Nov 263 min read

Dawes At Roadrunner, Boston, MA

Photos by Joanna Gleason

Review by Jean Senat Fluery

Shooting Dawes at the Roadrunner in Boston on November 22, 2024, was the second consecutive live music event I attended in a period of seven days at the same venue. Six days before, I was there to see the singer/songwriter Sammy Rae Bowers, the leader of the funk/jazz-rock band based in New York City, NY.

Located at 89 Guest Street, in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, the modern 3,500 – capacity venue with large areas and a balcony, plus a bar was almost filled with fans, those lovers of live music who came to see Dawes, the American folk rock band from Los Angeles, California.

The show started with Winnetka Bowling League as an opener for Dawes. The LA-based indie rock band with singer and guitarist Matthew Koma, his brother Kris Mazzaris (drums), Maddie Lough (bass), Blake Straus (guitar) and Sam Beresford (keys), has played a series of songs which most of them featuring in their first full length album Sha La La. The audience was very excited to listen to the band playing several popular songs from their repertoire such as Slow Dances, On the 5, Kombucha, CVS, Are you Okay, Congratulations, America in Your 20’s, Sixteen, Pulp.

Winnetka Bowling League’s performance was terrific. The band played with a lot of energy that kept the audience singing, moving, dancing, and jumping during the entire first part of the show.

The Winnetka Bowling League

At 9:15 p.m. after a brief intermission, the headliner Dawes took the stage. The American folk rock band from Los Angeles, California composed of brothers Taylor Goldsmith(guitars and vocals), and Griffin Goldsmith (drums) released their first album “North Hills” on August 18, 2009. The resulting sound is one that Rolling Stone magazine referred to as “authentically vintage.” Dawes released their second album, “Nothing is Wrong”, on June 7, 2011, and toured the U.S. co-headlining with Blitzen Trapper. They played alongside Jackson Browne at the Occupy Wall Street event in Zuccotti Park, on December 1, 2011, and also appeared on the February 7, 2012, episode of the NBC television series Parenthood. In February 2013, the band released the single “From a Window Seat” from the 2013 album.

At Roadrunner in Boston, Friday night, the fans were so excited to listen to the band playing most of their top 10 tracks of all time: This is Life – When My Time Comes – A Little Bit of Everything – All Your Favorite Bands – Things Happen – Mister Los Angeles – House Parties – Still Strangers Sometimes.

Talking about their last album titled OH BROTHER released in 2024 by Dead Ringers, Taylor said: “A homegrown, sticky, raw record made in a room the size of a bathroom over the course of a couple of weeks. The collection of songs has some dark jokers, some pulverizers, some movers and groovers – all in an attempt to shed light on the variety of underlying joys and anxieties inherent to being alive in 2024.”

The energy, the vibe, the music, the lighting, the purity of the sound... As a photographer and a fan of live music, reviewing the live performance show on Friday November 22, 2024, my comment is short and simple: “It was such a great show from start to finish. Dawes proved once again why the American folk rock band from Los Angeles, California, is the face of rock and roll.”

DAWES SETLIST

1- The Game

2- Time Spent

3- Front Row Seat

4- Something in Common

5- Waves

6- WMTC

7- Fix (High and Dry Intro)

8- Café

9- Little Bit (Solo)

10- Enough Already (Duo)

11- Less Than Five