Following the release of their latest album We’re all Gonna Die, Dawes hit the road for a 50 stop tour across America. With no opener, The band played two sets that lasted nearly three hours with hardly a break in the setlist, perfectly fitting in new songs off We’re all Gonna Die in between familiar Dawes tunes. The band started out with One of Us and moved through with a bunch of their high energy songs. The show itself had such a great energy to it, that it seemed to even amaze the band “Wow, this is incredible” said Frontman Taylor Goldsmith, not even four songs into the setlist. It almost was as if we were transported to the last couple songs of the night, and the band was already going all out. “Don’t worry, we got a long night ahead of us” mentioned Goldsmith. The sing along chorus of When My Time Comes was louder behind me from audience than it was from the band on stage, and the overdriven bass and guitar on the beginning of their most recent hit When The Tequila Runs Out was loud enough that the speakers began to crackle. The band made sure no square foot of the stage remained unexplored, and during the extended instrumentals and solos, they ventured over to each other to smile and play. Each member of the five piece band adding their own unique sounds to the songs, while making the rest of the band look good too.
The second set began with a more intimate, stripped down few songs, with Taylor Goldsmith playing Moon in the Water as the audience quieted their chatter and found the way back to their seats with drinks in hand. Drummer Griffin Goldsmith lead vocals on Roll Tide “the saddest song about college football you’ll ever hear” He mentioned. They ended the acoustic set with a stripped down version of the Blake Mills tune Hey Lover. The band then moved onto playing through more of their discography reaching back to their first album North Hills. In between all of the storytelling ballads and guitar solos was a heartfelt moment making sure that Minneapolis knew how special this city was to the band.“This is really like our second home.” Taylor Goldsmith said. “We’ve been coming to Minneapolis since we were an itty bitty baby band. You guys were one of the first cities that gave us a chance, and we remember playing shows here where there were like five people. Now look at us!” he smiled, arms pointing to the paintings and balcony’s inside the State Theater. “Now we’re here playing here at this beautiful theater. This is really special.” His words were met with the loudest applause of the night, the audience knowing that this wasn’t just another attempt at a city suckup. Minneapolis really was an important stop on the tour for Dawes, and concertgoers knew how lucky they were to see them.
In an era of disposable bands, and a seemingly endless trend of pop songs that all have the “I do drugs to forget you” songwriting, Dawes is a real refresher on the fluidity of words and simple melodies that have made singers and songwriters successful for decades. They’re the type of band who really enjoy being together, and whose well rounded songs interest you in whatever story the narrator draws us into. It is my hope, as well as theirs, that they’ll still be doing this long after their hair turns grey.
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