Live Review: The Dandy Warhols w/ Morning Harvey @ Eaton’s Hill Hotel

The room full of responsible adults gathered to see The Dandy Warhols at Eaton’s Hill Hotel was a reflection of the band’s impressive 22 year lifespan as much as their enduring catalogue of hits, and their support act was a big hit amongst young and old. Morning Harvey asserted their presence in style, overriding the dreamy background music with thick synthesisers and guitar.

Dressed in some of the skinniest jeans known to man, they looked like a bonafide teenage dream boy band, but there was something mature about their riffs and subtle harmonies. Frontman Spencer White owned his quirky, charismatic dance moves, surmounting the speaker in front of him, and although the band’s stage presence could be described as slightly awkward, their sound rarely faltered.

Morning Harvey’s mellow performance balanced White’s dramatic style. He admitted to struggling with onstage banter, although his confident, theatrical delivery of new track Long Day made the notion of performance nerves seem ridiculous. The energetic guitar riffs finally drew movement out of the stagnant crowd, even warranting cries of “Turn it up!” Throughout Lights, Camera, Gina the lead guitarist showed off electric charisma to go with his riffs, while the band’s latest single Susanne Monday brought a touch of The Killers’ rock vibe to the set. Girl Euphoria (Come Back To Me) finished the set with fresh energy and good vibes, the crashing drums sweeping the crowd into a head-banging frenzy.

Their soft swaying and the low lighting gave the performance a quietly confident intrigue, broken up often by heavy riffs, energetic rhythms and brooding lo-fi rock numbers.

The Dandy Warhols’ sound crew wasted little time in setting the stage, drawing excited squeals from the crowd, but it wasn’t long before the wait time eroded their patience threshold. The room filled with restless energy and cheering in an attempt to speed the band to the stage, but when they finally appeared, moody guitar riffs and synthesiser melodies made the wait worthwhile. Frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor’s voice was as strong and clear as ever in line with the vocal harmonies, and intergalactic synth had the crowd moving as though under a hypnotic trance.

As their opening number finished, seizure-inducing stage lights kicked in to accompany the psychedelic synth and guitar combo, followed by an energetic beat beneath solid harmonies. By the end of the third number, the crowd could no longer resist the urge to yell and clap along. Their soft swaying and the low lighting gave the performance a quietly confident intrigue, broken up often by heavy riffs, energetic rhythms and brooding lo-fi rock numbers.

I Love You had the crowd singing along, eventually morphing into an all-consuming wall of sound complete with squealing synth and abstract effects. As the track went from a classic rock tune to a slow-burning banger and back, The Dandys proved themselves masters of the ultimate build up. Suspenseful, energetic, and subtle, it took on the intensity of a religious cleansing. At the pointy end, Taylor-Taylor pulled off a note long enough to make anyone red in the face and announced, “I think I chipped a nail on that one.”

Transitioning from drifting melodies to rock heavy riffs in under a minute, the band demonstrated true versatility and adaptability and managed to keep the crowd entertained despite the odd untuned guitar and bout of exhaustion. Taylor-Taylor made good use of the towels around the stage after whipping out some liberated dance moves and thrashing his hair around. With just a touch of clever reinvention by Taylor-Taylor, crowd favourite Every Day Should Be A Holiday transformed into a stripped back singalong for the whole room, a highlight for every long-time fan.

I Love You had the crowd singing along, eventually morphing into an all-consuming wall of sound complete with squealing synth and abstract effects.

An hour into their set, The Dandys had begun to look visibly tired, sweating and slouching, but the intensity was still on their faces and the fire in their eyes as they played the instantly recognisable opening melody of Bohemian Like You. Energy bounced around the room throughout the song, the rumbling synth melodies in the tracks that followed leaving eardrums buzzing. The build up to the final two numbers had the crowd in a state of eerie fascination as Taylor-Taylor chanted notes so long they drew cheers of admiration and keyboardist Zia McCabe worked her magic on the synthesiser.

To their credit, the crowd was going strong after over 100 minutes of music, classic rockstar dance moves, and a touch of classy beatboxing by the multitalented McCabe. After 22 years, The Dandy Warhols have still got the goods.