The night I finally felt The Lemonheads
I start by saying that I find myself at a crossroads. It is not easy to get away with this story when, in addition to being a journalist, I am a fan and consider myself, at this point, at least a “buddy” of Evan Dando, who I got used to calling Ev. This means that a lot of things will remain confidential in the name of good coexistence, but it certainly doesn’t mean that I’ll let that incredible night go unnoticed alongside Lemonheads in my city, Belo Horizonte, a town Evan didn’t quite remember after 20 years of his only show here.
The setlist
To begin with, the show’s set list, which, just a few hours before going on stage, not even the other members of the band – Farley Gavlin (Bass) and John Kent (Drums) – knew for sure, they confessed to me. Maybe even Evan didn’t know. The fact is that it was decided at the last minute. And the option was for a team that had already won the championship, that is, total focus on their two most popular albums: “It’s a shame about Ray” and “Come on Feel”, albeit with a timid “Fear of Living” in the encore.
Although the show itself went very smoothly, with the band giving a more punk-rock tone to the bittersweet chill-out of songs like “My drug Buddy” and “Frank Mills”, as well as rescuing the more “unknown” ones like “Style” and “Paid to Smile” of Come on Feel for die-hard fans like me, behind the element that favored the logistics of the trio’s arrival in BH was precisely what would compromise the technical result of the performance. In short, the band didn’t take their rider, relying only on the sound equipment that the venue offered. And it’s not that the house failed to offer a good structure, there are a lot of cool, big people who already play at the Distrital, but perhaps it wasn’t the most suitable structure for a band like The Lemonheads.
As much as everyone had fun with the 1,2,3,4 that packed each super-tuned track on both albums, it was kind of impossible not to notice, with some embarrassment, the amount of shocks that Evan took when trying to get closer to the microphone. And look, he was having a great day, and out of respect for the public – and, I’m sure, even for my city – he insisted until he couldn’t take it anymore, leaving some tracks out of the setlist, including the new “Fear of Living”.
You are damn right… Singing while being electrocuted isn’t exactly a fun way to end the night, and Evan left early, extremely frustrated with what had happened. It’s a shame that he couldn’t meet colleagues like Lelo, ex-Skank (on a night to write down my contact details to show me a new project), Jade Baraldo (looking for an indie godfather) and even rocker state deputy Gustavo Valadares. Everyone with an imaginary password in their hands. Stick for the next?
Behind the scenes
It was an intense Friday that started with me at the Fair buying cachaças and dulce de leche to give as gifts to the band. And with last-minute negotiations to deliver Galoasis shirts to our rockstar – the same one that his friend Noel Gallagher once received here at the hands of this brilliant fan base. On the radio, negotiations for an exclusive with Evan that did not take off due to the back and forth that characterized the fast date in BH. At the end of my shift, I ran to Distrital to catch them at the soundcheck – “once in a lifetime” opportunity, as Eminem would say.
I waited for the band inside, just before the entrance. Suddenly I heard Evan’s playful voice coming through the corridors. As soon as he saw me, with his characteristic pink cap, he greeted me with “Hey Marcus (he tries hard to say it with an “o”), we’re in your city”, which I responded with a long hug. With him, his mini-entourage from São Paulo, fiancée Antônia and new Lemonheads people. Somewhat surprised, Farley and John tried to find out who this happy obese man (me) was, and they also didn’t have much idea where they were. With a small bottle of cachaça in his hands, John, who is from Nashville, asked: “is that what you drink here?”, yes, “cachaça” we are in Minas Gerais (a similar species to Nashville in my opinion).
We all sat down to chat while Evan almost automatically showed me on the little iPhone he got from his mother the entire series of paintings he had just done. The curious thing is that every occasion we meet he always shows me each one of them with so much joy that it’s as if he rediscovered his art at that moment. In a short time he jumps from fine arts to random photos. Sending them at random is another activity he loves and that I’ve complained about missing. [Evan likes to send random images on the cell phones of people he knows – leaving us with the enigma behind them. Sometimes a gas station, a childhood memory or part of one of his 3 kittens, you never know what you gonna get].
Excited, Evan opens my gifts: in one gulp he finishes the cachaça which, for those who don’t know, has a peculiar “burn” that makes it difficult to drink. The bottle is shaped like a skull and I ask him to sing a part of “Skulls” (Misfts). It’s cool to know that, as a principled guy who refuses to use Whatsapp, Evan also doesn’t like wearing t-shirts depicting football teams, like Galoasis, but he didn’t shy away from a pose with the other gift. After all, it’s a good day for him and everyone around him, as I said before. You know, one thing inherent to Evan, a person, not an artist, is that he is very pleasant to be around, playful, loves telling stories and, when he trusts you, he doesn’t hesitate to be direct – despite being tender – in all his answers.
Dressing Room
We went into the night and, with as much nerve as alcohol ever allowed me, I decided to spend some time in the dressing room with the band, just before the show. When I opened the door, there was Evan alone, drinking a drink from a caipivodka. We talked about nothing and everything. I packed some cold Spatens that he left me free to take. The rest of the band enters. Farley with his “miner” style flashlight in his cap, looking for chargers inside his backpack, his cheeks rosy and highlighted by his sunglasses, very typical of foreigners who venture into the tropical climate. We laughed at the equipment.
John in the corner, reviewing the night’s set list with some Spotify in his hands (and for those who don’t know, he has a solid career in country-rock, not necessarily as a drummer). Would you like a drink, I ask him, and John Kent says he avoids drinking before any show in order to maintain his concentration. In addition to the refrigerator full of beer cans, placed on the table were some wines that, as far as I know, had not even been opened. Hello sponsors, do you want to book a Lemonheads show?
Come on feel the Lemonheads
Look, guys. I’m a guy who deals with self-reproach constantly, I never think that people can eventually like me just for who I am or what I do. It’s a constant struggle that involves writing down everything I do in daily checklists so that I feel like I’m at least competent. But for the first time in my life, there, slouched on the dressing room sofa next to “pre-shock” Evan, completely without a topic and with an English that miraculously wouldn’t let me down, I really understood the meaning of the title “Come on Feel the Lemonheads”. : I felt the Lemonheads, and I felt like a friend to each of them. And it is this feeling of comfort that each song offers us that makes them different around the world – and even today.
Thank you for playing in my city, The Lemonheads. See you soon (for sure)…
