The Dandy Warhols
Granada Theater
September 8, 2009

Better than: the recession, for one.

If the lights behind The Dandy Warhols on stage weren't alone enough of a reminder that the slick psych-rock outfit came prepared to offer its fans a show worth the price of admission, frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor soon made it clear in an aside to the crowd.

While pontificating about the recession--the fact that fewer people were going out to shows, that it's harder for the band's "artsy friends" to find work these days--he glanced out at the audience appreeciatively.

"Thanks," he said, "for keeping us employed."

Fittingly, he and his band then launched into an energetic take on "All The Money Or The Simple Life, Honey?"

The crowd cheered its appreciation.

But, turns out, this was just the start of a pretty impressive display. For a whopping two hours, the Dandies performed its slew of "commercial" hits--"Get Off," "Bohemian Like Me" and many others, far more than memory usually provides the band.

I guess when you've been around for 15 years, the anniversary the Dandies are celebrating on this tour, you tend to amass a lenghty catalog. And, for a full 120 minutes last night, the band made sure the crowd realized the its depth. More impressive, it was a particularly energetic, excited display from a band that, for whatever reason, seemed to feel like it had something to prove to its good-natured audience.

When the celebratory show almost mercifully came to its conclusion, and Taylor-Taylor again graciously thanked the crowd once more for attending, he offered one more token of his appreciation:

"God bless Texas," he said.

Thing is, you got the feeling this Portland-based outfit truly meant that.

Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: I own a few Dandy Warhols records, but it's not like they pop up all that often in my regular rotation these days. Still, you forget how many catchy tunes the band boasts. Or I did, anyway. The crowd didn't seem to, dancing the night away for the fuill two-hour show. I, meanwhile, kept expecting it to come to its end, figuring that certain hits just had to be the band's closing song for the night. I was wrong for a good 40 minutes. At first that got annoying. Before long, it became absurdly impressive.

By The Way: I know it's summer and it's Texas and it's hot, but how many times can a band complain that it's like a sauna in this climate? They didn't seem to be complaining about the venue, though, which was warm, but not overly so, and offered the band an impressive sound mix, despite the few on-stage monitor concerns it confusingly addressed over the course of the show.

Random Note: According to various Twitter updates, a few lucky fans got ever more Dandies after the show at Vickery Park on Henderson, where the band apparently joined a house band and performed for the crowd there until well past closing time.