Review: The Lemonheads @ O2 Academy Liverpool

Evan Dando

Liverpool’s O2 Academy 2 provides an intimate setting for this Lemonheads gig. Most of the crowd seem too young to have experienced grunge the first time around, so the intimacy of the venue was probably the closest most of the audience would ever get to experience the grunge scene first hand.

It is probably what made the gig so special as it recreated a piece of musical history that we got to be part of.

The venue was full which is testament to the stretch of The Lemonheads reach, with gig goers who were there at the time to a younger audience; highlighting the relevance of grunge, but also The Lemonheads influence.

As the 20th anniversary of the 1992 album It’s A Shame About Ray approaches, the band have started on a mammoth tour which takes them through the UK and the US; stopping of course at Liverpool’s O2 Academy.

The album is played in full and after 30 songs played back to back you start to question exactly ‘how long was that album?’ Yet in fact it is the ‘It’s A Shame About Ray’ album in full, and then some.

There is, however, the telling exception of Mrs Robinson. Although The Lemonheads’ covers are notoriously brilliant, anyone who has heard their cover of REO Speedwagon’s Keep On Loving You will second this, Mrs Robinson doesn’t seem to fare well.

Both Evan Dando and Paul Simon dislike the cover, from Dando’s view it is probably more due to the fact it was a cover forced upon them by the record company at the time; hence why it is dropped from the set.

There are also songs from other albums including: Come On Feel The Lemonheads (1997) and Car Button Cloth (1998).

There are also some cover versions including: Frank Mills – from the musical Hair, and Country music favourite The Streets of Baltimore.

Evan Dando looks like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders yet this is conveyed to the audience with much sensitivity and vulnerability.

For instance Confetti seems to be an up-beat song yet is in fact about his parents divorce when Dando was only 11; and the lyrics are most poignant.

Dando’s beautiful looks seem to somewhat impede him to his critics, yet this seems harsh as the music more than speaks for itself; and anyone who witnesses Dando on-stage performing solo versions of songs such as The Streets of Baltimore will see it is obvious that it is not about the physical beauty of the man, but simply the beauty of his music.

The onset of grunge seemed to give The Lemonheads a place to cut out their niche and with It’s A Shame About Ray, their 5th album, the band seemed to have musically matured.

Highlights of the set were: Bit Part, Confetti, Frank Mills, The Outdoor Type, The Streets of Baltimore, It’s A Shame About Ray, and Style. However, it is difficult to single out just a few songs from such an impressive gig.

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