THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 11, 1994 TAG: 9407120519
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Music Review
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Head Lemonhead Evan Dando appeared onstage at the Boathouse in Norfolk on Saturday night still sporting the close-cropped hairstyle he adopted several months ago.
And why not? It was a long, hot night, made bearable only by the music of his band and three other college-radio favorites, free-flowing cold beverages and an occasional visit outside to breathe a little more cleanly.
If anything, the Lemonheads threatened to overstay their welcome with a lengthy set that too often veered into the dully sensitive section of Dando's song book. One or two of a half-dozen consecutive slow-to-midtempo ballads - say, ``Big Gay Heart'' and ``My Drug Buddy,'' more hard-headed than those that surrounded them - would have had a stronger effect.
On the other hand, the four-piece touring band (augmented by ex-Blake Baby John Strohm on guitar) made the most of surging, often punkish pop numbers like ``Style,'' ``Alison's Starting to Happen'' and ``The Great Big No.'' For all his inconsistency as a writer, when Dando does reach a high point, he climbs high.
Buffalo Tom, a longtime cult favorite whose popularity has risen with its most recent album, 1993's ``Big Red Letter Day,'' stuck largely to that disc Saturday night.
Alternating echoes of Neil Young, the Clash and Dinosaur Jr filled the room, but the most striking song was that record's pensive airplay hit ``I'm Allowed.''
Gigolo Aunts, in their second Hampton Roads appearance in less than a month, cheekily opened the night's most sustained set with ``Lemon Peeler,'' a stuttering blowtorch of a rocker from the current ``Flippin' Out.''
The Aunts' canny fusion of the Raspberries and the Who made them the hardest-edged group on the bill, and their smart takes on love-struck euphoria (``Serious Drugs'') and Second Amendment macho (``Gun'') didn't waste anyone's time, either.
The Chapel Hill-based Dillon Fence hit the stage while it was still light outside. Despite taking a few songs to really reach a groove, the band demonstrated its growing skills as a power-pop unit. Highlighted by the very Big Star-like ``Collapsis'' and ``Headache,'' its brief stint bode well for a forthcoming third album, promised for September. ILLUSTRATION: Music Review
The Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom, Gigolo Aunts and Dillon Fence. Saturday
night at the Boathouse, Norfolk.
by CNB