The Dodos & the Ruby Suns @ Turf Club
[The Dodos courtesy of Stacy Schwartz.]
Some bands, no matter whether their latest album is a knockout or a dud, just seem to be able bring it when they play live. San Francisco-based duo the Dodos are one of those bands. I was a little worried they would let me down after not loving their latest LP, Time to Die, but all worries were quickly put to rest during their excellent set. I have a bad habit of constantly comparing things, which in this case could have been a big problem. Their previous CD, Visiter, was one of my favorite discs of 2008 and the last time they rolled through town, playing a show at the Triple Rock, it was one of my favorite shows of the year. It might have been unfair to expect the band to catch lightning in a bottle again (both live and on CD), but the Dodos proved to be resilient and played an exciting and commanding show at St. Paul’s Turf Club to a pack and frenzied crowd.
[The Dodos courtesy of Stacy Schwartz.]
The band’s 70 minute set found them playing material from their whole catalog, with a specific emphasis on their latest album and some choice cuts from Visiter. The crowd was energetic and the three-piece band seemed to feed off the raucous crowd, who jumped, danced and sang along with the band. Lead singer Meric Long’s guitar playing wasn’t as intricate as the last time he played here (he was standing this time versus sitting last time), but he made up for it with his boundless energy. His vigor was matched pound for pound by manic drummer Logan Kroeber’s unorthodox, but wildly impressive performance. His kit was set up in front of him in a way that makes it look like a marching band drummer’s set-up, and he used each drum to serve in a complementary way to Long’s propulsive guitar playing. For a good portion of the songs, the main sounds were of Long’s strumming and Kroeber’s drumming, yet the sounds backing up Long’s singing sounded massive. The duo were joined on stage by a third member, Keaton Syner, who played percussion and vibraphones to help fill out the songs. Unsurprisingly the new songs were better in the live setting than they were on the more subdued record.
[The Dodos courtesy of Stacy Schwartz.]
The whole set was entertaining, but things really picked up in the middle of the set with a run of Time to Die highlight “Fables” Visiter standout “Jodi,” and a excellent version of “Troll Nacht” from Time to Die. The band really stretched things out near the end of the set and in the encore with blistering takes on Visiter highlights “Fools” and “Walking,” both of which were exhilarating and showed both the strengths of the songs from the record and also found the band sounding as powerful as they had all night. The group, working with minimal parts that operated at extremely high levels of proficiencies, again reminded me why I like them so much and left an energetic Turf Club crowd in awe of their marvelous abilities.
[The Dodos courtesy of Stacy Schwartz.]
Three-piece New Zealand band Ruby Suns opened the night with a fun and spirited 30 minute set. The group’s sound has evolved since I saw them a while back at the Entry, and they now sound like the Very Best covering Merriweather Post Pavilion-era Animal Collective. They relied heavily on looped samples, but also had propulsive drumming, bright guitars, lead singer Ryan McPhun’s bright, unrestrained vocals and bouncing bass lines to really bring life to the songs. It was one of those sets where I am not sure what songs they played (I only own one of their CDs, Sea Lion), but it was a strong and enjoyable set that left a huge smile on my face and served as a great warm up for the Dodos’ set later in the evening.