Live Review: The Dandy Warhols, Morning Harvey

Morning Harvey warm up the quickly filling crowd, as their melodic indie sound reminiscent of Echo & The Bunnymen filters across the room. Playing a tight set including their singles Susanne Monday and Sundown, the crowd seem to appreciate the indie groove, and the band is well-received.

The Dandy Warhols take to the stage but, to the annoyance of keyboardist/bass player Zia McCabe, her feedback monitors are incorrectly positioned, forcing her to try and adjust them herself and causing some onstage angst. Lead singer Courtney Taylor-Taylor casually remarks to the crowd of McCabe's penchant for onstage interior design. With the stage now set The Dandy Warhols kick off into a blistering opening trio of crowd favourites Be-In, Crack Cocaine Rager and the seminal Get Off.

Taylor-Taylor has an interestingly democratic stage positioning. Set back next to now Melbourne-based drummer Brent DeBoer, he's twin mic'd and commanding in his tall-framed, casual-cool guitar slung way. The Dandys have the crowd in an absolute frenzy, jumping and surfing to the surprise of the band (and security) as a punter leaps on stage, gesticulates wildly and proceeds to dive off again.

Wearing a feathered hat and waist jacket, lead guitarist Pete Holmstrom keeps his roadie busy with guitar changes between every song. He plies The Dandy Warhols' wall of sound through Vox amps, utilising the myriad electronic effects petal wizardry at his feet, often crouching down to adjust levels and knobs to wring out the sound so unique to The Dandys.

Working through their extensive back catalogue and numbers off their latest album Distortland, The Dandys play the likes of You Are Killing Me, Catcher In The Rye, Styggo and classic crowd singalong favourite Bohemian Like You. Another classic, We Used To Be Friends, off their ground-breaking 2003 release Welcome To The Monkey House, received a slow grooving melodic rework, which is at first hard to pick. But soon it sucks you in to the rhythmic, crowd-participated clapping and, among the layered synth beat of keyboards and pedal-assisted distorted guitar work of Holmstrom, lifts the crowded to rapturous applause.   

Finishing off with three-song encore The Dandys leave the stage except for McCabe, who - to the delight of everyone - proceeds to entertain the crowd with a synth beat solo that seems to last forever. Finally, it's over, and she thanks the crowd for their 22-year support in Australia. The night is over, the crowd disperses well and truly sated.