Dandy Warhols @ Le National

It hadn’t been that long since the Dandy Warhols came to visit us here in Montreal, but judging by the size of the crowd at le National the other night, their fans seem to never get enough of this West Coast band.

Entering the charming National theatre, you immediately felt a surreal emotion looking at the stage. This was due in part to the giant Chinese round paper lanterns that hovered above the stage and little did we know at this early time, how they would compliment the band in fantastical fashion.

When the band hit the stage they were in a mysterious shadowed display, leading to a feeling of, "what were we going to hear?" Yet, we had a pretty good idea of what that would be, due to the fact that they were here to promote their new compilation album The Collection Years 1997-2007.

They remained shadowed out, until the chorus of the first song, "Be In", a quite fitting tune to get the show going due to the fact that it is from the 1997 album The Dandy Warhols Come Down.

The light show that ensued was impressive. The lights during "Be In" flashed like crazy and we were even taken back in time to the '80s when strobe lights went wild. Something that is quite impressive is that the whole band plays upstage. Even drummer “Fathead” De Boer was in plain sight at the front of the stage.

At the lead in to the third song, "Shakin’", off their Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia album from 2000, singer/guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor tried his hand at French and I must say, I was thoroughly impressed with his accent. Sounded like he has spent some time with les Français and the crowd ate it up.

However it was the next song that sent the audience into a right tizzy… it was "Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth". Everyone got into the groove, as the big Chinese laterns went bright red.

The band was in fine form, sounding just as they did back in the '90s and although they may be older, they still seem like they can party. Zia McCabe often took a time out from the tambourine to take a swig of beer.

Speaking of Ms McCabe, as Taylor-Taylor would call her, she delighted us with her talents as a musician. Midway through the show she even took on the harmonica when they played "The New Country" and ooo wee, can she play like the best of them. This song has always got me, as it is so different from everything else they do… however they manage to make your conform to country by creating that toe taping effect. It wasn’t until the very end that we finally got to hear their most famous tune "Bohemian Like You", from Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia and they made you feel like it could just go on forever. Everyone jumped up and down and sang every word.

The last song of the night was "Country Leaver" and that it was, leaver that is. They did not play an encore, but still sang 22 songs throughout the show, with no breaks. That is what I call rock and roll stamina and lovers of the craft!