Concert review: The Dandy Warhols + Secret Shame at The Orange Peel
Earlier in the morning on Feb. 28, Secret Shame’s tour van had broken down in Birmingham, Ala., leaving the members of post-punk quartet wondering if they’d make it back to their hometown in time to finally seize the opportunity to perform on the stage of Asheville’s most beloved venue. Thanks to a speedy repair, the band managed to return just in time to make its Orange Peel debut.
Leaving no doubt that the opportunity was well-earned, Secret Shame put on the kind of thrilling performance usually expected from a headlining act, and the unsuspecting crowd of Dandy Warhols fans fully embraced the group’s gloomy gothic dance punk. Even the interludes of chirping birds and Kermit the Frog singing “The Rainbow Connection” went down well with the audience — not that any person with a soul could harbor negative sentiments against that song.
The hard working local quartet has spent more time than ever on the road over the past year, and it shows. Like a well-oiled machine, performing tunes from last year’s Autonomy, the group proved more confident and in-sync than ever. As the energetic set came towards a close, lead vocalist Lena took a moment to thank the crowd and express the deep emotional struggle of singing such intensely personal songs about addiction and mental disorder on a nightly basis. With time for one more, the band then launched into an explosive rendition of “Zero” that left no doubt that Secret Shame is ready for much bigger things.
As much as the set by the local post-punk band hit with the punch of a marquee act, it was still just the appetizer. When The Dandy Warhols’ show was originally announced, it was somewhat surprising that the Portland, Ore.-based rockers still had the draw to fill The Orange Peel. The quartet, a couple decades removed from the late-’90s/early-aughts peak defined by minor hits “Bohemian Like You” and “We Used to Be Friends,” seemed more likely to be candidates for a sold-out gig at The Grey Eagle. It’s the fate that contemporaries such as Built to Spill and of Montreal have been confronted with. However, my skepticism that the Dandys could still pack a room as big as the Peel subsided early into Secret Shame’s set: Gen Xers were out in full force, even on a Tuesday night.
Opening the set with “Be-In,” the opening track from the group’s breakthrough 1997 album, The Dandy Warhols Come Down, the band quickly displayed why it can still draw a crowd. The buzzing twin guitar attack of Courtney Taylor-Taylor and Peter Holmström swelled to overtake the room. On record, The Dandy Warhols have always drawn from the British neo-psychedelia and shoegaze scenes of the years that preceded the group’s own arrival, but when performing live the band leans further into those influences. Even the more radio-friendly power-pop of “Not If You Were The Last Junkie on Earth” and “The Last High” was accompanied by a powerful wall of sound that propelled the songs to sonic heights far beyond the recorded versions.
When a band has spent as much time on the road as The Dandy Warhols have, it’ll learn that the studio and the stage should be treated differently. Good bands figure out how to elevate the material when performing live, and that’s exactly what The Dandys did at The Orange Peel. Needless to say, “Bohemian Like You” was the biggest crowd pleaser of a set that pulled primarily from the classic albums The Dandy Warhols Come Down and Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia (2000), but even the less familiar cuts from more recent records proved to be quite enjoyable.
(Photos: Jonny Leather)
Secret Shame
