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Considering our beloved nation has experienced what we can only label as ‘an exhausting heat wave of men and their acoustic guitars’ in the last twelve months, happily welcoming the likes of James Blunt, Jack Johnson and the latest soul-squeezer in James Morrison into their hearts, it’s a breath of fresh air to see some Petty-influenced strumming at its peak. Led by singer-songwriter Chris Carrabba, Dashboard Confessional have four albums worth of enchanting, tissue-grabbing few-minute journeys ideal for tonight’s intimate sold out setting of the capital’s Camden Barfly.
Latest single ‘Don’t Wait’ opens the set, where the crowd are more than happy to stretch out their vocal chords to the opening lines of ‘Aaaoooohhhhaaa’ in quite a sweet moment. The mood is sweetened further by Carrabba’s slightly proud response, before he and fellow band member Johnny Lefler plunge into the Dashboard classic ‘Screaming Infidelities’. Somewhat Springsteen-strumming is met with Carrabba’s melodious voice prior to turning his microphone around to face the fans in time for them to belt out "You’re hair, it’s everywhere, screaming infidelities…"
Halfway through and the responsive audience seem both very happy and extremely satisfied that their favourite band has come to play, despite one’s constant plea for a cover of the slightly likewise American Kevin Devine, to which Carrabba can only question, "Why would I fly all across the Atlantic to play some Kevin Devine?" But still, that wasn’t enough to silence the plea. Another DC masterpiece was next on the cards in ‘Vindicated’, one of the tracks behind the latest Spider-Man sequel. Self-conflicting lyrics cover the chorus, ‘I am selfish, I am wrong, I am right, I swear I’m right, I swear I knew it all along and I am flawed…’, racing with some very captivating chords. Awesome stuff.
For the first time tonight it seemed Carrabba was under the impression he was about to sing his full way through the next few numbers after announcing ‘the next lot are from our new album, so you probably don’t know the words yet.’ To his surprise the Dashboard fans lent their voices to each and every one of the newens, which included the album’s title track ‘Dusk and Summer’, ‘The Secret’s in the Telling’ and the key-driven ‘So Long, So Long’ where Carrabba played piano.
Set closer ‘Hands Down’ was met with high approval from the audience, as those concluding chants of ‘And I knew, that you meant it, that you meant it’ finished off a rare opportunity for Dashboard’s hardcore fans to catch them before they head off to play Reading and Leeds festival at the weekend. We can certainly see why their latest record hit the number two spot across the Atlantic. If only this country felt the same way about Dashboard as they do with James Blunt.
