Live Review: The Dandy Warhols, Sun God Replica

Corner Hotel’s smaller, side stage is populated by Sun God Replica as we enter and the instrumental side of what they offer is awesome. It’s just when the lyrics come in that The Goodies spring to mind.

The Dandy Warhols take over the main stage and we’re immediately captivated by frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor’s current look, which sees his long locks separated into two braids à la Willie Nelson, tanned, athletic arms shown off thanks to a white t-shirt with sleeves rolled up.

They’re not here to fuck spiders and We Used To Be Friends bops along as the band’s second song. Nick Rhodes’ love child, guitarist Peter Holmström, leads us through the essential, double-overhead clap during the song’s verses and a lot of bingo arms get spontaneous workouts. Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth demonstrates the quartet, and their matchless back catalogue of memorable-yet-diverse hits, are anything but passé – a snapper in the photography pit is even witnessed singing along: “Heroine is so passé-é-é…” Multi-instrumentalist Zia McCabe expertly plays double maraca (braless?) as cute dimples dance on her cheeks. McCabe’s keys consoles look like they’ve been borrowed from The Doctor’s Tardis and she certainly gets impressive volume out of that tambourine.  

Memories flood through our brain boxes with each passing song as The Dandy Warhols perform their outstanding tracks, many of which saw us through trying times: As Taylor-Taylor sings You Were The Last High, plus-one shares, “I used to cry myself to sleep to this when I was pregnant”; another mate reveals We Used To Be Friends transports her back to the confusion of love lost and dealing with divorce. Taylor-Taylor tells us Australia and England are the only two countries where Dandys Rule OK is written on the cover art of their debut album without a concluding question mark – on our soil it’s a statement, not something that’s open for discussion.

The rambunctious Bohemian Like You proves irresistible and our “Whoo-OO-OO-whoo”s fill the room as dancing with abandon replaces the subtle head nod. Get Off reads many minds – “But all I wanna do is get ooooff” – as the track’s swaggering pace is perfectly replicated.

Godless undoubtedly features one of the most heartbreaking trumpet riffs of all time, which is also pretty fun to “bah-bah-bah” along to. It’s right up there with the forlorn trumpet throughout Groove Armada’s At The River and tonight there’s even a live trumpeter onstage to ensure maximum tear-jerking impact. Drummer (and adopted Australian) Brent DeBoer smiles knowingly from behind his kit.

Coolness can’t be taught or faked and The Dandy Warhols don’t ever need to try: they are the definition of cool.