Review of Evan Dando live at Reading Festival, 24th August 2001

by Robert Collins, Andy Roberts & Suzanne Hutchinson
from Mean Fiddler

In a parallel universe, where sensitivity and a smart way with a minor chord are revered qualities, Evan Dando would be the biggest star in rock history. Tonight’s performance, for those too soft for Green Day, is the comeback of the festival. All the Lemonheads’ hits are wheeled out with a sprinkling of sparkling new songs providing the promise of a long-awaited album on the horizon.

Evan Dando, if he’d been able to leave the drugs alone, would have been huge. The faithful still believe though, and are rewarded with moments of pure magic. Right from the start of ‘Paid to Smile’ the voice of the slacker generation is back. And there are a lot of slackers here too. You can hear them sing along to ‘The Outdoor Type’ and ‘My Drug Buddy’. Truly beautiful songs tumble from Evan and his band one after the other – ‘Into Your Arms’ and ‘Confetti’ arguably the greatest one-two punch of the day.

But for a moment of pop perfection new song ‘All My Life’ is the revelation.

“All my life I thought I wanted things I really didn’t want at all,” he sings. God bless that child.

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Evan Dando on Juliana and times past.

Did you enjoy tonight?
Tonight was way better than last night. Last night the amp was a screeching mess.

Is that it for The Lemonheads?
Well we called ourselves ’Rebel Crew 2001’ tonight! It changes a lot. The Lemonheads – that’s had it’s day. After all we started The Lemonheads in High School.

You still in touch with Juliana Hatfield?
Of course, I stayed in her apartment the other night when she was away. She’s doin’ her thing. She…..er…..I’m not going to gossip about her! She’s ‘playing music still’!

So what’s in the future?
We’re looking to get some money and make a record. I want to make it with John Bryan (Magnolias Soundtrack). We’ve got four tracks recorded already and we just need to get some money together to finish it.

Do you ever regret that NME interview when you were recovering from your dabbling with crack?
My manager shouldn’t have allowed that interview. The doctor said I couldn’t talk – so I wrote down the truth…and you should never tell journalists the truth!

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