Live music review: Dry Cleaning Rocked East Austin at Hotel Vegas
On the beautiful evening of Wednesday, May 25, London-based, post-punk band, Dry Cleaning played in front of a sold out venue on the Hotel Vegas patio. One year after the band released their debut LP, New Long Leg, the band toured the United States, finishing the current segment of their North American tour right here in East Austin.
As fans gradually made their way into the patio shared by Volstead Lounge and Hotel Vegas, the evening’s opening act, Fake Fruit, a Bay-Area, California-based, alternative-post-punk act, took stage.
As the trio initiated their set, the crowd gravitated toward the stage. Fake Fruit put on the perfect, crowd-engaging, opening performance. The group deftly did their job in readying the Vegas crowd for the hotly anticipated headliners.
After a brief intermission, Dry Cleaning made their entrance, hitting up the sold-out venue straight off with “Leafly.” Front person, Florence Shaw wore a glow-in-dark, airbrushed tour t-shirt coveted by show goers.
Immediately, the audience was drawn in. The signature instrumentation, matched with spoken-word vocals came across as clearly and tight as their studio recordings. All in attendance knew with conviction, that this would be a stellar performance.
Shaw commented, “We love it (in Austin). You have a lot of birds. I love birds.” just before breaking into a performance of “Big Birds.” Shaw then informed the audience that this would be the last stop on their current leg of their American tour, further elaborating that the South Londoners would play in Mexico next in front of twenty thousand. “We are all quite terrified actually,” she laughed.
Shaw’s intentionally monotone vocal delivery, and subtly-inquisitive stage presence, which relies heavily on slight physical gestures to highlight her lyrics, shared one philosophical analogy after another. The calculated, spoken-word delivery came across as extemporaneous, and her observations of preposterous societal norms were better conveyed live than in studio recordings.
Tom Dowse’s guitar work captured the sounds of intent uneasiness and aimlessness; executed to exact design. The bass lines from Lewis Maynard were beyond catchy, reeling the listener further in with every note. Nick Buxton’s drums carried the rhythm of each song with expert accuracy.
New Long Leg ends memorably with “Every Day Carry,” a track that intermissions with a series of inconsistent guitar riffs before leaping into a bass and percussion-driven, pathos-oozing frenzy. Dry Cleaning finished out their set with the orchestral “Conversation,” and a full-on jam out, complete with Shaw handling upo on tambourine.
Dry Cleaning’s sound is discorded, yet piercingly precise. Their sound is raw, with a glossy finish. They put on a live show that sounds and feels like an amplified listen of their studio albums. In a nutshell, Dry Cleaning put on one hell of a show at Hotel Vegas. If you ever have a chance to see them live, take advantage of the opportunity.
Dry Cleaning will return to the U.S. for a second leg in September with a date at Summerfest in Milwaukee. See the full tour schedule here.
Setlist:
Leafy
Unsmart Lady
Strong Feelings
Her Hippo
Sit Down Meal
Viking Hair
More Big Birds
Traditional Fish
New Long Leg
Magic of Meghan
Tony Speaks
Scratchcard Lanyard
Conversation
Featured photo by Spimch courtesy of Wilimedia Commons
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