A night with Evan Dando: free gigs and fanboys at the Cherry Bar

At around 9.30 pm last Monday, I was lounging around in a hotel pool enjoying a brief holiday in Melbourne when I missed three phone calls – three urgent phone calls telling me about a free impromptu gig by Evan Dando of the Lemonheads just 10 minutes down the road. What else could I do but dry myself, throw on some clothes and jump on a tram to the Cherry Bar.

The Cherry Bar – where Dando was scheduled to play – is the kind of bar where dank is an attribute. Situated on AC/DC Lane, it throws itself in with rock and roll tradition and style quite seamlessly. On this particular night the bar was filled with around 50 expectant punters, all in a mild state of disbelief that such a last minute set was going to happen. After the support, a backpacker with a limited grasp of English asked me “Something happen here soon?” I replied “Fingers crossed.”

I sat down with my beer in a row of seats by a wall hanging of Mick Jagger before making my way front-and-centre stage for the set. Dando – clothed in jeans, t shirt and shoulder length hair – casually wandered up with an acoustic guitar, and after a few requests to lower the lights, played through a solo set filled with Lemonheads classics, all the songs you’d hope to hear.

With an acoustic/electric that just chimed, Mr Dando played an incredibly intimate set, featuring ‘Being around’, ‘Outdoor type’, ‘It’s a shame about Ray’, ‘No backbone’ and many more. The two that really got me, though, were his solo renditions of ‘Down about it’ and ‘Confetti’ – ‘Down about it’ because it had always been my favourite Lemonheads song and it was nice to hear it played live (having only seen the band once before, at the Great Escape festival around 7 years ago), and ‘Confetti’ because it’s now taken my top spot. I’d always liked the track, second on the album It’s a shame about Ray, but it never hit me like it did on Monday night. Played on his chiming acoustic/electric, the three chord progression that guides the verses after the first chorus, along with his voice – bare and raw in a small club – made the song shine. It’s a real test of song writing when a song not only stands up when played solo acoustic, but actually sounds nicer.

Anyway, I have been singing that song for days now, over and over… “He kinda shoulda sorta would’ve loved her if he could’ve”...

The only drawback were a few sweaty fanboys with large backpacks right up front, that filmed almost every song on camera phones held less than a meter away from the performers face (by the way, when did that become acceptable? Fair enough if you want to do that briefly at a larger show, but continuously and so close to the artist? It’s so disrespectful! Snap a quick picture for posterity, then enjoy this fantastic show in full right now, in the moment, not later through a shaky video!)

However, there was one last surprise… Spencer P. Jones! Solo guitarist and member of Spencer P. Jones and the Nothing Butts and the Beasts of Bourbon was called up on stage to finish the show, playing guitar with Dando on the closing few songs. It’s awesome to see that two people you are a fan of are friends, and more awesome to have the privilege of seeing them play together.

Great gig, great bar, great big surprise to end a Monday night with Evan Dando and Spencer P. Jones playing for free, just around the corner.

MOOSE