Last month I was invited to cover Dawes at The Fillmore in San Francisco on November 28th but I was going to be in LA that day. I thought it would be a long shot telling my contact that and asking if Dawes had any upcoming shows in LA I could cover but I did and they did!
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| Dawes @ The Fonda Theater 11/26/2021 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
It was the day after Thanksgiving and Dawes was headlining their first of two shows at The Fonda Theatre on Hollywood Blvd and I was approved to cover them. My excitement was two fold: it was my first time at The Fonda and my second time being approved to cover a show in LA.
The Fonda was smaller than I imagined. With it's dimly lit interior, art deco and balcony it struck me as a combination of two venues in SF: The Fillmore, the same venue they'd play in a few days and The Warfield. The show that night was not sold-out by any means but it was filled with fans that looked to be my age and up. An older demographic if you will.
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| Dawes @ The Fonda Theater 11/26/2021 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
There was plenty of space to mingle though most people stayed within their social circle, masks were kept on for the most part and light hearted conversations were had before the band started. It was a nice change of pace after working overcrowded music festivals where the attendee demographics are usually a lot younger and where no one seems to care about the transmission of COVID anymore.
The place lit up at the sight and sound of Dawes. Being able to tour in support of their seventh album Good Luck With Whatever which they released October 2020 was a shared celebration between them an their fans. At one point front man, Taylor Goldsmith, talked about how before the pandemic he thought that he could take or leave live music and touring because they were a band and that's what bands do.
When it was all taken away during lockdown and he couldn't tour or play live music to a live audience is when it really hit him. He needs live music, live shows, a live audience. Like me, live streams just didn't do it for Dawes, they just aren't the same. His spiel is probably the most honest COVID spiel I've seen someone make on-stage and I appreciated that.
They opened with "None of My Business" a new one from the new album and then proceeded with older songs from their older albums: Nothing Is Wrong, We're All Gonna Die, Passwords, Stories Don't End and North Hills. It wasn't until a little more than half way through the set they played another new one, Someone Else's Cafe or Doomscroller Tries to Relax. Somewhere in there Goldsmith mentioned how he usually doesn't get nervous before playing shows but there was something about these hometown shows and playing to folks from or at least in his hometown that made him a bit nervous.
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| Dawes @ The Fonda Theatre 11/26/2021 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
As I made my way around the venue trying to get good photos while being respectful of other concert goers, I noticed 8x11 signs on the stage asking people to keep masks on if they were that close. That was a first for me and again, something from Dawes that I appreciated.
Dawes land somewhere between indie and folk though I wouldn't say their sound is indie-folk. Some songs have a distinct indie sound while other have a strong folk flare. They throw in an instrumental version of one of their songs, House Parties and to really mix things up they did a Black Sabbath cover.
With 15 songs on their set list and a two song encore, Dawes played for nearly two hours. They were happy to do so and of course their friends were happy about it, too. I'm sure the next two nights of shows at The Fonda Theatre in LA and The Fillmore in San Francisco were just as laid back and whole hearted as their first show at The Fonda.
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| Dawes @ The Fonda Theatre 11/26/2021 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
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| Dawes @ The Fonda Theatre11/26/2021 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
set-list 11/26/2021
1. None of My Business
2. If I Wanted Someone
3. Don't Send Me Away
4. We're All Gonna Die
5. Feed the Fire
6. Someone Will
7. The Western Skyline
8. Time Spent in Los Angeles
9. Someone Else's Cafe or Doomscroller Tries to Relax
10. House Parties (acoustic)
11. Somewhere Along the Way
12. From a Window Seat
13. Still Feel Like a Kid
14. Roll with the Punches
15. All Your Favorite Bands
en-core
16. Who Do You Think You're Talking To?
17. Rat Salad (Black Sabbath cover)
