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Walking the length of Hackney asking strangers whereabouts you can find Oslo is, by all accounts, an odd situation to find oneself in on a Thursday evening.
But rather than falling victim to hazardous geographical misadventure, Gigwise is attempting to hunt down Oslo the bar (that is the venue for tonight’s Dawes gig), rather than the Norwegian capital city.
If record sales, media attention and critical acclaim were thrust upon bands in direct proportion to their level of musicianship, then Los Angeles’ Dawes would surely be one of the biggest bands in the world.
Within the first three songs of their 100-minute set, some of the greatest names in modern American music are recalled. The free flowing lucid jams evoke The Grateful Dead, the abrasive guitar interplay plays out like Crazy Horse at their indomitable best, and frontman Taylor Goldsmith’s raspy drawl has more than a hint of Gram Parsons about it.
It is esteemed company to place Dawes in and, hyperbole aside, there is a sense that, had this band been plying the trade during the peak of the halcyon Laurel Canyon scene, they’d be far more widely appreciated - on this side of the Atlantic at least.
There’s something infectious about a Dawes gig. It’s not easy to pin point whether it’s the effortless melodies ('Time Spent in Los Angeles') or the soaring choruses of 'From a Window Seat'. These are simple songs about the band’s city of origin, having good friends and not being fond of flying - but there’s something far more visceral about these numbers when they are played with the sort of intensity that they are tonight.
Even the opener from their latest album (All Your Favourite Bands) 'Things Happen', sounds reinvigorated when heard in a live context, compared to the somewhat pedestrian version that opens their aforementioned fourth record. And, as if they weren’t spoiling us enough, there’s even a cover of the Waterboys’ 'Fisherman’s Blues' thrown in for good measure.
Things happen at a Dawes gig. Good things.
