As the sole member of Dirty Projectors, Dave Longstreth has kept his act running for decades and in this iteration as a stripped down, acoustic trio, he still brought plenty of their past hits to the small and intimate space with a burning passion that clearly resonated with the focused audience. In 2009 after the release of their seminal classic Bitte Orca, it nearly felt like Dirty Projectors was going to become one of the biggest bands in the country, a Talking Heads for a new generation. Their off-kilter, innocuous rhythms defied traditional pop structure, but they attracted crowds that seemed to be growing by the day. Before I knew it, they were opening for Phoenix at Madison Square Garden (yeah, the show when Daft Punk came out for the encore). Through years of consistent line-up changes and newer records that lean more towards classical and other more distant genres, Longstreth has kept his vision alive and still can reflect on the past. Opening the night at Public Records, he stood alone on stage with an acoustic guitar and went straight into the opening track from the band's biggest album and melted the crowd with "Cannibal Resource." The room swelled with anticipation before he strummed into "Two Doves," another moment that felt especially gorgeous and full of life. As was the case with so many bands in the late aughts, their harmonies were of course endlessly compared to the Beach Boys so to hear Longstreth give us his adjusted, yet still breathtaking version of Pet Sounds' "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" was heavenly. Joined by a stand-up bassist and drummer, the trio was rounded out for some newer tunes that added jazz tones into the mix. Another comment that used to bubble up around Dirty Projectors when they were starting to get more attention was that their music sounded like every member playing a different song at the same time, a note often shared with free jazz and its idiosyncratic nature. There were moments at Public Records when things crazed on the edges of those concepts, but still stayed mostly within the lines. As he went to dedicate "The Bride" to a couple who had messaged him on Instagram about their upcoming wedding, he briefly forgot the words to the track but worked it out with the crowd onstage to help jog his memory before he unlocked another stunning gem from the band's history. Crossing the chasm a bit, he worked in a groovy cover of Sten Getz and Joao Gilberto's "Pra Machucar Meu Coração," the vibes percolating through the room to really heighten the mood. Moving to piano, Longstreth played some new songs that added more to the jazz feelings of the night and the trio blended into one another perfectly. A cover of Nirvana's "Drain You" was another unexpected, but wonderful surprise that snuck up on the crowd and totally delivered. Returning back to guitar for the encore, the band hit us with "Holy Mackerel" before a rather divine "Dance 4 U" that was accompanied by a stomp and clap participation effort from the crowd, a perfect finish to a special night that perfectly married the past with the present.
Set list:
01 "Cannibal Resource"
02 "Two Doves"
03 "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" [Beach Boys cover]
04 "More Mania"
05 "Uninhabitable Earth"
06 "The Bride"
07 "Pra Machucar Meu Coração" [Stan Getz and João Gilberto cover]
08 "Swing Lo Magellan"
09 "Speechless"
10 "Jumbotron"
11 "Archaeopteryx in Wet Cement"
12 "Drain You" [Nirvana cover]
13 "Pencil in the Earth"
14 "Pain in the Ass"
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15 "Holy Mackerel"
16 "Dance 4 U"
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