Dr. Dog

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/drdogjune27sm.jpg" alt=" " />For an uninspired country-jam/rock band, a lot of people like Dr. Dog - live at least. ...

Dr. Dog : Live

County-rock, jam band, sixties/seventies-vein music has been coming back in recent years in the indie music scene, with lots of hype, but varying in quality.  Some bands don’t just draw from the past, but build upon it, to create compelling records like Blitzen Trapper’s freakier Furr (QRO review) or David Vandervelde’s smoother Waiting For the Sunrise (QRO review).  But there are also a ton of retreads, and they seem to get be getting the most press.  Perceived alternative ‘cred’ but relative mainstream success, old sounds done by young guys (and the bands are invariably all-male) – it is very appealing on its surface, but if you dig a little deeper, it can all be rather thin.

Dr. Dog + crowd

Dr?Instead, the acclaim for these weaker groups is ‘earned’ from their live shows, which have the kind of energetic and adoring crowds you’d have found at a Dead show back in the day, before hippie-dom became its own stereotype – though the audiences range much further in age, from parents who can remember when what the band is copying was new, to under-age kids who get to go to a rock show that isn’t dominated by über-judgmental hipsters (and is ‘safer’ in their parents’ eyes than a hipster or hippie event…).  Exhibit A of this is still the massively over-praised Fleet Foxes (QRO album review), the most successful – and least deserving of that success – folk-rock revival band of the many coming out of the Pacific Northwest, but Philadelphia’s Dr. Dog is moving on up like The Phillies, and they played to a ton of fans at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Bandshell for Celebrate Brooklyn! on Saturday, June 28th.

Dr. Dog's greenery

Dr?Dr. Dog’s latest, Fate (QRO review), had some strong moments, but was largely an uninspired Beatles retread.  However, live at Prospect Park, they were given to the later part of the seventies, as they channel guitar-rock & jam – just without some of the sting, for better or worse.  Their songs are not as accomplished as bands from that era, but Dr. Dog also isn’t as self-indulgent with endless solos and jams.  They brought on horns sections for some of the songs, and while the added instrumentation didn’t make their songs overdone, they also just didn’t add that much.  They decked the stage out not in psychedelica but greenery.  Instead, you could really feel that the band was feeding off the crowd, and enjoying the evening just as much as their fans.  It was easy to relax and appreciate the sweetness (especially as the show was free…), even if it ultimately wasn’t that filling.

Dr. Dog + horns

Zimba + kidThe high point of the evening wasn’t any song (they all kind of bled together, unless you’re a devotee), but when an actual dog came on stage (and he showed up after the one post-Fate piece of the night, “Fat Dog”…).  Apparently the pet of the band, ‘Zimba’ “even had a wristband on, so he’s cool…” as one Dog said.  Zimba went to the crowd at the lip of stage, settling on one young kid whose dad lifted the boy from his shoulders and onto the stage to pet the pet.  Dr. Dog is relatively ‘family-friendly’, so it wasn’t surprising that there were many families in attendance, especially at a charity/government-supported show – the front, ‘VIP’ section was particularly thick with them, as that’s mostly reserved for ‘friends of Celebrate Brooklyn!’, who tend to be Park Slope adults who have the time, money, and desire to support government-sponsored arts programs.

Zimba

Dr?It’s very hard to hate on the parents & kids for having a good time (especially as they weren’t persnickety, ‘You standing and enjoying the music is blocking the view from me sitting’ types around at the Blonde Redhead show the night before – QRO review), or for anyone at Prospect Park (QRO venue review) that night, really, despite Dr. Dog’s relatively weak written material, or that the Americana folk-rock line-up seemed a sliding scale of quality, with first opener These United States (QRO photos) standing up as the best (thanks to their great new record, CrimesQRO review), and the following Phosphorescent (QRO photos) still more accomplished than Dr. Dog (had a record of songs by, or inspired by, Willie Nelson).  There were a few strong songs, like Fate’s “Hang On” in the middle, and the night’s closer, “We All Belong” (from their 2007 record of the same name), but there were also pieces in the vein “From”, with revelatory lyrics such as “Like a choo-choo train”.  Live, Dr. Dog’s written highs (more at the end than at the beginning) do get reduced a bit as the mix with their lows, but that also lifts the lows: early number “The Way the Lazy Do”, a lazy Belong piece, was particularly lifted that night.  Not a bad way to spend an evening (certainly for free), but don’t go thinking Dr. Dog is Wilco (QRO live review)…

Dr. Dog

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Concert Reviews
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