At one time in the late 80’s, Bob Dylan began what became known as The Never-Ending Tour, simply because it seemed like one tour would bleed into the next, year after year, album after album. You might think Dawes seized upon that concept of striking while the iron is hot, releasing nine albums since 2009 and touring to support each one. The tour for album #9, “Oh, Brother,” was launched in Knoxville, Tennessee on November 7, 2024. Two nights later the reduced but undiminished L.A. band took the stage at the Carolina Theater in Durham, North Carolina.
It was still less than a week after the pivotal U.S. Presidential election which Dawes’ singer/songwriter Taylor Goldsmith spoke about before introducing the country-tinged ‘House Parties,’ a sentimental ode to friends and late-night shows of “local bands, back porches with Bowie fans.” It’s the band’s signature West Coast folk-rock imprint livened up with a sip from Margaritaville.
To his credit, Taylor didn’t use the occasion for a divisive political rant, instead urging the crowd to process any feelings then try and find hope that there is a brighter future in store for everyone. The concept of facing life’s challenges together was brought out in the next song, ‘Front Row Seat,’ also from “Oh Brother.” It’s to do with escaping any anxieties the future may portend by “leaving tomorrow sitting firmly in the dark,” although you may find in ‘Living for the Future’ that “I’m always looking over my shoulder, not knowing what I’m looking for.”
Dawes is basically now a band of the Goldsmith brothers, Taylor and Griffin, supplemented on this tour by Trevor Menear on guitar, Z Lynch on bass, Ian Bush on percussion and Frank LoCrasto of the fusion band Kolumbo on keyboards. The role players may have changed but they still scored high marks for furnishing that signature Dawes sound: tight grooves, intricate instrumentation, emotive melodies, and a simmering vigorousness, like the recent activity at Kīlauea in Hawaii, ready to erupt at any moment. “If you’ve got reasons no one ever let you say, then fire away” Goldsmith sang in his distinctive gravelly voice while spitting out hot guitar riffs.
The pace was slowed for what may well be Dawes’ next anthemic song, ‘King of the Never-Wills’ with brushed drums and crystalline vocals drawing out its sentimentality. It’s about being stuck in a perpetual loop of almost made it but never will, a lack of commitment to anything, which is about as far from biographical a song as Taylor Goldsmith could write.
Matthew Koma from the opening indie folk-rock band, Winnetka Bowling League, joined Dawes on ‘Comes In Waves.’ The Goldsmiths had come on stage during WBL’s set for the hooky “This is Life,” a song they co-wrote with Koma and Medium Build. He was returning the favour and getting a raucous response from the audience to boot, a carry over no doubt from his band’s successful set and its kooky stage decorations of gumball machines and old TV sets. Koma is a natural storyteller and he used that talent to good advantage in describing the songs on the band’s debut album like ‘Astrology & Context’, about a woman sharing her cancer diagnosis with her partner. Their album’s title track, the poppy ‘Sha La La,’ was the one that got people moving and grooving. It details the ending of a long-distance relationship (“You could tell by the Verizon bill we’d talk all night and never sleep”). And the unforgettable earworm chorus of “Hey, it’s all gonna be alright …. SHA LA LA.”
One of Dawes’ strengths lies in the ability to tell stories of everyday people living everyday lives in a literary fashion, highlighting the memorable events that happen to us all. A stellar example is ‘When My Time Comes,’ the soul-stirring track from their debut album, “North Hills.” The crowd recognized the song before Taylor completed playing the first measure, and as usually happens in their live shows, a lusty sing-along was waiting to break out. ‘A Little Bit of Everything’ is the one Taylor likes to use for his solo acoustic turn, although on this tour Griffin joined him on harmony vocals before the rest of the band filtered back in.
At this point, any opening chords struck pegged the applause meter whether the audience knew the next song or not. It was even the same on the stripped-back, piano-driven ‘Hilarity Ensues’. Dawes has that effect on their fans. You may not know what’s coming but you do know you’re going to love it. That love was there for Taylor as he slung his acoustic guitar over one shoulder, unhooked the mic and paced the stage from side to side while singing ‘When the Tequila Runs Out’ backed by bluesy bursts from Menear’s guitar. “On the floor of the living room I saw my past life passed out, lying next to a handsome new frame. I didn’t recognize his face too much except for the grimace on his mouth, looked a lot like me, he seemed to be in pain.” People in the crowd appeared to be transfixed, so much that many stopped taking cellphone pictures or recording the song.
A big finish was waiting to unfold with the ironic ‘All Your Favorite Bands’ ending the set, acting as a musical sigh of relief for fans that had feared Dawes would no longer continue as a band after core members left. The good news is the Goldsmith brothers have stayed together and sound every bit as good as in years past.
The ponderous ‘Somebody Else’s Café / Doomscroller Tries to Relax‘ served as the 11-minute plus encore, the band changing keys and tempos seamlessly, at times the medley threatening to unravel before catching its balance and forging ahead. When it comes down to it, that’s exactly what Dawes has done, which is welcome news for those who buy their records and come to the shows. As Taylor said, “We still got some work to do, some connections to be made.” But the early results are positive.
