Come On...And Still Feel The Lemonheads

Continuing my tour of bands I listened to in college, The Lemonheads made a stop at the 9:30 Club earlier this month, touring in support of the 30th anniversary of their release Come On Feel The Lemonheads.

In the 1990s, Evan Dando was the hot rock star from the alternative music world that everyone wanted a piece of - He wrote catchy, two-minute power pop songs that grabbed your attention, he appeared in movies and television and frankly, he was pretty dreamy with his long flowing hair and baby-faced smile. That’s pretty much gone at this point - the shaggy beard, the hair hiding the face and aside from the occasional tour, he’s pretty much retreated away from the industry. But those songs - they’re still there.

Opening the night, the band covered “The Killing Moon” by Echo & The Bunnymen and without any fanfare or banter, kicked into the first track off of Come On…, “The Great Big No”. Dando’s voice is deep and sometimes hidden behind the sonic sounds of the band, but he clearly still loves these songs years later.

“Into Your Arms” was a huge college and MTV hit and it passed the sniff test at the 9:30 Club. With heads bopping, it was the first of many sing-along moments.

They quickly followed that up with one of my favorite tracks off of Come On…, “Down About It” which sounded fantastic live, a meld of punk energy with that signature pop sensibility. The only thing I missed with backing vocals from Juliana Hatfield.

Other highlights in the first part of the show were “Big Gay Heart”, “Dawn Can’t Decide” and “You Can Take It With You”.

Off went the band with Dando left on stage for a short acoustic set of covers that included the fantastic “Frank Mills” and a strange one of “Round Here” by Florida Georgia Line.

The band came back out along with opener John P. Strohm (formerly from Blake Babies). Strohm added a nice touch of solid guitar playing and backing vocals to songs like “Hospital” and the classic “It’s A Shame About Ray”. The penultimate song was another strange cover - “Lyin’ Eyes” by The Eagles with Dando, solo on drums.

Once the final notes of “If I Could Talk I’d Tell You” faded out and the light had come up, I was satisfied. Having never seen them in their prime, The Lemonheads (Dando and a really solid backing rhythm section) carried me back to my younger days with a cool, awkward and fun set.