Photo of Evan Dando of the Lemonheads by Laura Jerele
I took a trip down memory lane last night, compliments of the Lemonheads making a tour stop at Delmar Hall Friday night. It had been quite a long time since I’ve seen this band—the last time I saw them it was the early ’90s and it was a tiny club in Cleveland, and to be quite honest, it felt like not much has changed.
The stage setup was super simple—no fuss, no muss, no fog or heavy light show—and that’s pretty much in line with how the show began. No huge intro, just three musicians quietly walking onstage and beginning to play. Vocalist Evan Dando seemed to hide behind his quite long, shaggy hair that covered his face for pretty much the entirety of the show. Dando is not flashy, not caring to be precise, but rather keeping his performance loose and carefree in every way possible. Let’s just say that technical proficiency is not exactly what he goes for, but I don’t mean that to sound as if he doesn’t care about his performance or his time on the stage. It’s just that this band does what they want and they lean into their conductor, the ever-elusive Dando, and if it’s not perfect that’s actually perfectly fine and they have fun. That being said, it was a rather fun night of reminiscent tunes that included “It’s a Shame About Ray” and, of course, their early alternative radio hit cover of “Mrs. Robinson.”
At times, the show turned into an impromptu jam, so instead of being nostalgic with their ’90s catalogue, we damn near careened with a hard left turn into a near miss with the ’70s with an impromptu Steely Dan “Dirty Work” jam/cover that left everyone laughing. And no matter what they played, or how they played it, the crowd was super into it. Let’s face it, you never know what to expect with a Lemonheads performance, and that’s the fun of it. Lean into it, don’t expect perfection, and respect the fact that it takes a lot to get up on stage and perform, knowing that there’s just as many eyes of judgment as there are eyes of adoration. And there were a hell of a lot of Saint Louisans there that night in full adoration mode. | Laura Jerele
