The Lemonheads: a night of smeared syllables, timeless tunefulness and fangirl thrills
The Lemonheads live in Manila
The Lemonheads Live in Manila
December 4, 2014
Whitespace, Makati
“I’ve never been too good with names but I remember faces…”
Evan Dando, the main Lemonhead as much as Trent Reznor is Nine Inch Nails, sang this line in “It’s a Shame about Ray.”
Minutes before the current incarnation of The Lemonheads took the stage in Whitespace on Pasong Tamo Extension on Dec. 4, Dando was handed a hand-drawn portrait executed by Shenandoah Pacete.
Former NU jock shares portrait
Pacete, painfully shy and introverted, belonged to the last batch of NU107 disc jocks and went by the air name Shannen. Her true passions however lay in the visual arts, drawing and painting in particular, honing her craft during board work and doing portraits of both local and foreign rock acts and posting them on her Facebook page… not to show off, but just to share (and really, wasn’t that the non-cynical intent everybody had with the initial potential of social media?).
Pacete hands Evan the portrait; the latter says he’s actually seen it on Facebook. Pacete is floored.
Would she like it signed? No, she says… it is a gift.
Guitar lessons from Evan Dando
Dando could have accepted it, said thank you and shooed her away. He has admitted to public meltdowns in the past, has thrown an award in the trash bin and was reportedly not quite as friendly during the previous gig in Hong Kong.
Instead, he asks her what her favorite Lemonheads song is. “Rudderless” means a lot to her, she reveals.
Dando hands her his guitar, and proceeds to teach her how to play it.
A personal mini concert
He also plays two songs for her: a personal mini-concert, his way of expressing gratitude.
Pacete rejoins her fellow fans in the concert hall, taking with her a beautiful memory before she leaves the country for greener pastures by month’s end.
The attendees for the Pinoytuner-produced concert probably numbered just 400 or so. It is, however, a group of fans who felt what Pacete did.
Timeless tunefulness
The Lemonheads is definitive of what the “alternative” 90s was, with the proper balance of aggression and melodicism, and with lyrics such as “I know a place where I can go when I’m alone… into your arms,” just the right amount of healthy romanticism.
The group occupied that tricky territory between Nirvana cred and Goo Goo Dolls overstatement, somewhere between pop and punk but never near the then-burgeoning emo whine.
Dando’s personal eccentricities may have prevented The Lemonheads from reaching megastar status but at least the lack of over-exposure has made his tunefulness nearly timeless.
Well-oiled current lineup
For the gig, Dando offered brief introductions and played most of their hits including the songs above plus Suzanne Vega’s “Luka.”
Wearing a grey shirt, a denim vest, and jeans, Dando seemed to be channeling, visually, Status Quo as opposed to his cleaner mien in the nineties.
Not that it matters: the well-oiled Lemonheads current lineup played almost nonstop, barely pausing even as Dando quickly moved and removed his guitar capo.
Jumbled set list
There was a set list but, according to Pinoytuner’s Jason Caballa, the band jumbled the order around, or at least Dando did: for example, he forgot to call out a particular tune in the main set and decided to do it for the two song acoustic solo encore.
He sang mostly in what seemed to be a drunken drawl, or at least that is the impression given as his low-key vocals tended to be drowned out by the band’s playing and his own guitar work which ran from sweet jangliness to scorched distortion.
The gentle singing on the studio version of “It’s a Shame about Ray” was replaced by a few reharmonized notes and a different timbre… but during the encore, there it was, Dando’s singing free from smeared syllables.
He never wore out his welcome
During the gig, Dando seemed to be right in the middle of self-possession and fan-service, but sorry folks, no “Mrs. Robinson” despite the crowd’s repeated chants. But hey, “If I Could Talk I’d Tell You” is better than a cover, no matter how big a hit, any day.
Dando kept his guitar strapped on even as he started boarding the van, forthcoming with autographs, photo ops and hugs. No trace of animosity, he just seemed like a regular guy with the same drawl offstage.
His career trajectory may not have reached pop megastardom but at least he never wore out his welcome and for fans like Pacete, “Into Your Arms” has lost none of its charm.
