The Dodos do not feel like a two-man act. For a band that relies so heavily on so little—a drum kit, guitar, and vocals—they fill the stage with their energy and the venue with their indie, at times somewhat folky, sound.
In addition to displaying incredible talent on the two instruments that make up their band, Meric Long and Logan Kroeber seemed to have great fun with the audience—bantering about the cupcakes that were waiting for them backstage, gently mocking an audience member for unhelpful song requests, and dedicating “Black Night” from the album No Color to all the people in the audience who go running in the negative degree weather (thanks by the way guys, it’s chilly out there). Waiting for Long to tune after a guitar change, drummer Kroeber thanked the crowd for the “warm” welcome, noting that this was the band’s first snow day of the tour.
And the welcome was indeed warm. The audience head bopped along and joined in shouting “HA!” and “HEY!” in all the appropriate places, especially getting in to “Competition” off the band’s most recent album Individ and “Confidence” from Carrier.
The encore was a highlight of the evening, with the crowd roaring its approval of three songs—“Walking,” “Red and Purple,” and “Jodi”—off the Dodos 2008 record Visiter, proving that these fans have been around for a while and the Dodos have a bit of a D.C. following.
The vocals of Greta Morgan, “nom de tune”—as she puts it—of Springtime Carnivore, the opening performer, at times recalled the vaguely jazzy, pleasantly nasal vocal style of Zooey Deschanel. While some of the numbers held the indie pop line, others, including her lovely closing song, “Name on a Matchbook,” could have been straight out of the Motown era. Having seen Morgan perform with the Hush Sound ages ago, it was great to see her live again with a solid and fun solo album.
My one critique of the evening? It could have used 100 percent more modern dance.
