Review of Evan Dando live at Dingwall's, Camden
by Max Bell from This Is London 20th February 2001
Trawl the Net for an update on Evan Dando and you won't get far. "I go kinda nuts when I'm leading a normal life," is the size of recent observations on this former Lemonhead, who is so highly rated in pop circles that Liam Gallagher paid to see him play in Manchester two nights ago.
Evan, from Boston, still exerts magnetism. After three songs in Dingwalls it was easy to remember why. Not only does he knock off songs as classic as It's A Shame About Ray, Favourite-T and Big Gay Heart, he looks like he was born to inhabit the strain of rock and roll music that went AWOL in this country a long time ago.
Fantastic tunes, huge charisma, the notion the singer might suddenly go ape - hey, you're not going to get that with Radiohead. The duller our bands get, the more interesting Evan becomes. And it's not just because he resembles all of the Buffalo Springfield stuck together, or that he can strike a melody like If I Could Talk I'd Tell You, or even his Everlys meets Hank Williams grooves. Evan simply has class.
Pitching up with nothing more than an effect, fuzz ridden acoustic and a huge bag of song Dando captivated, besmirched and swung the crowd with his floppy demeanour, cute Del Bombers shirt and a raft of melodies that made A&R people gnaw their knuckles raw.
Like Tom T Hall, Elvis and Arthur Lee before him, Evan Dando has got the gift of the American songwriter's gab. He is unique and should be hailed as such.