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Dr. Dog - The Way The Lazy Do > Army of Ancients
10.20.09 - The Southern, Charlottesville VA

I caught Dr. Dog last night at a new venue in town, The Southern, which is the old Gravity Lounge. The owner, Andy Gems, has done a fantastic job revamping the venue and the sound is so much better. They have a lot of great shows coming up, so check them out. I think I will be hitting up Blind Pilot next month.

As far as Dr. Dog goes, it/they got better as the night went on. I am a big fan of their last album, Fate, and it was refreshing to see so many people into a live performance of an artist’s latest album. I see too many acts past their prime (probably because I am), and when these older acts play their newer material, that’s the time when everyone hits the head. Not the case with Dr. Dog. Lots of people singing along and grooving to every song. And by the way, those “lots of people” were young. It was probably the youngest crowd I’ve seen in awhile, which was also quite refreshing.

Seeing Dr. Dog live for the first time reminded me how much this band sounds like The Beatles. Some of the songs are eerily similar. “Oh! Darling” came to mind instantly when they started playing an older tune that a friend and I did not know. I guess this is not such a bad thing, but I do hope they expand beyond this sound in future records.