Sweet Sound Bites: Dragonette & The Presets (co-headline) @ The Fox Theater 5/24/2013

Dragonette, the dance-charged pop-rock trio from Toronto have been rockin' and poppin' since droppin' Bodyparts last September with a slew of funked-up remixes and fun music videos.

So what's left for them to do?
Tour of course!

After touring with Major Lazor in March they hit the road with The Presets for a handful of fun fueled shows! A couple of weeks back I jumped at the chance to see Dragonette and The Presets

co-headline at The Fox Theater in Oakland!

I love a good co-headlining show because both bands get the same amount of time on stage and in most cases fans don't know what band on the bill will play first. This surprise party started off with Dragonette!

Three words came to mind as soon as I arrived:

white (Miss Dragonette herself, Martina Sorbara was wearing all white). hot (though not as well known as they should be the band was on fire as they lit up the stage).pop

(this pop, rocks and her outfit sure popped on stage!).

Then I quickly noticed how easy it was to find my way front and center on the floor because it was...empty. The fans who were there completely enjoyed this rare-occurrence, myself included, but I did wonder how the bands felt about this.

Maybe it was a little ambitious for these two bands to book a show at this venue?

"Pick Up The Phone" off of 2009's "Fixin' to Thrill" was at the top of Dragonette's set-list followed by a new songs, "Riot" and "Live in this City" "The Right Woman." The sound at The Fox Theater is always so good and the fact that it wasn't packed didn't change this.

Martina managed her time on stage really well. Her playful exchanges with with Kurtz and Stouffer durring each song made watching them even more enjoyable while her interaction with the crowd didn't cease. Wheather she was behind her mic, getting fans to fist pump with her (yes, there was a bunch of fist pumping going on) or getting down low, literally reaching out on the edge of the stage she did it all with a smile on her face and it was all done while she sang.

Dragonette is an upbeat band. Period.

Her smiling happy face made me of Kim from one of my favorite pop-optomistic bands, Matt and Kim; I have never seen Kim with out a smile on her face and throughout Dragonette's set Martina's smile never left her face. Plus, both these litttle ladies have some smokin' guns and they both play instruments!

Last summer's sensational single "Hello" came a little later in the Dragonette set and I couldn't tell if the lead singer lady was lipsyncing or if she was just letting the crowd fill in a lot of it .Or was this one of the concicences of preforming a cover song live? I still don't know but I do know it was fun, even I sang along!

Before playing the last single released off of their latest album "Bodyparts" Martina geared fans up by saying this about it: "We have a funny song we're gonna play...it's such a mess (laughs) it's called Giddy Up" which I thought was a funny introduction. Moreover it was charasmatic that Dragonette is able to laugh at themseleves and live no less!

SET LIST
Pick Up The Phone

Riot

Live in this City

Right Woman

Animale (Don Diablo cover)

My Legs

Ghost

Untouchable

Run Run Run

Hello (Martin Solveig & Dragonette cover)

Let It Go

Giddy Up

I Get Around

Fixin To Thrill

Before they partied on, Dragonette mentioned that it was their last night on tour with The Presets and the sentiment in that short yet sweet statement was just that, short and sweet while foreshadowing that their set was coming end.

Dragonette ended the night on a high note with the dancey track "Fixin to Thrill" and as the song got going Dragonette bid a final farewell to their time on the road with The Presets who were taking the stage next.

When the music stopped the floor cleared out and a small part of me felt bad for the bands in a way but then you know what? Both Dragonette and The Presets were performing to people who were there to see them giving both bands a chance to connect with and see their (repsective) fans.