The Dodos @ The Oxford ArtFactory, Sydney (13/02/10)

Fri 19th Feb, 2010 in Gig Reviews

The Dodos highly anticipated and hyped show at the Oxford Art Factory didn’t disappoint.

The San Franciscan trio who came to wider appreciation through their sophomore album The Visiter and dare I say it more pedestrian follow up Time To Die have a split personality. On record they sound airy and mellifluous like a bird flying high, giving you a feeling of riding the high seas on a cruise liner. Live, they are a percussive tour de force with grunt, edgier and intense with a free-wheeling momentum that scoops you up and caries you along on their journey.

Looking like he should probably still be in school, Meric Long, guitarist and lead singer, played with a boyish and enthusiastic charm. I had first seen The Dodos at The Falls Festival a few years ago and was impressed by the big sound that the three of them could create. This time round they sounded more developed with the additional percussion of the vibraphone added to the fray, though barely audible in the mix.

Logan Kroeber up front of the stage on drums drives the band churning up interesting polyrhythms when combined with Long’s percussive guitar playing makes for a stimulating mix. Keaton Synder’s additional percussion and vibraphone adds the gravy making for an mesmerising dynamic between band members. Playing a set of old and new tracks, the older material received a better response from the crowd with songs like the stand-out Paint The Rust and Winter from Visiter being the big hitters. This material seemed played with a wilder abandonment and familiarity from the band moving the audience from merely nodding and foot tapping along to shuffling and bobbing like excited atoms.

All in all, a great gig from a bunch of extinct birds.

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE GIG HERE