBF" was played. It seemed the whole crowd was singing along. It does indeed seem that the new album has attracted some new fans. The crowd was good though and there were many old fans present. The Dandys seemed to enjoy playing and no doubt having a good crowd helped. They played for 140 minutes with a very brief break onstage for the obligatory smoke and drink.

Songs that I can remember them playing, but in no particular order, include:

Be In
Green
Good Morning (introduced as the Black album version because CTT prefers that version)
Minnesoter
I Love You
Boys Better
Bohemian Like You
Get Off
Horse Pills
Country Leaver
Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth
Every Day Should Be A Holiday
I Am Over It
We Used To Be Friends
Last High
Grunge Betty
You Come In Burned
Loose
Diamond Dogs (or at least I am pretty sure that is what is was)
Genius
Ride
Godless
Solid
Shakin'

I don't know if anyone can add anything to this list. I know that "Loose" was discussed here earlier but cannot remember what was said. Where did this song come from? I ask because it was one of the standout tracks that they played. Another was "You Come In Burned", with CTT taking to the drums for an impressive little session. He also played the keyboards for a few tracks and Peter did the same for one or two. Zia played in her usual style mostly with one hand on the keys and another holding alternately a beer or smoke. Brent stuck with his drums. He had two bass drums, which I thought was a bit unusual. Courtney had two microphones, the second one being the variety that distorts your voice.

At the back of the stage a screen was projected with various arty images. It was quite effective. The Metro must obviously have a time curfew on weeknights as it was made fairly clear that someone on the side of the stage wanted them to finish up playing towards the end of their show. This didn't deter them though as they did the "Lets pretend that we have gone off, you lot have clapped a lot and we have come back on for an encore" routine.

I am now the proud owner of a new banana T-shirt and was interested to see that they also had shirts with the "The Dandy Warhols Love Almost Everyone" written on them.

Even was the support band and they played for 45 minutes and weren't bad at all, as usual.

I was also really happy to catch the Dandys play their gig at Fox Studios the next day and I will write about that as well but probably in the next couple of days when I have a bit more time. All I will say for the moment is that it was the best free concert I have ever been to. From that I do have a set-list that I will post.

Well I think I have rambled on for long enough. If anyone hears of anything about bootlegs coming out of these concerts please be sure to let us know. I for one would be keen to get my hands on a copy.

I'm still on a post-concert high!