The Sights/The Dirtbombs - Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom - 01/20/04

Good hair, double bass and a fight. That's a good rock show right? Well, unfortunately that didn't make up for the tour-tired musicians and boring stage presence.

The Dirtbombs are not a band I've listened to, but my friends had been looking forward to this show for weeks, and I wanted to see The Sights in the opening slot.
The Sights played a great set. I'm not familiar with the 'Are You Green?' era unfortunately. The last 4 songs included one new one progressing from their 'Got What We Want' material nicely, as well as the highlights from that album Don't Want You Back and Sweet Little Woman.

It's like watching oil and water separate, watching bands who are good musicians and those who just like to rock out try and extend their songs live with solos and general feedback wanking. Good musicians can take a three minute pop song and stretch it to 12 without losing your attention (The Dears currently hold the record for me). It's obvious the Sights know their shit, because they kept it together despite broken strings and faulty guitar straps. It's an impressive skill to look like you're out of control but keep the melody intact. This tour, the Sights are down to their singer/guitarist Mark Leahy, Dave Shettler on drums (relegated to the back of the stage for knocking over the organ one too many times live) and a super mellow Bobby Emmett on organ and bass.

Apparently Emmett plays piano bass with his foot while also playing the organ. Which may explain his lack of movement compared to the other two. Unfortunately the show definitely lost steam in the big venue. It was originally booked for a medium -size place but sold out in two weeks and bumped up to a much bigger space with a high stage.

The Dirtbombs have been in tour for awhile and it shows. Their Detroit rock definitely sounded great, but the stage presence was such a downer, it was hard to keep the energy up. The crowd was into it, and that's saying something for the slow-moving Vancouver crowd, but aside from that I wasn't feeling it.

However, any good feelings I was absorbing from the crowd around me were abruptly cut short by the jerk in the turtleneck who pushed my other sub five-foot-three friend and I almost to the ground. My husband and friends came to the rescue and it came very close to a full brawl. That killed the mood and I left shortly after that.

A quick poll and the line-up at the coat check confirmed my suspicions that the Dirtbombs weren't living up to the hype.

Final words... I'd definitely go see the Sights again, hopefully in a smaller venue. My friend cornered one of the guys and he said the new album is due out in June - I've got high hopes. Glad I saw the Dirtbombs, but I wouldn't bother to again.