Well, it took almost exactly two years, but I have finally made it to a second Dirty Sweet show. I’d say that it was worth the wait, but honestly I wish I’d made it out to see them again sooner.

“Born to Bleed” and one more song

When I led the charge in booking them for the Eugene Celebration in 2007, I knew them only as the lone band (among hundreds of applicants) whose CD had wound up in regular rotation when the interns and I had control of the office radio.

They sounded to me, and still sound, like the musical offshoot of Lynyrd Skynyrd mixed with the vocals of the Black Crowes. I could imagine them playing in the middle of a grassy field, surrounded by lazy couples necking on blankets and drinking beer sometime in the mid-1970s. Although I’ve only ever seen them indoors at night time, that’s how their music feels to me and how I still hope to see it played someday.

I thought the show sounded great, but I was a little disappointed when the drummer, Chris Mendez-Vanacore, confirmed for me after the show that there had indeed been a personnel change since 2007, and that one of the original guitar players and the bass player had both moved on. Although their replacements blended with the band musically, they weren’t as well-synched as their predecessors in either appearance or physicality. (One of the band’s many charms when I first came across them was that the bass player and guitar players would occasionally step forward and move in synchronized bobs a-la-KISS.)

The other minor disappointment for me was that “Delilah,” one of my favorite of their songs, wasn’t on the playlist. I was delighted, however, when the crowd joined in on “Isabel,” and I was relieved to have started recording before I knew I was catching what turned out to be a major highlight of the show.

Isabel

If you like Southern Rock, and you like it done well, I’d really recommend checking these guys out. They’re based in San Diego, so they play in Southern California a lot, but they’ve also got some pretty awesome dates lined up in the coming weeks/months, including a spot at this year’s Lollapalooza.

I decided, too, that I had to include this little video I captured of my co-contributor, Rob, updating his facebook status with his iPhone during the show.

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