Rain, busted Brisbane trains, and a misleading venue name meant I missed the first two openers (SPACE & AGES and Lazy Guns) for The Dandys' concert at The Valley Loft.
The venue's name is a bit of a misnomer as The Valley Loft is on the ground floor below another, bigger venue called Wonderland. Even the bands playing tonight (1 June) had trouble finding it – apparently Dandys' lead singer Mads Protheroe got lost according to the band's official Instagram story.The sign to the loo at The Valley Loft says 'Please Don't Do Coke In The Bathroom' in crisp, red, neon letters and it strikes me as more of a challenge than a deterrent. To me, it set the tone for the gig that night – as I would delightfully discover, The Dandys live are a restless, reckless, and manic band that push the rules and boundaries.
Luckily, I had made it in time for the third and final opener for The Dandys – Ixaras. She's a 17-year-old musician passionate about empowering minors and young people in the music scene, founding the label Anti-Dismal Music to promote music by young people.
Ixaras has a boyish, youthful look and she bopped and danced energetically across the stage with her guitar, like Billie Eilish in the 'Bad Guy' music video. She also is incredibly earnest and when she performs, you really feel she is being vulnerable with her art onstage.
Coming to the stage hot off winning the triple j High Youth Music Awards, Ixaras and her band of youth played a quick, charming and playful set. The lyrics Ixaras sung were of teenage heartbreak, ex-girlfriends, their new boy toys, and toxic friendships.
I appreciated the interplay the band members had between songs when they re-tuned and re-adjusted their instruments, Ixaras introducing these breaks as "jazz interludes". It was a delightful interplay between youthful, up-and-coming musicians. The bassist had a great time miming throwing his pick into the crowd.
The Ixaras set was over too soon as the gig was running behind time according to the sound technician.
The intense reverb of Ixaras was still dancing in my ear canals when the main act of the night, The Dandys, stomped onto stage before an enthusiastic crowd.
The three Dandys guitarists (Mads Protheroe on rhythm, Felix Fogarty on lead, and Henry Schultz on bass) each stomped onto stage in massive Doc Martens, meanwhile the drummer (Nick Keogh-Peel) slid up with cowboy boots. The Dandys were joined by a plus one for their Valley Loft gig (whose name I cannot track down!) who added delicious synth and rhythm to the back of The Dandys' sound.
The Dandys have a notable resume, having opened for the likes of Hope D, songs produced by the infamous Brock Weston of BUGS, and played Splendour in 2023. They also have a habit of promising big things and then disappearing from public for months on end.
That's what their latest single 'Sorry' is a response to. It's a sorry to the fanbase for not releasing anything much recently. The lyrics are knitted together with random bits of conversation Protheroe had overheard from the months prior.
It's a great screamer of a song, with messy, self-deprecating lyrics, and a guitar that purrs. The song revitalised The Dandys' drive and initiated the 'Goin' Places' tour, of which The Valley Loft gig was the final show.
The Dandys started their set with a tantalising unreleased song 'Overgrown', an indie rock ballad that was quite tame sonically by Dandys standards. They then ramped up the energy by playing fan-favourite 'Smile More'.
In the song, Protheroe recounts being told by countless people during low points in her life to just "smile more". The song had the whole audience head-banging and whipping their shaggy, mullety hair around.
They then played a mix of songs from their 2023 EP 'Sex And Feuds' and other unreleased tracks. My favourite of the unreleased gems was 'Comedown', a song Protheroe and Fogarty wrote about the time Protheroe set Fogarty up with a date that turned into a toxic situationship.
Despite the sad subject matter, the song is a banger, and I can't wait for an official recording of it to drop. With the extra synth player onstage, The Dandys' added some extra flavour to their songs. Each musician got the chance to show their chops with instrumental solos, creating a rich and overwhelming barrage of sounds. I particularly enjoyed Keogh-Peel's drum solos.
The Dandys rounded their set off nicely, with the second-last song they played being 'Lemons', originally a popular Dandys 2022 single. Protheroe encouraged the audience to scream the wordless chorus of "Da da da da, hey!" waving her arms and her mic around like a conductor or even a traffic warden.
As the audience belted out the chorus with the band, Protheroe bent down to those in the front row and started interacting with them. She bent down to me, and we had a staring contest (she won, obviously). It felt like some imaginary fourth wall boundary had been shattered and it set the audience alive with excitement.
The guy next to me had Protheroe point at The Dandys necklace adorning his neck and say "nice merch" mid-song. Then Protheroe did the completely unexpected and jumped off the stage into the welcoming mass of the audience, finishing the song among the mosh.
The Dandys begged the technician for time to let them play two more songs. They were granted time for only one more song, so The Dandys made it a good one. They finished their set before a hyped up, head-banging crowd with an energetic rendition of 'Sorry'.
It felt as if The Dandys were once again apologising to the fans that they weren't allowed to play one more song. Someone from the audience flung a purple, bedazzled bra onto the stage. The crowd cheered as Protheroe picked it up and wrapped it around her mic for the rest of 'Sorry'.
When the song ended and The Dandys set themselves up to do a quick photo with the audience, Protheroe took the bra and wrapped it around her head for a goofy shot. She went back to the mic and said: "I avoid most girls clothes these days – you want this back? It looks like a nice brand," before chucking it back to the audience to the person who threw it.
Breathless, hyped and buzzing, the audience watched The Dandys leave the stage. The gig was over by 10pm, incredibly early for a local indie rock gig. This can most likely be attributed to the under-age status of Ixaras, the bands pushing the set list times forward to let her play before she is barred from the venue for being underage.
If I were to summarise the gig by numbers, I would summarise it like this: Bras thrown – 1; picks thrown – 1; technicians refusing to let the bands play another song - 2; Doc Martens and shag mullets – innumerable!
- written by Lilian Martin
