Dragonette & Dan Black Play at Big Orbit's Soundlab, Buffalo NY, August 9, 2010
Upon hearing that both Dan Black and Dragonette were headed to Buffalo’s Big Orbit Soundlab and that the cover for getting in was a mere $12, I had to rearrange my schedule for the 8th, 9th, and 10th to make room to make the trip to majestic Buffalo to take in what I’m sure will be one of the best shows I’ve seen this year. Apart from finding the Soundlab, which is kind of difficult to find (it’s in the back of the Dun Building) the whole trip went flawlessly, with stops at a mall with an Urban Outfitters (Pretentious Hipsters Everywhere!), the Buffalo Zoo, the Albright Knox Art Gallery, Pearl Street Bar and Grill and a quick trip into Canada to ride on the Maid of the Mist.
Openers Catamaran plays their ambient groove-tronica
Big Orbit’s Soundlab is a small intimate venue, that now ranks among my favorite to attend due to just those reasons. The show opened up with a band that stated that they soon were going to be from Buffalo called Catamaran, who unfortunately aren’t any of the bands listed on Myspace as Catamaran. Our space was also usurped by a female Ceelo Green from Gnarls Barkly look-alike (with a fro) and later a 40 year old man doing the beer in each hand dance decided that the best place to watch the show was directly in front of me so I couldn’t see anything. But seriously, I’ve encountered far worse at concerts.
Dan Black wails while wearing war paint.
The show was an exercise in the effectiveness of minimalism. No band exceeded three members. Openers Catamaran had a multitasking singer, keyboardist, guitarist (whose hardware was impressive: a mini moog and a microkorg) and drummer. Dan Black had a fancy sampler and a guitarist and bassist. Dan Black also commented on the nature of communicating in woos and how this was their last show on their tour so they stated that they were “woo” too. Dan Black’s songs had a nice raw edge to them live, particularly on the song they ended on “Yours” which started with a sample of the catchy guitar hook and then burst into a live rendition of the hook. Despite a couple stutters like the guitar and accidentally starting “Symphonies” again to which Dan Black slyly exclaimed “Ask for your money back!”, all the tracks sounded just like the record and even better due to the amount of energy launched into the music. They also played a cover of a Missy Elliot song “Pass That”. If anything Dan Black’s set was too short, which is the best kind of criticism a live concert can receive in my opinion.
Dragonette featured singer Martina Sorbara, bassist/keyboardist Dan Kurtz and drummer Joel Stouffer, as they sang signature songs like “I Get Around”, “Fixin to Thrill”, “Pick up the Phone” and “Big Sunglasses”. Towards the end of the show the band gushed that they were sad that this would be their second and last show playing with Dan Black. Dragonette also apologized for never having been to Buffalo, despite being from Toronto. The bassist/keyboardist showed off some impressive chops and (pun intended) the drummer never missed a beat. The band encored with a true to the record version of “We Rule the World”. The band oozed chemistry (or perhaps alcohol?) as the singer and keyboardist/bassist bantered back and forth in between songs.
All in all, the show was a triumph for technology in the realm of modern music. Granted, just a guy with a lap-top can be entertaining, but these were three bands that played full out with minimal staffing and they lost nothing, if anything the energy was intensified because the bands were that much tighter as a result.
