The Dodos @ the Hi-Dive
By ian nelson | April 24th, 2008 | No Comments »
Meric Long’s folk-rooted music entertained a relatively empty Hi-Dive on Monday. Photos by Brian Carney.
The Dodos have received some favorable press lately, but for a show that was reported to have high presales, on Monday night the Hi-Dive was as dead as… well, insert the appropriate extinct bird.
The show opened with a couple of Colorado bands, Golden Brown and Lil’ Slugger. Brown has a dark, interesting Americana sound that is closely related to other local favorites Munly and Slim Cessna.
Arrangements included the use of such wildly popular instruments as the glockenspiel, accordion and bass banjo. Even though they lack a widespread appeal, Golden Brown will likely find a niche audience receptive to their sound.
Lil’ Slugger felt like of a bunch of friends playing together in a garage. The music was raucous and undisciplined, which was strange considering the length of their sound check. It was also unclear as to why they had two drummers, since the beats were uncomplicated and there were no extended drum solos. There is some promise in Slugger, it will just need time and focus to really bring it out.
Both of the openers seemed to have brought fans of their own, who had mostly filtered out three songs into The Dodo’s set. However, once you whittle a crowd down to just the real fans it can become louder and more fun. This was the case with Monday, and the part of the crowd that did stick around was populated with devotees who were grinning like idiots in anticipation. This included the owner of the Hi-Dive, Matt LeBarge, who — according to employees — had been playing the CD “Visiter” constantly over the past several weeks.
The Dodos are ostensibly a two-piece consisting of multi-instrumentalist Meric Long and drummer Logan Kroeber. There was another gentleman towards the back of the stage that would fill in on the toy piano and tambourine, as he was needed.
The Dodo’s sound contains a lot of acoustic finger-picking and bass tom. They are modern, with a basis in folk and American roots music. With his stylized hair and clothing, Long doesn’t look like a spectacular guitarist who plays some of the best slide guitar outside of the Mississippi River Delta.
Kroeber has deceptively simple drum set up that makes the beats he produces all that much more impressive. Several times his frantic drumming brought shouts of amazement from the crowd.
It may have been a mostly empty house, but the Dodos gave everything they had, and played a surprisingly long set. A blistering three-song encore from a band that only just signed to French Kiss records delighted all present. They left the stage drenched in sweat, with fans shouting for more despite the late hour. With a live performance like that, the Dodos are likely to have a full house next time they roll through town.
Reverb contributor Ian Nelson also writes for Kaffeine Buzz.
Photographer Brian Carney is a regular Reverb contributor.
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