Dr Dog offers an interesting blend of psychedelic rock and roots that allows for diversity in their recordings. Due to this diversity the band has the opportunity to choose willfully what brand of live music they present and unfortunately they occasionally seem to revel in one that does not entirely do them justice. Obviously feeling the need to jump around and infuse energy in the show, the band chose to sacrifice a lot of their slower more harmonious roots based music for a sped up, typical American rock style. A standard punter stopping by the Espy could have been forgiven for thinking that Dr Dog were more Simple Plan than Black Keys, at least for the first half of their show. OK, so nobody deserves that but you get the point.

Before Dr Dog began however, local band The Harpoons shot through a brilliant set that had the punters grooving. Similar to fellow Melbourne darlings Little Red, the Harpoons prefer the harmonies and hooks of Beach Boy style rock and it suits them perfectly. One thing this band has over Little Red is the unique and amazing talent of frontgirl Bec. Her style, both aesthetically and vocally, mirror powerfully the type of music they play and given a few years one can easily see her attaining icon status in the Melbourne underground with her understated charm. This is not to take anything away from the rest of the band who are also fantastic, and as a group there is certainly a lot of potential.

Dr Dog began energetically with Old Days, a catchy number that worked well to spark the crowd into filling any gaps at the front however it sounded very different to the version off their recent album Fate. This difference was further shown in their next track Hang On, which was also sped up and the Beatles-esque charm of piano melodies, so effective on the record version, was drowned out by over-excited guitar-ing and vocals. It wasn’t until their fourth song The Beach that the roots infused 60s pop stylings the crowd came for was introduced and the punters responded appropriately. This continued with The Girl and 100 days where the band seemed to slow down and Beach Boys style harmonies and melodious keys took precedence over exaggerated singing and – œrocking out’. It seemed the real Dr Dog had finally arrived.

From this point the show was thoroughly enjoyable, with highlights coming from their slow-tempo grungier numbers utilizing two keyboards including Ain’t it Strange and The Breeze. The song of the night was The Ark, a stripped back cross between Black Keys and the Beatles, which translated fantastically live. Despite the slower tempo of the song the band maintained energy superbly and showed perhaps for the first time that night why they are rated so highly as a live act. Dr Dog closed with some other enjoyable tracks Fat Dog, Army of Ancients and The Rabbit, The Bat and the Reindeer that made sure they left on a high note.

Despite early on seeming to force songs and washing away the appeal of many of the early tracks, Dr Dog finished strongly and showed why they are so respected as a live act. Hopefully in the future they revert to a live show which is from start to finish a better representation of their talent and 1960s pop-rock inspired unique sound.