PHOTOS: NATHAN PARDEE | Folky hip-hop indie pop. Carnivalesque lights. Bubbles. Wacky hair. Nintendo on a giant white orb. What do any of these things have in common? By the sound of it, nothing. Unless you were at the Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. show at Trees last Thursday.
While their quirky performance was probably one of the more erratic acts to grace the venue’s stage, the duo succeeded in giving Dallas one hell of a show. Because when you’re Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.’s Josh Epstein and Dan Zott, you can do whatever the fuck you want—and rock some worlds doing it.
Despite a somewhat awkward start to the night, what with the opening act Chad Valley commencing an hour late, the Brit’s atmospheric, R&B-inspired electro stylings got the audience moving. While Valley a.k.a. Hugo Manuel, formerly of Jonquil, gave a relatively low-key performance, his ambient pop set the tone for Epstein and Zott’s trippy, high-octane set.
By the end of Valley’s act, the room was packed. And if people weren’t moving before, it wasn’t long after Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. took the stage that a mass of hands were in the air. The Detroit duo knows how to command a crowd, to say the least. As the lights went black to signal the start of the show, an instrumental build-up crescendoed into “Hiding,” a catchy, playful number off their most recent LP. Emerging before the audience in quite the get-ups—Epstein sporting an atlas print jacket and backwards cap and Zott donning a tropical t-shirt and his signature floppy updo—the two looked like a couple of ramshackle Fresh Princes.
Yet while their appearances peaked the audience’s interest, their mobile, super-charged performance sustained it. All jokes aside, these two don’t mess around when it comes to putting on a good show.
Throughout the set, the band played an even variety of songs off their two LPs, as well as a track or two from their recent hip-hop mixtape. Despite the “indie pop” label the duo might be characterized by, get these guys on a stage and they prove they can serve up anything from poppy, feel-good tunes to folky melodies and urban beats, somehow all the while maintaining a cohesive sound.
And while songs off their albums may sound fairly low-key on record, live they are another monster entirely. Timed with a particularly well thought-out visual set—a giant spherical projector screen, spectacularly orchestrated bubble effects, and whimsical “Jr. Jr.” lighted figures—and performed with smooth vocals and hard-hitting beats, the duo’s music is far more grandiose in person. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. is one of those bands you just have to see to get.
Numerous highlights of the show included the band’s funky performance of the dance-worthy, sax-infused “War Zone,” a crowd-pleasing cover of The Faces’ “Ooh La La” and a riotous performance of recent hit “If You Didn’t See Me (Then You Weren’t On the Dance Floor)” during which, literally, Zott took to the dance floor, his poofy mane loose and flopping around amid the crowd’s sweaty dance party.
Between Epstein and Zott’s cool, quirky vibes, their high-energy set and imaginative visuals, ultimately the night superseded expectations. For seemingly chill guys, the duo put on a show that is anything but; it’s perfectly curated mayhem. Go to a Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. concert and expect the unexpected, maybe a crowd-surfing idiot or two, and a damn good time.
