The Lemonheads, Sleepy Jackson - London Somerset House - 16/7/06
4/5
By: Yousif Nur
To all intents and purposes, tonight's crowd is a bit of a funny one. In one sense it's one of the more polite-natured gigs in recent memory, but on the flipside the Lemonheads do have one of the most dedicated fanbases in rock, which makes it even more curious that they're not really giving it some tonight.
Up first was the long-estranged, Luke Steele-led Sleepy Jackson. After a lengthy hiatus, it would appear none of the eccentricities have worn thin with Steele sliding guitars along the floor ten-pin bowling style, aiming squarely at his pin - sorry - roadie. In spite of this, the band spend much of their time looking up in the air continuously as though they'd rather be anywhere than the home of the Inland Revenue tonight. Nonetheless, they otherwise perform a disappointingly uneventful set drawing heavily from admittedly unfamiliar, lengthily christened album 'Personality, One Was A Spider, One Was A Bird' inclusive of recent single 'God Lead Your Soul'. But as per usual with any crowd, they want them to bang out the favourites - and gladly, this ensued with the rolling out of 'Good Dancers' and finale 'Vampire Racecourse'.
Eccentric, innovative, progressive they might be, and granted, they're untypical of the ilk bands Australia tends to produce (Jet this certainly isn't) - but something quite unexplainable is sadly lacking from their set. Although perhaps it's the fault of the flat crowd, in which case, it's a score draw.
Where the 'Jackson stepped tentatively, The Lemonheads make a triumphant return to London - fronted by the frumpy stripy tee, shaggy hair and (now) fresh-face of nineties legend Evan Dando, in tow with ex-Descendents members, Bill Stevenson and Karl Alvarez. They walk on to the gaze of a meek, thirty-something audience and launch into opener 'Great Big No', but it was only really when the following fan-favourite 'Confetti' from their classic 1992 album, 'It's A Shame About Ray' that (down in front at least) a little sing-a-long and mini-jump around got going. Dando's also fairly quiet tonight, but he generously treated the ungrateful, apathetic crowd to a stripped-down solo set of 'Outdoor Type', 'Being Around', 'Why Do You Do This To Yourself' and 'Frank Mills'.
There was showcased only one new track from their forthcoming self-titled album, their first in a decade, 'No Backbone' - as expected, it's business as usual with their effervescent summery, jangly guitar pop still intact. Evan also promised everyone he'd never again solely undertake his solo-career path, instead concentrating on Lemonheads alone - a statement met to with an almost ironic cheer that was one of the biggest of the night thus far, the most raucous being reserved for 'Rudderless' on their encore. Who knows, maybe their career will hit the upper echelons of the mainstream a second time round. God knows Evan Dando's waited a while for it.
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