dr. dog + bobby bare jr. = awesome.

Sometimes I don't mind staying out until 1:00 on a Wednesday morning. Sometimes it's just plain worth it. I'd heard that Dr. Dog put on a great live show (very true) but I was not too familiar with Bobby Bare, Jr. before tonight at the Larimer Lounge. I didn't get to the show in time for the first band, Jeffrey Lewis... I've come to the conclusion that I'm just too old to stand for 3 bands... lol. I'm not entirely sure when this "3 band" business started, but it's a bit much for me.

Anyhoo, Bobby Bare, Jr. was amazing. The first song was Bobby on acoustic guitar and his keyboardist on mandolin. Then one more acoustic, and the mandolin became the banjo (I can only remember the name of one of his band members, and I can't find anything about the current lineup on the 'net)... Come the third song, the bassist/guitarist (Richie Kirkpatrick) and the drummer took the stage and the rocking began. The whole band has a great stage presence, but Richie was especially fun. He came into the crowd and played a couple of times, he drank his beer from a pitcher and he wore a South Park tie around his head. Fantastic. Great set.

Dr. Dog certainly didn't disappoint either. They have to be the most animated band I've seen in a long time... even moreso than the Spinto Band, I think. I don't know how they kept up the dancing for the whole set, what with the altitude. Although I had a great spot for view, unfortunately I did NOT have a great spot for sound. I ended up right in front of the stage but also right under a speaker, which caused the vocals to be really muddy and hard to hear. But still, the set was amazing. They played quite a few of what Toby called "golden oldie moldies". I was actually pretty surprised that at least half the setlist consisted of the oldies:

My Old Ways
The Pretender
Ain't It Strange
Worst Trip
Wake Up
The Girl
Keep A Friend
Easy Beat
Fool's Life
Today
The Way The Lazy Do
Die Die Die
Oh No
-encore-
Say Something
The World May Never Know
Livin' A Dream

I also nabbed Toby's setlist... :)



And finally, a little PSA: I absolutely LOVE my new(ish) earplugs. They are made by earlove and have saved me from post-concert ringing since I started using them a couple of weeks ago. I got mine via Insound, and while $11 may seem steep for a pair of earplugs, it's well worth it.