A good friend of mine will tell you that the Dismemberment Plan
is the best band in the world ““ bar none. At worst,
he’s not far off.
The Dismemberment Plan has certainly made a good case for itself
with its last two phenomenal albums, “Emergency and I,”
and “Change.” And the four men from Washington, D.C.,
further dispelled any doubts about their current place in the rock
‘n’ roll hierarchy with an earth-shattering (my ears
are still ringing a day later) show at the Troubador Saturday
night.
The Dismemberment Plan is being supported on the West Coast leg
of its tour by Virginia band Engine Down. The band led into the
headliners with a solid set, which sounded like current buzz band
Interpol but denser and heavier, while the vocals were a little
duller.
The Dismemberment Plan opened its approximately
hour-and-a-half-long set with a winning version of “Following
Through,” off of “Change.” As frontman Travis
Morrison sang, “It coulda been good / It coulda been
something special / It may have had real potential,” he set
up the audience because this show followed through on all of its
potential.
Morrison led the group with child-like enthusiasm, sporting a
huge grin and shouting a nasally “Yeah!” at least a
couple of times in over half of the songs.
The rest of the group easily stayed on par with Morrison. Eric
Axelson on bass burst around his side of the stage, proving himself
the world’s coolest left-handed bassist (take that Paul
McCartney), Jason Caddell provided the mellow “I’m a
guitar/keyboards master” look, while Joe Easley maneuvered
through the superhumanly phrenetic drum beats without breaking a
proverbial sweat.
Relying heavily on material from the two most recent albums,
Morrison and company knew their repertoire inside and out, playing
up to the expectations of the packed crowd at the Troubador.
Two staples of the Dismemberment Plan shows include a rendition
of the older song “The Ice of Boston,” during which
crowd members are invited to dance onstage, and a closing number
that sees Morrison play off of current top 40 radio. This time he
drew from Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” and Avril
Lavigne’s “Complicated,” with amusing
results.
Other show highlights included an stellar “You Are
Invited,” (from “Emergency and I”) that opened
with just Morrison and a programmed drumbeat and eventually
exploded into a full band rocker, and “Change’s”
closer “Ellen and Ben,” which saw Morrison tweak out on
his keyboard at the end while riffing on Carly Simon.
The Dismemberment Plan also played new songs, an unusual pretty
and slower number and a compelling song called “Change”
(not to be confused with the album).
It was a great show and the new songs make it look like the
Dismemberment Plan will have no problems continuing to follow
through. The best part of the night was knowing that anyone could
pay to see the intimate Troubador Dismemberment Plan show for
$15.25 while some sucker paid hundreds of dollars to see the
dinosaur-era Rolling Stones.