Dawes, Shovels & Rope sell out sweltering Cat's Cradle

All photos by Kevin Norris

California americana rock band Dawes have become regular visitors to the Triangle over the last few yeas and each time they come back it the crowds grow larger. On Wednesday night the band rolled into town with Shovels and Rope and played a sweltering, sold out show at the Cat's Cradle.

Dawes released their third album in April titled Stories Don't End and the band played a lot of new songs during the night, starting with their opening number "From a Window Seat." The band sounded as tight as ever and it's easy to see why they've been called on to perform with legends like John Fogerty and Robbie Robertson.

Some highlights of the set included the "Most People," the boisterous singalong that always accompanies "When My Time Comes" and a rare performance of "When You Call My Name." Singer Taylor Goldsmith noted that the band hadn't played the song live in about two years even though the it did make it into the band's set at Bonnaroo last year.

Towards the end of the set, drummer Griffin Goldsmith took over lead vocals for a fantastic cover of the Bob Seger ballad "We've Got Tonight." The band closed out the main set with the fan favorite "A Little Bit of Everything." I'll never understand why the line "So pile on those mashed potatoes and an extra chicken wing" elicits such ecstatic cheers from the crowd, but it always does.

After a short break the band returned for a rather anticlimactic encore of "Million Dollar Bill" and "Side Effects." The latter is a perfectly good song but makes for a bad closing song. That being said though, the band sounded fantastic throughout the set and put on a stellar show as is the norm for them. I'm sure we'll be seeing the back in the Triangle again sooner rather than later. If they keep getting more popular they might outgrow the Cradle.

South Carolina garage folk duo Shovels and Rope opened the show with a stellar set. The band's star has been on the rise in the last few years, most recently seeing them on the Late Show with David Letterman and filming an episode of Austin City Limits which should air in the fall.

The band has added a new tool to fill out their sound live, a synthesizer one of the two plays while simultaneously playing the drums. Hearst killed it with a great bass riff on "Shank Hill St." The band played the song "Kitchen-Hallway" from Trent's solo album The Winner as a request and dedicated the song to Dawes. This tour is a bit of a reunion for them. Trent's former band The Films toured with Simon Dawes (with preceded Dawes) back in 2006.

Shovels and Rope closed with "Hail Hail" and they definitely seemed to leave the crowd wanting more. Hopefully the band will return to the Triangle soon for a headlining show.

Dawes set list
From a Window Seat
If I Wanted Someone
Most People
Fire Away
Someone Will
When You Call My Name
Something in Common
When My Time Comes
Coming Back to a Man
Just Beneath the Surface
Peace in the Valley
Bear Witness
We've Got Tonight
Time Spent in Los Angeles
From the Right Angle
A Little Bit of Everything
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Million Dollar Bill
Side Effects